Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

In my estimation there should be some kind of award designed for people who eat at The Cheesecake Factory and don't order a cheesecake for dessert. But The annual Xtreme Eating Awards, a not so figure flattering list released annually by the nonprofit Center for the Science in the Public Interest, some seemingly healthy entrees from the chain has more calories than that slice of the most decadent oreo cheesecake you've been drooling over. Lets look at what you've been ordering versus what you've been missing.

The new Mango Creme cookie from Girl Scouts of America

Ever wondered why we can't make more cookies that are good for us? Here's why: They come with a price, or rather a patent. 

Girl Scouts, an organization that boasts the world's three best fund-raising tools (Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs) recently introduced its latest treat: Mango Crèmes with NutriFusion™. Note the TM. That's where the problems begin.

Girl Scout cookie boxes: the evolution

In an attempt to give Girl Scout cookies a healthy makeover, ABC Bakers--Girl Scout's official pastry think tank--concocted a "tropical-inspired" sandwich cookie doused in vitamins. Make that vitamin product. Critics are crying foul over the new cookie's added nutritional element: NutriFusion. Not only is that the name of an ingredient, it's the name of a company behind a "scientific process that…when added to foods and beverages, supercharges their nutritional value," so says the company website.

"NutriFusion is the latest in manufacturers' attempts at making junk food healthier,"

Welcome back, Bachelor compatriots. If you watched last night's episode you already know that buildings were jumped from, vampire teeth were worn, pranks were had at an innocent person's expense, yoga instructors bowed out, and two people you'd never seen until the last five minutes of the show got sent home. What you may have missed is all the the weird stuff that happened in between.

--Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

Carrie Bradshaw: Then and Now (HBO/CW)"I'm worried," writes a real person on a fake Carrie Bradshaw Facebook page. "I loved Sex and the City sooooo Muchhh.... I have no Idea how I'm gonna feel about this...."

We are all worried, dear soul, after spending more than a decade falling asleep to episodes of "Sex and the City" on HBO, TBS and DVD, memorizing every minute detail of the alternate universe of Manhattan--where it's always springtime, limos are always pulling up on abandoned streets not in search of prostitutes, and hot strangers are always saying things like "have dinner with me!" If a single hole is poked in the already improbable math of "Sex and the City," what will we believe? Enter "The Carrie Diaries," the new prequel series to the original HBO hit, and a sharp thorn in the side of Bradshaw loyalists.

No really: people are in hysterics over "The Carrie Diaries," (Mondays at 8pm EST on the CW), a one-hour soap tracing the origin of Carrie Bradshaw through her teen years. Sure it's based on author

Betty plus Walter equals true love. (Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review)After nearly nine decades of being single, Betty Jane Allshouse had no shame about her Valentine's Day plans. She was moving into Masonic Village, a retirement community in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. And yes, she was doing it alone.

The 88-year-old had probably heard all the smug platitudes about love throughout her life: it happens when you least expect it, it's all about timing, you never know.

Growing up in an era before single women redefined the meaning of success, she probably also was familiar with the term "old maid".

"It didn’t bother me being single when I was younger, but all my friends were married," Betty told Yahoo! Shine in a phone interview from her room in the Pennsylvania retirement home. "It's not like I didn't date—I had plenty of boyfriends but they didn’t propose."

Betty may have been old-school when it came to proposals, but her independence also meant she was ahead of her time in the workplace. She was a life-long employee at

This week, menswear designers took a giant step for all mankind. Now they might want to take a few baby steps back. The London Men's Collection, a week-long preview of cutting edge collections for the Fall/Winter 2013-2014 season, is supposed to offer a glimpse into the future of menswear. Instead it was a harbinger of a fashion apocalypse. Wooden face barricades, toxic waste jumpsuits, and strapless dresses worn by dour male pixies. Ladies, meet your new stylish man. He's your worst nightmare and he knows it.

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)Is coming to you via home delivery of The New York Times this weekend. An eleven-page in depth feature about Lindsay Lohan's onset drama in this week's magazine section, was released online in its entirety Wednesday.

I laughed, I cried, I understood momentarily why Lohan may be the greatest Hollywood star alive. Writer Stephen Rodrick provides a gripping all-access glimpse into the sordid filming of "The Canyons," an upcoming movie starring Lohan and porn star James Deen. The film itself, directed by the frightening Paul Schrader (he wrote "Taxi Driver") is based on a Bret Easton Ellis script. But Rodrick's Times profile focuses on the behind-the-scenes story of movie-making with a uniquely talented, emotionally unstable actress who won't be ignored.

It begins with Lohan in negotiations for the part and ends with the screening of a film with a questionable future. What happens in between can only be fully absorbed by taking 30 minutes from your workday to read the entire article. For

Darwin gets used to his new home. (facebook.com/ikeamonkeydarwin)Up until a month ago, no one would believe a monkey in a shearling coat would shop at Ikea.

But ever since Darwin, the well-dressed rhesus macaque monkey, escaped from his human mom's parked car and entered a Toronto Ikea with the same panicked expression seen on humans at the furniture outlet, we've learned that nothing is impossible.

So what first-world problems is the Ikea monkey facing in 2013? There's an ugly custody battle, a new home with none of the luxuries of suburban life, and too many Facebook pages to keep track of.

"Hello world!!! Thanks for bringing me to Story Book Farm!! You all rock...I just wish I had a mommy to help me through these tough times!!" writes Darwin, or rather Darwin's Facebook "translator" at the animal sanctuary where the ten-month-old primate now resides.

After his traumatic Ikea appearance, Darwin was captured by animal services and ultimately brought to Story Book Farm, an Ontario sanctuary housing 23 other primates about an hour