Oh dear:

The widespread tendency in Brazil for men to remarry women several decades younger–called the “Viagra effect”–is undermining the country’s pension system, researchers warned Tuesday.

The report, by Brazil’s National Social Security Institute, showed that a trend of men in their 60s marrying women half their age was leaving a big pool of young widows collecting benefits for much longer than anticipated.

“The social security system was planned so that the wife receives her husband’s pension for only 15 years or so. With growing life expectancy and remarriages with much younger women, benefits today stretch out over 35 years,” said the author of the study, Paulo Tafner.

For those who’ve been following the debate, here’s the update: Quebec retreats on plans to tighten abortion rules.

Quebec’s Health Minister is under fire for a proposal to tighten rules for private abortion clinics, forcing him to retreat on the politically volatile issue amid calls for his resignation.

Clinics threatened to close and others protested after Quebec said it would impose stringent new guidelines on them.

The guidelines, contained in a new law, would subject the private abortion clinics to the same standards as clinics that perform procedures such as cataract or hip-replacement surgery. Critics say the move would be costly and create a less welcoming environment for patients.

But of course. Abortion is an essential health service, they say. Just not one that requires the same kind of stringent rules as, say, health clinics that remove bits of unwanted tissue from some people’s eyes. It’s all perfectly clear.

And you know who you are, you beautiful women you. That’s not just me saying it, it’s actual science:

However, it’s not just the propensity of attractive women to have more kids that is pumping beautiful genes into the female pool. The fairer among us also tend to conceive more daughters than sons. In a government-backed study of 15,000 Americans, the most good-looking couples were 26 per cent less likely to have boys. Evolutionary psychologists Alan Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa explain this trend in in their 2007 book Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters. In part, the sex of a child is dependent, they argue, on the traits its parents have that are most beneficial to survival. And because being good-looking is a more significant factor in the reproductive success of women than men, it follows that pretty people would have more girls.

OK, now I’m ready for a study that says smarter people are more likely to have boys. Wouldn’t that start a nice fight?

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Véronique – who has 4 very good looking daughters –  is glad to be improving the gene pool. It was nothing at all. Really. You are all welcome.

A study just for me:

Women who drink moderate amounts of beer may be strengthening their bones, according to Spanish researchers.

Their study of almost 1,700 women, published in the journal Nutrition, found bone density was better in regular drinkers than non-drinkers.

But the team added that plant hormones in the beer rather than the alcohol may be responsible for the effects.

Experts urged caution, warning that drinking more than two units of alcohol a day was known to harm bone health.

Me, I like to share a beer with hubby before dinner, and have a small sip of red wine during dinner. I think I’ll keep it up. Cheers!

Remind me again why we’re in Afghanistan? Oh right. So we can make sure only nice moderates like this one are in power:

A controversial bill that Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised to review before implementing quietly became law last month, allowing police to enforce language that stipulates a wife’s sexual duties and restricts a woman’s ability to leave her own home.

Karzai had promised to send the bill to parliament before it was published, but this week women’s rights advocates learned it had already become an enforceable law despite heavy international and national criticism.

The Shiite Personal Status Law which applies to the country’s minority Shiite women, was originally even more pernicious than the final version. In March a western embassy translated a portion of the law as defining a woman’s role as “readiness for sex and not leaving the house without the husband’s permission.”

A campaign I can get behind:

LONDON- Hairy hunks who love skimpy swimming trunks, beware! A British theme park wants you to cover up and think about getting a wax job.

Alton Towers, which boasts rollercoaster rides, hotels and a waterpark, has banned male visitors from wearing tiny swimming trunks and is considering a waxing service for hirsute men.

The park said it banned the tight and tiny trunks on the grounds that they are “not deemed public or family friendly.”

“We are also looking into offering complimentary male waxing, which will ensure we preserve the dignity of all our guests,” Sales and Marketing Director Morwenna Angove said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

A woman who tied a plastic bag around her newborn son’s head until he died gets a conditional sentence that includes 18 months of house arrest. A man guilty of leaving an elderly man with Parkinson’s in his own feces while spending his money just got 12 months in prison.

Why? I do not in any way want to suggest that elder abuse is not criminal and serious. But isn’t killing a newborn baby worse?

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Rebecca is a cynic: Seniors can vote.

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Brigitte is not to be outdone: Actually, I was thinking that many judges are awfully close to being seniors themselves.

Hillary Clinton snapped: “My husband is not secretary of state, I am.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgF_PZg3EwY&feature=player_embedded]

Part of me is quite amused (I’m no fan of the Clintons). But a smaller part of me is sympathetic to her as well. On the whole, I think she reacted just right. You?

Hey, narrating a book is hard…

Jennifer Aniston has won a parenting award – despite having no children.

The Marley and Me actress and her father John were handed the iParenting Media Award in the 2009 Outstanding category for Loukoumi’s Good Deeds, the book they both narrate.

The tome is based on author Nick Katsoris’s cleaning woman Daisy, who worked with him for years and who gave him some gold cufflinks because he always said “good morning” to her.

The story follows the good deeds of Loukoumi the lamb and her friends Gus the Bear, Fistiki the Cat, Dean the Dog and Marika the Monkey.

Jennifer voices Daisy on the CD of the novel, which was released with the tome in April.

I love Hollywood.

Oh dear. Mature female politician uses her own cleavage to get attention during electoral campaign.

Vera Lengsfeld, a member of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), came under fire after she unveiled a campaign poster showing herself and the chancellor in low-cut dresses with the slogan “We have more to offer” over Merkel’s breasts.

Lengsfeld defended herself, saying, “I can never get this sort of attention with flyers”.

If I were the praying type, I’d ask God to make people pay attention to flyers some more. Pretty please?