shetango

Michigan limits banks' rights to foreclose
People who fall through the cracks and are not eligible for the federal mortgage modification program finally get some bargaining power against the banks. If a bank denies a loan modification to a homeowner who meets minimum financial requirements, or blows off the homeowner's attempt to initiate loan modification, the bank may not foreclose without court approval.

1 in 6 of European ancestry are 70% more likely to become obese
People carrying one copy of the "fat" FTO variant had a 30% increased risk of being obese compared to a person with no copies of that version.

Those carrying two copies of the variant had a 70% increased risk of being obese, and were on average 3kg (6.6lb) heavier than a similar person with no copies.

Professor Andrew Hattersley of the Peninsula Medical School said this could explain why two people can seem to eat the same things and do the same amount of exercise yet one may struggle to lose weight more than the other.

Cost of creativity is going up

The US Copyright Office is set to dramatically increase fees for copyright registration, impacting musicians, photographers and writers.

Some fees are going up by as much as 44%.

Chart with current and proposed fees is at the link.

"One woman in the UK is attempting to go without plastic for the entire month of August, and will be documenting her journey on the BBC News website. Christine Jeavans has resolved not to purchase anything that contains plastic or is packaged in plastic, and in preparation for this, she has kept all of the plastic she used in the previous month - totaling 603 items. Included in that total were 67 food packaging bags and films, 13 yogurt cups, 10 milk bottles and 120 disposable diapers. Once faced with all of this plastic, Chris was more resolved than ever to change her lifestyle. She'll be updating her blog with her progress throughout the month."

my sentiments exactly

Ron is a media futurist who helps independent musicians sell, manage and promote their music and keep 100% of the profits, and it's about damn time that that happened.