Mo, Mo, Mo, Movember

What started out as a crazy idea on Friday afternoon, with a little encouragement from Kevin Barnes, is starting to take off. We now have an Official Eclipse Mommitter team -- a team of Eclipse contributors who plan on growing Mustaches during the month of Movember to raise awareness (and funds) for men's health issues.

But if you're reading this blog it means you're interested in Eclipse and you are encouraged to join the team. In fact, I would like to put a challenge out there: let's try and get 20 people to join the Eclipse Mommitters (no voting needed). Considering there are close to 1,000 committers, 20 people is only 2% of that population. Considering the release train is known to have a few million users, that's less than 0.002%! It would also be cool to get at least one committer from each top level project. (And someone from the Foundation too).

Since November has already started (it's likely November 2nd when your reading this) we have to act quick. There are a few things you must do:

1. Checkout www.movember.com
   
2. Join the team: http://www.movember.com/register/44681. If the link doesn't work, search www.movember.com for the team Eclipse Mommitters
   
3. Run home and shave (no head starts)
   
4. Start raising a few bucks and a ton of awareness
   

Our awesome Eclipse Release Engineers are considering using our Mommitters logo during one of the integration builds to help raise awareness too -- You could be part of Eclipse history!

No doubt you have a few questions, so here are answers to some of the more common questions:

What is Movember?

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit men's health. -- In Canada we are raising funds for prostate cancer, however, different countries are raising funds for local charities related to men's health.

How can women get involved?
While growing a Mo is left to the guys, Mo Sistas do a lot of important work for Movember. Mo Sistas can get involved by:

• Registering online, recruiting a team and raising money
  
• Organising events like Mo Parties
  
• Making a donation to a Mo Bro
  
• Supporting and showing love for the Mo
  

I already have a Mo - how can I participate?
If you already have a Mo you can do a ‘reverse Movember’ and have people donate to you to shave it off. Alternatively, you could shave off your moustache at the start of Movember and then re-grow your Mo throughout the month…. Maybe it’s time to try a new Mo style?

Are goatees or beards allowed?
The definition of a Moustache:

1. There is to be no joining of the Mo to side burns – That’s a beard.
   
2. There is to be no joining of the handlebars – That’s a goatee.
   
3. A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka a tickler).
   

Remember, it’s Movember, not ‘Beardvember’ or ‘Goateevember’