January Jones Wiki: January Jones (born January 5, 1978) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actress and former Abercrombie & Fitch model.

Career

She currently appears in the AMC original television drama series Mad Men as young suburban housewife and mother Betty Draper. She is also well known for her role as Cadence Flaherty in American Wedding (2003), from the American Pie comedy film series.

She had the lead female role in the movie Love’s Enduring Promise as a pioneer family’s oldest child. Her character fell in love with a mysterious man who saved her father’s life.

Jones has had supporting roles in Anger Management (2003), Love Actually, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. In 2005 she

appeared as a U.S. border guard’s frustrated wife in the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada directed by and

starring Tommy Lee Jones. In We Are Marshall (2006), she played the role of Carol Dawson, wife of football coach William

“Red” Dawson.

She appeared in the Season 18 Law & Order episode “Quit Claim”, playing a slippery, manipulative con artist who matches wits

with Assistant District Attorney Cutter. She is the lone surviving suspect connected to a real estate scam involving

organized crime.

She will star in The Boat That Rocked, to be released in 2009.

Jones was ranked #82 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002.

Personal life

Jones was born and raised in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, South Dakota. She is named after January Wayne, a character in

Jacqueline Susann’s Once Is Not Enough.[3] She graduated from Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls.

Jones dated Ashton Kutcher from 1998-2001. She also dated singer Josh Groban from 2003 to 2006.

She announced in Vanity Fair in 2009 that she has joined Oceana as a celebrity spokesperson, working on behalf of endangered

sharks.

Awards and nominations

In 2005 Jones won a Camie (Character and Morality in Entertainment Awards) for Love’s Enduring Promise (2004) (TV), shared

with Robert Halmi, Jr. (executive producer), Larry Levinson (executive producer), Lincoln Lageson (executive producer),

William Spencer Reilly (executive producer), Michael Landon, Jr. (Film director/screenwriter), Cindy Kelley (screenwriter),

Janette Oke (author of original book), Logan Bartholomew (actor), Mackenzie Astin (actor), Dale Midkiff (actor) and Katherine

Heigl (actress).

In 2006 she won the Bronze Wrangler at the Western Heritage Awards for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture for The Three

Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), shared with Tommy Lee Jones (director/producer/actor), Michael Fitzgerald (producer),

Luc Besson (producer), Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (producer), Guillermo Arriaga (writer), Barry Pepper (actor), Dwight Yoakam

(actor), Julio Cedillo (actor), Levon Helm (actor), Melissa Leo (actress) and Vanessa Bauche (actress).

In 2008 she was nominated for the Actor award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards/14th Screen Actors Guild Awards for

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Mad Men (2007), shared with Bryan Batt, Anne Dudek, Michael

Gladis, Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks, Vincent Kartheiser, Robert Morse, Elisabeth Moss, Maggie Siff, John Slattery, Rich

Sommer and Aaron Staton.

Filmography

* Sorority (1999) (TV) …. Number One
* Get Real (1 episode, “Pilot”, 1999) …. Jane Cohen
* It’s the Rage (1999) …. Janice Taylor
* The Glass House (2001) …. Girl
* Bandits (2001) …. Claire/Pink Boots
* In My Life (2002) (TV) …. Diane St. Croix
* Taboo (2002) …. Elizabeth
* Full Frontal (2002) …. Tracy
* Anger Management (2003) …. Gina
* American Wedding (2003) …. Cadence Flaherty
* Love Actually (2003) …. Jeannie
* My Buddy Jack (2003) (V)
* Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) …. Eve
* Love’s Enduring Promise (2004) (TV) …. Missie Davis
* Huff (2 episodes, “The Good Doctor” and “The Sample Closet,” 2005) …. Marissa Wells
* The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) …. Lou Ann Norton
* Swedish Auto (2006) …. Darla
* We Are Marshall (2006) …. Carole Dawson
* Mad Men (2007-2008) …. Betty Draper
* Law & Order (1 episode, “Quit Claim”, 2008) …. Kim Brody
* The Boat That Rocked (2009) …. Eleonore (post-production)

Courtesy: wikipedia.org

Early Years

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the GI Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and
moved west to Hawaii.

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack’s parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia.

Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

The College Years

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the US Senate.

Political Career

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama’s life — growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas — that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today’s public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose — a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the US Senate, he focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Obama fought to help veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of
non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America’s addiction to oil, he worked to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses, and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.

Whether it’s the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago’s South Side.

www.inauguration.dc.gov

Learn more at change.gov

Biography

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., age 65, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on November 20, 1942, to Joseph Sr. and Jean Biden, the oldest of four. In 1953, the Biden family moved from Pennsylvania to Claymont, Delaware. Biden attended parochial school at St. Helena’s School in Wilmington and the Archmere Academy in Claymont. Public service has always been an important part of Biden family life — one of Joe’s great grandfathers served as a Pennsylvania state senator.

After graduating from the University of Delaware in 1965 and from law school at Syracuse University in 1968, Biden moved back to the Wilmington area and set up his own law firm. He practiced law until 1972.

