Over on lifehacker.com there is a great post about how to turn off the Google personal search results feature.
The instructions for doing so are simply to click on the settings cog at the top of the Google page, then select “Search Settings”.
Next find “Personal results” and select “Do not use personal results”.
This makes the “Hide personal results” the default for your searching pleasure.
Thank you to Melanie Pinola for posting that as I have already had a few people inquire about it!