The beard research project

john said:

Carl, here's a new project for you:

http://mudhead.uottawa.ca/~pete/beard.html

Regards, John

Dear John,

Glasses, check.

Beard, check.

But what's that dark, wispy-looking stuff on top of his head?
Ornament?

The half-beard may be nothing more than a ruse to deflect attention
from the fact that the fellow is obviously John Lennon's twin brother,
separated at birth.

(I liked the dedicated blind-test suggestion of shaving half a beard
off, but not telling the subject which half.)

Today I appreciated the weather-resistant qualities of face-fur. I
spent twenty minutes under a large cottonwood, wondering whether the
shelter it offered from the hail and rain outweighed its qualities as
a lightning-rod.

For company, I had a horse and its rider. We watched another fellow
under the next cottonwood. His small white dog appeared to enjoy the
show.

After the hail and rain stopped, I ground through three miles of
ridiculous ice-gravel. That round white stuff floats, the run-off from
the furious rain channels onto the open path from the heavy summer
weeds, and the solid rafts of hailstones would warm the heart of any
ice-breaker captain.

Crunch, crunch, crunch! Impressive rolling resistance. I did about 15
mph instead of the usual 21 mph on that stretch.

The rest of me was damp and cold in biking shorts, a ventilated shirt
suitable for normal summer temperatures, and socks and shoes soaked in
a constant ice-water spray.

But my face was warm and well-protected, hidden behind a modest beard,
a condition that it (and the rest of the world) have enjoyed for over
thirty years.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel