Western Digital Reimagines HDD - Flash Integration with OptiNAND

The last few years have seen plenty of new innovations come up in the hard-disk drive market. For quite some time, the HDD technology roadmap was shared industry-wide - vendors introduced new technologies at different points in time, but they were all similar in nature. As a recent example, HGST (now, Western Digital) was the first to market with helium-filled HDDs, but both Seagate and Toshiba followed up with similar drives within a few years.

Prior to 2017, there was consensus that heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) would help drive the increase in storage density for HDDs after traditional perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) ran out of steam. Western Digital sprang a surprise in Q4 2017 by announcing the decision to go with microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR) for future HDDs. Seagate, in the meanwhile, has been all-in on HAMR and also launched 20TB HDDs based on the technology for enterprise customers (those HAMR drives are yet to hit retail, though). In the meanwhile, Western Digital was promising MAMR drives for 16TB+ HDDs, but eventually back-tracked in favor of energy-enhanced PMR (ePMR). Toshiba, on the other hand, introduced flux control-MAMR (FC-MAMR) in its MG09-series of enterprise 16TB and 18TB HDDs.

At the HDD Reimagine event today, Western Digital is introducing OptiNAND - a novel architecture involving the integration of an embedded iNAND UFS embedded flash drive (EFD) on the drive's mainboard.

In conjunction, the company is also announcing that it has been sampling its first 20TB non-SMR drives based on OptiNAND-enabled ePMR to select customers, and that it would be adopting the OptiNAND platform moving forward for all 20TB+ HDDs. The company also sees a path to 50TB OptiNAND-enabled ePMR drives in the second half of the decade.

While the company did not quantify the amount of NAND in its OptiNAND drives, they are stressing the fact that it is not a hybrid drive (SSHD). Unlike SSHDs, the OptiNAND drives do not store any user data at all during normal operation. Instead, the NAND is being used to store metadata from HDD operation in order to improve capacity, performance, and reliability.

Capacity

Western Digital's OptiNAND announcement also conveys the fact that their 20TB 9-platter HDDs will continue to use energy-enhanced PMR (ePMR). In addition to the use of a triple-stage actuator to enable more accurate positioning of the heads over the tracks, the OptiNAND aspect is being touted as the key to enabling 2.2TB capacity for each platter.

The increase in areal density is being achieved by cramming the tracks on the platter closer together (increased TPI), while also moving out some of the metadata (both factory-generated and mid-user operation) out from the platter to the NAND. In particular, Western Digital made a mention of the repeatable run out (RRO) recording of the head jitter / error position as the spindle revolves. This data (running into multiple gigabytes) is generated in the factory during manufacturing. It is typically stored in the disk, taking up space that could have potentially been used for user data. The OptiNAND architecture moves this to the NAND in the EFD.

One of the key challenges to packing tracks closer together is the concept of 'adjacent track interference' (ATI). This results in the need to periodically refresh data in the platter's tracks as it could get corrupted by writes to adjacent tracks. Currently available HDDs triggered these refreshes on a track-by-track basis based on the recording of write operations at the track-level. One of the downsides to increasing areal density by increasing the TPI is the need to do more frequent refreshes. From refreshing once in 10000 write operations in early HDDs, the narrow tracks now need to be refreshed as frequently as once every 6 writes. Beyond a certain point, it doesn't make sense to increase TPI any further because the increase in the frequency of ATI refreshes has an extreme impact on performance. In present-generation HDDs, these refreshes have been triggered at the track level by recording write operations at that hierarchy. The OptiNAND architecture allows the write operations to be recorded at the sector level. This means that the refresh operations are more spread out both temporally and spatially, allowing the tracks to be packed closer together without sacrificing performance. In turn, this increases the areal density.

Performance

Consumers can operate HDDs with the write cache in the device enabled or disabled. Irrespective of the cache enablement, the HDD has to buffer up the incoming data. In the disabled case, the amount of data that could be buffered up is dependent on the amount of data that can be safely flushed out to non-volatile storage in the case of an emergency power-off (EPO) situation. The presence of significant NAND capacity in the HDD means that the drive can use the rotational energy present in the platters to flush out more data in the DRAM into the NAND (Present-day HDDs dump out the DRAM data into serial flash - around a couple of MBs worth - in an EPO situation). The ability to buffer out more data in this case means that the performance of write-cache enabled case and write-cache disabled case approach each other in OptiNAND-enabled HDDs.

Western Digital also claims that the 'write cache enabled' case can benefit on the performance front. This is an indirect result of the reduced refresh rates (referencing the observations in the previous sub-section on how OptiNAND handles adjacent-track interference) that allows the HDD to spend more time in servicing user data requests. Again, there was no quantification of the improvement in IOPS for different access patterns over non-OptiNAND HDDs in Western Digital's event.

Reliability

The aspects of OptiNAND used to enhance the performance of the drives in the write caching disabled state also contribute to enhancing their reliability under EPO conditions. By including faster non-volatile storage compared to serial flash, Western Digital claims that up to 50x more data can be flushed out compared to previous-generation HDDs.

Concluding Remarks

Western Digital claims that the vertical integration possible with the HDD technology from the WD / HGST side along with the flash technology from the SanDisk side is essential for the creation of a platform like OptiNAND.

There is bound to be a cost-premium associated with the drives due to the NAND integration. New recording technologies (like HAMR and MAMR) require significant investment into the design of the recording heads as well as platters, and need to be revamped every few generations. On the other hand, technologies like OptiNAND are independent of the underlying technology.

Without exact quantification of the increase in areal density enabled by OptiNAND, it is not possible to provide comparative comments on the Capacity aspect of Western Digital's OptiNAND trifecta - except that the company is now able to introduce 20TB hard drives to the market with the same ePMR technology used in its 18TB drives (around 2.2TB/platter).

The Performance aspect should be easier to evaluate when OptiNAND drives hit retail. While the benefits for the 'write caching disabled' case (where the NAND can act as a safe cache in an EPO situation) are easy to verify (essentially acting the same as the 'write caching enabled' case), the pure 'write caching enabled' case should be much more interesting to analyze against competing drives of the same capacity.

