作者：Flipboard

From thenetline

Elon Musk is widely regarded as the architect for the future. He has always been a visionary with a rare ability to predict and invent what the world will need in the future. Some of the visionary products and services engineered by him include Tesla and PayPal. He is also the chief engineer of an ambitious space program known as SpaceX.

Elon’s first attempt at finding a lasting love came when he met Justine Musk at Queen’s University. He saw the Canadian beauty from across the common room of the university, and he decided that he wanted to approach her.

When Elon approached Justine, he told her that they’d met at a party that Justine hadn’t attended. Nevertheless, Justine accepted Elon’s ice cream date invite. However, come date-time, Justine went back on her promise. She chose to study instead of going for the date with Elon.

Elon didn’t give up, and several hours later, he showed up at the school’s student center with two melting ice cream cones. He wasn’t fazed by Justine’s refusal, and he was determined to get his girl. Elon continued to woo Justine even after he transferred to Wharton. He would regularly send roses to Justine, and he would occasionally visit Queen’s University to have dinner with her.

According to Justine, Elon’s fascination with her was not because of outward beauty, but because of the desire that she had to succeed. After dating for a long while, the couple got married in January 2000. When Elon and Justine started dating, Elon was a struggling entrepreneur. By the time they got married, Elon was worth about $20 million.

Justine told Marie Claire that the marriage began to go downhill when the couple’s first child died after ten weeks due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Nevada’s death seemed to affect Elon more than he admitted. He refused to discuss the matter with Justine and even labeled her public grieving as ‘emotionally manipulative’.

Eight years into the marriage, the cracks in the couple’s marriage were too big for Elon and Justine to ignore. He filed for divorce after a failed attempt to save the marriage through counseling. Despite this sad ending, five good things came out of the failed marriage. Justine told Marie Claire;

“Although I am estranged from Elon – when it comes to children, I deal with his assistant – I don’t regret my marriage…Elon and I share custody of the children, who are thriving. I feel grounded now, and deeply grateful for my life.”

He married and divorced his second wife twice

Six weeks after filing for divorce, Elon informed Justine that he was engaged to British actress Talulah Riley. It, therefore, came as a surprise that Riley and Justine got along during the divorce proceedings. Justine told Marie Claire that she sent Riley an email stating;

“I would rather live out the French-movie version of things, in which two women become friends and various philosophies are pondered, than the American version, in which one is ‘good’ and one is ‘bad’ and there’s a huge catfight sequence and someone gets thrown off a balcony.”

Riley simply responded, “Let’s do as the French do.”

Talulah and Elon got married after the conclusion of the divorce proceedings. News of their divorce emerged in 2012. Elon confirmed the rumors when he posted a tweet saying;

“It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day.”

The couple reunited and remarried in 2013. A year later, Elon filed for divorce, but he withdrew it before the court concluded the divorce proceedings. The next stage in this up and down relationship came in 2016 when Riley filed for divorce.

Riley and Elon are still on good terms, and they are involved in each other’s lives. Riley told People;

“We still see each other all the time and take care of each other.”

He had a painful breakup with actress Amber Heard

Reports about the relationship between Amber and Elon first emerged in 2016. At the time, Amber and Johnny Depp had just finalized their divorce. Elon had also just concluded his second divorce from Talulah Riley.

Amber revealed that a shared love for science brought the couple together. She told The Hollywood Reporter;

“Intellectual curiosity, ideas and conversation, a shared love for science. We just bonded on a lot of things that speak to who I am on the inside. I have so much respect for him.”

In August 2017, reports emerged stating that Elon and Amber had split up. The reports suggested that their conflicting schedules led to the split. However, the couple reunited again in 2018.

It turned out to be a brief reunion. A source told People that after a month, the couple decided to break up. The source said;

“Elon decided it was time to end it and Amber agreed. They both still care deeply for each other but the timing wasn’t right.”

The source suggested that the decision to break up was mutual, but Elon revealed that Amber decided to end the relationship. Elon told Rolling Stone that it was a tough break up;

“Well, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think…I’ve been in severe emotional pain for the last few weeks. Severe. It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. For most of that day, I was morbid.”

