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

Pit bulls have a reputation for being ferocious beasts, but deep down inside, many of them are just beefy sweethearts-and a good owner can bring out the best in them. Here's a gentle giant giving a little love to a baby cottontail rabbit, who seems to be tolerating the wash down pretty well.

I half expected the video to end with a Monty Python-esque homage to the killer rabbit and Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, but no. But in case you were hoping for that, too, here's the clip:

Now that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide.

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I had planned for a natural birth when I was pregnant with my first child. "Crunchy granola," my friends called it. My parents were alarmed (they pictured me laboring outdoors under a tree wearing beads and doused with patchouli, I think) but I was certain that my body already "knew" how to give birth-that's what it was designed to do, right?-and that all would be fine.

Still, I'm a pragmatic, don't-believe-everything-you-hear journalist who's always looking for the other side of the story, and so is my husband. And so we picked a birthing center that partnered with a well-equipped hospital right across the street. Just in case.

I practiced my breathing and attended the prenatal classes and wrote out my birthing plan and got ready for what I was sure would be a wonderful, albeit painful, life-affirming experience. I brushed off the uneasy feeling I got when the prenatal instructor chirped, "That rarely happens!" after I asked her about danger signs and complications. I'd soak in a

Read More »from Home birth vs. hospital birth: The debate rages on

Earning potential isn't the only thing you look at while searching for a job, so why should it be the main consideration when ranking what's already out there?

For their 2011 Jobs Rated Report, CareerCast took into account the physical and emotional work environment, potential for stress, physical demands, and the hiring outlook as well as the mid-level (not average) incomes in order to rank 200 U.S. jobs from best to worst. And it makes for some interesting, unpredictable results.

Because of high stress levels and low earning potential, teaching jobs, which have been in the news so much this year, placed squarely in the middle of the pack, in 100th place. School principals fared better, in 41st place, ranking higher than judges (54th) because even though judges earn tens of thousands of dollars more, principals have a better chance of actually finding a job.

What other jobs did CareerCast evaluate? Dentists (75th), mechanical engineers (62nd), and members of the clergy (68th) all

Read More »from The best and worst jobs in 2011

Thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to end childhood obesity and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's push to revolutionize school lunches, schools these days are much more focused on healthy eating-so much so that some of them are taking a closer look at what parents pack in their kids' lunchboxes.

But while the food choices seem much better than what they were when we were kids, the drink choices are pretty much still the same: white milk or chocolate milk, and maybe some sort of juice. What's still missing from the menu is water.

Part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed last year requires that clean water be easily available in schools. But the problem is that while water is available, there's often no way for kids to easily consume it during lunch.

Studies show that drinking water during the school day can help lower the risk of childhood obesity by as much as 30 percent. So what's preventing schools from offering it at lunch?

Money. Not only are disposable cups

Read More »from Why don't schools serve water to students during lunch?

Sarah Palin holds her infant son, Trig, as she stands on stage with her husband, Todd, during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 3, 2008. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)With billionaire businessman Donald Trump eying the White House (and taking second place in a recent Public Polling Survey of possible republican candidates), his resurrection of the Obama birth certificate controversy is shining a light on something GOP contender Sarah Palin would prefer to keep private: whether 2-year-old Trig is her biological son-or her grandson.

It's an issue that first came up days after Arizona Senator John McCain emerged as the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, and Palin was on the short list for the VP spot. In March 2008 Palin, then 44 and the governor of Alaska, announced to her shocked staff that, in spite of her barely-there belly and pre-pregnancy wardrobe, she was seven months pregnant with her fifth child. Trig was born, a month early, on April 18; McCain asked Palin to be his running mate in late August. The pregnancy-hoax rumor was squashed on September 1 by the McCain campaign's awkward announcement that Palin's teenage

Read More »from Sarah Palin's birther problem resurfaces: Was her pregnancy with Trig a hoax?

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama with Vice President Joseph Biden and Dr. Jill Biden just after launching This week, the White House launched a new initiative to support military families.

Spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden (a Blue Star mom herself), the goal of Joining Forces is to increase awareness of the role that military families are playing and to find ways to support military spouses, children, and veterans.

"This is about the responsibility that we each have to one another, as Americans," the First Lady said during Tuesday's launch of the program. "It's about the fact that... one percent of Americans may be fighting on our behalf, but 100 percent of Americans need to be supporting our troops and their families. This campaign is about renewing those bonds and those connections between those who serve and the rest of us who live free because of their service."

"This will help unify us as a country," Mrs. Obama said in an interview after the launch. "It's something we can all rally around, regardless of our political party or geographic area. It's an

Read More »from White House launches "Joining Forces" to support military families

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It's a speculum. And no, you can't get one at Walgreens. (Photo: Thinkstock)Not really, of course. But the folks at "Fox & Friends" seem to think so.

On Saturday, while deriding Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's defense of the services offered by Planned Parenthood, the male co-hosts let slip their cluelessness about-or perhaps their contempt for-women's health issues. Here's the exchange:

STEVE DOOCY: And the thing about it that was audacious was the fact that he [Reid] was talking about Planned Parenthood being this great provider where women can get blood pressure checks, and pap smears, and breast examinations...

BRIAN KILMEADE: Which you can get at Walgreens.

DOOCY: Exactly right.

The conservative confusion (should that be in quotes?) about what Planned Parenthood actually provides may have stemmed from a statement made last week by republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona.

"You don't have to go to Planned Parenthood to get your cholesterol or your blood pressure checked," Kyl said during the budget debate. "If you want an abortion, you go to Planned

Read More »from Pap smears at Walgreens?