Hong Kong and Macau, two affluent Chinese SARs'

Today’s piece/story will discuss Hong Kong and Macau. These two cities are two special administrative regions (SAR) of China. Both of these two regions are situated within the People's Republic of China. Both of them maintain separate legal, administrative and judicial systems from the rest of the country. Lastly, both of them have the highest degree of autonomy. Firstly, Hong Kong is the only SAR which G. Ripley has experienced. The city was a British territory until 1997, when the handover of Hong Kong went to China. The city has a population of 7.44 million residents. Hong Kong’s currency is the Hong Kong dollar, which is the ninth most traded currency in the world. Hong Kong’s official main script is traditional Chinese, while the two main languages spoken in HK are English and Cantonese. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong limited is based in Hong Kong, and it is the world’s fourth largest single stock market. Next, Macao is the name of the SAR in simplified Chinese while Macau is the Portuguese [or original] spelling. Macau was under Portuguese rule until 1999, when the handover to the Chinese happened. Its population is more than 620,000 residents; which is less than 10% of the population of HK. Macau’s currency is the Macanese pataca. Its official languages are Cantonese and Portuguese. The city is called ‘the Las Vegas of Asia’; as many well-known casino hotels like the Venetian and the Wynn are located in it. In contrast, Hong Kong is known as the ‘fragrant harbour’ and 'vertical city;' due to its density of skyscrapers. HK’s largest skyscraper is the International Commerce Centre, which is the ninth tallest building in the world measured by number of floors. This monolithic building stands at 488 m (1,588 ft). Hong Kong’s stock exchange is the world’s top IPO market for the 2nd consecutive year, passing the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Hong Kong ranks in the top 5 for global financial centers of the world, according to global financial centers index (GFCI). Hong Kong has two major theme parks: Universal Studios and Disneyland. Back to Macau, the city is in the top five for the title of ‘wealthiest territory on earth.’ With its population lower than 700,000 residents, the city is called as ‘the most densely populated territory on earth.’ Macau was the last European colony in China. The city’s vast restaurants are home to the world’s first fusion cuisine. Macau’s profitable casino industry accounts for 80% of its economy. It is the only place in China, in which gambling is legal. Recently, Hong Kong is a city replete with protests staged by different groups. These people of all ages are protesting against the city’s proposed extradition bill. Police and protesters are clashing in the streets, and even at Hong Kong international airport. Many people demand the scrapping of the proposed amendments to the extradition bill. In June 2019, police shot bullets and tear gas during one of the city’s largest and most violent protests in decades. Of the two SAR’s, Macau is considered to be the good kid by the Chinese government. Protests have escalated in HK, for more than six months of this year. As this story ends, tourism numbers in Hong Kong may decrease due to the rising political tensions. Are Hong Kong and Macau on your list of travel destinations to see? Enjoy the picture above of the skylines, of Hong Kong and Macau. Tchau!

How the company you keep can lead to a world replete with intelligence, and excellent motivational thoughts

For the past twenty five years, rahulio ganpuleone has immersed himself around highly intelligent people that make the right decisions in life and business. Today's story will touch on those last few words, and how the company you keep can lead one to happiness in business; life; industry selection; etc. Example #1: a young rsg is in high school in tempe, az; and he wants to work in information technology or computer engineering in his 20s and 30s. What happens next is the true story, of his life. A handful of his friends would attend Harvard; Princeton; Yale; etc for completing their undergrad. degrees. Then, his two best friends would find incredible jobs at Cornell and Columbia University in their late 20s and early 30s. If it were not for my friends attending these excellent academic institutions or working in NY state at other ivy league schools, I would not be motivated to succeed. When people around you succeed, it makes me want to strive for the best. It is the impetus or life changing force, that keeps a well oiled machine running/humming. Example #2: At the age of 23, an older and more matured RG1 meets his accomplice and great friend, P. Giddy. His real name is Pete, and he worked at Deloitte and Touche consulting. Working at one of the big four accounting/consulting firms can give one the travel/work life schedule that everyone desires. Some of the cities that PG traveled to: New York City; Milan; Paris; Miami; and Chicago. London would be a 2nd home for Pete, and he told me later that the UK is where the real money is. The real money is in London metals; and fashion plus investing in soccer teams also. This example defines the exact business success. Example #3: At the age of 36, RG works in a company called healthways that is trying to grow big in the health and wellness platform world. At this company, a man has 3 degrees and he grooms me to be his right hand man. For 13 months, it was too good to be true that he gave me a huge opportunity to refine my computer knowledge in databases; business intelligence; and reporting/analytics. Unfortunately, Richard B. left the company for a better offer. This departure led me to stay on at the firm for another ninety days; before a much better application support consulting offer arrived to sweep RG away. This final example speaks to the career industry selection in more ways than one. In closing, all three examples should lead the readers to understand that life is full of opportunities to succeed and fail. Failure is the last result that we think about, but it can happen. Do not think of failure as the end all, as it can be a blessing in a pristine manner. The advice RG has for any young career driven professional is to work hard; lead a diverse life; and take risks in your career at early stage. This wisdom is something that cannot be passed on from a mentor, to a coworker. Yet, it is learned in many shapes and forms. The true success or result in life is to work at great companies, and retire at the right time. For the the future, refine your skills in your field of interest/choice as it leads to pathways of innumerable beautiful fortunes (money; marriage; and retirement). Au revoir from the Indian g. Ripley, that has his hand in many knowledge bases. Enjoy the picture above and the message for measuring success.

LVMH acquiring Tiffany & Co. in $16 billion deal

Today, Bernard Arnault and his LVMH board have made an offer to Tiffany & Co. that is financially plausible. The financial acquisition could be valued close to $16-$17 billion, as Tiffany & Co. could join the LVMH group. Arnault is CEO of LVMH, which has its global headquarters in Paris. LVMH owns more than 20 different brands, that span high fashion; spirits; watches; expensive handbags; etc. LVMH stands for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy. Louis Vuitton is renowned for its handbags and other high-end fashionable clothing. In addition, Moet is part of Moet Chandon champagne and high end spirits. Hennessy is a popular French brandy distiller, that is known for its VSOP cognac. Sephora; Fendi; Belvedere Vodka; Christian Dior; and Bulgari are other well known brands in the LVMH portfolio. In contrast, Tiffany & Co. has its global headquarters in NYC and their stock price has increased by 50% year to date. Tiffany & Co. sells watches; fine china; crystal; fragrances; etc. Recently, LVMH acquired 50% of Fenty Beauty. Fenty Beauty was started in 2017 by Rihanna, the platinum selling musical artist from Barbados. Furthermore, Tiffany & Co. is known for its everyday blue gift boxes. Tiffany & Co. makes the Lombardi Tropy, for the winner of the NFL's Super Bowl championship game. If you are a basketball fan like me, Tiffany makes the Larry O'Brien championship trophy for the NBA finals winner. The company has ventured into the art world by designing sculptures; art collections; and furniture also. Breakfast at Tiffany's was a popular 1961 movie starring Audrey Hepburn, that has a portion of it filmed at an iconic Tiffany & Co. store. If you plan on getting married, you may want to have your bridal registry at a Tiffany and Co. store. As this decade ends, the future should shine bright on this merger of the two acclaimed brands. The last 2 centuries has seen a steady climb of sales, for both companies. Fashion has changed tremendously over the past two centuries, and today's retail world is calling the mall department store [Macy's; JCPenney; Dillard's] as obsolete. More people are buying products online, and Cyber Monday 2019 could be a huge sales day for both companies. In closing, the diamond is one of the best jewels in the world. Tiffany & Co.'s diamond necklace could be joining a new home, in LVMH group. LVMH stock is on the Milan, Italy stock exchange. TIF is the stock symbol for Tiffany & Co., which sits on the NYSE. Will TIF be delisted in 2020, if the merger passes the regulatory agencies in Europe and the USA? Au revoir from R$G, as the NYSE and other world markets will be trading in different directions on the ear of this sound financial news.