Elon had high expectations for his relationship with Amber, and it hurt a lot when the relationship ended. Amber and Elon are currently good friends.

He is currently dating indie singer Grimes

The public learned about Elon and Grimes’ relationship when the couple attended the 2018 Met Gala together. According to Page Six, Elon and Grimes met online in April 2018.

Reports suggest that the couple’s relationship is still strong. However, Grimes told Cultured Mag that the relationship is having a bit of a negative impact on her career;

“It’s sad how love can be this beautiful thing, but then love is the thing that’s fucking up my career.”

Grimes was referring to the backlash that she received when news about her relationship with Musk emerged. She has since changed her official stage names from Grimes to ‘c’ as a response to the added publicity she is facing due to her relationship with Elon. She said;

“You just have to totally untether your personality from your public persona. I’m like, I don’t want to use that name [Grimes] anymore. I don’t want to use that face anymore. Because it now stands for something I don’t agree with.”

Time will tell how far Elon and Grimes’ relationship will last.

From CNN /By Kylie Atwood

独立后的荣耀正式对外亮相，以成为全球标志性科技品牌为定位，以创造属于每个人的智慧新世界为愿景，保持“1+8+N”的产品战略，以万物互联的智慧科技，推动你与世界共同向前，坚持创新如一、品质如一、服务如一的战略，领跑新竞争时代。

研发人员占比50%+，致力成为全球标志性的科技品牌

荣耀品牌理念全新升级：以“创新”“高级”“自由”“可信赖”作为关键词，坚持底层创新，探索全新角度，以国际化的普世审美，关注人文与社会。荣耀将全力打造包括高端产品在内的全系列智能手机，和智能生态产品，为全球消费者带来设计惊艳、性能卓越、体验超凡的产品与服务，致力于成为全球标志性的科技品牌。

荣耀依旧如一：创新如一、品质如一、服务如一，一如既往的重视对研发和前瞻性的技术投入。而且，新荣耀继承华为基因，但比之前更加灵活高效，无疑将使荣耀更具竞争力。

创新如一，荣耀近一半员工是研发人员，有五大研发基地，100多个创新实验室，研发团队完全具备全系列手机及智能生态产品的研发能力，他们曾经打造出创新的Magic 系列、V系列，获得欧洲影音协会奖（EISA）大奖的HONOR系列，深受喜爱的X系列，以及MagicBook笔记本、荣耀手表、手环、平板、智慧屏等优秀产品；面向未来的技术储备和能力上，荣耀也做好了充分的准备，提供更高价格段覆盖和新技术迭代更新的产品提供创新弹药，如一碰传技术、超级快充技术、GPUTurbo、RYYB、Link Turbo、EROFS超级文件系统等。

品质如一，荣耀拥有世界级的质量控制能力，400+严苛测试标准，20+全球认证标准，为高品质产品保驾护航，荣耀品质，经得住千锤百炼。

服务如一，荣耀以其全球性、全链条、稳定可靠的上下游体系，保证生产到销售的全面覆盖和全球的服务竞争力，在全球82个国家和地区，拥有3000+服务中心、43个呼叫中心，持续提供快捷、高效的服务方案，为已售和在售的荣耀产品提供安全升级以及售后服务。

毫无疑问，以创新、品质、服务如一的荣耀，以及一半以上研发人员的创新加持，新荣耀将在创新、品质、和服务上树立标杆，引领新竞争时代。

荣耀再向上：创造属于每个人的智慧新世界

过去的三年，荣耀凭借着强大的研发能力和产品口碑，获得越来越多消费者的青睐，荣耀一直保持着中国市场手机线上的第一品牌，荣耀并非从零开始，而是继往开来，更进一步。

荣耀CE0赵明表示：“市场不是说出来的，是打出来的”，无疑表明荣耀对接下来在市场上必胜的信念。

据悉，独立后的荣耀将突破过去的品牌定位，成为完全商业化的独立个体，新荣耀不再有战略包袱，产品布局上不再有任何限制，将会面向全场景、全渠道以及全人群来打造品牌和产品，满足更多的人群对于未来的智能全场景身份的需要，以万物互联的智能科技，创造属于每个人的智慧新世界。

