The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. The comments are by Bruce Mowbray.

[added later:  For anyone who doesn't know what a marbe run looks like, here's a CHAMP -- and it's made with parts manufactured in Italy, too:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwedBdWIRuQ   TWO HUNDRED METERS of track, culminating at the bottom of a swimming pool!]

THIS is the one I'm currently building:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vFQbRw_sM

Korel Laloix: osiyo
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Kori.
ElanVitalo Resident: Hi, Kori.
Korel Laloix: At work so in and out.
Bruce Mowbray: np.
Korel Laloix: Is there a topic today?
Bruce Mowbray: Not yet.
Korel Laloix: Oh Ok... smiles
Bruce Mowbray: I've been working on a marble run all afternoon - after a busy morning running errands, doc appt, etc.
Bruce Mowbray: So I'm sort of dull today.
Korel Laloix: A marble run?
Bruce Mowbray: But I have also been pondering how phenomenology reconciles intuition with "objects in themselves...."
Bruce Mowbray: but that's just my peculiar mind at "work," or "play," as it were.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes!
Bruce Mowbray: a wonderful marble run!
Bruce Mowbray: I love 'em.
Korel Laloix: But what is a marble run?
Bruce Mowbray: The one I've been building today is a prototype for one I hope to build during the winter.
Bruce Mowbray: One that will run the entire length of my house.
Bruce Mowbray: A marble run.... Just a sec, please....
Bruce Mowbray: Here are some cool ones:
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.google.com/search?q=marb...w=1477&bih=744
Bruce Mowbray: This is the one I am building today:
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1412570...chn=ps&lpid=82
Bruce Mowbray: It is definitely an ADULT toy.
Korel Laloix: hmmm.. not a hobby I have every heard of... interesting .
Bruce Mowbray: (and the manufacturer stresses that.)
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: I like to improvise, of course.
Korel Laloix: How did you get into that, Bruce?
Bruce Mowbray: can't remember quite how I got into it -- years back...

