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

 
Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Qt.
Qt Core: Hi Bruce
ElanVitalo Resident: Heya, Qt.
Bruce Mowbray: What's your prediction on the Greek vote tomorrow?
Qt Core: don't know, polls are close and the difference is below the statistical error
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, as we'd say in America, it's ‘neck and neck.’
Bruce Mowbray: It could all come down to whether it rains and whether people show up at the polls.
Qt Core: funny enough the Italian equivalent would be "head to head"
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: I think the American expression is derived from horse racing -- as the horses approach the finish line they stick their necks out, so maybe that's where ‘neck and neck’ came from.
Qt Core: probably maybe even our head to head... after all it is the head that will pass the line
Bruce Mowbray: :)
Bruce Mowbray: do you have a preference either way? I've been vacillating back and forth all week -- depending on which blog I read.
Bruce Mowbray: If the vote is "yes," that will mean even more austerity measures... and I don't think the Greeks would want that.
Bruce Mowbray: on the other hand, if the vote is "No," it could mean withdrawal from the European Union.
Qt Core: i haven't read much, but i'm a firm believer in EU, it has many problems and maybe we got a wrong start, but i want the USE ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: I definitely agree with you there.
Bruce Mowbray: the question in my mind is whether a Greek withdrawal from the EU would be that threatening to the union.
Bruce Mowbray: it might even stimulate the EU to become stronger.
Bruce Mowbray: although I don't really know that much about it, of course.
Qt Core: i fear it may start the process of a first class Europe (northern europe) and a second class one (southern)
Bruce Mowbray: not good.
Bruce Mowbray: that's what is happened in the United States -- following our Civil War.
Qt Core: i once read an article about why that should be and mostly it is tied with religion, with the difference of values (mostly about work ethics) of catholic/orthodox and protestants
Bruce Mowbray: in virtually every demographic measurement, the southern states are behind the northern states.
Bruce Mowbray: religion was also a factor in the United States -- the southern states preferring far more Bible-based conservative sects.
Qt Core: that is already true here, being like that for all the 150 years of Italy being unified for an example
Bruce Mowbray: the northern states being far more liberal -- and the Northeastern states the most liberal.
Bruce Mowbray: yes, who was it --- Emmanual the second?
Bruce Mowbray: the one that they built the big monument to in Rome -- the one that looks like a typewriter :)
Bruce Mowbray: Victor Emmanuel the second?
Qt Core: :-)
Qt Core: yes
Bruce Mowbray: Well, we have a monument in Washington DC called the Washington Monument -- - it has been likened to other things besides typewriters.
Bruce Mowbray: by the way, it is a beautiful sunny day here . . . I should've made that video for you today.
Bruce Mowbray: but yesterday we got 2 inches of rain on top of everything else we had gotten the previous week.
Bruce Mowbray: two more inches!
Bruce Mowbray: the creek underneath the bridge was as high as I've ever seen it, and even the road was slightly flooded in places (flooded in places that I would normally walk twice a day).
Qt Core: sunny here too, 33C in the afternoon (and over 80% of humidity i bet)
Bruce Mowbray: omg -- that's HOT!
Bruce Mowbray: is air-conditioning common in Italy?
Qt Core: it was 27 at 8:30 am when i went out with my bicycle

