Movember

The things we do for charity. Actually, it's for fun as well. I got tempted into joining a group at work into participating in "Movember". What the heck is it? It is basically growing a Mo-ustache during the month of November and having people sponsor you. The rules are:

Once registered each Mo Bro start 1 November with a clean shaven face.
Then, for the entire month of Movember each Mo Bro must grow and groom a moustache according to these rules:
01 - You don’t talk about Movember outside of the month.
02 - Movember runs for 30 days. No more.
03 - There is to be no joining of the Mo to side burns—That’s a beard.
04 - There is to be no joining of the handlebars—That’s a goatie.
05 - A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka a tickler).
06 - You must remain clean shaven apart from your Mo for the entire 30 days.

But wait, there's more..

Failure to conform to any of those rules may, at the absolute discretion of the Movember Committee result in instant blacklisting from further participation in Movember and entry to the Gala Parté. The Movember Committee accepts no responsibility for lost jobs, lost girlfriends/boyfriends, rashes to you or your partner or any other such
mishaps caused by a Movember Mo.

I used to sport a goatee during some of my college months, so it shouldn't be unknown territory. My wife also kindly granted her permission (she did seem very amused).

As you can probably tell, it's very 'serious'. I haven't shaved my upper lip region for 7 days now. I'll be keeping the progress (including photos) report at my Mo-Log. Now, calling all, of kind and generous inclination - feel free to sponsor my 'Mo', by clicking on the badge below. All proceeds go to the Prostrate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand. Thanks

More Mo Links

• Movember website
• My Mo-Log
• Movember blog on Stuff.co.nz

Indian Cricket Vision Twenty20

Cricket has been revived in India once again. A new team of young members without the usual hyped players participating, has gone on to lift the ICC Cricket Twenty20 world cup. A team not highly placed has outperformed all expectations. The runners up Pakistan also did better than anybody gave them credit.

The 20 overs cricket format is not taken seriously by most dedicated afficionados of the game. It's percieved to be a gimmick for TV viewers with little time to follow a full day or 5-day match. Designed to be fairly quick, it favors the batsman to make big hits on a smaller ground. However, the well-organised tournament got some serious commentators very involved in the proceedings.

Prevously, India had been bundled out of the last One-Day-International World Cup in the very first round. The following disenchantment with the game and the Indian Cricket Board was unprecedented. Some have taken the opportunity to create a rival cricket league, whose future remains to be seen. This victory will strengthen the hand of the existing cricket board.

One of most interesting aspects has been the emergence of Mahender Singh Dhoni as a very impressive captain. Displaying a well-balanced outlook of the game, he has been able to fend off media and public pressure on the team. There's an intriguing post-tournament interview at the official tournament site.

Zero Value Currency

A close relative passed on to me this very interesting development.



It's described here in the following context

The movement called ‘Freedom From Corruption’, launched in all 30 districts of Tamil Nadu early this month [August 2007], will make its Mumbai debut in the city’s schools and colleges. “It is an effort to empower every citizen to fight corruption,” said M Vijayanand, the president of Fifth Pillar India.

It remains to be seen if this catches on.

Out of 163 countries where the 1 is least percieved corrupt and 163 is the most percieved corrupt - Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share spot number 1, followed by Denmark (4), Singapore (5), Sweden (6), Switzerland (7), Norway (8), Australia (9), and Netherlands (9). The countries percieved to be most corrupt are Haiti (163), Myanmar (160), Iraq (160), Guinea (160), Sudan (159), Congo (156), Chad (156), and Bangladesh (156). India is ranked midway at 70, with a confidence-scale score of 3.3 out of 10, which is actually not bad.