The present (or now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of time between the past and the future, and can vary in meaning from being an instant to a day or longer. In radiocarbon dating, the "present" is defined as AD 1950.

It is sometimes represented as a hyperplane in space-time, typically called "now", although modern physics demonstrates that such a hyperplane can not be defined uniquely for observers in relative motion. The present may also be viewed as a duration (see specious present).

Contemporary history describes the historical timeframe that is immediately relevant to the present time and is a certain perspective of modern history.

The present is contrasted with the past and the future. Modern physics has not yet been able to explain the perceived aspect of 'the present' as 'eliminator of possibilities' that transfers future into past. A complicating factor is that whilst a given observer would describe 'the present' as a spatial structure with a zero-length time lapse, other observers would associate both time and space to this structure and therefore disagree on what constitutes 'the present'.

Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont Chevrolet Impala for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is a four-time series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the most wins in NASCAR's modern era (1972–present). In 2009, Gordon became the first driver to reach $100 million in career winnings in the Cup series.

Gordon, along with Rick Hendrick, are the co-owners of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet, driven by Jimmie Johnson, who won five consecutive Cup championships from 2006 to 2010. Gordon also has an equity stake in his own No. 24 team. He was born in Vallejo, California, raised in Pittsboro, Indiana, and currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Austin Carter Mahone (born April 4, 1996) is an American pop singer who became popular in 2011 due to viral videos of his performances. Mahone's debut single 11:11 was released on February 14, 2012. He headlined his first proper concert at the Czar Lounge in Houston, Texas on November 26^th, 2011

Mahone first starting posting videos on YouTube with his friend Alex Constancio in June 2010. Music videos followed by January 2011, and he quickly began to build an online following. The young male singer has even been called the "second coming of Justin Bieber". Mahone's video covering Bieber's Mistletoe, released in late October 2011, became so popular that it eclipsed the views of Bieber's original.

In September 2011, Mahone debuted at No. 38 on the Billboard Social 50 chart, the youngest to appear on the list. He rose to No. 28 on the list as of December 2. And as of May 2012, Mahone has over 700,000 Twitter followers and 350,000 YouTube subscribers. Like previous teen heartthrobs, Mahone's growing fan base is dominated by teenage females. His fans have been dubbed "Mahomies."

Kyrie Irving (born March 23, 1992) is an Australian-American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played as a point guard for Duke University as a freshman before being selected as the 1st overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by Cleveland. He won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2012. Irving was born in Melbourne and grew up in New Jersey.

Irving was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where his father, Drederick Irving, played professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers. Irving subsequently lived in Australia before relocating to the United States at the age of 2. He has dual citizenship in the United States and Australia. Irving's mother, Elizabeth, died from an illness when he was four, so Drederick raised him with the help of Irving's aunts. Growing up in New Jersey, Irving was a fan of the New Jersey Nets. His father took him and his sister to Continental Airlines Arena during the 2003 NBA Finals.

Irving played for Montclair Kimberley Academy his freshman and sophomore years, where he averaged 26.5 points, 10.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 steals and became only the school's 2nd 1,000 point scorer, before transferring to St. Patrick. While at St. Patrick High School, Irving played with Michael Gilchrist, who was widely regarded as one of the best players in the class of 2011. On January 20, 2010, it was announced that Irving was selected to the 2010 Junior National Select Team. The team played at the 2010 Nike Hoop Summit at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, on April 10. He was also selected to play in the 2010 McDonald's All-American Game and the 2010 Jordan Brand Classic, where he was named as co-mvp with Harrison Barnes. In June 2010 Irving was a part of the gold medal winning team at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship. Irving was the #2 player in the class of 2010 by Scout.com, #3 player in the ESPNU 100, and rated as the #4 player by Rivals.com.