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: at least you got an early start -- but that's already pretty warm.
Qt Core: it became common in last couple decades, but i'm a fan believer (even if i got AC at home, mostly for my mother)
Bruce Mowbray: good.
Bruce Mowbray: the only room in my house that I use air conditioning in is my bedroom...
Bruce Mowbray: if it gets especially hot, as it does every summer, I hunker down back there (in my bedroom)
Bruce Mowbray: that way I only have to keep the one room cool and I am quite comfortable.
Qt Core: i usually only use the dehumidifier part of the AC
Qt Core: now I’m using only the fan part
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: in the wintertime I also withdraw to the bedroom - - - and heat that room to a comfortable temperature, leaving the rest of the house much cooler – just warm enough that the plants and the pipes don't freeze.
Bruce Mowbray: I try to be very economical with these things.
Qt Core: my house is quite old and with big walls, so it keeps the temps... both ways
Bruce Mowbray: at the moment I have a large window fan pulling air through the house.
Bruce Mowbray: ahhh!
Bruce Mowbray: You have good insulation then.
Bruce Mowbray: I wonder what it means to an Italian when he says a house is "quite old "
Bruce Mowbray: that could be hundreds of years!
Qt Core: 350/400
Bruce Mowbray: oh my goodness!
Bruce Mowbray: you know, that is older than any house in the United States.
Bruce Mowbray: far older, in fact.
Bruce Mowbray: I guess they built them to last!
Qt Core: that is why sometimes we see you US as annoying little kids ;-)
Qt Core: (with big guns)
Bruce Mowbray: for sure! I can easily understand why you would see the United States that way -- especially since the general populace behaves like adolescents most of the time.
Bruce Mowbray: my personal feeling on the matter is that the United States is killing itself with its own stupidity.
Bruce Mowbray: just look at the candidates for the presidency . . .
Bruce Mowbray: there are currently 15 presidential candidates in the race on the Republican side. . . . and I'm not sure that if you totaled their IQs you'd end up with even one average IQ...
Bruce Mowbray: the thing I hate most about election years (2016 will be one of those) is the dumbed down TV commercials and robo phone calls.
Bruce Mowbray: political ads.
Bruce Mowbray: aimed to the lowest common denominator.
Bruce Mowbray: not a single one of the Republican presidential candidates "believes in" global warming.
Bruce Mowbray: Can you imagine that?
Qt Core: and as for my knowledge an overly convoluted election system still rooted in horse voyages
Bruce Mowbray: yes... I think you might be referring to the so-called Electoral College.
Bruce Mowbray: and you are indeed correct -- still rooted in the need for elected representatives to travel by horse. . .
Bruce Mowbray: so the Electoral College actually meets weeks after the popular election, and the official outcome is not constitutionally "official" until they vote . . . even though the popular vote almost always swings the tide, and everyone already knows who the winner is.
Bruce Mowbray: it is only in extremely rare elections (very very close elections) that the electoral college vote would even matter --- and because we have an Electoral College, it is possible for the popular vote to win but the actual Electoral College vote to go the other way.
Qt Core: we have the two parliament houses holding a common sessions to vote the President of the Republic (that is not the executive power) and the party divisions are no sure sign of who would win
Bruce Mowbray: yes, I wish that we had a parliamentary system something like yours and Great Britain's.
Qt Core: as in the first votings you need a 75% quorum, 50% only later
Bruce Mowbray nods.
Bruce Mowbray: much of our Constitution was written out of fear of monarchy.
Bruce Mowbray: concentration of power in the hands of the "King"

