Weekly Linkage: All Over the Place

There’s no particular theme to this week’s surfing, but there are some pretty pictures and good reads here.

• The problem with waste – Note that the list of not-recommended screenings include things like screening for prostate cancer in men older than 75 or colon cancer in folks above 85. I glanced through the USPSTF's procedure manual, and it looks like they're taking into account a variety of factors (age, gender, race, etc.), but their information is only as good as the studies they're pulling from. How worried should we be about researchers' biases (ageism being the first that comes to mind)?

  "So we’re confronted with a set of screening recommendations with excellent evidence that aren’t paid for, and a list of screening tests that are recommended against that are paid for. That’s how you wind up with a system that (1) costs too much and (2) has sub-optimal quality. You pay for stuff that doesn’t clearly work and don’t pay for stuff that does."

• The Tiny Life , Archive » E.D.G.E. – This is one of the prettier tiny houses I've seen, and the layout is simple but complete. I'm not sure how I'd finagle office space in there without taking over the living/dining/social area.
• Debit card spending limit? Banks consider a $50 cap – Mar. 10, 2011 – This is so goofy. What would we do? Split our larger transactions? Switch to cash for bigger-ticket items?

  "JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest banks, is considering capping debit card transactions at either $50 or $100, according to a source with knowledge of the proposal. And the cap would apply even if you run your debit card as credit."

• 10 Iconic Fonts and Why You Should Never Use Them – "Few fonts are as reviled as Comic Sans. The whimsical font really isn’t that bad when used appropriately. Unfortunately, the entire corporate world seems to have chosen it for “Do not enter” signs, product announcements and even scathing sports-related rebukes." Make sure to follow through to the "sports-related rebukes".
• Ian Tregillis: MILKWEED UPDATE (or, What the Hell is Going on With The Coldest War?) – I haven't read this guy's books, but his story of traditional publishing editorial woes is saddening.
• justaddwater.dk | Easy delete all .svn Subfolders in Windows … – A nice little script for those of us in Windows still using SVN for some projects.
• Remembrance of Things Assed – This makes me sad: "One thing I can't do? Stop reveling in the misfortune of others."

  Learn a lesson. Have some empathy. People getting hurt or getting embarrassed is rarely actually funny.

• Gay Families Now More Accepted Than Single Moms – One of the comments on the post exemplifies the nasty bias against single mothers:

  "Single mothers choose to be single mothers because they believe it is the role of the state to raise their children in the absence of a father. Welfare. If single mothers didn’t have access to it, they would be forced to marry or at the very least, be nice to the man who is the father of their child. Or you know, not get pregnant and have a child in the first place."