Is Brexit still happening?

Last month, Halloween happened but Brexit did not pass. The United Kingdom continues to be a member of the European Union. Is Brexit still happening? Britain will have a snap election on December 12, 2019. United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to break through, but the snap election could be a major gamble for Johnson. Delivering Brexit has been unfeasible. Yet, this December could be a different Christmas season as more than 80% of British voters will cast their ballots in person. Since early 2016, Brexit has ruined Britain in numerous ways. The Brexit vote is split between the Conservatives and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party. If Prime Minister Boris Johnson wins a majority and gets his Brexit deal through Parliament, then Brexit is happening. In contrast, the simplest route could be no Brexit deal. If the Labour Party wins, this party's plan is to renegotiate a new Brexit deal. Furthermore, Jeremy Corbyn is the current leader of the Labour Party. Corbyn is a negative force to Donald Trump, and he is not a supporter of the foolish Donald. Corbyn did not want to meet with Donald Trump, in June 2019. Instead, Corbyn attended a protest in London outside a joint press conference of Trump and Theresa May, the outgoing prime minister of the UK. Corbyn endorsed holding a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, regardless of who negotiates it. Next, Boris Johnson and Corbyn appear to be major rivals. Johnson has compared Corbyn to Joseph Stalin, the former dictator of the USSR from 1929-1953. Johnson has termed Corbyn to be vindictive. Johnson believes that Corbyn would denigrate the rich through an misguided plan. In addition, Johnson believes that Corbyn has a far left agenda. Corbyn does want a tax hike on the rich individuals, in the UK. In this penultimate paragraph, Corbyn is 70 years old and Boris Johnson thinks Jeremy is a fossil. Jeremy's Brexit policy could involve negotiating a new deal with the EU; then campaigning against it in a second referendum. The final action could be catastrophic, according to Boris Johnson. Corbyn has declared himself to be a socialist, and a longtime Euroskeptic. Corbyn's shaky ideas on Brexit has frustrated pro-Europe, moderate Labour leaders and their supporters. In closing, the Conservative Party has failed to deliver on Brexit in the past three years. In a poll in September 2019, the Labour party was competitive with Johnson’s Conservative Party; but losing center-left support to the surging Liberal Democrats. The liberal Democrats is a group that soundly rejects Brexit. Corbyn has declared that a Brexit deal negotiated by a Labour government could be much better, than remaining in the European Union. Corbyn has a wait and see approach on Brexit, has led to no major conflict on Brexit. Lastly, Jeremy Corbyn could replace Boris Johnson as prime minister of the UK if Johnson's party lost the snap election on December 12, 2019. The new on Brexit will continue to unravel, and the world is waiting to see what the next step is. Good night!

Bain & Company, Ebay, ServiceNow, and Nike = Rise of John Donahoe

Today's story will give the reader a brief history of John Donahoe, and the companies in which he has held some lofty positions. Donahoe worked at Bain for 20 years, and he became the CEO in 1999 of the Boston based consulting firm. Next, he went to Ebay to work as president of Ebay marketplaces in 2005. He became CEO in 2008, and he served in this role for seven years until 2015. ServiceNow became the next home for Donahoe, as he became their CEO in 2017. In three months, Nike will be the new home for Donahoe as he will be the CEO. Essentially, Donahoe has held the CEO role at three huge companies. His biggest challenge may be leading Nike, which has a market cap. of $119 billion. Donahoe has an undergrad. degree from Dartmouth, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Donahoe is a board member at Nike, and the company is betting big on their digital aspirations when they hired John. How did Nike think of John Donahoe, and what does he bring to the table? One huge quality will be his steady leadership, and the company's e-commerce sales have increased tremendously. One of Nike's goals is to take their e-commerce sales from a current 15% to 30%, in the upcoming years. Nike is joining a ton of companies in the retail sector, that is changing their image in today's digital landscape. What happens to Mark Parker, the current CEO? Mark is taking over the chairman reins, in January 2020. He is moving onto a higher position in some ways, and he is not leaving the company. Parker will turn 65 soon, but he is not retiring. Finally, Donahoe is chairman of Paypal Holdings, Inc. Will Nike be the last company that Donahoe will be the ceo for? This question is one for the reader to ponder. John Donahoe is not a household name, but today he should be one that the world will be informed about. In closing, Nike's stock has risen 29% this year. Will the stock continue to grow, when John is CEO in three months? In other sports shoe brand news, the CEO of Under Armour is stepping down. Kevin Plank was founder of UA, and he will become the chairman. Nike is far ahead of its competitors these days, and they should continue their lead on the shoe retail world into the next decade. Enjoy the picture of Mark Parker and John Donahoe above. Phil Knight is one of the key founders of Nike, and John Donahoe will take over the shoe giant in ninety days. Good night from the retail shoe business world, that we live in.