Western Digital indicated that all of their 20TB+ HDDs moving forward will be OptiNAND-enabled. This will be across all market verticals - cloud deployment, enterprise drives (Gold), storage for surveillance recording (Purple line), and NAS (Red line). It must be noted that the company has a 20TB SMR drive already in the market that is not OptiNAND-enabled. The new HDD architecture with its flexible SoC and high-performance NAND integration can also be used to enable customer-specific enhancements in the future. The ability to use the NAND to dynamically remap sectors can increase areal density and improve performance much more in SMR drives. Based on this, we can expect OptiNAND-enabled SMR drives to gain significant capacity advantage over CMR drives in comparison to what is being seen in the market currently.

The HDD industry is not yet in dire need of CPR, but Western Digital's usage of OptiNAND to address the Capacity, Performance, and Reliability trifecta is yet another unique aspect in the innovation-rich hard-disk drive market. Western Digital has both HDD and complete flash technology (from NAND fabrication to controller) in-house, while the other HDD vendors do not have that advantage. As such, it might take the other vendors some time to catch up on the advantages of using NAND for HDD metadata.

from AnandTech https://ift.tt/3DvsERA

Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids: How To Go Monolithic with Tiles

One of the critical deficits Intel has to its competition in its server platform is core count – other companies are enabling more cores by one of two routes: smaller cores, or individual chiplets connected together. At its Architecture Day 2021, Intel has disclosed features about its next-gen Xeon Scalable platform, one of which is the move to a tiled architecture. Intel is set to combine four tiles/chiplets through its fast embedded bridges, leading to better CPU scalability at higher core counts. As part of the disclosure, Intel also expanded on its new Advanced Matrix Extension (AMX) technology, CXL 1.1 support, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, and an Accelerator Interfacing Architecture that may lead to custom Xeon CPUs in the future.

from AnandTech https://ift.tt/3gM6z7w

Best Internal Hard Drives: August 2021

Data storage requirements have kept increasing over the last several years. While SSDs have taken over the role of the primary drive in most computing systems, hard drives continue to be the storage media of choice in areas dealing with large amount of relatively cold data. Hard drives are also suitable for workloads that are largely sequential and not performance sensitive. The $/GB metric for SSDs (particularly with QLC in the picture) is showing a downward trend, but it is still not low enough to match HDDs in that market segment.

Since the release of the last HDD guide which was in the midst of the cryptocurrency-fueled storage mania, we have seen the pricing and availability of the HDDs stabilize a bit. With the traditional mid-Q3 HDD capacity updates from the different vendors around the corner, the pricing on the high-capacity models has in fact come down considerably. Stock updates for previously out-of-stock SKUs are lined up, and retail prices for drives across multiple capacities are now below what they were last month. These make for an interesting update to our list of recommended hard drives for NAS and desktop usage.

from AnandTech https://ift.tt/2B8kCxd

Shake It Off: Taylor Swift & Six Other Celebs Who Finally Joined TikTok In 2021

TikTok has amassed many users over the last few years and 2021 has seen an upsurge of celebrities finally joining the social media platform in the most iconic styles.

Almost every celebrity in the world has joined the social media platform TikTok to increase their reach and interact with their fans. In just a few years, TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, had become best known for the variety of trends and dance challenges uploaded by users and influencers. Being a free application that can be downloaded anywhere, TikTok came late to the race but gave a solid competition to the likes of Snapchat and Instagram. It gained traction with teens and young adults to the point where it has now become a part of everyone’s daily routine.

The contagious nature of this platform led several celebrities to participate in dance challenges and trends to have fun. In 2021 various famous personalities joined TikTok, much to the delight of the fans and users. From actors to singers, here’s a list of seven celebrities who finally joined TikTok in 2021.

7 Taylor Swift

Fans around the world had a meltdown when Taylor Swift finally joined TikTok in late August 2021. Her first TikTok video showed Swift lip-syncing Screwface Capital by Dave, where she was name-dropped. She appears in various outfits throughout the video that links to her past albums. She captioned the video with the announcement of her upcoming album Red: Taylor's Version, which will be released in mid-November 2021. She was the fastest user to reach 100,000 followers in under 9 hours and over 1.5 million in one day.

RELATED: 6 Taylor Swift Albums That Sold Over A Million Copies

6 Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone, best known for her portrayal of Cher Horowitz in the 1995 teen comedy movie Clueless, officially joined TikTok in June 2021. Alicia paid homage to her iconic character by recreating one of the most beloved scenes from the film with her 10-year old son for her first video. Donning the same yellow plaid blazer that has become a cultural phenomenon, she portrayed a warmer version of the scene. Her clip received 6 million likes and 1.6 million followers within the first two days.

5 Avril Lavigne

Nineteen years after the hit song about teen ballerina meeting a skater called Sk8er Boi, Avril Lavigne gave everyone a round of nostalgia when she lip-synced to the song for her first TikTok video in June 2021. Lavigne forayed into TikTok with 2002 vibes with her straight blonde hair, black nail polish, her black graphic T-shirt with a red and blue striped necktie. The internet went wild when she featured a real-life professional skater Tony Hawk in her video, performing a few moves. It garnered over 14.3 million views and 3 million likes since it was posted.

4 Cher

Cher made her TikTok debut in a genuinely iconic style as she shared her support for Pride Month in June 2021. She introduced herself in four different styles and switched between her blonde and brunette looks for the video. Her introduction video said, “It’s me, the great and powerful Cher,” with a shout-out to her LGBTQ+ fans in the caption. Her video amassed more than 3 million likes as other personalities celebrated her presence on the social media platform.

3 John Mayer

John Mayer had a rocky start on TikTok when he first joined in March 2021. The first video he uploaded was of himself struggling to flip the camera trying to use the 15-second function on the application. Following his upload, users tried to shove him off the platform by flooding the comment section on how he mistreated his ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift. A few hours later, he posted his second video, where he acknowledged the comments and backlash.

2 Natasha Bedingfield

Natasha Bedingfield was famous on TikTok long before joining the platform as her song Unwritten was used for a viral dance challenge. In February 2021, she made her TikTok debut with a new song that paid tribute to the COVID-19-related struggles during the past year. In March 2021, fans went wild when she took part in the viral dance challenge of her songs as it was a fun treat for everyone.

