At the beginning of this year ardent Water School supporter Gregg McNair (the Chairman at PPX International) came up with what, at the time, seemed to be a bit of a hare-brained idea (or perhaps I should say a hair-brained idea). The fun-loving Australian dynamo decided he could convince a few of his fellow attendees

at the DOMAINfest Global conference in California to let him shave all of the hair of their heads in exchange for donations to the Water School. 

Proving that you should never underestimate McNair's powers of persuasion, he managed to line up three brave souls who were willing to sit still while "The Mad Barber from Melbourne" 

(Left to right) Jeff Gabriel, Vern Jurovich & Bill Lozada
post-shave at DOMAINfest Global 2012 in California

mowed  their previously well-coiffed heads into barren wastelands! The sacrificial lambs - Vern Jurovich (InternetTraffic.com), Jeff Gabriel (President at DomainAdvisors.com) and domain investor Bill Lozada were obviously thinking with their hearts rather than their heads, but by stifling the urge to run for the nearest exit, the trio succeeded in winning thousands of dollars in pledges for the Water School from onlookers who appreciated their sacrifice. 

The only problem with all of this is it just encouraged McNair to go after new victims! As I have already documented in this column, I was the next to fall in the line of fire. Despite my best efforts to elude him, McNair chased me half way around the globe and finally ran me down in Valencia, Spain last month at the 2012 Domaining Europe conference. 

Again, on the plus side (in addition to the free hair cut) tens of thousands of additional dollars poured in for the Water School from kind-hearted domain industry donors. As of this writing, a total of $51,350 (and four scalps) has been collected as a result of McNair's two head hunting expeditions! When you consider that with $50 the Water School can supply a family of five in the developing world with clean drinking water for life, that is enough money to do a lot of good. 

My luck runs out - Gregg McNair mowing me 
down at Domaining Europe 2012 in Spain

Gregg "The Mad Barber" McNair 
taking another scalp in Spain

When Gregg started this whole thing he asked if I could acknowledge those who donated $500 or more in this column and I am happy to do that today. In addition to thanking those donors listed below, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who gave, regardless of the amount. Jan Barta (ElephantTraffic.com) and Frank Schilling (InternetTraffic.com) also deserve special recognition for going above and beyond the call of duty. Jan and Frank pretty much sealed my fate by putting $10,000 each on my head (and Jan had already given $3,000 when the first three guys went under the blade). 

ParkingCrew.com raised another $4,500 for the cause in Spain by contributing $150 for every person who 

wore a free ParkingCrew T-shirt to the closing night party. Also, in addition to wielding the razor, Gregg McNair, along with domain pioneer Richard Lau (who both serve on the Water School's Board of Directors) were among the five biggest individual cash donors to the campaign. Here is the full $500 or more honor roll, members of an incredibly giving domain industry community that I am very proud to be a part of: