Pensacola, Oct 29: A computer programmer and Web developer at the University of West Florida has created a no-charge, just-for-fun Website dedicated to men and their beards.

The site, www.nationalbeardregistry.org, shows photos of more than 100 hirsute men and lists their hometowns, their ages and the ages and descriptions of their whiskers.
The site's registrants also can include comments. "If the good Lord had meant me to be clean-shaven I would not have been given testosterone!" writes Weaver Bloom, 46, of Guerneville, Calif., who has a full red beard.
William Sommerwerck, 45, of Renton, Wash., pictured with a long mixed-gray beard, says: "Just say `no' to razors!"
A bearded Jerry Jackson, who started the site, and his wife were tickled by some of the hairy faces they observed at a North Carolina folk festival last year.
"We saw men with beards down to their belt buckles, and braided and dreadlocked beards, and flaming red beards and big bushy beards," Jackson, 53, said.
They were so impressed that they started taking photographs.
"Somebody said, `What are you going to do with that?'" Jackson recalled. "Out of the blue, I said, `We're going to start the National Beard Registry' — as a joke. As soon as I said it, my wife and I both went, click, `That's a great idea.'"
The bearded can get on the registry by e-mailing a photo. Jackson also takes forms and a camera to music festivals to register beards on the spot.

Bureau Report