1 Ed Westwick

One of the most popular teen drama shows of the late 2010s was Gossip Girl, which introduced the world to one of the most iconic male characters, Chuck Bass, played by Ed Westwick. For his first TikTok in February 2021, Westwick reprised the role of Chuck Bass eight years after the show’s last episode. The clip first showed him wearing a leather jacket while saying, “Tell me you have watched Gossip Girl without telling me you have watched Gossip Girl.” The video showed him wearing a sharp suit and saying his iconic line from the show, “I’m Chuck Bass.” His video gained over four million likes, and he earned a million followers.

These TikTok additions have only made fans go into a frenzy as they partake in different trends and dance challenges to amuse their fans. From famous singers and actors of the 90s to the celebrities adored by young adults today, TikTok has become a platform to bring everyone together. There shall indeed be many more worthy additions to this list of newly-joined TikTok celebs shortly.

READ NEXT: The YouTube Story: Rise Of The World's Biggest Video Streaming Website

Sources: Huffington Post, Deadline, Billboard, The Things

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3jtASll

Multi-chip Intel Core i9-11900K Overclocking Review: Four Boards, Cryo Cooling

Back in March, Intel unveiled its 11th generation of desktop processors codenamed Rocket Lake. In its lineup, the flagship desktop chip is the Core i9-11900K, with eight cores, sixteen threads, and a current selling price of $545 at Amazon. Along with obvious performance advantages that come with the flagship model, including higher turbo frequencies, Intel has put a lot of its latest technologies into Rocket Lake including Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) and Adaptive Boost (ABT) - the idea here is to to give the best possible performance out of the box. In this article, we take four retail Intel Core i9-11900K processors and four premium Z590 motherboards, including the ASRock Z590 Taichi, the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero, the GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master, and MSI MEG Z590 Ace, and overclocking them. Is overclocking worth it on Intel's Core i9-11900K? Let's find out.

from AnandTech https://ift.tt/3ytvsLa

iFamous: These Are The Apps That Celebs Love Using

Celebs, like regular folks, use a ton of applications, but they too have some that are their absolute favorites.

Celebrities and their fans have been glued to one another via social media as the rage of the digital age builds around the world. Applications have been a path for celebrities to stay connected with their fans, share snippets about their personal life, and spread social awareness about the issues occurring around the world. As everyone uses smartphones as a means of entertainment, celebrities are not far behind. From musicians to performing artists to actors, everyone has embraced different platforms. While the lifestyle celebs lead may seem quite distinctive from the general public, their love for applications is just like any other person in the world.

As they gain an immense following and earn money for their posts, they also love to upload photos and videos about the things that interest them. While some choices are obvious, there are other creative apps also endorsed by celebrities. One of the best ways to find out the applications used by personalities is through their social media profiles. Here’s a list of eight apps that celebs love to use.

The app was co-founded by David Pierson and Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe where users can listen to meditation guides to relieve their stress and anxiety. When it is time to take some time out of their busy lives, celebrities have turned to Headspace for a peaceful experience. Several Hollywood A-listers such as Jessica Alba and Ryan Searcast have invested in Headspace, while celebs like Emma Watson and Gwyneth Paltrow recommend this app.

Amongst the world of celebrity dating, Raya has garnered a spot as the most exclusive online dating app for the elite. While the features remain similar to Tinder, the app has certain requirements to be met before becoming a part of Raya. The app is only limited to people who have a creative occupation. Many celebrities, including Kelly Osbourne, Matthew Perry, and Raven-Symoné, were spotted on Raya.

While taking the perfect selfie can be a big hassle, it is quite mysterious how celebrities can master the art of taking pictures. Perfect365 is a virtual beauty app that enhances the photo and allows users to choose from several virtual looks. Kim Kardashian has admitted to having used the app to post her selfies and made the rest of the Kardashian-Jenner family download the app as well.

Twitter has become one of the most influential apps on social media where celebrities want to market their endorsements and promote their work. Additionally, they use the medium to share personal news with the fans about their lives. Celebs such as Ariana Grande, the seventh-most followed account on Twitter, use their account to promote their albums and address the world about several updates, relationships, and tour events.

Face Swap is one of the silliest celebrity-endorsed apps that allow a person to switch faces with anyone for a photo. It switches the faces during a live video recording or to take a snap. Sia who likes to keep her face hidden from the public, endorsed this app to promote her seventh stupid album, This Is Acting. She urged fans to download the application and swap their faces with the model on the album cover. She sold over 81,000 copies within the first week of its release.

YouTube

YouTube has been the most influential platform for people to create videos and earn recognition. Today, it has also become a medium for A-list celebrities to have channels that showcase a side of them never seen before, from hobbies to personal vlogs. Karlie Kloss and Dwayne Johnson use their channels to upload workout videos and promote their endorsement, while Zac Efron has started a YouTube travel channel called Off The Grid to showcase his love for travel.

RELATED: The YouTube Story: Rise Of The World's Biggest Video Streaming Website

Instagram is a popular social networking platform that is used by people from all walks of life, from celebrities to sports personalities to media influencers. Celebrities share their photos and videos on Instagram to stay connected to their fans. Dwyane Johnson is the most followed Hollywood celebrity on Instagram with 256 million followers who is an active member of the app. He posts videos and photos of his family, brand endorsements, movie promotions, and his businesses, including the popular Teramana Tequila.

TikTok

TikTok is best known for allowing users to dub over videos with different audios and sounds. Users can start dance challenges and trends that have made careers of the lesser-known. Lil Nas X got a jumpstart to his career through TikTok when his now hit song Old Town Road was used for several trends and challenges. The song was on the No. 1 position on the Billboard chart for over 19 weeks. Celebrities including Cher, Avril Lavigne, and more recently Taylor Swift has also joined the platform to promote their work, much to the users’ delight.

Along with the mentioned applications, celebrities also use love apps such as Snapchat and Bitmoji to create their avatars for fun. From platforms that help people relax to social media used for heavy endorsements, celebs are not entirely different from the general public with their love for apps. They create a foundation with their profiles and build connections with people.

READ NEXT: 4 Celebs Who Made Big Money Investing

Sources: Cheat Sheet, Seventeen, Business Insider, Agicent

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/2WACG2I

Meet Eve Jobs: Daughter of Apple Co-Founder Finding Her Own Success

When most people hear the name Steve Jobs, they think of Apple and its celebrated co-founder who helped start the personal computer revolution, building a company now valued at 2.5 trillion dollars, but to Eve Jobs he was just her father. Now, the youngest daughter of the late Steve Jobs and billionaire investor Laurene Powell-Jobs is proving she is just as ambitious and successful as her parents.

