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

Qt Core: Hi Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Qt.
Bruce Mowbray: Long time no see.
Bruce Mowbray: Did you see the Snow Moon this week?
Qt Core: yes, keeping switching between do i log in , or do i uninstall SL ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Qt Core: briefly, the media got some excitement about it, but it isn't such a big thing
Bruce Mowbray: I tried to make a drone video of it coming over the horizon, but, alas, it was too cloudy.
Qt Core: (i love when the moon is visible by day)
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yeah.
Qt Core: it has a little alienesque, otherworldly feeling
Bruce Mowbray: Do you ever use the Slooh website to watch astronomy events?
Qt Core: no
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.slooh.com/
Qt Core: but i'm already mumbling about the next USA/Mexico eclipse in 2024 https://www.eclipse-chasers.com/php/tseCalculatorBig2.php?TSE=tse2024d (lucky northern American that you are ;-)
Bruce Mowbray clicks to check it out....
Bruce Mowbray: WHOA! That's going to go right over my house!
Qt Core: :-)
Bruce Mowbray: no, actually just a bit north. ..
Bruce Mowbray: but very easy to drive up to the totality area from where I live.
Bruce Mowbray: Totality will be almost 4 minutes over Ohio.
Bruce Mowbray: 3 minutes 58 seconds.
Bruce Mowbray: So, what is the date for this one?
Bruce Mowbray: I can't see it on the page.
Qt Core: April 8 2024
Bruce Mowbray: OK. Five years off. . .
Bruce Mowbray: No wonder I'd not heard of it yet.

--BELL—

Bruce Mowbray: Not to be morbid about it, but I don't expect to be alive five years from now.
Bruce Mowbray: If I were, I would have lived longer than any of my male relatives.
Bruce Mowbray: for two generations back and on either my father's or my mother's side.
Qt Core: well, it is (still) a common trend living longer than previous generations)
Bruce Mowbray: Yes. . .
Bruce Mowbray: I avoid all heroic procedures that docs might want to use to prolong my life, though.
Bruce Mowbray: Quality - not quantity, for me.
Bruce Mowbray: Also, I am ferociously independent.....
Bruce Mowbray: I'd probably bite any care-taker who came near me. . . ha ha.
Qt Core: i forgot where i read it but there were studies that say that the western/european culture peaked, all in all considering environment, science and economy with the generation of people born between 1940 and 195, plus or minus a couple years
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, I was born in 1942.
Bruce Mowbray: so I guess I've peaked already.
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: It's amazing how many friends my age have already died.
Bruce Mowbray: At least half of my high school class.
Qt Core: too young to really remember ww2 (even if European) but young enough for the post war economic boom and aged early enough to enjoy retirement plans
Bruce Mowbray: Yes. I remember nothing of WWII, but I do remember Eisenhower . .
Qt Core: (as is before retirement agencies will default
Bruce Mowbray: I remember watching Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Bruce Mowbray: I was ten, I think.
Bruce Mowbray: Before that age, I don't think I had any interest in politics or history....
Bruce Mowbray: and we didn't get a TV until I was 14.
Bruce Mowbray: Mine was the last generation to grow up without TV's, I guess.
Bruce Mowbray: And now all the kids are growing up with the Internet.
Bruce Mowbray: What next?
Qt Core: mine the last (growing) without a cellphone ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes, cellphones were unheard of until I was in my 60's.
Bruce Mowbray: I remember as a child having to speak to an operator whenever we called someone.
Qt Core: i bought one only after being in a car crash without one, there are cases when it is a very useful thing
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes.
Bruce Mowbray: I've never had to use mine in an emergency, but I always take it when I go anywhere.
Bruce Mowbray: At my age, and living alone in a rural area, it's good to have it with me at all times.
Qt Core: in first years a i used it so little i had to put money on it only to keep the contract running not because i used it
Bruce Mowbray: I also use mine very little.
Bruce Mowbray: Before a year ago, I'd never texted anyone -
Bruce Mowbray: so I asked my niece how to do that.
Bruce Mowbray: She could hardly believe I'd never texted anyone.
Bruce Mowbray: but it's true.
Bruce Mowbray: Now I receive a text on my cell phone whenever I visit any of my financial accounts.
Bruce Mowbray: (to log in, I mean.)
Bruce Mowbray: two-step verification.
Qt Core: but then a sms or whatsapp message or an email is less intrusive than a voice call
Bruce Mowbray: Yes.
Bruce Mowbray: I have a neighbor on the country road where I live who was arrested three weeks ago today.
Bruce Mowbray: and he has tried to call me about two dozen times every day since then.

