Dr. Phil vs Britney Spears

Britney Spear's parents reportedly feel that Dr. Phil is a heartless, self-serving leech who is using Brittany's suffering for his own gain. They apparently came to this conclusion as Dr. Phil told his audience he will soon do a show around Britney. He had visited her in a hospital and the Spears family's representative, Lou Taylor blasted Dr. Phil on the "Today" show saying at no time had the Spears family agreed to do such a show. Taylor is angry that Dr. Phil, who visited Britney at the family's request, made public statements about the private affair.

Ringo Starr Headlines Liverpool Capital of Culture

Before a crowd of at least 40,000 or more, Ringo Star belted out his latest single "Liverpool 8". With a little help from his friends, ex-Beattle, Ringo Starr returned home Friday to kickstart Liverpool's year in the spotlight as a European Capital of Culture. He joined Eurythmics frontman, Dave Stewart in headlining a huge outdoor concert featuring around 600 local musicians, acrobats and children performing from rooftops and on contruction cranes - a symbol of the industrial city's regeneration.

Dow Jones

The Dow Jones index posted the worst fourth quarter since l987. Wall Street ended a painful year with another steep loss as investors glumly anticipated that 2008 would bring more of the uncertainty and turbulence of 2007. The Dow Jones industrials fell 101 points. The index posted its worst fourth quarter drop in 20 years, amid billion dollar losses at the world's biggest financial companies and falling spending by consumers whose budgets have been crimped by record high oil prices and declining home prices. Hopefully 2008 will be better.

Venezuela Changes Currency

Venezuela is launching a currency with the new year, cutting off three zeros from denominations in a bid to simplify finances and boost confidence in a money that has been losing value due to high inflation. President Hugo Chavez's government says the strong bolivar will make daily transactions easier and cure some accounting headaches. Officials also said it is part of a broader effort to contain rising prices and strengthen the economy. Prices have risen as Chavez has pumped increased amounts of the country's oil income into social programs, reinforcing his support among the poor and helping to drive 8.4 percent economic growth in 2007.

Global Warming Thawing Arctic

There is more to the idea that man-made global warming, alone, is causing the Arctic to melt. It is more alarming to learn there is a natural cause too that may account for much of the recent Arctic melting. There is a cyclical increase in the amount of energy in the atmosphere that moves from south to north around the Arctic Circle. This energy transfer, which comes from storms that head north because of ocean currents, is not acting alone according to scientists who have been studying this. They think it is a combination of this energy transfer increase and man-made global warming that serves like a one-two punch that is pushing the Arctic over the edge. These scientists are trying to figure out why the Arctic is melting faster than computer models predicted. The summer of 2007, like the summer of 2005, smashed all records for loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and ice sheet in Greenland.

Warner Music Allows Amazon.com to Sell songs

Warner Music Group has been a major holdout on selling music online without copy protection. But they have given in to the growing trend and agreed to sell its tunes on Amazon.com Inc's digital music store. Until now, they have resisted offering songs by its artists in the MP3 format, which can be copied to multiple computers and burned onto CD's without restriction and played on most PCs and digital media players, including Apple Inc's iPod and Microsoft Corps.'s Zune.Warner Music's entire catalog, including work by artists Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Sean Paul, will be added to the site throughout the week.

Rose Parade and Rose Bowl

Today is the big Rose Bowl Parade and it is always a beauty. I don't know how they manage to make all those floats out of rose petals and other seeds,etc. It is quite a job but they do a beautiful job of it. They were afraid the Santa Ana winds would hurt the parade but it didn't seem to, which was a very good thing. It is always so enjoyable to watch. We lived there 9 years and never went to see it in person. One of those regrets you have that you can't change.