EU27 will be different without UK; Brexit may be 'the new norm' on March 29, 2019

Theresa May became Prime Minister of the UK, more than 2.5 years ago. In her tenure, the English people believe that the economy in Britain could worsen if Brexit takes place. Brexit is the portmanteau of Britain and exit. The fundamental question is 'does the British government vote to exit the European Union?'; and May must lead the 2nd biggest economy in Europe during the current tough times. The top five economies in Europe based on GDP Annual Growth rate are Germany (21%), United Kingdom (15%), France (15%), Italy (11%), and Spain (8%). Currently, there are 28 countries in the European Union. The region minus the United Kingdom is referred to as 'EU27.' Next, Britain may leave the EU on March 29, 2019. European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger sees a slim hope that Britain's parliament will vote in favor of the Brexit agreement in January 2019. Theresa May has struck a withdrawal agreement with Brussels, as European Parliament (plus European Commission) is in accord with the UK government on their exit strategy. As for the British economy, the unemployment level in the UK is at the lowest level in 4 decades. The economy in UK is at a stronger risk of going into recession in 2019. In addition, there could be three grim factors of property prices falling, unemployment doubling and inflation spiking if there's 'no Brexit deal.' These three uneasy possibilities could lead to a long recession in the UK region. Another major idea is 'does no Brexit deal mean that the European Union could go into recession in 2019?' The following economies in Europe: Greece and Italy; are in a recession already. The current leaders: Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel of Germany; are promoting European unity amid the Brexit chaos. The two leaders are trying to bolster each other's countries to make a new budget in the Eurozone work. In closing, the author of this post has constructed three paragraphs of writing based on factual information for the simple reader. This final paragraph is a summary and forward thoughts for the reader to assimilate. Let's say the UK leaves the European Union on March 29, 2019. It will be towards the end of the first quarter of 2019, an additional thought is 'will the other economies of Europe be in recession or are the sister countries of EU producing normal GDP growth?' The author is trying to not see the future, or the next quarter's gdp growth in all economies of the EU in FY2019. Enjoy the picture above of the flags of EU countries. Ciao!!

Movies in December 2018 and Golden Globes preview 2019, from Hollywood G.

Back in October 2018, Hollywood G. saw 'First Man' movie in a theater with a good friend. They both thought the movie was worthy of Academy Award buzz. Instead, the movie has been nominated for 2 golden globe awards. Claire Foy depicts Neil Armstrong's wife in the movie, has garnered an Golden globe nomination for her role. 'First Man' is about Neil Armstrong and his journey to being one of the first men on the moon, along with Buzz Aldrin. The movie is based on a true story, and Ryan Gosling did a stellar job as Neil Armstrong. Back in November 2018, Hollywood G. saw 'Widows' movie and 'Fantastic Beasts 2.' Neither one of these movies is nominated for a golden globe. Widows is based on the TV show, from 1983 and 1985 that was shot in Britain. The movie is starring Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall. Other supporting actors/actresses are in the movie, and Academy Award winner Steve McQueen directed the heist thriller. Widows is a good flick, that is a mystery too. Fantastic Beasts and the crimes of Grindenwald is a good fantasy movie, starring Academy Award Winner Eddie Redmayne and multiple Academy Award nominee Johnny Depp. Two time academy award Nominee Jude Law; does a fine job in the movie also. In December 2018, Hollywood G. saw 'a star is born' and 'bohemian rhapsody' movies. 'A star is born' is directed by multiple Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper; and he plays one of the main roles. Lady Gaga is the main female role, and she does a great job in her first major movie appearance. Both people have been nominated for golden globe awards. The 2018 movie is a remake of four other versions (1937 movie, 1954 musical, 1976 rock musical, and 2013 Bollywood romance). The 2018 movie has received five total golden globe nominations. Next, 'Bohemian rhapsody' was on the list. This movie has brought many people to see it, as it is the true story of Freddie Mercury and Queen. Rami Malek does an incredible job, of portraying Freddie Mercury aka Farrokh Bulsara. Mike Myers makes a cameo in the movie, and Tom Hollander is the cool Jim 'Miami' Beach; former manager of Queen. The film is based in Great Britain, and USA plus it is nominated for 2 golden globes. Lastly, Clint Eastwood directed 'the mule' and he plays the lead role. Bradley Cooper is the main enforcer, and Michael Pena is his assistant. Both of them find a way to arrest Clint, in the true story of Leonard Sharp. 'The Mule' is based on the true story of Leonard Sharp, and how he was arrested for helping the Sinaloa drug cartel. The movie is doing well in the box office, and Clint deserves an Academy Award nomination. The 88 year old Eastwood has won Oscars for 'Unforgiven' and 'Million Dollar baby' movies. 'Vice' is the next movie for Hollywood g. to see. This flick is about Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and other politicians in the George W. Bush presidency. The movie is mostly a biopic on Dick Cheney, the vice president of the US. Richard Cheney is played by Christian Bale; Amy Adams plays Lynne Cheney; dick's wife. Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell plays George W. Bush; Tyler Perry is Colin Powell; and academy award nominee Steve Carrell plays Donald Rumsfeld. This flick has received six nominations at the Golden Globes. The golden globes 2019 is called 'Hollywood's biggest party'; and it is the precursor to the academy awards 2019 (February 24, 2019). Enjoy the picture of 'The Beverly Hilton' hotel; in Beverly Hills, CA. This spot is the host of the Golden Globes 2019; on January 6, 2019. The legendary Hilton hotel is on Hollywood G.'s must see Hotel list.