--BELL—

Bruce Mowbray: Fortunately, I can see the jail's phone number, so I don't answer it.
Bruce Mowbray: All he wants is for me to pay his bail.
Bruce Mowbray: His jury trial will not be until April 16th,
Bruce Mowbray: and his mother and I feel that he should stay in jail until then.
Qt Core: !
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, it's rough.
Bruce Mowbray: He's a friend,
Bruce Mowbray: but he also has 15 prior arrests.
Bruce Mowbray: We're hoping that this time will teach him. . .
Bruce Mowbray: I'm not coming to his rescue ONE MORE TIME.
Qt Core: then there is the "little" issue of him being or not being guilty of whatever the crime is
Bruce Mowbray: Well, he has a bad relationship with the county sheriff.
Bruce Mowbray: His charges are "Assault" and "Intimidation" of a police officer.
Bruce Mowbray: and that's pretty serious.
Bruce Mowbray: All his previous charges were misdemeanors... but these two are felonies.
Bruce Mowbray: so he might even go to prison.
Bruce Mowbray: I'm trying to stay out of it.
Bruce Mowbray: I'm sure that in HIS mind, I am the "bad guy" in all of this.
Bruce Mowbray: because I won't bail him out.
Bruce Mowbray: He's in a jail in another part of the state -- 80 miles away.
Bruce Mowbray: So, it's difficult for his mother to go visit - and I'm certainly not going to visit him.
Bruce Mowbray: I have written him once, though.
Bruce Mowbray: It's a really sad situation.
Bruce Mowbray: The guy (now 35 years old) has never held a steady job....
Bruce Mowbray: never really been able to be independent or self-reliant.
Bruce Mowbray: I honestly feel that being in prison might be best for him and everyone concerned.
Bruce Mowbray: At least he'd have food, shelter, medical care. . .
Bruce Mowbray: so. . . . I'm going to let the chips fall where they wlll. . . and stay out of it.
Qt Core: that depends on what will he learn in prison, a life lesson or how to become a real bad guy
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, I agree.
Bruce Mowbray: I taught in a state prison for eight years,
Bruce Mowbray: and I think a lot of inmates become real criminals during their prison time.
Bruce Mowbray: He's basically a good person,
Qt Core: (i think i only know stereotypes about American prisons)
Bruce Mowbray: I mean, he'd never intentionally hurt anyone.
Bruce Mowbray: Well, I think American prisons have become MUCH worse since I was teaching there.
Bruce Mowbray: I stopped teaching in prison in 1984....
Bruce Mowbray: but I maintained a letter correspondence with my inmate clerk for almost 35 years after that. . .
Bruce Mowbray: until he died of cancer a couple of years ago.
Bruce Mowbray: And he told me it was MUCH worse than when I was there.
Bruce Mowbray: But the thing is, I can't rescue someone who refuses to be responsible for himself.
Bruce Mowbray: It's about growing up, I think. . . By the time a man is 35, he should have been through all of that adolescent rebellion stuff.
Bruce Mowbray: It's very difficult for me not to compare myself to my neighbor who is in jail - although I realize that is a very unfair comparison.
Bruce Mowbray: He was born with 2 1/2 strikes against him - if I might use a baseball metaphor.
Bruce Mowbray: Do you know baseball?
Bruce Mowbray: "3 strikes and you're out"?

--BELL—

Qt Core: barely (probably less than the other two most iconic IS sports
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Qt Core: but followed it through some Japan anime about it ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: I don't follow baseball. . .
Bruce Mowbray: The only football team I follow (American football, not soccer) is the Ohio State University Buckeyes.
Qt Core: i briefly followed American football when there was how to call it "condensed" games on Italian tv, a full game is way too slow and long to follow
Bruce Mowbray: https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-footbl/
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, four 15-minute quarters - - - but STRETCHED WAY OUT by TV commercials and penalties in the game.
Bruce Mowbray: Sometimes a football game will last four hours!
Bruce Mowbray: Four hours to play a game that is actually only one hour long.
Bruce Mowbray: Hey, Qt. I need to move on to a meditation group now.
Bruce Mowbray: It starts at the top of the hour.
Qt Core: and i need sleep ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: So, I will say "Be well."
Qt Core: could not sleep until 4 am last night
Bruce Mowbray: Pleasant dreams!
Bruce Mowbray: Oh dear.
Bruce Mowbray: You'll sleep well tonight!
Bruce Mowbray: So, bye for now.