2021新品首发，荣耀后续将爆发性突进

此次荣耀发布多款产品，包括荣耀V40、全新的MagicBook 14/15系列产品和荣耀手表GS Pro秘境星空新配色。

荣耀V40手机，采用一块支持10亿色、120Hz刷新率、300Hz触控采样的视网膜级超感屏，搭配重构秩序的先锋ID设计、全新升级的黑科技GPU Turbo X图形加速引擎、66W有线+55W双超级快充、X+Z轴双线性马达，致力于为消费者带来前所未感的使用体验。售价方面：荣耀V40有8GB+128GB，8GB+256GB两种配置，颜色有幻夜黑、钛空银、蔷薇金，分别售价为3599元、3999元、将于1月22日12:00开启全渠道首销。

荣耀还带来了全新的MagicBook 14/15系列产品，以屏幕、性能和提升生产力为核心卖点，充分覆盖个人消费用户中的主要群体；荣耀手表GS Pro联合Discovery探索频道，推出秘境星空新配色，重新定义腕上时尚。

本次品牌亮相和产品发布仅是荣耀市场迈进的一小步，据悉，2021将是荣耀的爆发之年，后续荣耀将进一步推出更多爆款机型，在高端市场、大众市场全面突击。

From REUTERS/By Norihiko Shirouzu

BEIJING (Reuters) – Tesla Inc is searching for a design director in China, part of efforts to open a “full-function” studio in Shanghai or Beijing and design electric cars tailored to Chinese consumer tastes, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

From CHICAGO.SUNTIMES/By CST Editorial Board

Our city will not curb gun violence and bring down the number of murders without addressing the root causes of violence, which have been made worse by COVID-19’s economic and social upheaval.

As 2020 draws to a close, Chicago has reached a grim milestone of 766 homicides, the highest number since 778 murders in 2016.

Chicago is not the only American city to experience a dramatic and sobering uptick in gun violence this year, fueled by the social and economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In New York City, homicides have soared 39% since last year. In Los Angeles, 30%. In St. Louis, 35%. The list goes on, adding up to a 34% increase in murders nationwide since last year, data from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice shows.

Other numbers in Chicago also are markedly higher than a year ago: 4,115 people shot. 11,280 illegal guns seized. 7,236 gun arrests.

But this is not an editorial about the grim numbers on gun violence. This is about the story behind the numbers. Which is that many, if not most, of those crimes were probably committed by someone who was desperate, depressed, unemployed, undereducated, addicted to drugs and alcohol, poorly raised — or maybe all of the above.

Let’s be clear here: Nobody’s offering excuses for those who murder or engage in other forms of violence. Those who commit violent crimes must pay a just price for the harm they have caused. Public safety must be our first priority.

Some of the increase in murders, too, likely stems from mundane reasons related to the pandemic — tempers rising between roommates who’ve been cooped up in close quarters too long during lockdowns, or an escalation of a domestic violence incident.

But over the long term — over years, decades and generations —Chicago will quell the violence only if it does far more to address the root causes of violence, made so glaringly obvious in this year of the pandemic.

An unprecedented crisis

“There’s always been an urgent need to address root causes,” as Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago Crime Lab told us. “But when you have a once-in-a-hundred-year public health and economic crisis, it highlights the need for a root cause push of a sort that nobody has seen before.”

Among young adults ages 18 to 24 — the very group most likely to become involved in gun violence — the pandemic has taken a steep toll, Ludwig pointed out.

Take mental health. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey from June found that 41% of adults reported experiencing anxiety, depression, substance abuse or other mental health issues since the pandemic.

The percentage rose to 50% or above among young adults ages 18 to 24, African Americans, Latinos, those with less than a high school diploma and essential workers. One in four young adults had considered suicide within the past 30 days.