New adventures of G. Ripley for the December

YO, this is Rahulio. I mix the flow with my buddy, Sohanny Punato. Sohanny Punato is the smooth Puget Sound grad, who likes to drink coors light. He came into scotts today. Scotts is short for scottsdale. Then, my homie Nalino told me that I need to write on the weblog today. Ok, the flows stop. Today, G. Ripley is back with a new story. After hitting twin peaks in north scotts, best buy was the next stop to make that PC transaction. A new laptop perhaps HP or Asus; would be my transaction. At this point, it is time for me to get rid of my current HP. HP is known for making waves with Meg Whitman, and Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. A little 411 for you, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded HP in 1939 in their own garage. Meg Whitman was the CEO of HP for a while, back in the 2000s decade. She made her money as Ceo of Ebay too, back in 1998-2001. She tried to run for governor of CA, but she lost in 2010. Meg Whitman is my segue for this moment in time. As 2018 ends, some of us buy technology. As my buddy in Beantown Ajay Greenleaf knows; people buy something huge before the year ends. Why do we make new year's resolutions anwyays? In this post, you learned how G. Ripley likes to spend money but the janata (public) must have learned something else too. I gave you the history of HP (hewlett packard), and I spoke about Boston too. Janata is a hindi word for public. The janata knows what we all say, but the janata has to accept it too. In 2019, will the US go through recession or will we see the impeachment of President Donald Trump? Maybe, the stock market will see Dow 30 K. I doubt the stock market (NYSE) hitting 30,000 is possible. The trump bump on nyse, nasdaq; is over. No joke. In these two major paragraphs, look at what you may have absorbed. Life is replete with suprises, and what the janata makes of it. Remember to be resilient. It is what we do as humans. Sixteen years ago, G. Ripley was in Palomino with Ajay Greenleaf. Palomino was a westwood, CA restaurant but it closed in 2017. The restaurant was a place that served great Italian food. Remember life is short. In my final 17 days, I have to make the transaction. Hope it is HP or ASUS or samsung, as my samsung galaxy s8 has been great product for me. I owned a samsung camera from 2010-2016, and a have a samsung tv too. Au revoir mes amis! Long live the Internet and the netizens (a portmanteau of network and citizens). Happy New Year and Merry Christmas!!! Netizens is a term that I learned in 1999, when G. Ripley lived in the NOVA (northern virginia).