NBA plays preseason games in India; China; and Japan with mixed reactions

The NBA preseason started around October 4, and it was on a global stage. Some teams played in the US, while the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers played two games against each other in Mumbai, India. India hosted its first two NBA preseason games at the NSCI dome in Mumbai, and some of the credit goes to Vivek Ranadive. Vivek is the owner of the Sacramento Kings, and he is of Indian descent. Larry Bird; Detlef Schrempf; and Jason Williams were in Mumbai to watch their former teams play against each other. Both teams made some fantastic memories in India. Next, the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors played a pair of games in Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The Toronto Raptors do not have Danny Green, or Kawhi Leonard as both players are gone through free agency/trade. The Houston Rockets added Russell Westbrook, but lost Chris Paul in a trade. Westbrook and James Harden are friends since their childhood days. The Raptors are favored to make the NBA playoffs out of the East, but NBA analysts should not see them in the NBA finals or eastern conference finals. The NBA games in Japan were a success. In contrast, the LA Lakers and Brooklyn Nets played a pair of games in Shanghai. Kyrie Irving suffered an injury in the first game, and he will miss the 2nd game. The NBA games in China are not about the games, but more about the NBA supporting the Hong Kong protests. China is a communist country that is dealing with the Hong Kong protests, and Daryl Morey tweeted his support of the protests on twitter. Morey is the general manager of the Houston Rockets, and he used his freedom of speech wisely. Adam Silver is the current NBA commissioner, and he applauded Morey for expressing his opinion on the Hong Kong protests. Recently, the US and China were locked in a trade war over the past handful of months. Today, the US has reached a phase 1 deal with China that will delay any further tariffs. After Daryl Morey's tweet, a few Chinese businesses that supported the NBA decided to withdraw their sponsorship and support. The NBA cares had to cancel some events in China, after the Chinese companies withdrew their support of the NBA. Chinese TV decided to stop the broadcast of both NBA preseason games in Shanghai. In this penultimate paragraph, let's discuss these three Asian economic stalwarts. China is the 2nd largest economy in the world, and it is the largest economy by GDP in Asia. Japan is the 2nd largest economy in Asia, and the country is host of the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo that start in July of next year. India is the 3rd largest economy in Asia, and it is the 2nd most popolous country in the world. If the global economy tips into recession in 2020, then Asia would be hit by rising unemployment; slowing economic growth; and a dearth in manufacturing. In closing, the NBA is a global sport and a huge entertainment platform that can expand to other continents. The NBA preseason could start playing games in Africa and South America. Brazil and South Africa are two countries that Adam Silver should consider, for playing future games. The NBA might play a regular season game in Paris, or Barcelona. The NBA plays regular season games in London and Mexico City already. Hope the audience enjoyed G. Ripley's post on the NBA; world geography; and recent political events. Enjoy the picture of Nagpada, a neighborhood in Mumbai that has tried to raise awareness of basketball on a global level.

Celebrating Mexican Independence Day!!

Every year, September 16 happens and it's time to drink Corona or Modelo since its Mexican Independence day. Yes, It's Mexican Independence Day!!! My birthday lands on Mexican Independence Day!!! If rahulio ganpuleone was in Mexico, it would be great to check out the parades; fireworks; and beautiful latin ladies. Big cities like Los Angeles and San Antonio are having huge celebrations for Mexican Independence day. Futhermore, today is El Grito. There are famous celebrities like Nick Jonas; Mark Anthony; and Alexis Bledel that celebrate their birthday with me. It is great to celebrate today with red, white, and green. These colors are on the flag of Mexico. Chiles En Nogada is a great dish to eat today, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. To celebrate this day with the military, there is usually a huge parade. This day is to celebrate the 'cry of independence.' There is a lot of parties and dancing in Mexico, and maybe $ex is there also. This day is a national public holiday in Mexico, and for R$G too. "Viva Mexico" or "Viva la independencia" is shouted in Mexico City and Guadalajara. Finally, Elgin Baylor is born today and he is 85 years young. Mickey Rourke is celebrating his birthday today. Lauren Bacall and B.B. King celebrated their birthdays today, before they went to heaven. David Copperfield is in his 60s, and he celebrated his birthday. All of these people celebrated Mexican Independence Day. Enjoy the picture above of the Mexican flag. Buenas noches!

Andreescu wins her 1st grand slam at US Open, while Nadal wins 4th US Open title

The US Open is the last grand slam tournament for the Tennis world. Bianca A. won her 1st grand slam title, by defeating Serena Williams in the US Open final yesterday. Serena Williams is stuck on 23 grand slam titles, as she lost her 4th straight final at a grand slam tournament. Andreescu played lights out, as she beat Williams in two convincing sets. Serena seemed the favorite coming into the final, but her serve was not as consistent yesterday. As for the men's final, Rafael Nadal won his 4th US Open title. He has 19 grand slam titles, and Roger Federer has 20 grand slam titles. At this point, Federer knows that Rafael could tie the record in 2020. Nadal won in 5 sets over Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev lost the first 2 sets, but battled back to win sets 3 and 4. In the fifth set, Nadal found a way to win. When the men's draw came out, the fans looked for djokovic vs. federer in the semifinals but djokovic lost in the 4th round. Federer lost in the quarterfinals, so he did not play nadal in this tournament. Federer has not played Nadal ever at the US Open, and this matchup could have been the final. Yet, Federer lost to Grigor D. in the quarterfinals. Nadal and Djokovic are battling each other for the year end #1 ranking on the ATP tour. During the men's final, there were some definite celebrity sightings. Uma Thurman; Paul Bettany; Jennifer Connolly; Michael Douglas; Ralph Lauren; and Anna Wintour were the Hollywood and fashion icons in the building. Tennis legend Rod Laver attended the match also. At the women's final, Meghan Markle was rooting for Serena to win. In the end, Andreescu became the first Canadian to win a grand slam final at the US Open yesterday. In this penultimate paragraph, upsets started happening in almost every round on the men's and women's draw. The women's defending champion, Naomi Osaka; lost in the 4th round. She will not be #1 when the new rankings come out tomorrow. Ashleigh Barty, the 2019 french open champion; will be #1 again. On the men's side, Novak Djokovic lost to Stan Wawrinka in the 4th round which was a major upset. In closing, Nadal played his best throughout the final 2 weeks. The Spaniard could win #20 in the French Open, unless he wins at Melbourne at the 2020 Australian Open. Could Roger F. win #21 in Melbourne? Enjoy the picture above of Bianca and the women's trophy. She shocked the world indeed!

Recession warnings from Germany, Brazil, etc.

While the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey has predicted a recession in 2021; there are major economies like Brazil and Germany that could be experiencing a recession in 2019. Other economists believe that there is a 40-45% chance of a recession in 2020. Morgan Stanley economists believe that the recession could happen in 2020; if the trade tensions between China and the US continue to escalate. The last recession in the US was from 2007-2009; and it was given the nickname of 'The Great Recession.' President Trump continues to state that the word 'recession' is inappropriate. Back to Brazil and Germany's recent economic data, Germany saw a 0.1% drop in the April to June period. Europe's largest economy is seeing falling industrial production and orders, which makes it seem the slump is continuing during the 3rd quarter 2019. If Germany experiences a recession in 2019, then the rest of Europe could follow suit. UK and Italy have experienced growth that is negative, throughout 2019. Brazil has seen negative growth in 2019, in GDP numbers. Argentina is in a recession also, and Mexico joins them as another Latin American country in turmoil. Next, Singapore and South Korea are two troubled Asian countries that are showing negative numbers for GDP in 2019. The US-China trade war is hurting Singapore and South Korea. Russia could enter a recession by the end of this year. With these nine countries in recession or on the verge of entering recession, it gives the US a higher chance of entering recession in 2020. Consumer spending is continuing to help the economy grow in the US. If retail sales start to slow, there could be widespread store closings and layoffs in the retail sector. These problems would result in an increase in unemployment. An increase in unemployment would make the consumer stop spending, which could lead to a decrease in GDP in the future. The consumer confidence numbers in a recent Univ. of Michigan survey showed that the consumer is worried about a recession. The recent ISM report showed that manufacturing is growing at 51.2%. This number is above 50, but it went down since June 2019. In this penultimate paragraph, the US election is close to 14 months away. If President Trump loses his re-election bid, will the US go into recession? This question is one major point that the President is trying to tell his supporters. The author of this post is not a Trump supporter, and he is hoping that the democratic party can win the election in November 2020. Trump needs to stop tariffs before 2019 is over. Tariffs are going to hurt the US consumers. In closing, the US consumer needs to be wary of a possibly recession in 2020. Consumers can save up money now, or keep spending to help the economy. Enjoy the picture of the global world map above. Hope the recession does not come until 2020, or 2021. Hope the readers enjoyed this discussion on recession; global growth; and current countries that are experiencing or on the verge of recession.

Mergers in the world of newspapers

Back in the 1990s, people would read newspapers daily. Times have changed, as many people do not read newspapers these days. The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person. Gannett owns USA Today, and 99 other daily newspapers. But, New Media Group announced plans to acquire Gannett in the past two weeks. This merger would create the nation's largest news company by print and digital audience. Next, the main combination is Gannett and Gatehouse. Gatehouse is owned by New Media Group. Leon Cooperman is a billionaire, and he has increased his stake in New Media Group recently. He is an influential investor in New Media Group, as he owns 9.9% in the company. MNG Enterprises failed in its hostile takeover attempt of Gannett. MNG Enterprises and major stockholders may oppose the merger between New Media Group and Gannett. Furthermore, Gannett is twice as large as New Media in terms of revenue. New Media would own a majority of the company, if the merger is approved. New Media Group's acquisition deal is worth approx. $1.4 billion, with Gannett. The shareholders of Gannett and New Media will vote whether to approve the deal, before the start of the 4th quarter 2019. The merger should close by the end of 2019. There have been continued declines in print advertising, as people read the news on their smartphones; follow news through social media; and read online news. In addition, consolidation would be huge for digital journalism changes for Gannett and New Media. The merger makes senses as overlapping costs would be shed, and the combined company would attract advertisers on a national scale. In the digital journalism transformation, this deal should happen. The combined company will continue with the Gannett name. If the merger is approved, the two companies would operate more than 260 daily news operations and boast the largest online audience of any American news provider. In this penultimate paragraph, the merger could be in limbo. New Media Group's market cap is close to $500 million, while Gannett's market cap is $1.1 billion. New Media Group has corporate headquarters in NY state, while Gannett has main offices in McLean, VA. If the merger is not approved, Gatehouse and Gannett would stay as independent companies. The merger could fail due to industry attractiveness; long-term future; net present value being greater than purchase price; and integration challenges. In closing, digital journalism could transform in many ways if the merger of Gannett and New Media Group is approved. Enjoy the picture of Gannett company headquarters above. The merger will help both companies in the long run, according to many digital journalism critics. Good day everyone.

Four Billion-Dollar Films for Disney shows Mouse house dominance

In 2019, Disney has four billion-dollar films in the first seven months. "Captain Marvel"; "Avengers: Endgame"; "Aladdin"; and "The Lion King" have grossed over $1 billion at the global box office. Pixar's "Toy Story 4" could gross more than $1 billion in the next couple of weeks. Disney's movies have grossed $7.67 billion already, which has surpassed their own record of $7.61 billion in 2016. "Frozen 2" and "Stars Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" could be two more movies that surpass the $1 billion mark also. "Frozen 2" will be released in November, and "Star Wars Episode IX" will be released in December 2019. In 2017, "Star Wars Episode 8" and live-action "Beauty and The Beast" surpassed $1 billion at the box office. Last year, three movies surpassed the $1 billion mark for Disney. "Black Panther"; "Avengers: Infinity War"; and "Incredibles 2" were the big moneymakers. In addition, "Avengers: Endgame" is the #1 movie at the box office of all-time. The movie surpassed "Avatar" to achieve this monumental feat. As for next year, "Black Widow" will be released as its own stand alone movie for MCU fans. Scarlett Johansson will reprise her role as the international spy and assassin, that is seen in other Marvel Studios movies. Rachel Weisz has been confirmed as a villain in the 2020 flick. As for other summer 2019 box office hits, "Spider-Man: Far From Home" has surpassed $1 billion which is good news for Sony/Columbia. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland did a great job in the movie. Finally, other movies that peaked my interest were "Godzilla: King of Monsters"; "Dark Phoenix"; "Men In Black: International"; and "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood." So far, the 2019 summer box office has grossed close to $3 billion. 2013 and 2015 summers were 2 of the best summer box office numbers ever in Hollywood, in the past decade. Hope you have enjoyed the summer flicks so far. There may be one or two more sleeper box office hits before the end of August 2019. Au revoir from the box office, and hope you like the picture above of Spider-Man.

Facebook introduces Libra cryptocurrency as a new product to reshape global financial system

Facebook is the world's largest social network with approx. 2.4 billion users. The company is going to introduce their own cryptocurrency called Libra, in 2020. The cryptocurrency and blockchain system is backed by major companies, and it is supposed to change the global financial market in numerous ways. The main goal of the cryptocurrency is to help 1.7 billion people get access to financial systems. This huge amount consists of adults who do not have their own bank accounts, across the globe. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes called the prospect of Libra’s success, as very scary. On the other hand, Wall Street is liking this endeavor because it adds a potentially big source of revenue. Facebook makes a majority of their profits through advertising, and cryptocurrency could be another moneymaker. Facebook can profit big time from consumers using Libra, even if the transaction fees are low. Libra could help Facebook get into finance, and become a huge financial player. Libra has the power to be a new decentralized global payments platform. Libra is a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, but there are major differences. Libra's value will be pegged to a basket of modern paper currencies and backed by reserves consisting of bank deposits; government securities; and other low volatility assets. First, Libra will be on a blockchain that allows only known nodes to participate in the network. Also, this blockchain is called permissioned because access is granted to validators — entities that endorse transactions. Eventually, Libra plans to have no permissions as long as technical requirements are met. Libra will be governed by a nonprofit group based in Switzerland consisting of 28 founding members. The Libra blockchain will be open to anyone who wants to build applications on it. Each founding member can control a validator node, by investing at least $10 million through the buying of Libra Investment Tokens. The tokens grant rights to a share of future interest earned by the reserves. Next, Facebook seeks to diffuse the concerns of regulators; competitors; and consumers by controlling Libra. This process will be done with the setup of a nonprofit group, Libra Association. The Libra Association is a system that is purely controlled by Facebook, as the firm is becoming a subject of massive skepticism and concern due to its practices. Libra is not a blockchain in the pure sense, because transactions are not totaled into blocks. A huge concern of Libra is the cryptocurrency could leak a lot of information about users transactions. Another concern is usability, as private keys are evaporating - lost by users or stolen. In this penultimate paragraph, cryptocurrency problems will be further discussed. One problem is they lack price stability. The second problem is they are prone to be used for illegal activities. The final problem is they seek to circumvent central authorities, among other obstacles that impede mass adoption. Libra is created to avoid many of these challenges. The blockchain system could become a framework to support many platforms. In closing, Libra will not be supplanting financial institutions or central banks. The world's major banks will be involved, if Libra is launched successfully in 2020. Facebook’s entry into cryptocurrencies would hasten the regulation of bitcoin, ripple, etc. Enjoy the picture of Libra cryptocurrency. Let's see if the cryptocurrency can help Facebook make more $$$, in twelve months.

