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This playlist is a music nerd's sweet treat. Bringing to mind a harder Sublime and tamer G.G Allin, you may have to pick through the chaos. Even still, there's a (Hed) p.e song for every dissenter no matter what genre you subscribe to.
Will Alibaba Buy eBay Once PayPal Is Gone?
Subject: Will Alibaba Buy eBay Once PayPal Is Gone?
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Ebay Inc.'s (Nasdaq: EBAY) plans to spin off its PayPal unit has left many on Wall Street salivating over the potential of the stand-alone payments business.
And some pundits are speculating that Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) or Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) might buy PayPal.
But they should be asking this question: Will Alibaba buy eBay?
"There wasn't really a natural buyer for eBay up until about a week ago," Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told Bloomberg. "Now there's a heavily capitalized, cash rich, fast-growing company with ambitions of getting into the West that could easily, easily buy it."
The spin-off plan announced today (Tuesday) calls for PayPal to become a separate publicly traded company next year. PayPal will be led by Dan Schulman, the former head of American Express Co.'s (NYSE: AXP) online and mobile payments business. The new eBay CEO will be Devin Wenig, the current president of eBay marketplaces.
Investors approved, sending EBAY stock up about 7.54% on the day to $56.63.
To be sure, the benefits for PayPal are clear. Independence will help PayPal to focus on battling Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AAPL) forthcoming Apple Pay service for a mobile payments market that Citi Investment Research expects to grow from $1 billion last year to $58.4 billion by 2017.
Without the conflict of interest inherent in being owned by eBay, PayPal will have more freedom in seeking payments partnerships with other online retailers, including Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Alibaba.
But eBay? That's a different story.
In an interview with CNBC this morning, even CEO John Donahoe seemed unsure of the benefits of the split for eBay: "Well, perhaps one of the most important new opportunities it gives eBay is control over its own destiny."
In fact, divesting PayPal will leave eBay much more exposed as an e-commerce company squeezed between two giants – Amazon and an ambitious Alibaba.
Sooner or later, eBay will need to be acquired by a larger partner in order to survive, and Alibaba happens to be the ideal partner.
An eBay acquisition makes even more sense from Alibaba's perspective.
Reading a book is usually a solitary pursuit. Readers curl up in a comfy chair, withdraw from this world, and delve into another.
Yet, books are now becoming tools that pull people and communities together. In some places, reading is evolving into a kind of large-scale, communal-bonding activity.
In Chicago, officials are encouraging every resident to read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," sparking citywide discussions on race and violence. Other cities - from Seattle to Rochester, N.Y. - are starting or beefing up similar programs.
First lady Laura Bush's new National Book Festival is promoting what she calls in a Monitor interview "a brotherhood and sisterhood of readers." (See story, page 4.) Her festival mimics several smaller ones nationwide.
And never mind Hollywood fare, one of the biggest blockbusters discussed at watercoolers these days is David McCullough's "John Adams," which has sold nearly 1 million copies.
To be sure, America isn't suddenly becoming a bookworm-nation. Illiteracy and aliteracy (choosing not to read) are widespread. But as isolated and information-saturated Americans search for ways to connect, more folks are seeing books as a useful starting point.
"Communal reading is a new notion, though it comes out of people talking about TV shows or even political scandals," says Jerome Kramer, editor in chief of New York-based Book Magazine. Literacy groups have been promoting reading for years, he observes, "putting it up there with flossing daily and eating your vegetables." But these days, he says, "People have realized they want a return to community ... doing that with a book is a wonderful, alternative way to have that conversation."
The runaway popularity of two things, observers say, may have jumpstarted this trend. Oprah Winfrey's on-air book club - which began in 1996 - was the first time anyone had "turned the energy and mass appeal of television directly back onto books," says Mr. Kramer.
Meanwhile, the "Harry Potter" series - which has sold 103 million copies worldwide - has given kids and adults a new common language, with talk of "muggles," "Hogwarts," and "quidditch."
Discussions about popular books and book groups themselves aren't new - Ben Franklin led a Philadelphia book group in the 1770s. But today, they're happening on a bigger scale.