According to Business Insider in the biography "Steve Jobs," Walter Isaacson describes Jobs as growing up to become "a strong-willed, funny firecracker" who knew how to take on her famous father, even going as far as calling her father's assistant at work to make sure that she was "put on his calendar."

When her father passed away in 2011 due to pancreatic cancer, leaving behind a massive multi-billion-dollar estate. Job's fortune was passed down to his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, including stakes in Apple and The Walt Disney Company, who has used it for various philanthropic and political endeavors. But, in an interview with The New York Times' David Gelles, Laurene Powell Jobs revealed that she has dedicated her life to distributing Jobs' fortune "effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way," and has no interest in passing her fortune down to her children citing her belief that a massive accumulation of wealth is "dangerous for a society."

This means that Eve Jobs and her three siblings will have to work hard to build their own wealth if they want to continue to live their élite lifestyle of yachts and luxurious mansions. As for Eve Jobs, that’s exactly what she has been doing.

RELATED: 8 Richest Kids In The World

Jobs, who is now 23, followed in the footsteps of her parents and graduated this year from prestigious Stanford University after majoring in science technology and society, celebrating the milestone with her 220k Instagram followers, writing “thanks camp Stanford.” Luckily for Jobs, her mother sits on the board of directors for the notoriously selective university.

Her huge Instagram following is usually treated to pictures of her well-lived life complete with lavish holidays and views from her Paris apartment where she studied abroad.

Her Instagram account also reveals that she is the latest celebrity offspring to try her hand at a modeling career. Jobs solidified her place as an Instagram influencer with her sultry début in Glossier's new holiday ad campaign. Jobs was joined in the campaign by Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney, and Naomi Smalls who was a runner-up from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Like many offspring of the rich and famous like Jessica Springsteen (daughter of Bruce Springsteen), Jenifer Gates (Bill Gate’s daughter), and Noah Cyrus (of Billy Ray Cyrus), Eve has made a name for herself in the élite equestrian sphere where she has surpassed her contemporaries.

Jobs says she has ridden horses since she was two and has trained since she was six. Her early start has helped her easily outshined her celebrity child peers. She has won various show jumping competitions in the Hamptons, Lexington, and Kentucky in the US, as well as in Canada and the UK, and has earned thousands of dollars in prize money. Out of 1,000 horse riders under 25 in the world Jobs is ranked number five and has competed all over the globe was named "rider of the month" in March 2017.

Her family’s money can’t buy her medals, but according to The Daily Mail, it did buy her a luxurious 15.3-million-dollar ranch with a show-jumping training rink and two air-conditioned barns for up to 20 horses where she’ll have plenty of time to train for the 2021 season. Jobs’ Wellington, Florida neighbors include her rivals Jenifer Gates and Jessica Springsteen who also had their wealthy parents purchase them extravagant horse ranches to train for their elite equestrian passion.

Earlier this year, Jobs revealed on Instagram that she is dating singer-songwriter Harry Hudson, a close friend of the Kardashian-Jenner family, according to Cosmopolitan. Hudson has seen success in the folk-rock and pop music scene and was named one of Pandora’s Artists to Watch 2018 on the music streaming service after his single "Yellow Lights" went Top 10 on Spotify's US Viral Chart.

Even though the tech heiress won’t inherit her father’s billions, her achievement as an accomplished equestrian and her recent debut into the modeling prove probably more than ready to make a name for herself.

READ NEXT: 10 Of The Biggest Inheritances Ever Recorded 

Source: Business Insider, The Sun

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/38k7zLE

ESPN Looking To Venture Into Sports-Betting Business With $3 Billion Deal

America's go-to source for all things sports is in talks with its marketing partners to bring a new gambling experience to undying fans. Offering up a $3 billion licensing deal, ESPN is currently negotiating with DraftKings and Casaer Entertainment.

RELATED:Jay-Z Applies For Online Gambling License In New York

Much like Jay-Z- who applied for an online gambling licensing in New York - ESPN is trying to hop on the ever-growing market for sports betting. Thanks to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling, legal sports gambling was able to spread across the country. Just last year, sports fans spent quarantine gambling away,  bringing in about $1.55 billion into the highly competitive market. Forbes cited that the 2021 revenue could easily skyrocket to a record breaking $44 billion.

So it comes as no surprise that the Walt Disney owned media company is looking to cash in on this phenomenon.

Creditable sources with knowledge about the network's venture brought information to the Wall Street Journal regarding the terms of the aforementioned licensing deal. Per their explanation, prospective suitors would be granted the ability to utilize the ESPN name the purpose of brand. The sources also disclosed that the prospective partner would also be able rename their preexisting sports book to include the network's brand.

The two biggest contenders for this deal are DraftKings and Casear Entertainment, two firms that have made billions from the boom of sports gambling. Since both firms already have investments through other rival company's, it's too early to guess which one will take up the deal.

"DraftKings speaks to a variety of companies regarding various matters in the normal course of business," a spokesperson from the online platform told the New York Post, "and it is our general policy not to comment on the specifics of those discussions.”

ESPN has carefully dabbled in gambling experiences for their fans before. Take the company's podcast, the Daily Wager for instance. Though, this deal would see the network finally sticking its neck out to have direct involvement with sports betting.

A source told the Wall Street Journal that a "exclusive marketing commitment" would be put in place where the potential suitor will spend a sum of money in promoting its ESPN sports book.

This could be a huge move for the network, as the sports betting industry is projected to make $4 billion in revenue this year.

Read Next: Tony Hawk Creates $500 For Skateboards Designed With His Blood Mixed Into Paint

Sources: Wall Street Journal, New York Post, The Wrap

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3sXuUw1

Bioastronautics: 10 Animals Who Traveled To Space | TheRichest

Man's trips to both the moon and the International Space Station are now common knowledge. But lesser known trips involve man's best friend, entering the atmosphere on rockets launched from Russia. But beyond man and dog, several other animals have also made the journey into space aboard rocket ships. These include mice, turtles, frogs, spiders, monkeys, and even squid. These animal explorers were a part of the bioastronautics field, an area of bioengineering research that spans the study and support of life in outer space.