“Who can be surprised that we have a gun violence epidemic, in the presence of a mental health epidemic like this?” Ludwig said.

Job loss, too, has been far higher among young people since COVID-19.

“I don’t think we fully appreciate the magnitude of the economic crisis we’re in the midst of right now, especially for young people,” Ludwig says.

A foundation for anti-violence work

Post-pandemic, it will take a massive effort — starting at the federal level with another major stimulus package — to knit together a social safety net that ensures adequate mental health care, quality education, jobs and other resources for every American.

America has done it before, with the New Deal that got us out of the Great Depression. We can do it again — and lay a foundation for curbing violence in the process.

Meanwhile, for all the talk of “defunding the police,” traditional crime-fighting strategies remain essential, though with a more socially responsive emphasis.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown has vowed to make policing more effective by emphasizing community policing efforts, such as getting officers involved in food pantry giveaways, youth activities and other neighborhood projects.

We favor that approach. Good policing depends on good relationships between officers and the communities they serve. We hope to see the effort ramp up significantly post-COVID.

The same goes for anti-violence street outreach work, another vital tool that’s been hampered by the pandemic.

But as the city’s sweeping anti-violence plan makes clear, those approaches alone won’t work.

“Put simply, without addressing the root causes of disinvestment, poverty, and inequitable social policies,” the plan reads, “Chicago’s violence reduction efforts will fail.”

The proof is in the pandemic, in big cities across the country, where homicide rates are way up for one reason above all: More people are struggling, hurting, alienated and lost.

From CNN /By Jacopo Prisco

 The kitchen island, topped with Shiro Tsujimura ceramic vases. Credit: Architectural Digest

 The pool area. Credit: Architectural Digest

 Upholstered seating by Royere and a limestone cocktail table by Vervoordt grace the living room. Credit: Architectural Digest

 Architectural Digest

The Australian-born whistle-blower is facing espionage and hacking charges in the US, facing up to 175 years in prison.

From AL JAZEERA

On January 4, a British court blocked a United States request to extradite WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

The US has charged him with hacking government computers and espionage after he obtained and published hundreds of thousands of classified documents between 2010 and 2011.

District Judge Vanessa Baraister said that such a move would be “oppressive” taking into account Assange’s mental health, saying he was at risk of suicide.

Assange was arrested in April 2019 by UK police from the embassy of Ecuador in London, where he had been granted asylum since 2012.

Here is what you need to know:

Who is Julian Assange?

Assange is an Australian-born computer programmer and founder of WikiLeaks – an international, non-profit whistle-blowing organisation that was created in Iceland in 2006.

The 49-year-old, a father, is WikiLeaks’ publisher and former editor-in-chief. In 2018, Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson took over as editor.

Assange came to prominence in mid-2010 after WikiLeaks published US military logs from Afghanistan and Iraq, and US cable leaks in November that year.

Former US military personnel Chelsea Manning sent the information to Assange.

Manning was charged and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in 2013 for violating the Espionage Act of 1917, and other offences.

The Espionage Act was passed to deter any interference in US military operations and prevent individuals and groups from supporting enemies of the United States.

Manning’s sentence was commuted in January 2017, days before then-US President Barack Obama left office.

What did WikiLeaks reveal?

WikiLeaks shot to fame in April 2010 after the website released a 39-minute video of a US military Apache helicopter firing over and killing more than a dozen Iraqis, including two Reuters journalists.

The footage leaked by private Manning led to global outrage, reigniting a debate over the US’s occupation of Iraq and wider presence in the Middle East.

In July that year, WikiLeaks, together with several media outlets, such as the New York Times, published more than 90,000 US military documents related to the War in Afghanistan.

These included previously unreported details about civilian deaths, friendly-fire casualties, US air raids, al-Qaeda’s role in the country, and nations providing support to Afghan leaders and the Taliban.

Months later, WikiLeaks published 391,832 documents related to the Iraq War. The reports, also referred to as The Iraq War Logs, provided on the ground details as reported by US troops, dating from January 2014 to December 2019.