In Chicago, for instance, officials hatched the idea of getting residents to read one book at the same time. Harper Lee's classic was picked, and the seven-week project kicked off Aug. 25. Now, "Mockingbird fever" is spreading. Libraries have stocked 4,000 extra copies (including Spanish and Polish translations), and are hosting discussion groups and screenings of the 1962 movie version. Bookstores are setting up special displays. The city has printed 25,000 mockingbird lapel ribbons. Officials guess that tens of thousands will take part.
Chicago literacy guru Tim Shanahan admits he found the idea "a little silly, at first." But now, because of the book, "people all over the city are talking about race and violence, reaching across borders," says the director of the University of Illinois-Chicago's literacy center.
He suspects that the proliferation of bookstores -especially superstores - is one reason why communal reading is catching on. "Now, there's a Borders or Barnes & Noble on practically every street corner."
For Nancy Pearl, the Seattle librarian credited with originating the idea of rallying a city around one book, it's something more elemental. She sees a great void in a society in which "people can go through their whole day" - paying for gas, stopping at an ATM machine, sitting in front of an office computer - "without talking to someone, let alone having meaningful contact."
Books are a great antidote, says Ms. Pearl, who includes the title of her latest favorite book on her voicemail greeting. Through reading and talking about books, she adds, "people feel a connection to others they don't get in their daily lives."
Seattle's fast-growing program is in its fourth year. (Next year's selection is Molly Gloss's "Wild Life," about a single mom who raises five kids in Oregon.) Rochester and Buffalo, N.Y., also have been hosting similar projects. Syracuse, N.Y., Springfield, Ill., and Boise, Idaho, plan to.
Alice McDermott, author of "Charming Billy" and "A Bigamist's Daughter," sees another force at work.
"People are turning to good books, looking for things that popular culture has less and less of," like truth and moral substance, she says, sitting in the shade of a towering oak on the Capitol's east lawn during last weekend's National Book Festival.
"It's not just that more people are reading," says Ms. McDermott, recalling past pop-culture book fads."It's that they're reading such wonderful stuff - and talking to each other about it."
The Chinese New Year celebrations are still in full swing here in Asia. As it’s the continent’s version of spring break crossed with Christmas, folks are on holiday and many shops and restaurants are closed for the week. It’s easy for travelers to feel like outsiders when traveling to China or Chinese communities during this holiday (imagine how a tourist might feel if they came to the States on Christmas day), but this photo reflects the intimacy and energy of Chinese temples everywhere during the holiday. Fickr user LadyExpat shot this in Georgetown on Penang, Malaysia, which has a large Chinese community.
Have any photos from our holidays you’d like to share with the world? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool, and we just might choose one for our Photo of the Day feature.
New Crave Cafe employee Anna Uriostegos works the cash register inside the newly opened restaurant in Lake Zurich. Owner Maria Vega has said the cafe plans to bring homegrown tastes to its Mexican and Latin fusion menu.
When Maria Vega was growing up in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, her mom and six aunts cooked everything from scratch, she recalled recently.
By the age of 7, Vega, who now lives in Wheeling, became a member of the family cooking team, cutting and preparing vegetables, meats and other ingredients.
Vega now will look to apply her homegrown passion for cooking to her new business in Lake Zurich — New Crave Cafe, which opened recently at 751 W. Route 22.
Vega said she spent about two years looking for the right location and almost settled in Morton Grove before deciding on Lake Zurich.
As the master chef, she said her tiny staff of two will prioritize home-cooked tastes and healthy ingredients — something she realized was lacking at restaurants and carryout places while she worked as the chief financial officer at CMI Packaging Inc. in Wheeling.
The interior of New Crave Cafe at 751 W. Route 22 in Lake Zurich.
As a result, New Crave Cafe will not use MSG, fructose or partially hydrogenated oils in the broad array of Mexican food on the menu, she said.
After a slow start, business has started to pick up, she said, leading many customers to express their approval online in Yelp reviews.
New Crave is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. It seats up to 36, Vega said.
Anna Uriostegos, server and cashier at New Crave, said Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the business’ busiest days so far.
“The most popular are Los Tres Amigos Tacos, fajitas and El Beef Burrito,” Uriostegos said of the menu.
Vega said a house specialty also is her homemade soup, which she serves free to each customer before they order.
They also hope to add alcohol service in the coming weeks after village board members recently approved a liquor license for New Crave. But the business still needs to receive a state license, she added.