Bruce Mowbray: Well, I've made several

Korel Laloix: Oh OK...
Korel Laloix: I just stick with my running.
Bruce Mowbray: I made one last year that I posted on YouTube.... "The world's ugliest and boring marble run..."
Korel Laloix: lol
Bruce Mowbray: I will find it. Just a sec, please.
Korel Laloix: I will have to have a look.
Korel Laloix: Osiyo
Qt Core: Hi all
ElanVitalo Resident: Hi, Qt.
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bb7-z_qCrM
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Qt.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: (I trust you're watching the video.... he he)
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Riddle.
Riddle Sideways: hi All
Qt Core: yup
Bruce Mowbray: Here's what I made last year, Qt --- And am making a new one this year....
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bb7-z_qCrM
Korel Laloix: OH fun.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, fun, indeed.
Bruce Mowbray: Very Newtonian, too.  momentum and all that.
Korel Laloix: The strange thing to me on that was how my brain tilted the picture.
Korel Laloix: Was going to ask how you got the marble to go up against gravity.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, brains do that intuitively, which is what I've been contemplating today - as I build my new marble run.
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: One can make the marble "go against gravity," but only by building momentum, and then some things are sacrificed, like height.
Korel Laloix: I found physics painful so not sure how fun I would find that.... smiles
Bruce Mowbray hopes Elan doesn't rust whilst floating in the pool.
ElanVitalo Resident: (titanium parts, stupid!)
Bruce Mowbray feels stupid.
Riddle Sideways: thanks, nice vid
Bruce Mowbray: So, Qt - Did you check out http://www.slooh.com ?
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks, Riddle.
Korel Laloix: I checked it out.. might give it a try.
Bruce Mowbray: It's great for current celestial events.
Bruce Mowbray: like eclipses, and fly-by asteroids, etc.
Bruce Mowbray: (also saves one the cost of a telescope.)
ElanVitalo Resident: Some of the contributors actually have excellent photos of galaxies up there.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, Elan. Amazing, isn't it?
Qt Core: just a peak, one of those think i try to stay away from or i would lose too many hours when not money on it;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Beautiful photos, too.
Riddle Sideways: yes, QT
Bruce Mowbray: Agreed, Qt.
ElanVitalo Resident: When folks ask me, "How did you find the night sky out there in the country,"
ElanVitalo Resident: I just say, "Well, I went outside at night, and there it was!"
Bruce Mowbray: Elan is trying to improve his humor databanks, folks.
Bruce Mowbray: please be tolerant.
Riddle Sideways: worth working on
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, he needs a lot of work.
Bruce Mowbray: Tends to make very technical "jokes" that no one understands.
Bruce Mowbray: …like making puns on chemical formulas . . .
Bruce Mowbray: way beyond me, for sure.
Bruce Mowbray: So, marble runs...
Bruce Mowbray: Am I the only one here who makes them?
Riddle Sideways: had Marble Works when the kids were small
Riddle Sideways: plastic pieces for making them
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Qt Core: i don't for sure, i will probably lose a few fingers trying to build such a thing ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Some of them can get extremely complex, like this one:
Riddle Sideways: eventually got the racing set add-on
Qt Core: (yes, I'm that clumsy with tools)
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2720250...chn=ps&lpid=82
Riddle Sideways: a gate to start 5 marbles at once
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: I love to see gravity at work, so long as it's not working on me.
Bruce Mowbray: I mean, no more than the usual ways.
Qt Core: (while i love to watch Rube Goldberg machines ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: OH YES!
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, NOW I remember -- That's how I got started with them.
Korel Laloix looks up Rube Goldberg
Bruce Mowbray: (to answer Kori's question).
Korel Laloix: https://www.rubegoldberg.com/
Riddle Sideways: Toronto sci center has at least one
Qt Core: i watched just this yesterday: http://www.wimp.com/slowest-rube-goldberg-machine/
Riddle Sideways: think Chicago sci museum has one
Bruce Mowbray: Wow. TY for that,
Bruce Mowbray: I will definitely watch that later -- Maybe it will give me some ideas for my current marble run.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: ha ha.  Rube Slowburg.
Riddle Sideways: a turtle in it :)
Bruce Mowbray: s...l....o....w....
Bruce Mowbray: Last year's marble run (the one I make in my living room) took just over two minutes to complete.
Bruce Mowbray: but nothing like this guy's Slowburg thing.
Korel Laloix: OH.. it took the marble two mins to move, not two mins for you to build.. lol
ElanVitalo Resident: ha ha.
Bruce Mowbray: For sure.  Much longer than that to build, alas.
Riddle Sideways: :)
Korel Laloix: I was thinking that did not sound that impressive... smiles
Bruce Mowbray: Building a marble run takes a lot of focus and experimentation.
Bruce Mowbray: They look simple, but they are not.
Bruce Mowbray: Adding Rube Goldberg devices to them takes even longer to build, of course.
Riddle Sideways: Training a turtle to race a course takes a while also
Bruce Mowbray: I would think so.
Bruce Mowbray: Perhaps it was intended to be a metaphorical statement.
ElanVitalo Resident: Don't mind Brucie today, folks.
Qt Core: a straight line toward food should not be hard, maybe make the ball passage 'lenient'
Bruce Mowbray: I haven't watched the video yet, so I can only imagine the turtle....
Riddle Sideways: Some airport has a marble run in a 3 x 6 foot glass cages
Bruce Mowbray: YES! I have seen those! Fascinating, huh?
ElanVitalo Resident fails to see what is so fascinating about gravity and momentum.
Riddle Sideways: ideal for those 3+ hour layovers
Riddle Sideways: to watch
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes.
Korel Laloix: Still amazes me how much new things I learn in SL after 10 years.
ElanVitalo Resident has never flown, nor had a "layover," so will give humans the benefit of my doubts on this one.
Korel Laloix: Flying is highly overrated.
Riddle Sideways: could build one in SL
Qt Core: reminiscing about the little marble mazes (more than runs) on the top of the bubble soap containers i played with as a kid
Bruce Mowbray: That would be cool. I used to have one, in fact.
Riddle Sideways: couple days ago, rode a water slide
Bruce Mowbray: let me see if I can find it.
Riddle Sideways: bubble soap containers?
Qt Core: little cylinders you can buy with liquid soap to make bubbles
Bruce Mowbray listens, unable to find his SL marble run thingie.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, and they come with a long wand...
Bruce Mowbray: or, mine did, anyway).
Qt Core: and usually have a marble maze on the lid
Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm.
Qt Core: a maze as there was an hole somewhere where you should make the little marble go
ElanVitalo Resident ponders "marble mazes."
Bruce Mowbray: So, a sort of puzzle, Qt?
Qt Core: and you moved the marble changing the cylinder inclination
Qt Core: yes
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: The marble run I am making right now has a "switch," so one can change rails... and run more than one marble on separate tracks at the same time.
Riddle Sideways: have seen marble mazes, but never on top of bubble blowing container
Riddle Sideways: Bruce, that is what the race set did
ElanVitalo Resident: (!!) -- adds "bubble blowing containers" to database.
Bruce Mowbray: really?!
Riddle Sideways: splits and joins and jumps and funnels
Bruce Mowbray: Wow.
Bruce Mowbray: Cooooool.
Bruce Mowbray: I think that building a marble run is something that one should try at least once in life. It gives one an appreciation for really simple Newtonian physics.
Riddle Sideways: https://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_com...P9gaAgW88P8HAQ

