Headlines; Catalan midsummer madness; Arctic ice; & 2 jokes.

Headline Snippets

Spain's minimum age for marriage raised to 16: This is probably just as well, as the age of consent was also recently raised from 13 to 16. Early alliances were apparently once 'a hallmark' of the gypsy community, but this is now said to have been 'largely' abandoned.

Spain is one of Europe's safest countries: Safer than ever, apparently. Details here.

Spain to accept just a third of its EU migrant quota: It's not alone in its parsimony, I suspect. 'Solidarity' here tends to be one-way.

The Mother of All Storms Builds Over Cataluña’s Independence: See next para.

Don Quijones, of Wolf Street, provides this succinct (and valid) overview of the independence issue: For the last six months, tensions between Madrid and Barcelona seemed to have subsided, as most of the attention of Spanish government, the media, and the public was diverted by the seemingly unstoppable rise of the anti-austerity party Podemos. Now it seems that what first appeared as reduced tensions between Madrid and Spain’s north-eastern province was merely the calm before the mother of all storms. . . . If the pro-independence coalition wins a majority of seats in September’s elections, it has pledged that it will unilaterally declare national independence within six months. . . . If the tensions between Madrid and Barcelona are not dampened soon, they have the very real potential to reverberate far beyond Spanish borders. There's a lot me more on this ding-dong here.

In the 3 years 2010-2012, the Arctic pack ice lost 14% of its volume. But in the year 2012-3, it gained 41%. I blame it all on man-made global warming. But am still a tad confused. Some say it's just a blip in a long-term trend of reducing ice but you can't help wondering, can you? Time, as ever, will surely tell. If we live that long.

Finally . . . Here's a good joke sent to me by my friend Dwight, plus my elder daughter's equally good response:MM

My wife’s left me because I’m too arrogant.

I told her to close the door on her way back in.

My husband left me because I'm neurotic.

I told him to remember to lock the door behind him with all three locks, not just the top one.  

It's in the genes. Though I should admit we've never done the blood or DNA tests. So, it' possibly Nurture.