The leaks were the single largest in US military history, exposing huge civilian casualties.

In November 2010, WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables, in what is now better known as the Cablegate scandal.

Some 250,000 reports were released, dating back to 1996 up until February 2010. The cables provided analysis and insights from more than 270 US embassies and consulates from around the world.

What is Assange charged with?

After Assange was arrested, a grand jury in the state of Virginia charged him with one count of computer intrusion/hacking for allegedly assisting Private Manning in accessing classified documents.

In May 2019, Assange was further charged – under the US Espionage Act of 1917 – on 17 counts for soliciting, gathering and publishing US military and diplomatic documents in 2010, all provided by Manning.

Assange is the first publisher to be charged under the act.

The leaks highlighted in the indictment include the US diplomatic cables, information on Guantanamo Bay prison detainees and Iraq and Afghanistan activity reports.

What could happen to Assange?

On January 4, UK’s Old Bailey court in London denied the US government’s request to extradite Assange on mental health issues ground, saying he was a suicide risk.

“I am satisfied that the risk that Mr Assange will commit suicide is a substantial one,” Baraitser noted in her remarks.

The US government has said it will appeal the decision, with some expecting the trial to go all the way up to the UK Supreme Court.

If Assange is extradited to the US and charged under the Espionage Act, he could face up to 175 years in jail. On the less serious charge of computer intrusion, the WikiLeaks founder would receive a maximum of five years.

Extradition between the UK and the US is rare.

In 2012, a request from the US to extradite UK hacker Gary Mackinnon for hacking into US military databases was rejected. Similarly, the US refused a request from the UK earlier this year to hand over Anna Sachoolas, the wife of a US intelligence officer accused of killing a British citizen due to dangerous driving.

What happened to the sexual assault charges against him in Sweden?

The US indictment against Assange does not include any charges of rape, of which he was accused of by two Swedish women in 2010. Assange has repeatedly denied the accusations.

A Swedish court issued an international warrant for his arrest in 2010 so he could be extradited back to the nordic country. After being released on bail in the UK, Assange was granted asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012 by then-President Rafael Correa, where he resided for nearly seven years.

On November 19, 2019, all rape charges against Assange were dropped.

Why is this case important?

While supporters of the Wikileaks publisher have welcomed the UK court’s decision, many have expressed caution – noting that the case was not decided on the grounds of press freedom.

According to rights groups, Assange’s possible extradition and sentencing in the US would be a serious threat to free-speech rights and to the work of investigative journalists around the world.

Amnesty International has said the effect of Assange being convicted on investigative journalists, publishers and anyone who publishes classified government material would be “immediate and severe”.

US lawyers argue that charges against Assange could be challenged under the US’s First Amendment law, which protects the right to freedom of speech and expression.

From CNN /By Jacqui Palumbo

On the last day of each year, it has become a ritual for large crowds to gather in the brightly lit chaos of New York’s Times Square to ring in new beginnings. At 11:59 p.m. a dazzling ball descends down a pole, while attendees — and millions of people tuning in from home — count down from 60. At the stroke of midnight, the crowd erupts into a cacophony of sound, often pulling their loved one in for a ceremonial kiss.

New Year’s Eve has its own set of rituals: the ball drop, resolutions and sealing the new year with a kiss.

This year, however, the Times Square ball will drop to empty streets. Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, no one will be allowed to gather in person, but there will be a virtual event for those wanting to watch it from home.

The Times Square Ball has had seven different designs.

 

This will mark the first year since 1904 that crowds will be prohibited from flocking to Times Square. Though the ball drop was canceled for two years during World War II, people still came to observe the tradition and hold a minute of silence.

Over the past century, the symbol of the New Year — the luminous ball — has evolved from a iron and wood cage adorned with light bulbs to a dazzling technicolor crystal object.

But how did this New Year’s Eve celebration start, and why do we commemorate the occasion by watching a ball descend down a pole?