--BELL—

Bruce Mowbray: I think that has shaped a lot of the American political "ideal"
Qt Core: the first minister (executive power) only needs a 50% quorum from the two houses
Bruce Mowbray: okay, but the first minister can also be elected OUT of office by Parliament, right?
Qt Core: and may declare that a vote on some laws will be a confidence vote too
Bruce Mowbray: In other words, the first minister does not have a set term of office.
Bruce Mowbray: Okay, so a confidence vote means that the first minister could be removed.
Qt Core: if he does not fall before, it follows the term of parliament, 5 years
Bruce Mowbray: okay, a five-year term. Could he be reelected?
Qt Core: yes, a certain number of mp can ask for a no confidence vote
Qt Core: yes
Qt Core: not elected, re-appointed
Bruce Mowbray: In the United States, a President holds office for four years and can be reelected just once.
Bruce Mowbray: yes, reappointed, sorry.
Bruce Mowbray: the Congressmen themselves have to be reelected every two years.
Qt Core: we have that for the president, 7 years and only one reelection
Bruce Mowbray: for senators it is eight years.
Bruce Mowbray: Okay, so you have both a president and a first minister....
Qt Core: we had that for the first time with Napolitano, the president before the current one
Qt Core: yes
Bruce Mowbray: then your Constitution was recently revised?
Qt Core: the president of the republic is (mostly) a guarantee figure
Qt Core: no, always been that way
Bruce Mowbray: hmmm.
Qt Core: he is formally chief of the army, chief of the judges and he signs laws (can send them back to parliament but has to sign it if it come back unchanged
Bruce Mowbray: Do you find that Italians are generally interested in their government? or are they apathetic like most Americans?
Bruce Mowbray: It is rare in America that any election can bring out more than 30% of the electorate....
Qt Core: getting more apathetic every elections, we lately had the first elections (regional ones) with less than 50% involvement
Bruce Mowbray: nods.
Bruce Mowbray: the irony is that Americans claim to be so proud of their government – liberty, freedom, and all that -- but the vast majority of them have no interest in it and no knowledge about it. That’s one reason I say America is on the decline.
Qt Core: obviously everybody loves to hate politicians, won’t do anything to change them as even if newer people got to Rome they'll surely become thief, it is contagious it seems
Bruce Mowbray: today is our Independence Day, as you are probably aware.
Bruce Mowbray: in the United States so-called corruption takes the form of campaign contributions - and therefore “buying” political influence.
Qt Core: yes, i would have liked to be in Expo as it was (almost obviously) USA day today
Bruce Mowbray: this is now guaranteed by the Supreme Court:  Corporations are considered to have the rights of "citizens."
Qt Core: while strangely 14/7 will not be France day...
Bruce Mowbray: USA Today. ha ha
Qt Core: :-)
Bruce Mowbray: yes, I was in Paris on Bastille Day in 1966 and I remember the excitement.
Qt Core: we had some of that in expo too on 2 June (republic day, remembering when we choose republic over monarchy... the first poll where women voted too
Bruce Mowbray: from the farm's location -- and I may have mentioned this in my video -- I can sometimes see four separate July 4^th fireworks displays at nearby villages.
Bruce Mowbray: it is very clear today, and will be tonight also, so I will go out to the road and see how many fireworks displays I can see tonight...
Qt Core: :-)
Bruce Mowbray: but I am more interested in seeing the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.
Bruce Mowbray: also Saturn is still visible in the SSE sky.
Qt Core: some friend of mine shot a few pics of that
Bruce Mowbray: of Jupiter and Venus?
Qt Core: yes
Bruce Mowbray: some folks over here are calling that the Star of Bethlehem effect
Bruce Mowbray: when two so-called stars come together to form a brighter light.
Bruce Mowbray: are you able to see it?
Qt Core: haven't see them so near, they were clearly divided
Bruce Mowbray: from where I live, they will be directly west...
Bruce Mowbray: I definitely want to get out to see them tonight.
Bruce Mowbray: "Com'è Bella la Città" has arrived,,,, reads.
Bruce Mowbray: well, even though I am a hermit, I very much enjoy occasional visits to large cities...
Qt Core: :-)
Bruce Mowbray: I will, in fact, be going back to New York at the end of September with the young man who mows my lawn.
Bruce Mowbray: he will be the 14th person I have taken to New York.

--BELL—

Bruce Mowbray: usually, we only stay about four nights and five days... but after that I am quite ready to return to the quiet and solitude of the farm.
Bruce Mowbray: time for me to scrape up supper.. thank you QT.
Bruce Mowbray: I will see you again soon.
Qt Core: you really have to watch the video, only in writings is so different
Qt Core: i hope
Bruce Mowbray: I will definitely look at the video -- right now.
Bruce Mowbray: TY!
Bruce Mowbray: bye for now.
Qt Core: bye
ElanVitalo Resident: 
Qt Core: bye. festive colored Elan

Elan Vitalo:  Ciao, Qt!