Entrepreneur Michael Dell continues to build his companies: Dell, Dell EMC, VMware, and MSD Capital

Michael Dell is an entrepreneur, who started Dell Computer in 1984 from his college dorm room in Austin, TX. More than three decades later, his company is Dell Technologies and it consists of Dell; Dell EMC; and VMware. Dell is in the top 3 companies for PC sales, as of the third quarter 2017. Dell Technologies is based in Round Rock, TX. Dell EMC is a multinational company that was formed, when Dell and EMC merged in 2016-2017. The company is based in Hopkinton, MA. VMware is a subsidiary of Dell EMC, a large computer data storage company. Dell's net worth is close to $21 billion, which places him among the 50 richest people in the world. Next, Dell Technologies stock symbol is DVMT and the company's market cap. is close to $15 billion. Dell has his own private investment firm, MSD Capital. This company manages the wealth and assets of Michael Dell. Besides investing and owning technology companies, Dell has a vast real estate empire. Dell owns high price real estate properties in NYC, Boston, and Hawaii. Dell's huge excitement about technology, big passion for learning, and great amount of curiosity have brought him a plethora of success. Dell continues to look at opportunities in technology, and philanthropy. For Dell, it is about building strong customer relationships and good operations to be the best. Finally, he has made mistakes and he has learned from them. Dell is big into finding that opportunity to make a difference. Enjoy the picture above of the Dell logo. Good day!

90th Oscars ceremony had no repeat mishaps of 2017 telecast

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 90th Academy Awards with an impressive monologue. Within the first few minutes, Mr. Kimmel addressed last year's major mishap of 'Moonlight' winning best picture over 'La La Land.' It was quite hilarious, and Helen Mirren presented a jet ski for the person which gave the shortest winner's speech. By the way, there was no clear winner of the jet ski at the end of the night. As for the big winners last night, there was not a major landslide. The 'Shape of Water' movie won four out of 13 awards. Best Picture, Best Director (Guillermo del Toro), Best Original Music score, and Best Production Design were the accolades that the movie won. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won for best supporting actor (Sam Rockwell) and best actress (Frances McDormand). Allison Janney won best supporting actress for her stellar performance, in 'I, Tonya.' Gary Oldman won best actor for his impressive performance as Winston Churchill, in 'The Darkest Hour.' Then, there were other big movies that won equally important awards like 'Get Out'; 'Dunkirk;' and 'Blade Runner 2049.' It would have been great to see 'Dunkirk' win best picture, but the movie won three awards for sound mixing; sound editing; and film editing. In terms of TV ratings, the 90th Academy awards show was watched by 20% fewer viewers than last year's show. The show last 230 minutes, or 10 minutes short of 4 hours. This timeframe means it's like you are watching the super bowl, but with ads that don't cost $5 million for 30 seconds. There were some funny parts, of the show outside of Kimmel's monologue. If your speech went over 2 minutes, Kimmel mentioned that there would be a black man yelling 'get out' for you to finish. Instead of Casey Affleck presenting the best actress award, two talented academy award winners (Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster) presented the award to Frances McDormand. This move by the Academy was the right one indeed. All in all, the show was a good one. Kudos to ABC! Enjoy the picture above of Sam Rockwell, Frances McDormand, Allison Janney, and Gary Oldman. Good night everyone.

Donald Trump is at the bottom of the Presidential Greatness Survey. How low can he go?