Nautical inspiration

 

The Times Square ball began thanks to a Ukranian immigrant and metalworker, named Jacob Starr, and the former New York Times publisher, Adolph Ochs. The latter had successfully drawn crowds to the newspaper’s new skyscraper home in Times Square through pyrotechnics and fireworks to celebrate the forthcoming year, but city officials banned explosives from being used after just a few years.

In 1907, Ochs commissioned Starr, who worked for sign-making firm Strauss Signs (later known as Artkraft Strauss, which Starr served as president), to create a new visual display.

Crowds gather in Times Square to on December 31, 1938. The intersection has hosted New Year’s Eve celebrations since 1904.

The new concept was based on time balls, nautical devices that had gained popularity in the 19th century. As time-telling became more precise, ship navigators needed a standardized way to set their chronometers. Each day, harbors and observatories would raise and lower a metal ball at the same time to allow sailors to synchronize their instruments.

Both Ochs and the New York Times’ chief electrician, Walter Palmer, have been credited with the idea, allegedly inspired by the downtown Western Union Building, which dropped a time ball each day at noon. But Starr’s granddaughter Tama, who joined Artkraft Strauss in 1982 and now owns the business, said in a phone interview that she believes it was her grandfather who came up with the concept of the ball being lowered and lit up with the new year numerals at midnight.

One design of the New Year’s Ball was an aluminum cage outfitted with lightbulbs.

“The idea was to … have it illuminated with the brand-new electricity that had just come up to the neighborhood,” said Tama, who for many years served as foreperson at the Times Square ball drop. “And it was lowered by hand … starting at one minute to midnight, and that was the way it was done for many years.”

“It was an adaptation of an old, useful thing,” she added. “It was instantly popular. People just loved it.”

Though Manhattan had been partially illuminated by electricity since the early 1880s, the US National Park Service (NPS) notes that half of American homes were still lit by gas lights and candles until the 1920s. The sight of a glimmering ball lowering down from the dark skies would have seemed otherworldly.

When the ball reached the parapet with a sign displaying the numbers of the year, “the electrician would throw the switch, turning off the ball and turning on the numbers at the same time,” Tama said. “So it looked like the ball coming down transformed into the set of numbers.”

Artkraft Strauss, a sign company founded by Jacob Starr, was responsible for the ball design and its drop for nearly a century

All of Times Square got in on the theatrics. In the first year, waiters in nearby restaurants and hotels wore battery-powered “1908” top hats that they illuminated at the stroke of midnight.

“It looked like magic to people,” said Tama.

‘A minute outside of time’

 

There have been seven different Times Square balls since its first descent, from a 700-pound iron structure fitted with 25-watt light bulbs, to a lighter aluminum frame after World War II, to a “Big Apple” during the administration of the city’s former mayor Ed Koch.

During Mayor Ed Koch’s administration, the ball changed to an apple as part of the “I Love New York” campaign.

In 1995, when the ball got a glitzy update with rhinestones, strobe lights and computer controls, traditional signmakers were no longer needed — which meant that Artkraft Strauss, the company that had brought the ball to Times Square, was no longer needed either. Today’s ball is a collaboration between Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting, using 32,256 LEDs that can be programed to display millions of colors and patterns on its surface.

Nonetheless, Tama remembers her years on the roof of One Times Square fondly. She took turns with her brother supervising and playing timekeeper. When the last minute of the year arrived, the workers lowered the ball down using a complex pulley system.

Using a series of tape markers on the pole, Tama was responsible for telling them to speed up or slow down. With every ounce of their attention focused on the task, even the team’s breathing would sync up during the 60 seconds, she said.

For the millenium, the Times Square ball got a new look, with a crystal design from Waterford Crystal and lighting from Philips.

In performing this ritual year after year, Tama sees an intrinsic link between the countdown, which she calls “a minute outside of time,” and the making of New Year’s resolutions.

“When you’re concentrating really hard, time seems to slow down,” she said. “It felt like the longest minute in the world. It felt like you had time to wash your hair, call your mother, change your life. You really can change your life in one minute — you can decide to be different. You can decide to be kinder and better.”

From BBC/By James Gallagher