In 1970, Biden — at age 27 — ran for New Castle County Council and won in a Republican district. At age 29, he launched an improbable bid to unseat two-term Republican US Senator J. Caleb Boggs. With very little help from the state establishment, and with his sister as his campaign manager, Biden defeated Boggs by 3,162 votes.

Just weeks after the election, Biden’s wife, Neilia, and their 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed and their two young sons critically injured in an auto accident. Biden was sworn in at his son’s hospital bedside and began commuting to Washington every day by train, a practice he has maintained throughout his career in the Senate.

In 1977, Biden married Jill Jacobs. Jill Biden, who holds an EdD, has been an educator for over two decades in Delaware’s schools. Currently she is a professor at Delaware Technical Community College.

Senator Biden has three children: Beau, Hunter, and Ashley. Beau currently serves as Delaware’s Attorney General — and as a captain in the 261st Signal Brigade of the Delaware National Guard. Ashley is a social worker and Hunter is an attorney.

Senator Biden also has five grandchildren: Naomi, Finnegan, Roberta Mabel, Natalie, and Robert Hunter.

In 1988, Biden suffered a cranial aneurysm and nearly died. He recovered by early 1989 after two surgeries and has enjoyed good health since then.

In addition to serving as US Senator, Biden has been an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law since 1991, where he teaches a seminar on constitutional law.

Key Career Accomplishments

Biden became ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee in 1997 and served as chairman of the committee from 2001 to 2003 and from 2007 to the present. He served as chairman or ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for sixteen years. He is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on foreign policy, as well as one of its most influential voices on terrorism, drug policy, crime, and issues important to women. He has been a tireless advocate for working families and has
reached across the aisle to work with Republicans on tackling some of the greatest challenges facing Americans.

* Like Barack Obama, Biden has been an outspoken critic of George W. Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq.
* Biden’s leadership was instrumental in helping to bring stability and peace to the Balkans. In 1999, Biden wrote a resolution endorsing the air war in Kosovo that was passed by the Senate.
* Biden has been a leader of the congressional effort to end genocide in Darfur.
* In the late 1990s, Biden led the effort in the Senate to bring Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO and to pass the Chemical Weapons Treaty.
* Biden has been instrumental in crafting almost every major piece of crime legislation over the past two decades. His Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 put more than 100,000 police officers on America’s streets and has been credited with bringing crime rates down to the lowest point in a generation.
* In 1996, Biden authored legislation to create a national registry of sex offenders, which tracks people convicted of sex crimes involving violence or committed against minors.
* Biden authored and passed the landmark Violence Against Women Act, the strongest legislation to date that criminalizes domestic violence and holds batterers accountable.
* Biden was a strong supporter of the Family and Medical Leave Act, cracked down on deadbeat dads, and has been a

consistent champion for equal pay.
* Biden was one of the first to introduce legislation to address global warming and he co-sponsored the most aggressive pieces of climate change legislation in the US Senate.
* Biden is a champion on the issue of making college more affordable by using the tax code to reduce costs.
* Biden was successful in passing a provision that prevents budget cuts to military facilities while the nation is at war, an effor that shored up one of his key priorities — top-notch medical treatment for all veterans in a fully-funded VA

health care system.

Senator Biden has a proven record of bringing people together to get things done. From global warming to combating violence against women to confronting the challenges of the dangerous world in which we live, Joe Biden has fought every day over the course of his life in public service to improve the lives of middle class families.

Source: www.inauguration.dc.gov

Joe Biden sworn in as US vice president

Washington: Former Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was sworn in on Tuesday (20.01.2009) as Barack Obama’s vice-president, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of people who gathered near the Capitol for the inauguration of the first black US president.
Associate Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens administered the oath of office to Biden, 66, just minutes before Barack Hussein Obama was to be sworn in as the nation’s 44th president.

Biden will bring his experience to the team of incoming president Barack Obama. (livemint.com)

Deepika Padukone (born January 5, 1986) is an Indian supermodel turned actress who appears in Bollywood movies.

Born: January 5, 1986 (1986-01-05) (age 23)

Copenhagen, Denmark

Occupation : Model, Actor

Years active : 2004–present

Padukone was born to Ujjala and Prakash Padukone on January 5, 1986, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her family moved to Bangalore, India, when she was only eleven months old. Her parents hail from Padukone village in Kundapura Taluk of Udupi District, Karnataka, India. Her father, Prakash Padukone, was a badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Deepika has a younger sister, Anisha, born in 1991.

Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore. She completed her Pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College in Bangalore, India.[4] While in high school she played badminton at the state level like her father and was a member of her father’s badminton club. However, she wasn’t keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player and abandoned it to concentrate on her ICSE exams.

(wikipedia)

Vanessa Anne Hudgens, (also known simply as) Vanessa Hudgens, (born December 14, 1988 in Salinas, California) is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in 2003 and appeared in the Hollywood films Thirteen and Thunderbirds, before reaching fame in the 2006 hit Disney Channel film, High School Musical. Hudgens also began a music career and released her debut album, entitled V, in 2006. In 2007, Hudgens became the spokesperson for Neutrogena.

