Ha! I drive by Purdy all the time, and let me tell ya, the females there are far from "Purdy"!
Ditto on the morons driving in the snow.
As for the brakes, you are correct on the rear wheel lockup thing. If you release it wrong you could highside. That said, I've locked mine up plenty of times, and with the proper countersteer and body position, you can get it to hook up without too much drama. For instance, I commute in Seattle, and it's always wet. I've been on the freeway in the middle of a downshift when traffic in front of me stopped. I gave a little bit of rear brake and alot of front (good) and then let go of the clutch too fast (bad). So now the rear wheel is sliding and I'm doing about 50 mph with the proverbial soccer mom in an SUV bearing down behind me. Skidding all the way to a stop is not an option. Just my two cents.