Well, Donald Trump has been POTUS for thirteen long months unfortunately. He has one big accomplishment to his name, and it's a so called huge tax cut. About 30 days ago, the government shutdown happened for 48 hours. Obamacare was not reformed, as Trump had promised to many American people. The list of President Trump's mistakes could go on for another hour or two. Let's get to the gist of this story, regarding the 2018 Presidents and Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey. The survey is supposed to rate the 45 presidents of this country, from a scale of 0-100 for overall greatness. The score of 0 is an absolute failure, while 50 is average and 100 is extremely great. The president that received the highest score is Abraham Lincoln. George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman and Dwight Eisenhower received spots #2 through #7 on the list. The seven greatest presidents were the same people, when this survey was completed in 2014. What did Donald Trump score on this list? He is dead last on this list. Trump ranked 40th out of 45 among Republicans and conservatives. Former commander-in-chief, Barack Obama, came in at 8th. Ronald Reagan came in at 9th, and Bill Clinton is 13th on this latest survey. For Donald Trump, this survey means that he should stop tweeting his ideas on twitter. Trump needs to realize that more than 85% of the news about him is true, and not 'fake news' as he loves to call it. Also, Trump should release his tax returns from the past six years to show the American public that he is not 100% corrupt. Political science professors Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston, and Justin S. Vaughn of Boise State University conducted this survey. These professors probably took into account the fact that Trump's federal staff employees have lost their job, or decided to resign in huge numbers. Most of Donald Trump's approval ratings polls have shown numbers under 50%, which means this presidential greatness survey could be right on the money. Finally, Trump continues to see Robert Mueller's special counsel indict more suspects in a way to prosecute the President eventually. It would be great to see Trump being impeached this year, as he continues to declare there was no collusion from the White House in the past 18 months. If Trump is to present himself in front of Mueller for further questioning, it could lead to impeachment hearings. Let's see if Mueller's special counsel can indict more people in the Trump scandals. Enjoy the picture from February 19, 2018, and the horrific face of Donald Trump. Good day and good night!

NBA 2018 trades and the midseason report

Today, NBA teams did some massive trades and the NBA season is past its midpoint. The top two teams in the NBA are the Golden State Warriors, and the Houston Rockets. Golden State has the best record in the Western Conference and the NBA, but by 1 game only on those great Rockets. Houston has won their past six games, and they could overtake the Warriors soon. In the eastern conference, Boston and Toronto are vying for the best record. The Celtics are only one game ahead of the Raptors, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in 3rd place in the East. The Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving, Isaiah Thomas, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, Dwyane Wade, and some other players to different teams in the past 5 months. The big question for the Cavaliers is whether Lebron James will stay with the team in Summer 2018. Next, the NBA All-Star game is on February 18 in Staples Center/Los Angeles. The Golden State Warriors need the all-star break to happen soon, as the team has lost three of their last four games. In other NBA related news, the NBA trade deadline ended a couple of hours ago. The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets did not trade any players. The Boston Celtics did not trade any players, but they don't have Gordon Hayward for this year. He tore his ACL earlier in the season, yet the Celtics continue to play like a really good playoff team without him. Marcus Smart was part of trade rumors, but he is staying with the Celtics. The Celtics seemed to have won the Kyrie Irving trade sweepstakes, as the Cavaliers are playing worse without their former all-star guard. Finally, what does the 2nd half of the NBA season have in store? The Warriors and Rockets will battle it out for first place, in the Western conference. With the Cleveland Cavaliers making a lot of trades in the NBA this year, let's hope they don't make the NBA finals in June. It would be great to see the Boston Celtics or Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals in June, from the eastern conference. Going back to the western conference, the Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors twice this year. The Rockets won the regular season series against the Warriors, because of their stifling defense. The Rockets need to have the better record than the Golden State Warriors, in the 2nd half of the season. Chris Paul and perennial mvp candidate James Harden will be hard to beat, in the playoffs. Many of my readers know that making sports predictions is not my forte, in all of my favorite sports. Hope the NBA western conference finals is Golden State vs. Houston, as it would be a fun series to watch. In closing, enjoy the picture of the NBA All-Star 2018 game above. All the NBA teams are probably looking forward to a much needed break, in a few days. As a huge fan of the NBA, the All-Star weekend is an exciting one because of the Slam Dunk contest; the 3 point shootout contest; and other fun events. Goodbye and hope the 2nd half of the nba season is as exciting, as the first half was.

