According to Goetz, that led to the creation of

“a research group with the single goal of bringing a battery of screening tests to patients and their doctors by 2015, starting with ovarian cancer and moving on to pancreatic, lung, and prostate. Listwin likes to explain the Canary approach with PowerPoint, and every presentation starts with a slide of the survival curve for cancer. Pointing to the 90 percent, he makes this simple observation: When we see cancer early, we have a chance to fight it.”

The visual image of Listwin in a canary yellow sportscoat at fundraising events to promote this cause was worth remembering, but even more so was the idea that when we identify health (or financial, or relationship) problems sooner, we can be more proactive in changing our subsequent behavior for better outcomes. I’m glad that Goetz included the cancer detection example in his new book “The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine,” which promotes the idea that investing time and energy in understanding our personal data can have powerful effects on our health.

DNA testing and involvement in communities including PatientsLikeMe that collect symptom and potential cure conversations for individuals fighting disease and chronic pain are two examples of the types of health investments that can positively affect us in the long-term. (The former issue was raised in an example Goetz gave at the most recent Ignite Bay Area event about pro basketball player Eddy Curry’s focus on evading DNA testing while ignoring a more immediate threat to his health, his weight.)

The concept of decision trees that demonstrate how a number of factors and choices can affect our well-being is a very visual one that seems to point back to Michael Pollan’s advice to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”–with exercise and screening recommendations thrown in. (A protoype of the flow chart-style tool for gauging diet, smoking, and heart disease risks, among others, can be found on The Decision Tree blog.) There is also the importance of good patient-doctor communication–as anyone confused by (not just dismissive of) a doctor’s recommendations can attest–that may, if the possibilities laid out in the book are realized, one day be reflected by crowdsourced physican recommendations on a more rigorously screened Yelp-like online resource.

Inspired by the Austrailain Broadcasting Company’s Night Air, the BBC World Service and Studio 360 contributor recently launched a radio magazine for conversations and observations that is, to her credit, very hand-selected. “I want people to know what quality they’ll hear” when they listen to the new five pieces The [Un]Observed adds to its archives per week, says Ketenjian, who also hosts the artist conversation series Sight Unseen on KALX.

Audio by journalists, sound artists, and producers of American, Australian, and British descent are well worth a browse (and listen). The Chorus of Refuge online installation by Jason Cady, Kara Oehler, and Ann Heppermann stands out with its combination of stories from six refugee populations relocated to as many American cities, and the experiences of postmodern dancer Anna Halprin and singer Marvin Gaye are also lovingly told. Consider it radio, curatorially catalogued.

Since moving to SF almost four years ago and after more post-run ales at Kezar Pub than I count, I’ve wondered what took place inside the stadium across the street. This weekend pals and I found out in the form of co-ed roller derby in which the SF Bay Bombers took on Brooklynites with the encouragement of the adult Cheer SF Squad (see them, I implore you). But after more than a few dramatic over-rail plays, the contest seemed more staged than I expected, and I’m eager to see a competition more along the lines of the athletic and fierce nickname competition Micki Krimmel presented at the first Ignite Bay Area.

During Women 2.0’s recent “Will It Launch?” weekend workshop for prospective entrepreneurs, moderator Poornima Vijayashanker spoke about her decision to leave Mint.com (where she was the founding engineer) to create software for small businesses. She discussed knowing when to take a risk–including leaving Stanford grad school to start a company that was later sold to Intuit–and how her BizeeBee co-founder Liz Wiltsie found her by following Women 2.0 on Twitter. More conversations with company founders can be found as part of the In Conversation interview series.

Criteria includes “films made on non-professional devices such as one-time use video cameras, cell phones, point and shoot cameras, webcams, computer screen capture software, and other readily available video capture devices” (and don’t think that doesn’t include feature-length projects). For those new to the genre, Vimeo community director Blake Whitman will present on basic shooting, animation creation, and editing at ATA on Sunday–and as for promotions, it doesn’t get much better than “The more you know! Free. Includes bagels and coffee.”

DFF 2010 Bumper from Disposable Film Festival on Vimeo.

This week, 15 local talks will be joined by sets of five minute, 20 slide talks in 65 cities around the world answering the Ignite charge to “Englighten us, but keep it quick.” 10,000 people will be participating worldwide, and San Franciscans (appropriately) will be privy to talks about achieving enlightenment through nightclubs and the opportunity costs involved in modern dating.

Heartfelt high fives go out to Automattic and WordPress for welcoming us warmly to their waterfront venue, OneRiot realtime search and the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo for supporting our realtime video streaming and other technical wonders, and Pyramid for bringing their locally brewed beer to the party.

We’d also like to thank MagBooth for the photo booth that will be distracting our guests all night, creative project funding platform IndieGoGo for being an exceptional media partner, and Hello!Lucky for helping us say these thank yous more thoroughly with their beautiful letterpress stationary. Join us!

Local filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson’s !WAR includes interviews with artists Judy Chicago and Hannah Wilke about what might be phrased their “radical political work”–or “compelling,” depending on how you look at it:

The gallery space will also be hosting “The Bodies Are Back,” a collection of work by British feminist artist Margaret Harrison, whose art has included critiques of beauty as depicted by the cosmetics and film industries. Her work in the Tate’s public collection is well worth exploring, with or without titles including “Good Enough to Eat” and “Little Woman at Home.”