RELATD: 15 Bizarre Animals That Look Like They Came From Space

The first animal travelled into space back in 1947. But since then, multiple countries around the world have launched animals into the atmosphere including the Soviet Union, United States, France, Argentina, China, Japan and Iran. Animal astronauts have continued into the modern era as well. In June of 2021, SpaceX chose to launch a series of tardigrades, or water bears, along with 128 baby glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid to the International Space Station. The experiments solidify the reputation of the International Space Station as an orbiting laboratory, observing the animals and their effects in orbit. But beyond international experiments, some of these animals have been given names, demonstrated unique personalities, and showcased that it isn't just humans who can be amazed and awed by the breathtaking views of being in space. Here are a selection of animals who have been sent out to space, some have returned, while others gave their lives for the research, and for the experience.

10 Laika

The first animal to ever launch into orbit was a dog named Laika. Launched from the Soviet Union via the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, Laika was a stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow who demonstrated new knowledge on living creatures who entered orbit. Laika died within hours from overheating but, her legacy led to Yuri Gagarian's successful space flight, who became the first human in space. Laika was immortalized through a monument unveiled in Moscow in 2008 as well serving as the inspiration behind the Stop Motion studio run by Travis Knight of the same name.

9 Albert I and Albet II

Albert I was a rhesus monkey who was launched into space by the United States. Unfortunately, his launch on the V2 rocket failed during its ascent. Albert II, also a rhesus monkey, was then pub on another V2 rocket. This time, Albert II not only made it past lift off, but 83 miles into space. Albert II became the first monkey in space on June 14, 1969. While Albert II survived most of his flight, he died coming back down to Earth due to a malfunctioning parachute.

8 Able and Baker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSIM7RKn1c

Both Miss Able and Miss Baker became the first monkeys to survive spaceflight after traveling aboard the Jupiter IRBM AM-18. The monkeys travelled 300 miles through an acceleration rate of 38 gs for 16 consecutive minutes. Their flight included 9 minutes of weightlessness. Both Miss Able and Miss Baker were rescued from off the coast of Puerto Rico after their flight and upon return, Miss Baker was honored with an ASPCA award for Distinguished Service, supporting "carefully controlled scientific" use of animals as space pathfinders for the "mutual benefit of man and animals."

7 Patricia and Mike

Patricia and Mike were two Philippine monkeys who were launched 36 miles into space at a speed of nearly 2,000 mph. The two monkeys were the first primates to reach the high altitude. Patricia and Mike were accompanied on the flight by Mildred and Albert, two white mice. Both monkeys survived the flight, with Patricia dying of natural causes two years after the flight and Mike passing away in 1967 at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.

6 Nadezhda

Nadezhda was a cockroach that was sent into space by Russian scientists aboard the FotonM-M 3 bio-satellite. After the flight, Nadezhda produced 33 offspring on Earth. The 33 children made history as being the first earthlings to be conceived in conditions of weightlessness. There were little differences between normally conceived cockroaches and the "star children" but the next generation, Nadezhda's grandkids, developed a life cycle similar to most other cockroaches.

5 Tsygan and Dezik

The first two dogs to make a suborbital spaceflight were Dezik and Tsygan in July of 1951. Both dogs were recovered after traveling to an altitude of 110 km. Dezik went on to make another sub-orbital space flight in September of 1951 along with another dog named Lisa. Neither survived the mission. Tsygan went on to be adopted by Soviet physicist Anatoli Blagonravov.

4 Felicette

Felicette made history becoming the only cat to successfully launch into space. Her mission took place in October of 1963 as part of the French space program. Felicette survived her flight which consisted of 13 minutes of space travel. She has since been immortalized in France through postage stamps and with a statue at the International Space University.

3 Belka and Strelk

Belka and Strelka went into orbit in August of 1960 via the Soviet-launched Sputnik 5. Aboard the flight were also a rabbit, 40 mice, and several flies and plants. The two dogs returned to Earth safely, and the legacy didn't end there. Strelka gave birth to a puppy named Pushinka who was gifted to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Pushinka lived in the White House and went on to have four puppies of her own. Both Belka and Strelka were preserved after their death, and they remain on display at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts in Moscow.

2 Arabella and Anita

Two common house spiders, known as Cross of European garden spiders named Anita and Arabella went to space in July of 1973. After eight days of being in space, Arabella emerged from her capsule. The following day, she had made a simple web and another three days out, she made a complete web. By the time the spiders returned on September 25, 1973, they were found dead due to lack of moisture.

1 Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey

This collection of five mice travelled to the moon in 1972 aboard the Apollo 17 million. The mice circled the moon 75 times along with their fellow crew members: Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans. Only one of the male mice died during the trip, while the others were taken back to Earth. The mice and their human co-pilots became the last Earthlings to travel and orbit the moon. The crew also holds the record for the longest amount of time spent in lunar orbit, and the most lunar orbits travelled.

READ NEXT: 10 Of The Strangest Things Flown On NASA's Space Shuttles

Sources:

CNN, NASA, DogingtonPost, OuterSpaceUniverse, ThoughtCo, Nordic4dFrame, MonkeyInSpace, APNews, TheSun, Time, AirandSpace, RT, WorldHistoryProject, HowStuffWorks

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/2Wz2Nr3

How Adele Spends Her 190 Million Dollar Fortune | TheRichest.com

The 29-year-old Hello superstar signed her first record contract with XL Recordings in 2006 and surpassed all expectations, with only three albums under her belt Adele has become one of the world's best-selling music artists, selling over 120 million records to date. All those record sales have made her one of Britain’s wealthiest pop stars, and now she’s rolling in the dough with her 190-million-dollar fortune.

Despite her immense wealth, Adele - the working-class girl raised by a single mum in Tottenham - tries to stay as down-to-earth as possible, but while she's keen to stay 'normal', Adele isn't afraid to splash the cash - and here's some of what she's bought.

Adele signed with XL in 2006 when she was just 18, four months after her graduation from BRIT school, and by her own estimations, the advance she received from XL was humble, although the singer has joked that it had been a million pounds. Whatever amount it may have been, it was enough for the singer to go on a shopping spree. What does an 18-year-old spend her record contract advance on? The singer reportedly went on a shopping spree that ate up most of her advance, splurging on handbags, and, taking inspiration from her favorite film, she began renting a flat in Notting Hill, a posh district in West London.

