The Old Dogs ramble about those grade-school lunchboxes featuring TV characters. We propose the useful idea of turning abandoned shopping malls into apartment homes. We ponder the notion of robot pets. We note with terror the rise of vending machines that dispense bullets. And we wonder why the average English speaker has such a small vocabulary. The Old Dogs conversation is with Dietmar Neidhardt, an oil and gas executive who retired and found a new passion making gelato.