NBA Free Agency preview: destinations where the stars could go

Yesterday night, the NBA season ended with the Toronto Raptors winning game 6 of the nba finals. With the victory, the Raptors won the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Toronto has an important player in Kawhi Leonard, that will enter free agency this summer. Kawhi won the MVP award of the NBA finals for the 2nd time. Where will Kawhi Leonard go in free agency? The two major teams should be the LA Clippers, and the Toronto Raptors. Next, Kevin Durant did not play in more than 90% of the NBA finals. He is a free agent, and he ruptured his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in game 5 of the NBA finals. The two teams vying for KD should be Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets. KD should not go to New York Knicks. KD will miss the 2019-2020 NBA season, as he will be recovering from surgery and going through rehabilitation. Furthermore, The Brooklyn Nets will go for Kyrie Irving and the team has cleared some cap space. Irving split with his agent recently, and his signed with Roc Nation Sports [RNS]. Kyrie Irving could sign with either the Knicks, or the Nets. He should go with Brooklyn, as the team made the playoffs. The team seems to be more structured around good upcoming players, as opposed to the Knicks that have been out of playoff contention for more than five years. Kyrie Irving lasted only two full seasons in Boston, and it appears that he does not want to stay with the team. Kyrie has had a fickle career, after he requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers before the 2017-18 NBA season started. Let's talk about the other Golden State Warrior, Klay Thompson; in free agency moves. Wait, Klay is expected to sign with the Golden State Warriors even though he tore his ACL in NBA Finals game 6. Klay may miss the full 2019-2020 season, but he has not had surgery yet on his ACL. If Golden State signs Durant and Thompson, then both players may not be back in the lineup until late nba 2020 playoffs in the best case scenario. Klay has played his whole career with the Warriors, and is an integral part of the Splash Brothers. Klay should make the wise choice, and stay in Golden State. Finally, Kemba Walker is in the mix for free agency but Charlotte Hornets want him to re-sign. Heck, Kemba recently stated that he would take less than the supermax deal to stay with Charlotte. Walker has spent his whole eight year career with the Charlotte Hornets. Frankly, G. Ripley thinks Kemba Walker should go to the NY Knicks. Walker may do better, without playing for team owner Michael Jordan. This is why G. Ripley is not a basketball savant like Stephen A. Smith, from ESPN First Take would say so often. In closing, NBA free agency will start on June 30. There are about 15-20 extra players that could sign big contracts with an NBA team. Jimmy Butler; Tobias Harris; and D'Angelo Russell are just three of the big names that spark NBA team owners minds. Enjoy the picture above of some of the top Free Agents, that the NBA teams owners are looking to lock up. This time of the year is exciting for G. Ripley. Later!! Peace.

British Prime Minister Theresa May stepping down as Brexit destroys her time in office

Nearly three years ago, Theresa May was picked as the Conservative Party leader in Great Britain. In July 2016, David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Then, Theresa May started her tenure as the 2nd female prime minister of England. Fast forward to June 2019 and Theresa May is stepping down from her PM role. Theresa May's failed time in office will be remembered, by her many attempts to renegotiate Britain's deal to pull out of the European Union. In late 2018, the 27 other EU nations finally agreed to a detailed withdrawal plan with May's government. However, British politicians were deadlocked in their internal battles and the departure day for Brexit is changed to the current date of October 31, 2019. As for Theresa May, she will remain prime minister until July 22, 2019. Who will be the new Prime Minister of Great Britain? Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock are four primary contenders; for the Prime Minister role. One of their first actions will be to go back to Brussels, Belgium; to make changes to Brexit. A majority of the primary contenders have stated that they would take the U.K. out by the current deadline of October 31, with or without a deal. Furthermore, Nigel Farage is the leader of the Brexit Party. He does not want to be the U.K. prime minister, yet the Brexit Party is leading the polls in Great Britain. The Brexit Party registered as a party in Great Britain in March 2019. Unfortunately, Nigel Farage is an ally of US President Donald Trump. The Brexit Party has offered no detail on how it would run the UK in education, health, defense, or the taxation areas. In this penultimate paragraph, the author will inform the reader about Nigel Farage's checkered past. He has failed to be elected as an U.K. Member of Parliament, on no fewer than seven occasions. He has shown public anger at the failure of Great Britain to leave the EU, on the original date of March 29, 2019. One of Farage's strong ideals is the European Union is replete of economic failure; mass unemployment; and low GDP growth. This idea is the main reason why he believes that Great Britain has to exit the EU, by Halloween 2019. Farage has many demands, and he has voiced them to Theresa May in the past week on Brexit negotiations. In closing, Nigel Farage is a bombastic commodities broker turned anti-establishment leader. His ideas are not right for Great Britain to follow, and he has the potential to split the right-wing vote in Britain. It will be Theresa May’s successor who decides the country’s fate, and the new Brexit date is nearly five months away. Mr. Farage could be the most dangerous man in Britain. Let's hope the UK can avoid danger, and that a new PM will make the right choice on Brexit. Enjoy the picture above of Theresa May, as she is frustrated with another day of rejection in Parliament. She must be glad in some minuscule way, that her time as PM is coming to an end.

Two triple doubles by Curry and Green leads to sweep, by Golden State Warriors over Portland Trailblazers