The singer has come a long way since that first advance, rumor has it she signed a record-breaking $130 million contract with Sony Music in 2016, the biggest record deal ever awarded to a British artist. Affording her enough cash to buy more than just handbags.

These days the superstar is reported to have an expensive staff that includes a stylist, personal trainer, assistants, and a few bodyguards, according to Daily Mail. The songstress is also built up an impressive property portfolio.

The first of her many lavish properties was a £2.5 million ($3.4m) ten-bedroom Sussex mansion, named Lock House, that she purchased back in 2012 when her career began to take off after the success of her first album, 21. Lock House has pretty much everything a superstar like Adele needs including 20,000 square feet of space, five reception rooms, two studies, and a helicopter pad. The award-winning singer listed the stunning home for £7.5 million ($10.3m) but it's now listed for £6.5 million ($8.9m).

Expanding her property portfolio, she purchased a lavish Art Deco house on the beachfront in Hove, just outside Brighton, for £2.5 million ($3.5m). But that same year Adele also had her eyes on London where she picked up a flat in Kensington for £5.65 million ($7.8m) and then purchasing the adjacent property for £5.38 million ($7.4m) to combine the two.

In 2016 the singer said hello from the other side of the pond after purchasing her first Beverly Hills home for $9.5 million. According to Variety the home features four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and features a pool and summer-house.

The songstress didn’t rest, purchasing the neighboring property for a cool $10.65 million after splitting with her husband, Simon Konecki, so that her former spouse could still be close to their son Angelo.

RELATED: Katy Perry Sells Beverly Hills Mansion For Nearly $7.5 Million

In an apparent effort to monopolize the Beverly Hills suburb, the singer recently bought a third home, next to the other two. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion, with a pool and basketball court, was purchased for $9.95 million on May 26. The property is next door to her first pad, with the potential to create a giant compound.

Of course, when you’re as rich as Adele you don’t just splurge on luxurious properties, you buy luxurious cars and develop a penchant for high-end labels.

After the singer passed her driving test in 2013, the paparazzi spotted her at the Porsche Centre in Chiswick where according to Mirror she ordered a $100,000 Porsche Cayenne 4x4. The custom-built car was described as a Christmas Present to herself which provides the mom of one safety as well as luxury.

Although Adele might have picked out her own SUV, according to The Sun she has stylist Gaelle Paul on speed dial to make sure she always has a timeless and elegant look (to match her music) for her red-carpet appearances, “Everything she wears in public has been designed specifically for her. Designers are begging to dress her.”

And dress her they do, Adele is frequently spotted in Linda Farrow sunglasses, which command a $500 price, as well as $700 Christian Louboutin heels. Adele sure hasn’t lost her taste for handbags and now regularly carries Burberry and Chanel bags, which can cost up to $4000.

A wealthy woman like Adele can also splurge on a celebrity hairstylist like Lino Carbosiero, who famously gave the singer a new look in 2014. Carbosiero has also had celebrity clients like Sharon Osbourne and David Cameron and reportedly charges over $200 for a trim.

Adele isn’t the only one enjoying her $190 million fortune, in 2014 according to Mirror, the singer splurged a whopping £15,000 ($20.6k) playhouse for her then 18-month-old son Angelo. Apparently, the singer fell in love with the garden toys after seeing them at her friends' homes and couldn’t resist purchasing the toy, which includes three turrets, a veranda, and its own picket fence.

Adele told Vanity Fair. “I’m on tour simply to see everyone who’s been so supportive. I don’t care about money... I don’t come from money; it’s not that important a part of my life.” But for someone who claims to not care about wealth, she sure does surround herself with displays of it.

READ NEXT: Inside Ryan Gosling's Million-Dollar Fortune

Source: The Sun, LoveProperty

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3BqmZKV

Actress Zheng Shuang Hit With a Tax Evasion Fine of $45 Million

Zheng Shuang rose to fame as a Chinese starlet in 2009 when she appeared in the romance comedy Meteor Shower. Though 2021 been a pretty tough year for her.

Back in January, she lost her brand ambassador role for Prada due to a surrogacy scandal. Now, it's looking like the star is facing the music once again as she's ordered to pay a $46.1 million fine for alleged tax evasion.

RELATED: This Is How DaBaby Earned $5 Million... And Could Lose It All

The Global Times reports the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service ordered the fine after discovering her 222 million yuan ($33 million) of unpaid taxes. The tax authority had apparently been questioning Shuang about her tax as far back as April. The controversy was first sparked after her ex husband, producer Zhang Heng published a screenshot of their phone conversation to a blog called Weibo.

The conversations between the former couple disclosed large sums of income received by the actress for her role in A Chinese Ghost Story. She reportedly received $320,000 per 77 days of shooting which acclimated to $24.6 million.

Records from the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service uncover that Shuang had signed fake contracts and illegitimate materials to their office.

Aside form the massive fine, this scandal brought a sea of ramification to Shuang's public image. Following the announcement, the National Radio and Television Administration banned A Chinese Ghost Story from being aired across the country. Along with this, Shuang is now barred from appearing on any Chinese programming. The Global Times states that a number of shows that the actress has stared in have already been taken down and the show Shuang was currently in production for has since been cancelled.

The tax evasion follows her scandal in January in which she allegedly abandoned her surrogate children in the United States. She hired two women to give birth to give birth to her children. While this wouldn't be much of problem in most places, surrogacy is illegal in China.  Much like in the tax evasion scandal, it was Zhang who broke the story on Weibo. Similarly, new headlines were flooded by the story of the actress leaving her dog to fend for their self after not wanting to pay a $300 medical fee.

With all off her television appearances completely wiped from Chinese media and an eight figure tax fine looming over her head, Shuang's year is looking pretty grim.

Read Next: Now Infamous Lawyer Tom Girardi's Firm More Than $100 Million In Debt

Sources: The Global Times, Variety, CNN

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3gEVhln

Tim Cook Gets $750M Bonus For Tenth Apple Anniversary

It sure does pay to be the boss! Apple granted its Chief Executive a pretty big payday on Thursday. As an award for his decade with the company, stepping into the shoes of his predecessor Steve Jobs, Tim Cook received and sold more than $750 million from stocks.

RELATED: Apple Car Vs. Tesla: Which Is The Real Luxury Electric Car?

