Men on bikes

A man riding a bike in the hot humid sunshine, quite illegally not wearing a helmet, quite legally not wearing a shirt. His back was beautiful, and somehow much more naked seen with his shaved skull.

A man in business casual clothes (button-down shirt and slacks) riding his bike, apparently to work, wearing his Clifford the Big Red Dog backpack.

A bike with what seems like an impossibly high seat and handlebars. How could someone ride it? I got to see when the owner unlocked the bike, using the U-lock as part of how he put his backpack in the triangle of the frame, then did a walking start. It looked much more graceful than I'd imagined, since there's no crossbar at saddle height.

In the news

Madonna is changing her name to Esther. Not only that, her third kid book is coming out soon, called Yakov and the Seven Thieves. Life is a mystery, indeed.

About 2,500 gay couples got marriage licenses the first week they could in MA. The Globe article has a lot of demographic material. I was surprised that Cambridge had more licenses than Boston, for instance (though P-town having more didn't surprise me at all).
Oh, and I hadn't thought about the changes made to the form. Now it's Person A and Person B, each of whom can check off gender, rather than bride (why do I keep typing "bridge"?) and groom. I wonder how much changing the forms cost.

In medical news, they've discovered that hoarders are distinct from other OCD types. Different medications, different treatments in general. Which means that OCD is not a monolithic diagnosis, but more of a range (rather like autism covers a broad range of more specific issues).

And why am I not shocked and amazed that the 9/11 commission has found that the attacks were all bin Laden and al-Qaeda, not Hussein at all? It's been Bush's fixing things for dad all along.