Background information

Birth name Vanessa Anne Hudgens
Also known as Vanessa Hudgens
Born December 14, 1988 (1988-12-14) (age 18)
Origin  Salinas, California, U.S.A.
Genre(s) Pop,Teen Pop,Dance Pop,Dance,R&B
Occupation(s) Actress, Singer
Years active 2002–present (actress)
2005–present (singer)
Label(s) Walt Disney (2005–)
Hollywood (2006–)
Associated
acts Disney
Zack and Cody
High School Musical
Disney Channel Circle of Stars
Official Website : http://hollywoodrecords.go.com/vanessahudgens/

Early life
Vanessa Anne Hudgens was born on December 14, 1988; her younger sister, Stella Hudgens, is also an actress. She has been home-schooled since after her seventh-grade year at the Orange County High School of the Arts. Her parents are Greg Hudgens and Gina Guangco. In regards to her ethnic background, Vanessa was quoted:

“Pretty much I’m Filipino and Caucasian, but within that, I’m Spanish, American Indian, Irish.”

Starting at the age of eight, Hudgens performed in musical theater as a singer, and appeared in local productions of Carousel, The Wizard of Oz, The King and I, The Music Man, and Cinderella, among others. Hudgens successfully auditioned for a commercial and subsequently moved to Los Angeles with her family, with whom she is still close.

Career

Film and television

Hudgens began performing at an early age, appearing in musicals starting at age eight, by taking over a friend who couldn’t go to the audition, and moved to Los Angeles after winning an audition for a commercial. She scored roles on shows such as Quintuplets, Cover Me, and Still Standing, then made her feature debut in Thirteen as Noel and appeared in the 2004 film Thunderbirds as Tintin. Her television appearances include guest roles on Quintuplets, Still Standing, The Brothers Garcia and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, as Corrie, a classmate of Maddie and London. Hudgens also appeared on Drake & Josh, playing Drake’s girlfriend, Rebecca.

Hudgens’ largest role among teenage audiences has been starring in the Disney Channel movie High School Musical, which premiered in January 2006; BBC News said that the film’s success turned Hudgens into a “household name” in North America. Hudgens and Efron had won “Best Chemistry” award at the Teen Choice Awards for their roles.

As a result of the film’s popularity, Hudgens was offered a contract by Old Navy to appear in multiple commercials for the company. Hudgens had previously appeared in a swimwear commercial for the company in 2005. She also appeared in a Blockbuster commercial for no late fees, as the teenage daughter. Also, Hudgens is set to be the new face of Neutrogena in 2007, appearing in both film and print ads. Hudgens is also an endorser of the Ecko line. Hudgens participated in the Disney Channel Games 2006, which was filmed in April 2006 and aired two months later.

Hudgens finished filming High School Musical 2 on April 13, 2007, in St. George and Salt Lake City, Utah. In both films, Hudgens stars as shy, intelligent Gabriella Montez. The film premiered on the Disney Channel on August 17, 2007.

The first High School Musical spawned a hit soundtrack, a worldwide concert tour, a show at Walt Disney World, and even a book series that helped Hudgens land in Forbes magazine’s list of top-earning stars under 21.” In the list, the 18-year-old Hudgens was No. 7 with estimated earnings of $2 million.
Music

Hudgens’ debut album, entitled V, was released in early September 2006. She is signed with Hollywood Records, a Disney-owned record label. A music video for her first single, “Come Back To Me”, debuted after the world premiere of The Cheetah Girls 2 in late August. The official music video for her second single, “Say OK”, was first shown following the premiere of Disney’s Jump In!

“Let Go” and “Let’s Dance” have both been used in commercials for ABC, “Let Go” for a Desperate Housewives commercial, and “Let’s Dance” for Dancing With The Stars. “Say OK” has also been used in commercials for ABC Family’s Lincoln Heights.

Hudgens has stated that she is interested in recording a second album sometime soon. In an August 2007 issue of TV Guide magazine, with the cast of High School Musical on the cover, Hudgens expressed interest in writing songs about the negative side of Hollywood and how it can change people.

In August 2007 at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards, Hudgens was named the Choice Breakout Singer – Female, beating out other noteworthy nominees including American Idol contestant Katharine McPhee, Amy Winehouse, Corrine Bailey Rae and Lily Allen, who all have a decidedly older sound with their music.
Personal life

Hudgens confirmed in an interview with Teen Magzine that, as of August 2007, she was dating her High School Musical and High School Musical 2 co-star Zac Efron.

wikipedia.org

 Chairman, Microsoft Corporation

William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects. The two-year transition process is to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities. Effective June 2006, Ray Ozzie has assumed Gates’ previous title as chief software architect and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities at Microsoft. Craig Mundie has assumed the new title of chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft and is working closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the company’s research and incubation efforts.

Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft’s chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer – the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates’ foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates’ leadership, Microsoft’s mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates’ previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times’ bestseller list for seven weeks.

Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world’s largest resources of visual information – a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.

Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.

microsoft.com