A regulatory filing from the  Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Cook received shares of the prolific company's successes in the stock market. The humongous reward was part of the compensation package that was was set in place upon his taking over Steve Jobs' role at the company in 2011.

Though Cook received the maximum amount based on the agreement, the company had to withhold about 2 million of its stocks - worth nearly $400 million - due to tax reasons. This left the CEO with about $355 million in the end. A new compensation package was signed back in 2020 that extends through 2025.

"Tim has brought unparalleled innovation and focus to his role as CEO and demonstrated what it means to lead with values and integrity," a board of directors at Apple said in a statement regarding the new package.

The generous award reflected Apple's massive success in the stock market under Cook's direction. According to CNN, the company's performance in the  S&P 500 from 2018 to 2021 nearly 192% of shareholders returns. During the pandemic, Apple made a killing in the stock market, with its shares reaching $151.12 - a new record for the company. Under Cook's leadership, Apple's stocks rose a whopping 440%.

Like the savvy business tycoon he is, Cook took no haste in selling the stocks once he collected his reward. The SEC filings detailed the stock's prices from $148.30 to $149.97.

Cook, who finally reached billionaire status last year, vowed to give a large chunk of his $1.5 million wealth to charity. Just days before his $355 million pay day, he donated around $10 million from 70 thousand of Apples shares to an undisclosed charity. Recently, he donated $4.1 billion from his company Berkshire Hathaway to another charity organization. In 2019, after donating another $5 million, he tweeted about his plans to use his money towards fighting the wildfires of the Amazon rainforests.

As Cook has been an adamant supporter of such social issues as human rights and HIV/AIDs protection, it can be almost certain that a handful of organizations with these sentiments in mind will likely be receiving a pretty hefty donation from his in the near future.

Read Next: Before Bill Gates, Jack Tramiel Brought Commodore Computing To Our Homes

Sources: CNBC, CNN, Market Business 

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3yoSZx0

Tadashi Yanai: The Story of Japan's Second Richest Billionaire

Whether it's haute couture or fast fashion, there's a great deal of money in the business of what we wear. For instance, LVHM founder Bernard Arnault sits at the very top of the world billionaire club as the world's third richest person - even reaching the number one spot twice.

But he's not the only fashion mogul with a record breaking net worth. If you've ever went on a shopping spree one of Uniqlo's 2100 stores across the world, you've got none other than Tadashi Yanai to thank. His long career as president of the chain's parent company, Fast Selling has made him Japan richest person with a net worth of $33 billion.

RELATED: Behind Bernard Arnault, The World's Richest Man

Yanai was born in a mining town within Ube City on  February 7, 1949. The apple of success didn't fall too far from the tree as his father owned his own clothing store called Men’s Shop Ogoroi Shoji. As he was the only son, Yanai was destined to one day take Yanai's family actually lived on the top floor of the building which his father founded in a month after his birth . After high school, attended Waseda Univeristy in Tokyo to where he took classes in the Faculty of Political Science and Economics department. 

While he's now known for his work as a pioneering business man of Japan, he admits to having a lack of drive in his youth. While other students were taking action in university protests, Yanai was much more interested in activities like Mahjong and slingshot.

"I was a typical lethargic student. I didn't go to college classes and spent my time playing mahjong and pachinko," Yanai admits in an interview with Nippon Shacho.

Under the advisory of his father, Yanai reluctantly stated working for a merchandise store called Jusco. Though, he wasn't all that privy to spending his time selling kitchenware and menswear. So, he quit his job after working for less than a year. The twenty three year old billionaire-to-be then returned to his home in Ube to work in his father's store. It was this experience that replenished his fervor for business.

"I realized that not having any preconceived notion is important," says Yanai, "that you might want to first try something. That’s my learning from this experience."

Two years later, Yanai's father stepped down from his business and Yanai became the president of Men’s Shop Ogoroi Shoji. He looked to rebrand the company, targeting a more youthful demographic by offering items that were both parts appealing and relatable. He took major inspiration from Giordano polo shirts as they were becoming quite the trend in Hong Kong. He set up a meeting with Giordano International founder Jimmy Lai to pick his brain about business. 

"I went to meet with Jimmy Lai, founder of Giordano, and learned that there are no borders to trade, and no borders to manufacturing and sales," the tycoon tells Japan Forward, "We’re the same age, and I thought, If he can do it, so can I. After that, I started doing business in Hong Kong and was travelling there nearly every week."

By the 80's, Yanai had his eyes set on casual apparel as opposed to the suits and ties that were sold at Ogoroi Shoji. Looking towards mega chain stores like Benetton and Gap for inspiration, he undertook the huge risk of opening up his next business venture: Unique Clothing Warehouse. The first store opened in Hiroshima in 1984. Though it took a while for the store to gain it's recognition, Yanai used his savvy business tact to bring customers rolling in. 

"The concept was to provide a store where customers can shop easily and purchase high-quality clothing at reasonable prices, just like buying a magazine in a bookstore," the store's spokeswoman Beryl Pei-Chi Tung recounts from Yanai's book.

The risk certainly paid off, as hundreds more stores were opened within the course of the next four years. Yanai certainly had a success on his hands. In 1988, the name of the booming business was changed to Uniqlo. According to Asia One, Fast Retailing Co became the new name of Ogoroi Shoji three years later. 

In 1998, the opening of Uniqlo's Harajuku shaped the store's trajectory for the better.

"It was when we opened the Harajuku store that we made a huge leap," the tycoon says, "We focused on environmental improvements and consolidated into a brand under the Uniqlo name, making all our products low-price and high-quality."

Uniqlo's premiere item was their fleece jackets. The jackets were a major trend in Japan with Business Insider reporting that an estimated 1 in 4 people had one in 1998. Today, the company is valued at $13 billion and operates over a thousand stores worldwide. According to Quartz, Fast Selling's capitalization surpassed that of Zara parent company Inditex by $105.6 billion - thus making it the most monetarily valuable apparel retailer in the world. 

Today, Yanai's net worth stands at $33 billion. As Japan's richest man, it would only be expected he obtains a dazzling real estate portfolio. He currently owns a $50 million home just outside of Tokyo. The property in which Yanai purchased in an auction for $73 million in 2001, covers 16,586 square feet of the Woodlands area. The home comes with a driving range and a teahouse.