This gem box is an archipelago of dust and gas rich galaxies called the Hercules Cluster, some 500 million light-years away.
Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star-forming spiral galaxies but has relatively few elliptical galaxies, which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars. The colors in this remarkably deep composite image clearly show the star forming galaxies with a blue tint and galaxies with older stellar populations with a yellowish cast. The sharp picture spans about 3/4 degree across the cluster center, corresponding to over 6 million light-years at the cluster's estimated distance. Diffraction spikes around brighter foreground stars in our own Milky Way galaxy are produced by the imaging telescope's mirror support vanes. In the cosmic vista many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence that cluster galaxies commonly interact. In fact, the Hercules Cluster itself may be seen as the result of ongoing mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and is thought to be similar to young galaxy clusters in the much more distant, early Universe.
Cue the wedding bells! Us Weekly has reported that pop singer Ariana Grande and her Saturday Night Live beau Pete Davidson are engaged! The news is definitely shocking and completely unexpected as the couple have only been an item for a couple of months now. While Grande’s fans might be a little taken back, sources close to the couple, both 24 years old, are not that surprised by the news.
As fans might remember, Grande and Davidson officially confirmed their relationship by sharing an adorable photo of the two of them donning Harry Potter outfits.
While Grande has not gotten her man’s initials tattooed onto her body, that hasn’t stopped her from continuously displaying her love for him on her Instagram for the whole world to see.
The Inquisitr also reported that once the news broke about Grande and Davidson’s love connection, not everyone was happy for them. Prior to her relationship with Davidson, the “Break Free” singer was in a two-year relationship with rapper Mac Miller, 26. However, scheduling issues and continued battle for sobriety ultimately resulted in Grande amicably ending their relationship. And then along came Davidson very soon after. Grande was publicly called out on Twitter by one angered Miller fan who didn’t think it was right of her to abandon him after the rapper dedicated an entire album to her and had just been arrested for a DUI.
Prior to his relationship with Grande, Davidson, who’s had his own issues concerning sobriety, had just ended his two-year on-and-off relationship with Cazzie David. He too has faced some pretty harsh haters who claimed that because he has Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), he shouldn’t be dating Grande.
The couple is proof that falling in love can happen in the blink of an eye and when you know, you know. Congrats to Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson!
On Saturday, during the Eagles’ 78-53 win over Maryland Eastern Shore, the 1989 team was honored at halftime, celebrating the 30-year anniversary of their win over Southeast Missouri State in Springfield, MA. NCCU’s 27-point win remains the highest margin of victory in a Division II title game.
Seven members of that team, along with head coach Mike Bernard, were in attendance to watch the current Eagles cruise to the win over the Hawks.
Senior center Raasean Davis posted his 10th double-double of the season (21 points, 11 rebounds), and NCCU connected on 10 of 19 three-point attempts, the fifth time this year they have hit 10 or more 3s in a game. But this game wasn’t as much about the present, as the past.
Moton arrived on campus as a player three years after the national championship. He still remembers members of the 1989 team coming back, playing pickup games with his team during his playing days.
The Eagles did that by shooting 63 percent from the field in the first half Saturday -- the highest they’ve shot in a half all year -- and were up by 14 by the time the 1989 team was honored. Coming off consecutive road losses, Moton said his team just needed to sleep in their own beds to get back on track.
The Eagles started the game by connecting on eight of their first 10 shots and had 13 assists on 17 baskets by halftime. After the title team was honored, NCCU gave the champs plenty to cheer for in the second half, taking a 25-point lead with more than 10 minutes remaining.
Moton said his system is the same as Bernard’s, just “on steroids a little bit.” Moton has added wrinkles and the pace is a little faster, but it all comes from Bernard, who also coached at Norfolk State, Fayetteville State and Shaw before retiring.
The Eagles, the defending MEAC tournament champs, were predicted to finished second in the league, but currently sit in fifth place. Bernard’s team can relate. Late in the 1989 season, NCCU lost twice to Virginia Union, but knocked off the Panthers, 60-55, in the Southeast Regional in Norfolk.
The Eagles are no strangers to success in Norfolk. They’ve won three MEAC tournament championships there, including the last two, and have the pieces in place to win another if they get hot for four straight games like they did in 2018.
