Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

From left, Isa Stearns of Somerville, Mass., Nadia Friedler of Cambridge, Mass., Louisa Carpenter-Winch, of Cambridge, Mass., and Emma Munson-Blatt, of Cambridge, Mass, chant during the New England is known for its Yankee sensibilities, frugal living, and blue-blooded Brahmins. But last week, about two thousand women stripped down to their barely-theres and took to the streets of Boston for SlutWalk2011, to reclaim the word "slut" and promote awareness about rape and sexual assault.

The SlutWalk movement started in Toronto in January, after a police officer at an Osgoode Hall Law School campus safety session suggested that women can avoid being sexually assault by not dressing like "a slut."

The officer was disciplined, but not removed from the force. The incident triggered protests in Canada and sparked satellite movements in other cities, including New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia; the Boston SlutWalk rally was organized by Nicole Ouimette and Katt Schott-Mancini, both of whom are sexual-assault survivors. "We were fed up how rape was being treated in our society and our culture," Ouimette told the Metro newspaper.

The gas gauge in my car was hovering perilously close to "E" when I pulled into the cheapest gas station in my town the other day. About $59 later, I drove away with some major agita, remembering the times when I'd budget $15 a week to fill up my little car's tank because gas was about 98 cents a gallon.

Those days are long gone.

Consumers can expect gas prices to drop nearly 50 cents a gallon in June-but that may be little consolation to those who face long commutes every day. According to AAA, the average price of gas in the Unites States is currently $3.98, up from $2.89 a year ago. Gas prices have risen 91 cents since January 2011. And, since they usually peak mid-Spring as refiners switch to a more expensive blend (one that doesn't evaporate as quickly during the summer), prices will probably go even higher before they start to fall.

What's causing the high prices? Turns out that the price of oil is only one factor (and that can be affected by a whole host of things, from

When I was a teenager, good recommendations and up-to-date First Aid and CPR certifications were more than enough to get a babysitting job. But now? Not anymore.

Whether you're looking for a teenage "mother's helper" to play with the kids for an hour after school while you cook dinner, or you want an adult to help you with the kids while you're at the office, these days you need to do more than grab a scrap of paper pinned to a bulletin board at the supermarket. There are services like Care.com and SitterCity.com that screen caregivers and allow you to search for those in your area, but once you've found a few prospective babysitters, you still have to interview them yourself. Sittercity.com has a great checklist of questions to ask; here are the 20 we think are most important:

1. Why do you want to babysit? "Because I need money" may be an honest answer, but it's not a good one. Ideally, the candidate will say that he or she enjoys working with children.
2. What experience

Sketchers is marketing their new Shape-up toning shoes to girls. (Photo: Sketchers.com)Studies already show that trendy toning shoes like Skechers Shape-ups-which have rounded or unstable soles that are supposed to help the wearer burn more calories by increasing "muscle activation"-don't really work. You might feel a bit of a burn while your body adjusts to your wonky balance, but you don't burn many more calories and you don't get more exercise just by wearing them.

But Skechers is still marketing the same type of toning shoe-and the same fitness claims. This time, however, they're not targeting women who want to look like Kim Kardashian in a sexy Super Bowl ad. They're targeting little girls.

The upbeat, animated commercials are airing on kid-centered TV stations such as Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. They show slim, confident girls rocking out in their Shape-ups and being followed around by surly, slack-jawed boys dressed up in junk-food costumes.

Former California Goveror Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, in Los Angeles on February 18, 2011. The couple just announced that they are separating after 25 years of marriage. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/FilmMagic/Getty Images) When Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that they were separating after 25 years of marriage, some wondered if politics had anything to do with it-not just because the two are firmly planted on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but because of the complications that come with being the wife of a famous politician.

Michelle Obama put her legal career on hold to support her husband in his efforts, and has been candid about the compromises she made in her personal and family life in order to be first lady. Hillary Rodham Clinton put her own political aspirations on hold-some might say unsuccessfully-while her husband rose through the political ranks. The stresses of political life led Betty Ford and Kitty Dukakis down the road to addiction. Would it be a surprise if politics were the home wrecker here?

Shriver is no stranger to life in the political limelight: Her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics and was the sister of former U.S.

New research shows that the childhood autism rate may be much higher than previously thought-1 in 38, up from 1 in 110-but it doesn't necessarily mean that autism is on the rise.

The latest study, published Monday in The American Journal of Psychiatry, followed children in a middle-class South Korean city for six years and found that 2.6 percent of children age 7 to 12 in the city of Goyang had some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

"That is two-and-a-half times what the estimated prevalence is in the United States," one of the study's authors, Roy Richard Grinker, a professor of anthropology at George Washington University, told NPR. "Two-thirds of the children with autism that we ended up identifying were in mainstream schools, unrecognized, untreated."

According to the National Institutes of Health, "Autism is a complex developmental disability that causes problems with social interaction and communication. Symptoms usually start before age three and can cause delays or problems

Most of us know how to read between the lines when we're looking through real estate listings-"cozy" is usually code for small, "antique" often means that the home needs work. But when it comes to job hunting, there are codes to crack in those listings as well.

There's a difference between "familiar" vs. "proficient" and "required" vs. "desired," points out Maria Stein, director of career services at Northeastern University. You need to figure out what the employer really wants before you can decide whether you should apply for the job-and that can be tough when you don't know the jargon. Here's a guide to decoding job listings.

• If you have command of a skill, software, or task, it means that you are very experienced with it-so much so that you could teach it to someone else.
• When an ability, education level, or skill is desired, the company is looking for something in particular, but may be willing to consider a candidate who does not have it, especially if the candidate is

Royal bridesmaid Eliza Lopes, 3, holds a bright pink wiggle worm in the official royal family photograph taken after Prince William married Kate Middleton last week. (Photo: Hugo Burnand/Clarence House-WPA Pool/Getty Images)While Prince William's goddaughter Grace van Cutsem stole the show with her famous frown on the balcony of Buckingham Palace last week, another tiny royal bridesmaid, 3-year-old Eliza Lopes, had a little help getting ready for her closeup.

In the official family photograph from Prince William and Kate Middleton's lavish royal wedding, the little girl can be seen clutching a fuzzy, neon-pink "wiggly worm."

It stands out in stark contrast to her white silk dress but, according to her grandmother, Duchess of Cornwall (a.k.a. Camilla Parker Bowles), people have only just noticed it-and it's too late to do the photos over.

"Did you see the wiggly worm? That was the funniest thing," she told the Daily Mail. "I can't believe no one has spotted it."

The toy was a gift from her step-uncle, Prince Harry, who gave it to her when she was startled by the roar of the crowd during the carriage ride after the wedding. The scared toddler saw it and started to laugh-and then refused to give it back.