He became the owner of Hawaii's Plantation Golf Course in 2009, as the billionaire is rather fond of the sport. He purchased the course for $50 million. The following year, he bought yet another course in the Kapalua Bay.

In 2014 he bought a glamorous estate in the exclusively affluent neighborhood of Shibuya. Many high brow of Japan's business mogul and members of government call Shibuya home, such as  Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Miktani.

Read Next: How Japan's Second Richest Man, Masayoshi Son, Made His Billions

Sources: Nippon Shacho, Japan Forward,

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/2Wo2O1l

Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD Review: RGB-Infused USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Storage

The gaming market has experienced significant growth over the last decade. In addition to boosting PC sales, the peripherals market associated with the segment has also expanded. Installed sizes for games now regularly run into 100s of GBs, thanks to support for increased resolutions and more detailed graphics. The data also needs to be loaded into memory as fast as possible in order to improve the gaming experience. Gamers want the fastest possible portable SSDs to store their games. It is no surprise that the 20 Gbps transfer rates promised by USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 has an instant appeal in this market segment. Keeping this in mind, many vendors have introduced USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 bus-powered portable SSDs targeting the gaming crowd. Last year, we looked at Western Digital's WD_BLACK P50. Seagate's FireCuda Gaming SSD was available in the market around the same time, but it didn't make it to our testbed in time for that review. We recently got the Seagate offering into our latest testbed, and took the opportunity to refresh the numbers for the WD_BLACK P50 with our latest test suite. Read on for our hands-on review of the Seagate FireCuda Gaming SSD.

from AnandTech https://ift.tt/3mECpHg

Now Infamous Lawyer Tom Girardi's Firm More Than $100 Million In Debt

He was known throughout California for fighting for the rights of the little guy. Inspiring the plot of the Stephen Spielberg movie Erin Brockovich, Tom Girardi's firm was instrumental in having residents who suffered health impairments from a water receiving of  millions of dollars from Pacific Gas & Electric.

Though, after it was revealed that the lawyer had misappraised more than $2 million from his clients, his firm is bankrupt with more than $100 million in debt.

RELATED: 4 Ways Kanye West Turned $53 Million In Debt Into A Billion Dollar Net Worth

According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, the $101 million debt is roughly $93 million more than the totality of his listed assets. The documents go on to state that the debtor's accounting offices severely dropped the ball.

"Much of what the trustee found upon her appointment was very dated," the document reads. It states that the firm's records may, "not have listed all of the debtor’s causes of action or potential causes of action against third-parties as assets."

Thus, unfortunately for Girardi, "the actual total may be different than the listed total."

Along with the nearly $4.1 million in personal property assets, the trustee's findings also discovered $25 million which were distributed to ex wife and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Erika Jayne's entertainment company.

The former couple's assets were frozen by the court when they were accused of misusing funds intending for the victims of the 2018 Lion Air - clients of Girardi's firm. It was the subject of the Hulu documentary The Housewife and the Hustler in which victims spoke up about the mistreatment they received from Girardi's firm and how the money was used funneled into his and Erika Jayne's lavish lifestyle. Recently, the story is even becoming a reoccurring subject of conversation on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

In lieu of the emending bankruptcy, Girardi's firm went to auction a number of items from its office. Along with business machinery and equipment, the firm sold a signed poster of Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. 

Girardi was recently seen in an assisted living facility where he's being treated for dementia.

"I think what has happened to Tom here is that he's not mentally capable, and he's in sole control of his firm. And I think that it got away from him," Jayne says on episode of RHOBH.

Read Next: Despite Bankruptcy, Casa Bonita Refuses To Sell Restaurant To South Park Creators

Sources: PEOPLE, Fox Business, Page Six

 

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/3ylldZi

The Naked "Nevermind" Baby Is Suing Nirvana | TheRichest.com

Spencer Elden, the grown-up naked baby from the iconic album cover Nevermind, decided to sue Nirvana on the 30th anniversary of the famous album.

The cover portrays a four-month-old child with depicted genitalia in a swimming pool following a dollar bill dangled on a fishhook. According to the lawsuit obtained by Variety, "Defendants intentionally commercially marketed Spencer's child pornography and leveraged the shocking nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at his expense." Yet, according to US law, as the BBC writes, non-sexualized photos of infants don't fall under child pornography. However, Elden's lawyer, Robert Y. Lewis, argues that the image is child pornography. He states that the dollar bill makes Spenser look "like a sex worker" and that this photoshoot is nothing but sexual exploitation. In addition, Elden's suit alleges the group members and the photographer, Kirk Weddle, for using the picture without his parents' consent. The only benefit they got was $200, as his father said to NPR in 2008.

Weddle was Spenser's family friend who spontaneously offered to conduct the photo session. Three months after it, the family saw the picture on Sunset Blvd, on the Tower Records wall. Two months later, a 1-year-old Spenser got a teddy bear and a platinum album.

RELATED: 15 Bands Who Want To Be The Next Nirvana

So, the lawsuit seeks $150,000 from each defendant: the former group members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, Kirk Weddle, Cobain's estate managers, Heather Parry and Guy Oseary, record companies and art directors who distributed the album in the last thirty years, and even Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain's executor estate and ex-wife.

As CBS News writes, Elden stated he got no compensation and "has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages" because of the photoshoot. Indeed, in one of the interviews, he mentioned that he feels uncomfortable playing baseball, knowing that the players had seen his genitalia when he was a child.

Interestingly, Spencer recreated the cover album twice, in 2008 and 2016 but got paid $200 only for the second picture. One small remark - he wore shorts for both photoshoots. So, as Vanity Fair writes, Spencer has mixed feelings towards the legendary photo. After the 2016 photoshoot, he confessed to Time magazine that he tried to reach those who assisted in the photoshoot but failed to get any contact from their side. "I just woke up already being a part of this huge project. It's pretty difficult—you feel like you're famous for nothing, but you didn't really do anything but their album," he said.

Apart from that, he mentioned that he gets upset realizing how much money the band got from this album. Well, it has sold more than 30 million copies since 1991, and it's considered the best in the history of rock music. Obviously, he got nothing from the sales. And, for now, none of the defendants has given any comments on that matter.

NEXT: The Rolling Stones: Rock's Billion Dollar Band Plays On

 

 

 

from TheRichest - Feed https://ift.tt/38ghvWj