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: Yes! Great for kids, too!
Bruce Mowbray: Amazing how much the young brain can gain from such experiences.
Qt Core: i remember now something just a little like that i did as a kid
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: Getting those neural pathways established early. Great!
Bruce Mowbray: The Italians have the coooooolest marble runs on the market, in my opinion.
Riddle Sideways: ah, marbles rolling around the neural pathways
Qt Core: i usually took a chair and toppled it, then i would put the room carpet on it and then put some of the marbles i had on top of it and watched where they would end
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdZ7GPUdwD4
Qt Core: don't know why my parents didn't like it ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: THAT is a marble run made by an Italian company. (in the video).
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: I think that's great, Qt.  Inquisitive child you were.
Bruce Mowbray: Can't understand why your parents wouldn't agree.
Korel Laloix: Back to RL.. ciao all
Bruce Mowbray: bye for now, Kori.
Qt Core: Bye Korel
Riddle Sideways: bye
ElanVitalo Resident wonders if making marble runs might be a "guys" thing.
Qt Core: dust all around, marbles all around, and people stumbling on the toppled chair too ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Yikes!
Bruce Mowbray: and probably slipping on the marbles, too.
Bruce Mowbray: a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Riddle Sideways: or giving kittens marbles to play with
Riddle Sideways: they go allllll over the house
Bruce Mowbray: for sure!
Bruce Mowbray: Maybe one could get marbles with GPS systems inside, for locating them easier, later.
Riddle Sideways: oh, there was one
Riddle Sideways: ummmmm, where was that
Riddle Sideways: that fundraising site
ElanVitalo Resident ponders the infinitude of Brucie's imagination.
Riddle Sideways: a ball
ElanVitalo Resident: GoFundMe
Qt Core: Kickstarter ?
Riddle Sideways: that was programmable
ElanVitalo Resident: ?
Riddle Sideways: yes, Kickstarter
Bruce Mowbray: Wow.
Bruce Mowbray: I think Kickstarter is a GREAT idea.
Riddle Sideways: yes
Bruce Mowbray: Democratic and innovative.
Riddle Sideways: now there are several like it
Riddle Sideways: be careful tho
Qt Core: and i would end financing and buy half of the gadget proposed there ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: I funded a chap who wanted to make a movie -- and he eventually sent me a DVD with the movie on it.
Bruce Mowbray: amazing.
Riddle Sideways: almost bought a quad-copter yesterday
Bruce Mowbray: Really!! Say more!
Bruce Mowbray: a drone!?
Riddle Sideways: yes, very nice drone
Bruce Mowbray: Wow.
Riddle Sideways: 2 mile range
Bruce Mowbray: Could you put a GoPro on it?
Riddle Sideways: steady cam and everything
Bruce Mowbray: Oh wow!
Bruce Mowbray: My farmers have a drone that they use to photograph the fields.
Bruce Mowbray: I've watched (and videoed) them using it -- really fascinating stuff.
Bruce Mowbray: Do you have to observe FAA regulations, Riddle?
Bruce Mowbray: no higher than 400 feet, for example?
Riddle Sideways: then there was a mini drone
Riddle Sideways: fits in hand
ElanVitalo Resident reads back and sees "almost bought"
Riddle Sideways: indiegogo
Riddle Sideways: was the site
ElanVitalo Resident: indiegogo.com ???
Riddle Sideways: sorry, went away to find history
Riddle Sideways: yes
Riddle Sideways: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/m...r-hand--2/hmid
ElanVitalo Resident: Oh, more crowd funding.
Bruce Mowbray: They've raised almost $3 million!!!???
Bruce Mowbray is mesmerized by Riddle's video.
Riddle Sideways: that is the little one, it was very tempting
Riddle Sideways: the big one is almost better
ElanVitalo Resident hopes Brucie doesn't get one and fly it inside the living room.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: very tempting, indeed.
Riddle Sideways: a way to carry the marble back to the start gate
Bruce Mowbray: Wow! GREAT idea!
Riddle Sideways: hehehehe
Bruce Mowbray: I must go now. THANKS, folks!
Riddle Sideways: yep
Riddle Sideways: by
Riddle Sideways: c'ya All
Riddle Sideways: Oh, Elan
Riddle Sideways: been meaning to tell you
Riddle Sideways: too late
Qt Core: Bye
Riddle Sideways: bye QT

p.s.  Elan returned to the pavilion and chatted briefly with Riddle - concerning Riddle's plot and "Botty." . . .  [to be continued. . . . ]