![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2019\/12\/silhouette-3623461_1280.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe celebrate New Years\u2019 Eve by staying up past midnight, singing\u00a0Auld Lang Syne,\u00a0<\/em>and checking our predictions for 2019!\u00a0 This year we had an unusually high number of correct<\/em> predictions, which is a tribute to you readers of this blog.\u00a0 But we also had a clear winner, a prediction with uncanny specificity.<\/p>\n Before we get to the main event, you might want to read\u00a020 predictions for 2020: Here\u2019s what people said would happen by this year<\/a>, in which USA Today writer Grace Hauck checked the predictions of experts from decades ago.\u00a0 They include anti-gravity belts, the end of nationalism, and a democratic China.\u00a0 Your predictions were much better than the experts!<\/p>\n So let\u2019s get to our contest.\u00a0 You can read the complete predictions at Make Your Predictions for 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n There were lots of predictions about Donald Trump, most of which involved Trump being Trump.\u00a0 Once again, I was wrong in thinking he would resign to get a pardon from President Pence.\u00a0 Curiously, though there were six predictions regarding impeachment, most of those concluded that he would not<\/em> be impeached.\u00a0 Only one person, Steve Bauer, predicted that Trump would be impeached, though it was not due to the Muller report, as he said it would be.<\/p>\n Quite a few of you predicted a slumping economy, whereas by most measures the economy is still soaring.\u00a0 Setapart said that the stock market would be below 23,327\u00a0 (I love that level of specificity), but it\u2019s way over 28,o00.\u00a0 Saelma said that the price of a barrel of oil would be over $100.\u00a0 Right now, it\u2019s $61.68.\u00a0 Back in 2018, Saelma won runner-up for predicting that the price of a gallon of gas would be dramatically lower<\/em>, less than $2.00, which actually happened, back in 2018.<\/p>\n Sports predictions were all wrong, except for one.\u00a0 No one expected the Super Bowl champion would be the New England Patriots (though it\u2019s nearly always the Patriots!).\u00a0 Or that the NCAA football champion would be Clemson.\u00a0 Or that hockey\u2019s Stanley Cup would be won by St. Louis.\u00a0 Or that the World Series would be won by the Washington Nationals.\u00a0 However, Kirk correctly forecast that the NBA champions would be the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n I was going to give the much-coveted consolation prize for the worst prediction to Tom Hering, who thought that the world will react against screens in favor of real-life contact.\u00a0 But in the specifics that he cites, Tom was right.\u00a0 He was actually correct<\/a> that hard-copy, paper books would outsell e-books and that the number of independent bookstores is growing<\/a>.\u00a0 And \u201cshopping in a specialty store\u201d still far exceeds shopping online<\/a>, which, though it has shot up 19% over last year, still comprises just 15% of retail sales.\u00a0 His point that \u201cvintage media\u201d would do well seems to be on target, though 80% of the revenue in the music industry this year came from streaming, as opposed to \u201clistening to albums on a good stereo.\u201d<\/p>\n For his counter-intuitive observations, I will move Tom into the Winners\u2019 Circle.\u00a0 Along with Kirk for his basketball pick and Steve Bauer for predicting Trump\u2019s impeachment.\u00a0 There were also other very good predictions.<\/p>\n For international politics, Ian Stewart was correct in saying that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be re-elected and that Conservative Party head Andrew Scheer would resign.\u00a0 Guest predicted that Teresa May would step down as UK prime minister, bringing on a leadership election.\u00a0 Brexit was mentioned by quite a few of you, but always to say that it would not happen.\u00a0 But with Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, thanks to a Tory landslide and a Parliamentary vote to approve his exit plan, it looks like the UK will, in fact, secede from the European Union on January 31.<\/p>\n Setapart came close in predicting that 2009 would be the hottest year on record.\u00a0 Actually, it was the second hottest, tying with 2017.\u00a0 The hottest year was 2016.\u00a0 The next part of the prediction, though, that the last five years would be the hottest years in history, came true.\u00a0 Sven had a similar correct prediction in saying that 2019 would be in the top three.<\/p>\n Sven was also right in saying that Avengers: Endgame<\/em> would set the record for the biggest opening weekend box office.<\/p>\n Another movie industry prediction wins runner-up honors.\u00a0Jeremiah Oehlerich predicted that no one<\/em> would host the Oscars. That\u2019s exactly what happened as the scheduled host, comedian Kevin Hart, fell victim to the cancel culture when his Tweets were discovered from 2011 that made fun of gays.\u00a0 At the very last minute, the Academy Award decided not to have any host at all.\u00a0 These are hard time for comedians, especially for those who made their reputation from \u201cpushing the boundaries,\u201d since most of them have material in their past that violates the strict rectitude of today\u2019s standards of hyper-sensitivity.\u00a0 And there is no forgiveness or statute of limitations.<\/p>\n The winner of the 2019 virtual prize for best prediction is, I think, clear cut, yet another guess that staggers the mind.\u00a0 Joe predicted that \u201cRussia will block the Kerch Strait isolating the Ukrainian port cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk.\u201d\u00a0 Huh?\u00a0 Kerch Strait?\u00a0 Mariupol?\u00a0 Berdyansk?\u00a0 I had to do some research on this one, but I found this,<\/a>\u00a0dated 3 April 2019, saying that the Russians are indeed blockading the Kerch Strait, specifically mentioning those cities:\u00a0 \u201cThe duration of the artificial detention of vessels in the Kerch Strait heading for Mariupol or Berdiansk remains three or four times higher than before the blockade.\u201d<\/p>\n So, Joe, for your knowledge of the Ukraine and in light of that country\u2019s recent impact on the United States, you are this year\u2019s winner.\u00a0 (You aren\u2019t a Ukrainian agent trying to influence our elections, are you?\u00a0 Are you an oligarch?\u00a0 Is your last name Biden?)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Image by\u00a0mohamed Hassan<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We celebrate New Years’ Eve by staying up past midnight, singing\u00a0Auld Lang Syne,\u00a0and checking our predictions for 2019!\u00a0 This year we had an unusually high number of correct predictions, which is a tribute to you readers of this blog.\u00a0 But we also had a clear winner, a prediction with uncanny specificity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":46782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,20,21],"tags":[6011,4216,7885],"class_list":["post-46758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-history","category-holidays","tag-cranach-prediction-contest","tag-new-years-eve","tag-predictions-2019"],"yoast_head":"\n