Tonight, history in the NBA has been created. Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference Finals for the 5th straight year. They swept Portland in Portland, as Stephen Curry and Draymond Green had triple doubles each in their victory. The next game for the Golden State Warriors will be May 30, in the NBA Finals. In the Eastern Conference finals, Milwaukee is winning by the series score of 2-1. Toronto won game 3 in Toronto last night. Hopefully, the Raptors will win game 4 tomorrow night in Toronto. Furthermore, the Golden State Warriors won tonight without Kevin Durant; DeMarcus Cousins; and Andre Iguodala. All three of these players were injured, but their services were not needed by the victorious Warriors. Tonight's game went into overtime, and the warriors defense came through in the 4th quarter and overtime. In the extra period, Draymond Green hit a clutch three pointer to extend Golden State's lead to 4 points. After that final basket by Green, Portland scored the final two points of the game. The Trailblazers could not tie the game, as they went for the win on a three point attempt. Yet, Damian Lillard could not hit the final three pointer. Next, the Golden State warriors get a well deserved rest. In game 1 of the NBA finals, the warriors will be in better shape if Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala are back in the starting lineup. Cousins may come back to play in the NBA finals, which would help the Warriors tremendously. As for home court advantage, the Bucks would have this huge benefit in the NBA Finals if they win the Eastern Conference Finals. If Toronto wins the Eastern Conference finals, the Golden State Warriors will have home court advantage. In this penultimate paragraph, the Golden State Warriors are the first team to reach five straight NBA finals since the 1966 Boston Celtics. For the third straight game, the Warriors overcame a huge double digit second half deficit to persevere in the overtime period. The Warriors had five players scoring in double figures, and Stephen Curry led the way with 37 points. The Warriors started Jordan Bell and Alfonso McKinnie, in place of the injured Durant and Iguodala. This new lineup worked out for the Warriors, as they were down by four points only at halftime. In closing, Klay Thompson's big three pointer at the end of the 2nd half was a huge bucket as the regulation ended with the score at 111 apiece. In the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors will be going for their 3rd straight finals victory. It could be the 4th finals ring for Livingston; Green; Curry; Thompson; and Iguodala. Enjoy the picture of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, as the splash brothers played another solid game. The NBA finals will have a new champion emerging from the Eastern conference, and the Raptors or Bucks will give the Warriors a run for their money. Peace!!

My encounter with El hefe as he met Neil Armstrong; yet his love interest questioned g. ripley more

Last night, g. ripley met a beautiful couple at a nearby watering hole. The nba basketball game between Milwaukee and Boston was on the huge TV, in front of g. ripley and the pretty waitresses. At the beginning, g. ripley was cheering at the tv as boston scored. Then, the man known as el hefe started chatting to g. about sports and economics. Later, he and his girlfriend were so nice to give g. ripley their names and what they did for a living [profession or career]. Sometimes, the privacy sets in and people don't want to disclose this information. Next, there was a woman that was singing on the stage and she is a nice female crooner. The blonde female singer gave us her business card. Her headshot was beautiful, and she looked super cute. At some point, the man told the author that he was going to see 'Apollo 11' movie. G. Ripley asked him and his girlfriend, cortney native; if they had seen the 'first man' movie. It is a good movie with Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, and Kyle Chandler. In addition, the overt friendly couple mentioned that they had met some famous people over the years. El hefe mentioned that he was at the 1999 fiesta bowl game at sun devil stadium; in Tempe, AZ. At this game, el hefe was running the field with a friend that was a reporter for Thomson Reuters Corp. in the Tempe stadium. One of the famous people that El hefe stood next to was Neil Armstrong. The astronaut happened to be on the sidelines like el hefe, so they stood together for about four minutes without any words between the two of them. El hefe mentioned that he was quite hesitant to say anything to the first man on the moon. Furthermore, there was one more famous person that El Hefe felt the need to discuss. He happened to be next to Bobby Bowden, the legendary coach of the Florida State Seminoles football team. Again, g. ripley asked them 'did you say anything to Bobby?' Yet, once again El Hefe's response was 'no.' As g. ripley decided that his line of questioning was over, there was a perplexed expression from cortney native. She mentioned that it may be good to say nothing sometimes. This information is so true, as silence can be golden. In this penultimate paragraph, cortney native asked ripley 'what is your plan in the next hour?'. G. ripley mentioned that he had to leave for another bar/restaurant to meet a beautiful vixen. At the time, cortney asked g. ripley 'why don't you invite your female friend here?'. G. ripley mentioned that there is a special place that he has to be with lindsay d. In contrast, cortney was shocked that g. ripley did not reveal the location of the next bar. Luckily, El Hefe distracted cortney with some canoodling; so that she would not ask g. ripley any more pressing questions about the female. In closing, females and males interact with each other in inconsistent ways. The female can cling to the male, in each way. Or, the male wants to express his love in a different, silent way than his partner. Last night, g. ripley observed that the best relationship with a female can happen in unexpected ways. It is better to be overt with the woman about most information, that you seek to be with. Expressing affection to your partner can be a huge key to keep the romance going. The best advice is to keep the romance private, and don't be so overt about it with everyone. Thank you for tuning in to another fun adventure that g. ripley had the pleasure of experiencing. Enjoy the picture of planets, as this story did contain information on space; romance; and social interaction. Au revoir mes amis.

NASA; climate change; and how three speakers at JPL informed me about greenhouse gases

Last night, G. Ripley checked out the JPL in la canada flintridge, CA. NASA JPL is jet propulsion laboratory. Brian W. was the host of the Von Karma Lecture on 'NASA: climate change in the 21st century and beyond.' The three speakers were Dr. Graeme Stephens; Dr. Kate Marvel; and Dr. Brian Kahn. Graeme is from Australia and South Africa; and he spoke about radioactive impacts plus cirrus cloud frequency. He spoke about water cycles, and how 97-98% of the earth is covered with water. He spoke about albedo also, which is the sunlight of the earth. After Dr. Graeme S. spoke, the next speaker was Dr. Brian Kahn. Brian talked about ECF, effective cloud fraction. He mentioned the ABI, which is the advanced baseline imager. Both acronyms are important in climate change. Brian mentioned that there is a 41 degree shift in Fahrenheit, over the past 10 years. This huge increase in the temperature is part of global warming. He mentioned that clouds will not save us from global warming. He mentioned that carbon dioxide is emitted, and this is CO2. His last question to everyone was 'will climate change be bad for the world?'; and the crowd was very happy to hear this question in such a relevant topic. The last speaker was Dr. Kate Marvel. She spoke about water vapor, which is H2O. She is from the Goddard Institute of Space Studies. She mentioned that emissions have to be cut. She mentioned that clouds and storms on a weather map are effective. The clouds on a weather map, are good for forecasting also. There are geostationary satellites, which are important in the sky and in space. The two major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, and water vapor. After she finished her speech, all three of the speakers answered questions from the crowd. It was a very informative night for me. I asked a question to Dr. Marvel; and to Dr. Kahn. Both of them answered my questions, about greenhouse gases and ECF. As G. Ripley closes this piece, the reader will find out different parts of climate change to be interesting. It was my first time at JPL; and the 75 minutes there were fun and exciting for me. The JPL has a visitor center, which covers the nine planets and telescopes/satellites too. As this weblog post comes to an end, enjoy the picture above of a space satellite. Good bye, earth citizens!!