Roger Federer wins sixth Australian Open title, and 20th major grand slam in Melbourne

The 2018 Australian Open ended earlier today with Roger Federer winning his 20th major grand slam title in Melbourne, against Marin Cilic in an epic five set thriller. Federer won his sixth title in seven finals, and he had not lost a set coming into the final. Roger won the first set (6-2), the third set (6-3), and the fifth set (6-1). He lost the 2nd set in a tiebreaker, and the 4th set (6-3). Roger was up 3-1 in the 4th set, and Cilic won the next five games to extend the match. Roger should have won the 4th set, but his serve was broken twice during that five game stretch. In the deciding set, Roger found another gear to close it out in seven quick games. This match was the second time that Marin Cilic and Roger Federer had played in a grand slam final, in consecutive years. Federer had beaten Cilic in three sets at the 2017 Wimbledon final. Cilic hung around with Roger in the fourth set, and Marin will move up to #3 in the world in the new ATP rankings on January 29. Roger will move within 200 points of Rafael Nadal, as his 20th major victory helped him to gain traction on Nadal's #1 ranking. Roger's serve was much better than his stats were, in his semifinal victory over Chung. Roger won that match in two shortened sets, as Chung retired in the 2nd set before it was over. Roger won the first set by 6-1, and was up 5-2 in the 2nd set before the match ended due to Chung's foot blisters. Lastly, Cilic's path to the final included a five set win over Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. Nadal retired in the fifth set, as he was down 2-0 before leaving the match with an right leg injury. Cilic beat Kyle Edmund in the semifinals in three sets, and Marin reached his third grand slam final in Melbourne. The Croatian has shown incredible consistency over the past 2 years in the grand slam finals. Both Federer and Cilic had the pleasure of playing, with some celebrities watching them in the final match. Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky were sitting courtside at the Australian Open final. The beautiful married couple are well known for their acting prowess. As this post ends, Roger Federer has won three of the past five Grand Slam tournaments. Hope he plays the French Open this year, as it would be good to see him in all four grand slam tournaments. Enjoy the picture above of Roger Federer and his new Australian Open trophy. His sixth trophy was another spectacular match, between two splendid players. Long live the Federer Express!

Why Taiwan is not considered an independent country by all nations?

Today's story is about the island nation of Taiwan, and the various reasons why China calls it as a state or territory. The capital of Taiwan is Taipei, and the Taipei 101 tower has served as an architectural icon for the country since 2005. Taiwan was my home for three years, from 1981-1984. Taiwan is called as Chinese Taipei, and the United Nations does not recognize Taiwan as a country. Taiwan's unemployment rate was 3.8% in 2017, and Electrical and Computer machinery are its top two exports. Taiwan has been independent of China since 1950, but do not mention this fact to most Chinese government officials. The Chinese government wants to keep Taiwan as a region, or state of China forever. Taiwan used to be called Formosa, and it is under the rule of Republic of China (ROC) in the Chinese constitution. Since 2013, over 67% of the Taiwanese population feel that the country should not unite with China. Almost 79% of the island population feel that they are Taiwanese, not Chinese. The official currency of Taiwan is the New Taiwan Dollar, and $1 is 30 Taiwan New Dollar (or NT). Could Taiwan go its own way or road, instead of being under Chinese unified rule? The country should pass an anti-secession law, but it could be many decades until this public opinion becomes a reality. Currently, the majority of the general public wants to maintain the status quo which is to be considered a region or state of China. More than 20 countries in different continents (North America, Asia, Africa, etc.) maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The political and legal status of Taiwan is called the 'Taiwan issue, or Taiwan problem.' In addition, the main language in Taiwan is mandarin Chinese. It is hilarious when people consider Taiwanese as a language. Heck, a few Chinese people have told me that Taiwanese is indeed a recognized language. This story's closing points is Taiwan should become an independent country, and hopefully this plan becomes a reality before 2050. The island nation of Taiwan may not be a very safe place, but the country has improved its economic status through major exports and a higher GDP in 2017. Taiwan is considered as one of the four Asian Tigers, and it is one of the largest supplier of computer chips in the world. Maybe, the flag of Taiwan will change its colors and symbols one day to be separated from China. The current flag of Taiwan shines brightly above.