Queen's Brian May Finishes His Dissertation: PhD in Astronomy

Congrats to rocker and physicist Brian May of the band Queen for completing his dissertation and receiving his PhD in Astronomy. As I was perusing an academic journal just now, I came across this bit of news and, of course, I had to post this. Neophilologus, the journal, posts:
"Guitarist for band Queen, completes his PhD thesis.
Brian May, the guitarist and founding member of the legendary rock band Queen, earned his PhD in astronomy last year from Imperial College London. His PhD thesis has just been co-published by Springer and Canopus Publishing Ltd."
Tip of the hat to Brian May for finishing a dissertation. Getting a PhD is no walk in the park. As, I'm sure, performing "We Will Rock You" to sold out stadiums would be either....
graph per springer

Why Do Women Pay More for a Haircut?

My stylist is truly democratic. And just how can I make such an observation about her? Well, for starters, she charges the same amount to both men and women for a haircut. Whether she's cutting an inch off of my hair, or five inches off of my male folks, she unwaveringly abides by her cutting principles. A haircut is a haircut and the price is the same for all. Liberty, justice, and equality of clipping charges to all.
Hence, when doing my quotidian newspaper reading this morning, I was a tad flummoxed upon reading this. A bit says:
"Trying to keep your hairstyle in line with Agyness Deyn's latest androgynous do can be expensive for a girl. A monthly trim at a unisex salon costs around £40. But, if you're a man, you'll pay up to half that for the same haircut.

For decades, it's been standard practice for hairdressers to charge women more for haircuts, based on the idea that women have longer hair and therefore their cuts take longer and require more expertise. No allowance has been made for the increasing popularity of short hair on women, particularly with the current trend for boyish crops, like mine. Indeed, when I went for my monthly trim last week, I found that the price had gone up £5 to £45, while the price of men's cuts had risen only £2 to £28. I was so insensed, I decided to seek legal advice.

"Recent amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act in April have strengthened the protection from sex discrimination, not just at work, but also in the wider world, from businesses who discriminate against individuals in the goods and services they offer," says Samantha Mangwana at Russell Jones & Walker. "Where a man and woman have the same haircut, and the same skills are required, the salon is acting unlawfully to charge them different prices. There does not appear to be any justification for the cost difference," she says."
What say ye?
graph per guardian.co

Library Borrowing and Time

From MR.
Borrow books from libraries?
Return them always on time?
Consider the following:
" "Libraries are facing competition from television, magazines, the internet, e-books, yet they have this archaic and mad idea of charging people money for being slightly late," said library consultant Frances Hendrix - a loud voice in the debate which has been taking place on an online forum for librarians. "It's all so negative, unprofessional and unbusinesslike; like any business, libraries need not to alienate their customers." Liz Dubber, director of programmes at reading charity The Reading Agency, agreed. "My personal view [is that] they're past their sell-by date because they do sustain a very old-fashioned image of libraries which is out of sync with today's modern library environment and the image libraries are trying to project - tolerant, responsive, flexible, stimulating," she said.

.....
One librarian suggested adopting the ancient practice of some monasteries, in which monks who offended in the handling of books were publicly cursed. Another pointed to Soviet Russia, where they said that offenders' names were published in newspapers to shame them into returning their books. In New Zealand town Palmerston North next week, library users returning late books are being challenged to beat librarians on Guitar Hero to have their fines waived."