Javascript; Netscape; and Brendan Eich make G.Ripley discover more on WWW

Today, G. Ripley covers Javascript; Netscape; and Brendan Eich. Javascript is a programming language, that is commonly abbreviated as JS. Javascript was created in 10 days, by Brendan Eich during his working life at Netscape in 1995. Javascript was supposed to complement Java, yet it became a language that you could stick right into a web page. Javascript became a success, as more web developers wanted to use it to create powerful websites. Javascript is connected to all parts of a web browser, even though it had many bugs and it was a rushed, get it out the door product. One of the main goals of Javascript was to implement this new language, into the Netscape Navigator web browser. At the time, Netscape and Microsoft had started the web browser wars. Next, let's look at Netscape and its origins. Netscape is widely known by its three major leaders/founders: 1. Jim Clark; 2. Marc Andreessen; and 3. James Barksdale. Barksdale served the company in the role of CEO, while Andreessen is the man that hired Brendan Eich. Jim Clark has a PhD, and he is a career entrepreneur. Jim Clark founded Silicon Graphics; Netscape; Healtheon; and myCFO. He is also the main subject [focus] in the book, 'The New New Thing' written by Michael Lewis in 1999. Third, Marc Andreessen helped Kipp Hickman to create SSL at Netscape Communications. SSL is secure sockets layer. It is a standard secure protocol for making encrypted links between a web server; and browser in online communication. Andreessen received his bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1993. These days, Andreessen is a huge part of Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm in modern day Menlo Park. Andreessen is very much known for founding other startup companies such as Opsware [later renamed to Loudcloud], and Ning. Fourth, Netscape Communications was sold in Fall 1998 to AOL for $4.2 billion. Yet, the Netscape navigator disappeared in 2002. Brendan Eich became the co-founder of the mozilla community. The mozilla community is part of the mozilla foundation, which started the firefox web browser. Firefox is an open source project, and one of the top web browsers in 2018. For the reader, the last paragraph will cover Javascript again. Finally, JavaScript is one of the major pieces that advertisers use for web tracking. Brendan Eich is the CEO of Brave software, which has a main product that is written in Javascript; C; and C++. Brave is that cool product. It is an open source web browser created by Brave software co.; based on the chromium web browser. The WWW is the world wide web, and enjoy the image above of Brendan Eich and the mozilla firefox logo. Hope the reader enjoyed another story replete with facts on Javascript; Netscape; Brendan Eich; and Marc Andreessen. Au revoir!!

One night with an erudite man, who informed me about SLAC and biomedical engineering

Four nights ago, g. ripley was at a festive dinner for a friend. At this small restaurant, a man and his wife came to the dinner along with their young baby daughter. The man had a PhD [doctorate] in biomedical engineering, and his name will not be disclosed in this post. He is a very brilliant person, who told me that biomedical engineering is a medley of different facets of engineering. He mentioned that biomedical can be a mixture of biology, and medical engineering. Yet, he mentioned that three fields are affected by this major emphasis. The three fields are biology, medicine, and engineering. Next, his current work struck my mind as something unheard of. He explained that he works with people that had completed projects at SLAC, the original acronym of Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. SLAC is based in Menlo Park, CA; close to the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California. SLAC has changed its name to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which works under the direction of U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science operated by Stanford University. In other words, SLAC is a department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory. In addition, SLAC research covers a gamut of topics such as atomic and solid-state physics, chemistry, and medicine using X-rays from synchrotron radiation. SLAC is more than 55 years old, as it was founded in 1962. It has its actual address/location on Sand Hill Road, which will be mentioned further in another adjoining paragraph. Third, let's go back to Synchrotron radiation and its use in a significant Stanford project. Synchrotron radiation is electromagnetic energy emitted by charged particles. This complex form of energy moves at the speed of light, as their paths are changed by a magnetic field. Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Project (SSRP) used electromagnetic radiation (EMR) generated by particles circling in SPEAR (stanford positron electron asymmetric ring) to explore samples on a minute scale. One of the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser, later called the linac coherent light source is a cutting edge facility at SLAC. LCLS mixes ideas from Synchrotron Radiation and x-ray laser, to inform the public of a far advanced X-ray laser without electrons. LCLS has been in operation since 2009. In this penultimate paragraph, Sand Hill Road is mentioned as it is a mecca for venture capital firms. Venture capital and private equity firms fund small technology companies working in biotech; information tech.; and cleantech. One day, one of these small tech. companies or startups will become a huge minted corp. that can revolutionize the world. The prominent venture capital (VC) firms in Menlo Park, located on sand hill road are Accel-KKR; mayfield fund; Andreessen Horowitz; Kleiner Perkins; Sequoia Capital; and khosla ventures. Employees of these partner driven workplaces are entrepreneurs in residence (EIR). Entrepreneurs in residence is a new term which has expanded in law firms; business schools; and startup accelerators. In closing, the main goal of the author is to enrich the reader on four topics. The four pieces are SLAC; Synchrotron Radiation; Venture Capital; and sand hill road symbolism. Hope my audience enjoyed another informative writing project, which g. ripley endeavored upon. Enjoy the picture above of SLAC, nestled on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park. Ciao bella!!

The Jeff Skoll way: mixing technology [ebay], business [stanford univ. business school], and film production [participant media] into billions

If you have heard of Participant Media, then you may have read about Jeff Skoll. This film production company was founded by Jeff Skoll in 2004. Jeff Skoll graduated from Stanford University Business School, with an MBA at the Palo Alto campus. He found a way to make his MBA work for him, when he started working at Ebay with Pierre Omidyar and Margaret 'Meg' Whitman. As some of you know, Ebay started in the mid 1990s as a pure e-commerce auction website. Many netizens would peruse on Ebay to buy art, or to get other cool products through an internet auction. Ebay had their competitors too, including Amazon. Ebay would become one of the most popular auction companies, on the internet. Ebay stood for electronic (or echo) bay. Meg Whitman was the CEO of Ebay for 10 years, from 1998 to 2008. Pierre Omidyar is one of the main founders of Ebay. In the late summer of 1995, he and other coworkers decided to start Ebay as an electronic marketplace for sellers and buyers of various products. One of Pierre's coworkers was Jeff Skoll. With Jeff on board to help Pierre, it seemed that Ebay might only be a two man shop. Nope!! Jeff S. and Pierre O. decided that Meg Whitman was the right person to be the CEO. Meg W. became one of the few tech. female CEOs in Silicon Valley that steered the company in the right manner, through the recession in 2001 and the end of the .com [.dot com] boom in 2000-2002. Next, Meg decided that 2008 would be her last year with Ebay. But, it was ok for her to leave the internet juggernaut. Ebay had become a huge company with upwards of $5-$8 billion in sales. She would leave to start her new career as the CEO of Hewlett Packard, a huge computer reseller/software corporation. Let's go back to Jeff Skoll, as he is the main reason why I am writing this internet journalism story. Jeff Skoll has his name on the basc/mba emphasis [program] at university of toronto, which is his alma mater. The Rotman School of Management at university of toronto campus is one of the best colleges in Canada, thanks to the basc/mba program emphasis. Some of you may wonder why Participant Media means so much to me, and to the great Jeff Skoll. It is a film production company that helped Albert (Al) Gore, former VP of the US; to educate the world about Global Warming. Davis Guggenheim directed the movie, 'an Inconvenient Truth'; in 2006, and Al Gore helped the documentary further to win two Academy Awards in 2007. As for Jeff Skoll and participant media, there have been a few hits like 'Syriana;' 'Good Night, and Good luck;' plus 'North Country.' Syriana garnered an academy award for best supporting actor for George Clooney. Finally, let's circle back to Jeff Skoll. Participant Media has helped Jeff to branch out of tech. and business, to movie making which he loves to do. The other hits of Participant Media are 'Fast Food Nation' (2006), 'The World According to Sesame Street' (2006), Waiting for "Superman" (2010), 'Lincoln' (2012), and 'Spotlight (2015).' At the 2016 academy awards ceremony aka the oscars, Spotlight won the best picture academy award. In 2019, Green Book won the best picture award and they were helped by Participant Media. Finally, today's young internet entrepreneurs should look to Jeff Skoll and the future. Jeff may be in his fifties, but he has gained the knowledge of IT and business since the late 1990s. This era to today is almost 20 glorious years or more, of how the internet changed the lives of many netizens [portmanteau for network and citizens]. As this story written by G. Ripley comes to end, the readers should think of Jeff Skoll as one of the few tech. minds that will continue to teach humans how to improve their career; and work life. Remember that Meg Whitman; Pierre Omidyar; and Jeff Skoll are workers in the IT industry. Yet, they are philanthropists that care about the world becoming a better place for the next 100 years. Good bye to all my tech. and non-technology folks. You are the future, that helps an app. support analyst like myself to stay in this business driven world replete with new technologies that expand the internet and mankind.

Time to discuss bank mergers, transactions, etc. as SunTrust and BB&T are getting married!!

Today is another historic day in the banking/finance world. SunTrust and BB&T are merging in a $66 billion deal, which will form the 6th largest bank in the US. For the average reader, it may be time to ask 'where do I bank, and which bank is the biggest in America?' Or, maybe you don't have checking or savings account. Just joking! The top five banks in this country are: 1. JP Morgan-Chase; 2. Bank of America; 3. Wells Fargo; 4. Citi; 5. U.S. Bank. The new combination of SunTrust and BB&T will operate under a new name. BB&T stands for Branch Bank and Trust. The nouveau corporate headquarters will be in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition, the southeastern financial institution will have significant operations in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Atlanta. Together, BB&T and SunTrust will see the deal closing in late 2019. Of course, this beautiful financial marriage is pending regulatory approval. The merger marks the first major banking sector deal, since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Bank of America is where Rahulio G. and G. Ripley want to spend their money. BofA knows how to handle the money of big ballers, you dig. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan said at the World Economic Forum (WEF)in Davos, Switzerland last month that it would take a round of US bank mergers to produce a new rival in financial banking. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) brought in more than $120 billion combined in profit last year. Banks contend with rising technology costs, which is a problematic trend for financial tech. firms and huge financial institutions. JP Morgan has 50,000 employees working in IT, and this number is quite high for a well known global bank. Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan CEO; believes that there are too many banks already. His point is very valid, as banks were merging in the 2000s and other previous decades. The amount of mergers in the 2000s, 1990s; and previous ones is more than double this current decade. In closing, this SunTrust and BB&T deal should have a new name of BBSuntrust. That is a name which will not be picked, unless G. Ripley is CEO of the new banking firm. Enjoy the picture of SunTrust above. Keep spending that money, USA!!

Four separate sectors in Information technology and beyond

As an application support analyst, one can be quite familiar with the process of level 3 support. For g. Ripley, app. support analyst and systems analyst are my career paths. For the application support personality, one has to work with the cloud sector; business intelligence (BI); customer relationship management (crm); and enterprise resource planning (erp). To achieve maximum results and gain the most knowledge, G. Ripley wants to be an expert in all four sectors. Second, here are the top three companies in the cloud services/software area: 1. Amazon web services (AWS); 2. Microsoft Azure; 3. google cloud platform. Business Intelligence involves getting data through different tools to perform ETL (extract, transform, and load) process. Three well known companies along with their respective products in BI sector are Tableau desktop/online/support; Microsoft PowerBI; and Informatica powercenter. SAP BusinessObjects is another key player in the BI sector. After mastering the cloud and Business Intelligence, the next step includes familiarizing oneself with customer relationship management. Hence, the popular software companies and products are Salesforce enterprise/professional environment; and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. For ERP, the major players are SAP R3; Oracle ERP cloud; and Microsoft Dynamics AX. SAP is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products. The company is based in Germany, and has one of its corporate headquarters there. While SAP; Microsoft; Oracle; Salesforce; and Google are big software rivals, consumers and companies tend to use their products regardless of the expensive costs. In this penultimate paragraph, there are other products that should be mentioned. One product is Google BigQuery, and it is an data warehouse analytics product in the cloud. When people talk about the cloud, it is a very broad subject. Let's break it down. The cloud will consist of Iaas, Paas, and Saas. Iaas is Infrastructure as a service; Paas is platform as a service; and Saas is software as a service. Lastly, the reader should recognize that there will be a lot of different IT acronyms used in today's tech. jargon. It is not a necessity to know all of them. Yet, it helps to know a majority of them. To survive in application support world, it is best to follow the trends in all of these four sectors in IT. Keep track of what is used, and what you use to support companies on the enterprise and cloud platforms. Goodbye to tech. land. Enjoy the picture above of the different modules of ERP business software. Bus. Intelligence and CRM are in the image, as they fit in the pie nicely.

2018 was a wild year for the stock market; STZ has diverse product portfolio :)

The stock market had a lousy 2018. All three stock markets (NYSE; nasdaq; and s&p 500) were down by more than 5%. Abiomed, Macy's, McCormick, and Zoetis plus other firms posted strong gains. What about the chip sector? Chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged 73% in 2018. AMD is benefiting from increased demand for PCs. AMD's Ryzen chips have been taking market share from Intel. Second: in the auto world, auto parts retailers were also among the top performers in 2018. Advance Auto Parts (AAP) gained 55%, while O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY) gained 42%. In the online travel sector, TripAdvisor (TRIP) was the fourth best stock of the year. In the food and beverage world, Chipotle (CMG) gained 46% this year under new CEO Brian Niccol. Next up, let's talk about one of G. Ripley's favorite companies in the Spirits and Alcohol world. STZ is the stock symbol for Constellation Brands, and they are based in Western New York. This company owns different wines, beers like Corona; and they are invested in Cannabis. There is no smoke about that last snippet. The company is big into crown whiskey too, and their market cap is between $20-30 billion. Robert Mondavi and Kim Crawford are a few of their wine brands. In closing on STZ, keep drinking and absorbing their products because they may generate steady profits for 2019. Finally, is earnings season going to drag down the stock markets and the US economy? The earnings season starts in week of January 14; and it could be two full weeks of companies reporting 4th quarter earnings. The US economy will report their GDP numbers in the next 2-3 weeks. Hope Q4 GDP is above 1 or 2% growth. The rest of the world may be in recession, but US is chugging along at a health 2 to 2.5% growth rate for 2018. Good day from the financial R$G. Good night from g. ripley (greenleaf/ripley); and tonight's wine will be just like the picture above.