Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

You're never too young to become a viral sensation. Thank you, internet for that valuable lesson. In 2012, you didn't have to have a lot of babies to know a lot of babies. Here are the newbs we couldn't stop talking about all year long.

Linda Hegg can't remember how she ended up in a homeless shelter three months ago. (AP)
You are Linda Hegg. Your home state is Delaware. You have a degree in linguistics and served time in the military. You are the subject of a three-month missing persons search and it's time to go home.

Missing woman joins search for herself

If someone told you this, it would sound as foreign and unreliable to you as it did to the 56-year-old woman living in a Toronto homeless shelter. Only for Linda Hegg it was true.

Three months ago, she arrived at a Canadian shelter with $20, a paper bag stuffed with shredded paper, and only the knowledge of her first name. Who she was and how she got there was as much a mystery to case workers as it was to Hegg herself.

On Tuesday, Toronto police pieced together Hegg's identity with the help of concerned family members and an anonymous web sleuth, who linked Hegg's online trails to the missing persons report. Hegg, a former Naval Officer, had traveled to Canada by bus with an expired passport, according to the Toronto Star, and

If you're not part of their inner-circle, the private moments of Kate Middlton and Prince William's marriage are best left to imagination--or photographer Alison Jackson. For the past two years, Jackson has been staging royal scenarios, with the help of a camera and some very convincing lookalikes. There's the photo shoot of faux Will proposing ('marry me' is scrawled on his chest), and another of fake Kate taking a pregnancy test in a bathroom. Jackson's work, which hangs in galleries from London to Los Angeles, satirizes the public's insatiable hunger for royal insight, and meditates on "voyeurism, on the power and seductive nature of imagery, and on our need to believe," according to her website.

Even if you know her royal images are fake (her debauched Harry shots are pretty spot on), it's hard not to imagine 'what if'? What if we had access to more princely private moments? What if we really knew how Kate and Will reacted to the baby news, how they spent their holidays, how

Uggs just got uggier. I thought we had this thing under control. Kate Hudson wasn't wearing them with jean shorts anymore, and most had accepted that the foot couches were best suited for red-eye flights and winter dog-walking. Then I landed on Ugg's homepage and was almost blinded by the new holiday shoe arrivals. Sparkles! Zebra prints! 40% more sheep fur! The Ugg elves have been hard at work creating party-time nightclub boots guaranteed to triple the width of your feet for the Christmas season. Ugh.

Before the New Year has even begun, proposals to ban everything from assault weapons to vaccines are in the works for 2013. But as 2012 has proven, no ban goes down without a fight. This past year, everything from baby bottles and baggy pants, to buffet binges and bare bums have been subject to controversy. Online, in schools, and in courtrooms, new rules gave way to both progress and setback, both praise and outrage. If nothing else, a few bans just made us laugh. --Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

As the victim count rose by Friday afternoon, the President held back tears in addressing the families of both the victims and the survivors, whose "innocence has been torn away from them too early." Throughout the day, images of children in shock outside the school were projected on television, at the same time as ethical questions were raised about the process of interviewing young witnesses. Here is a collection of accounts, published in major news outlets, gathered from children who saw

An eBay seller is asking $2,500 in exchange for a Furby and a little help. With Christmas just days away, it's not surprising that the sticker price for this holiday's hottest toy is skyrocketing. Still, $2,500...for a Furby?

This year's hottest holiday toy

The priciest individual listing for the doll on eBay costs $2,450 more than the original retail price. What makes this particular cross-eyed robot so special: the seller.

Beneath Cheri Cisneros' headline—"FURBY BLACK INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC TOY 2012 NEW GREAT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!"—there is an explanation for the staggering four digits.

"I am in the end stage of lung disease, and waiting for the call saying they have a donor transplant ready for me," reads the description. "As I wait I cannot work and am in bed as my function is 12% at this point. Insurance has the surgery covered but in the meantime I am drowning in debt. If you are blessed and can help me out, please make an offer on my Furby."

The dangers of holiday toys

In 2004, Cisneros was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary