Photo by Josh Russell (cc) via Flickr

As predicted, I received a huge amount of flack for my moustache when I spoke at the 1pound40 conference at Reuters news agency. I’m pictured above,  squeezed in between Sam Brook and Kate AG (who is currently working on the BBC’s Treeoclock project) – off to the right of the photo is Christian (aka @documentally – the man who first taught me to take photos), Hannah Nicklin and Sue Thomas. You can’t see the tache these, but it did end up in a sketch…

Sam Brook, myself (+Mo) and Kate AG

(used with kind permission of the chaps at Drawnalism)

Anyway, back to the Mo. First, thank you to those who have tried to make donations and succeeded – a very big thank you! For those that tried and failed, or haven’t tried yet, because of the way the Movember website works, you’ll need to click on this link, then click on it again to actually get to the donations page. Trust me, you’ll want to – the latest pics will be there, and you can even rate my mo! It would make me very very happy if together we could get that total to £1,000 by the end of the month.

There are some very good resources around the web about prostate cancer – remember, that is what Movember aims to raise awareness about. This NHS prostate cancer resource is very helpful: Introduction to prostate cancer. It includes a video, with the very soothing voice of a prostate cancer expert. There is a fair amount of research that suggests that diet and exercise can play key roles in reducing the risk and impact of prostate cancer – webmd has some specific recommendations.

Be healthy, and have a chuckle at my mo .

]]> http://benjaminellis.org/2009/11/14/mo-of-the-mo/feed/ 1 http://benjaminellis.org/2009/11/04/facial-hair-explained/?&owa_from=feed&owa_sid= http://benjaminellis.org/2009/11/04/facial-hair-explained/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:05:55 +0000 Benjamin Ellis http://benjaminellis.org/?p=412 This post is three days late, for which I beg your forgiveness, and not easy to write – for reasons that will become clear. First, a public notice:

• I am growing a moustache.

At this point, some of you will know what I am about to say, for the rest, an explanation is in order. It’s movember:

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer. Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partner – The Prostate Cancer Charity.

On Nov 11th 2005 Alex Porter, my father-in-law, died of prostate cancer (Guardian obituary by Bernard Crick). Cancer is the second largest killer of men my age -  the only one that claims more lives is heart/circulatory disorders – you can use this tool to see what your health risks are (adjust it for your age, sex, …).

One man dies every hour of prostate cancer in the UK, more than 35,000 men will be diagnosed this year -Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.

To date, Movember has raised over £30 million globally for the fight against prostate cancer and depression in men. And, more importantly, as a direct result, male awareness of health issues has improved with Movember helping to spread health messages directly to millions of Mo Bros & Sistas around the world.

Hear is my polite request:

1. If you would like to, please make a donation on my movember page (it’s looking a bit empty to start with thank you for lots of donations – you can give directly here).
2. Spread the word.
3. Don’t be rude about my mo when you see me – well, not too rude!