Author Archives: Julie B

Idealist.org, the best resource for non-profit jobs, volunteer opportunities and pretty much everything having to do with “doing good” in New York could be the next victim of the recession. Idealist sent out an appeal earlier today: Very briefly, here’s what happened. Over the past ten years, most of our funding has come from the small fees we charge organizations for posting their jobs on Idealist. By September 2008, after years of steady growth, these little drops were covering 70% of our budget. Then, in October of that year, the financial crisis exploded, many organizations understandably froze their hiring, and from one week to the next our earned income was cut almost in half, leaving us with a hole of … More >>

No matter what your sexual orientation, today was an emotional one for all of us here at MYD. I’ll admit I cursed, wanted to cry and fell like I had been punched in the stomach. But a few minutes later, I stepped back and realized every great victory begins with a few hardships. Today we made progress. The Senate debated the issue publicly for the first time. We now have targets that we will either convince to support our cause, or if necessary, challenge them in the 2010 primary. When we launched New Yorkers for Marriage Equality back in April, we had big dreams and had no idea how far we could go. Thanks to the gracious support of our … More >>

Mayor Bloomberg (or as we sometimes like to call him, Mayor Bloombucks) has already shelled out a record-breaking $85 Million of his own money to be on TV everywhere, every minute until the election, even after a study came out awhile back saying voters’ opinions of him go down after advertising overload. Of course the Mayor should be at a big Yankees playoff game, and of course he should congratulate the team, but he probably shouldn’t hang around in front of the cameras for hours. As Fox Sports interviewed the Yankees players, managers and executives after the big win, Mayor Bloombucks kept hanging around the podium, and wouldn’t leave. City Room, the NY politics blog at The New York Times, … More >>

But Michael Fujinaka is different. The second-year UCSD School of Medicine student spends his free time developing applications for iPhones. His first effort — an app called iMurmur that helps medical staffers learn how to detect troubling heartbeats — has become a big success. Within a couple of days of its July 14 launch, the software shot to No. 2 on the list of best-selling medical apps on iTunes, the online store operated by iPhone maker Apple. It has remained in the top five ever since. Two 25-year olds in graduate school at UC San Diego, Michael Fujinaka and Alan Gardner, developed this application on a whim, not expecting it to have 10,000 downloads in only a few months. We … More >>

This week will be a big one for us in New York, especially in politics. What’s happening? Monday (disclaimer: we are counting this one for Monday even if the story came out late Sunday night.) David Paterson announced that instead of this week or next, the Senate’s special session in Albany will be called for November 10th. He vowed to put marriage equality on the agenda. Get involved in our fight for marriage equality at NewYorkEquality.com, on Facebook and on Twitter by using the hashtag #nyequality. Paterson Calling Special Session in November [NY Observer] Tuesday As we have one week until the election, it’s time for the final Mayoral debate between NYC Comptroller & Democrat Bill Thompson and Michael Bloomberg. … More >>