Author Archives: Guest Post

Yahoo! Makes Comedy Serious Business With Premiere of New Comedy Channel Shows Featuring Seth Morris, Mike O’Brien, Ken Marino and More

*Yahoo! Screen now home to new slate of premium original comedy Web shows*

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, today debuts a variety of original comedy Web shows from a collaborative effort between Yahoo! and top-tier production partners. The new shows include “First Dates With Toby Harris” featuring Seth Morris (Funny or Die); “Sketchy” ( Electus/Principato-Young Entertainment ), and “7 Minutes in Heaven” with “Saturday Night Live”writerMike O’Brien (Broadway Video). The slate of comedy shows also includes an existing Yahoo! Studios original show, “Odd News,” Yahoo! News’ weekly wrap-up on the strangest stories from around the globe, hosted by comedian Greg Proops. All the new comedy shows will live on Yahoo! Screen (https://screen.yahoo.com), Yahoo!’s new online video destination.

In the coming weeks, Yahoo! will debut additional comedy shows including “Hackerazzi” ( David Morgasen ) and “Burning Love” (Paramount Pictures/Red Hour), which features an impressive lineup of celebrity talent and spoofs popular reality television dating shows. (more…)

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Putin Wins in Landslide Victory, Opposition Surrenders

Sitting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won the presidential election in Russia. He received the votes from 63.82 percent of electors, who took part in the voting on March 4th. Gennady Zyuganov, the head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, comes second with 17.18 percent. Ninety-nine percent of ballot papers have been processed so far.

Mikhail Prokhorov takes the third place with 7.77 percent. Vladimir Zhirinovsky comes next with 6.23 percent. Sergei Mironov comes last with only 3.84 percent. (more…)

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Study Shows How The Brain Responds To Deceptive Advertising

Several specific regions of our brains are activated in a two-part process when we are exposed to deceptive advertising, according to new research conducted by a North Carolina State University professor. The work opens the door to further research that could help us understand how brain injury and aging may affect our susceptibility to fraud or misleading marketing.

The study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to capture images of the brain while study participants were shown a series of print advertisements. The fMRI images allowed researchers to determine how consumers’ brains respond to potentially deceptive advertising. “We did not instruct participants to evaluate the ads. We wanted to mimic the passive exposure to advertising that we all experience every day,” says Dr. Stacy Wood, Langdon Distinguished Professor of Marketing at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. (more…)

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The Tales Top Bosses Tell To Keep Ahead of The Game

Top bosses are expert storytellers who tell versions of the same four stories to keep ahead of the game, experts have found. Researchers from Exeter, Newcastle and Strathclyde universities have discovered four powerful messages are built into the often subtle and sometimes self-deprecating stories leaders tell about themselves.

The messages are about defying the odds, staying the course, succeeding through talent and giving back to society. The overall effect of this image-enhancing cocktail is to legitimise their positions as captains of industry.

Storytelling has long been recognised as a way leaders such as Winston Churchill or Steve Jobs maintained legitimacy. However, this research goes further, revealing how and why these stories are such a potent way of keeping stellar careers on track. (more…)

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MU Expert Predicts Hot, Dry Summer for Midwest

COLUMBIA, Mo. – For nearly a year, the Midwest and southwest United States have experienced drought and warmer than normal conditions. A University of Missouri expert is predicting no relief, as he expects drought and hot conditions to continue this summer.

“I expect one of two scenarios to play out; the first is a continued La Nina climate pattern to affect our weather this summer,” said Tony Lupo, professor and chair of the Department of Atmospheric Science in the School of Natural Resources. “This will lead to a drought and above average heat throughout the Midwest from Texas to Iowa, where farmers with parched fields can least afford dry conditions. However, it is also possible that a new El Nino pattern could develop this fall. While I don’t see this happening, it would bring more favorable temperatures and precipitation patterns to the Midwest.” (more…)

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Sailing in a Sea of Microbes

Researchers led by Matt Sullivan at the UA are among the first to dive into the world of viruses drifting through the world’s oceans.

Surrounded by the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean stretching from horizon to horizon, a lonely dot is glinting in the sun. It is the aluminum hull of a sailboat, a 118-foot schooner with white sails billowing from two masts.

On the deck, crewmembers and scientists are milling about. Commands are flying back and forth, and soon a strange contraption consisting of tubes clustered around an array of sensors dangling from a crane is lowered into the water, until it disappears in the clear blue depths. (more…)

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Egyptians Want Democracy, But Not U.S. Efforts to Promote It

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The Egyptian trial of employees of four American groups that were promoting democracy was abruptly postponed earlier this week. But the crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations continues, for reasons, according to a University of Michigan researcher, that have a lot to do both with domestic Egyptian politics and with American Middle East policy. (more…)

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