Tony Hung writes Deep Jive Interests, a great blog that covers a lot of the same stuff we do at TechCrunch. Lots of links going back and forth, etc. What I didn’t know is that he’s in his third year of residency, on his way to becoming a doctor. He’s currently working in the palliative care unit where he helps people who are dying of cancer. There’s a blog about one of his patients, named Joshua, here.
Tony blogs about tech to blow off steam after a long day of helping people, many of whom don’t have long to live. Heavy stuff. Standing ovation for Tony and others that dedicate their lives to helping people.
I once (nearly ten years ago) ran a marathon for the Leukemia society, although to be completely honest the fact is that my best friend talked me into it by saying something like “dude, it’s like 70% women in the training program.” Reading the blog about Joshua makes me embarrassed that my help in the fight against cancer began and ended with that marathon. I complain that I work too hard and there’s no time for anything but blogging. Stuff like this puts all of my petty complaints into perspective.
Mike,
One relatively simple thought - could you offer a rotating ad space for worthy charities? I’d suggest rotating so that the impact is greater (and with variety might come greater awareness/clicks)
There are dozens of interesting intersections of tech and non-profits, as well as a number of high profile projects attempting different approaches (Omidyar Networks, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation etc) to the rather slow moving charitable world.
As we are just months (if already) into the next major political cycle (2008 elections) I would predict that there will be a new cycle of companies looking to apply “web 2.0″ and other “social media” approaches to politics - and very quickly from there to other public sector/non-profit efforts.
A few friends of mine are working on a number of interesting projects with a tech element that are either just launching or about to - I’d be happy to make some introductions - but my suggestion would be that you only point to / donate ad space to charities you personally support - and in my opinion you should also link to ones where a relatively small amount of additional resources would go a very long way (i.e. even a few donations or offers of help from your readers - think TED prize but writ smaller).
Shannon
Thanks for the tip of that hat Mike — we all do what we can to make things a bit better for others.
Cheers
Tony.
Been sub’d to Tony’s blog for a while - good blog written by a good guy