Moton didn’t make a big deal this week about the champions being in town, not to his team anyway. He said he could feel the energy in the building. He didn’t feel any extra pressure to put on a good show for them. He did, however, catch himself being a fan of the group he says he always looked up too.
Want to see live streams of NCCU sports? Here’s where you can go.
Duke veteran big men Marques Bolden and Javin DeLaurier filed paperwork with the NBA to enter draft process on Sunday, April 21, 2019.
Two Nevada men have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, seeking millions in damages because they say he fraudulently concealed a shoulder injury before his defeat to Floyd Mayweather.
It is just the latest fallout from Mayweather's victory in Las Vegas on Sunday in a unanimous decision, with Pacquiao saying afterwards that the shoulder complaint hampered his performance in the welterweight world title showdown.
The plaintiffs argue that by failing to go public with the injury before the feverishly anticipated bout, the Philippine icon and his camp violated the Nevada Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The suit filed in a US District Court in Las Vegas names Pacquiao, his manager Michael Koncz, promotional company Top Rank and Top Rank chairman Bob Arum and president Todd duBoef.
According to court documents available online, the lawsuit claims that when plaintiffs Stephane Vanel and Kami Rahbaran - who bought tickets, forked out pay per view fees or bet on the fight - the defendants "knew and had full knowledge and information that defendant Pacquiao had been seriously injured and was suffering from a torn rotator cuff."
"Defendants further know that such injury would severely affect his performance," the lawsuit says.
"None of the defendants informed or apprised the public or even the Nevada Athletic Commission about the injury to defendant Pacquiao."
The clash between Pacquiao and Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was billed as the "Fight of the Century."
It's certainly set to go down as the most lucrative bout in history, with possible revenue of 500 million dollars.
That could include as many as three million pay-per-view purchases, at about $100 each in the US.
The bout went the full scheduled 12 rounds with Mayweather easily winning on the judges' scorecards to take his perfect record to 48-0.
After the fight, Pacquiao and Top Rank revealed the 36-year-old had been injured in training camp some three weeks earlier.
They said he'd been cleared by doctors to fight, although they had expected him to be able to take an anti-inflammatory injection on fight night, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission ultimately denied him.
It has since been announced Pacquiao is to undergo surgery to repair a rotator cuff tear.
Filipino Manny Pacquiao says a shoulder injury hampered his bid to hand Floyd Mayweather a first-ever defeat as a professional.
Floyd Mayweather has preserved his unbeaten record with a unanimous decision victory over Manny Pacquiao in their welterweight title bout in Las Vegas.
This is why so many investors are now selling their homes (cashing in on the profit) and leaving the county with an even smaller pool of rentals. This results in higher rents for the remaining supply. It’s the old law of supply and demand.
Controls such as homestead exemption and caps on increasing value are not available to owners of rental homes.
Almost every article I read seems to make the landlords look greedy and uncaring, or point out the need to build new affordable housing (at taxpayer expense, of course).
Why don’t we look at the real solutions — such as making insurance coverage reasonable or taxing residential investment real estate at the same rates as owner-occupied homes.
On a lot of issues, President Trump has a sensible plan of attack that liberals refuse to give credence to. But one area where Trump can be criticized is agriculture.
Author Michael Lewis, who wrote Moneyball, interviewed people in the Department of Agriculture.
On the “Charlie Rose” show, Lewis said the Trump administration has failed to fill most of the federally appointed agriculture positions.
Regardless of my belief that global warming has nothing to do with man-made pollutants, I do believe that global warming is real. And I agree with Lewis’ assertion that Trump’s indifference to agriculture hurts the research and development that will help adapt food production to future temperature increases.
Miami is full of people who truly this that the rules are not made for them. Apparently, the Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Spear are in that group (“Hacked mangroves put couple on hot seat,” Nov. 12).
It is discouraging to read that such award-winning professionals were ruled by greed and thought nothing of destroying Miami’s beautiful environment to enhance the value of their properties.
At the same time, I have to wonder why these architects ignored the benefits of the very mangroves they were so ready to destroy.
One would think Spear, who in 2013 was recognized for her work at the Pérez art museum would be uber-sensitive to Florida’s vegetation. I am glad their neighbors, especially Nancy Reierson, have been so vigilant in recording their violations.