Concerning the beards, to be honest, I was reminded of an exchange from the TV show "Dirty Jobs." Mike Rowe, the host, was going on to some job site or other, and the man showing him around had a full beard, but only on one side of his face: he was clean shaven on the other, going right down from his nose to his chin. Mike asked, "Dare I ask about your beard?" And the man answered something like, "I always wanted a beard, but my wife wanted me to be clean-shaven, so I shaved off half of it and told her to stay on one side of me!" Mike laughed and said, "You're the last true man."

Funny how the same symbol can mean opposite things in different times and places!