From this morning's paper

There were two obituaries in the papers this morning. One was for Alfred Peet, who according to the obit, single-handedly gave us outstanding coffee in the post WWII period. And apparently was also instrumental in making it five bucks a pop. De mortuis nil nisi bonum and all that, but I think we can at least hint at a mixed legacy.

The other obituary is for The Other Michael Jackson, the Michael Jackson who wrote about beer not the alleged singer. Is it thanks to The Other Michael Jackson that there is something on tap to slake our thirst here in the sweltering lower left corner of the U.S. other than the ubiquitous Budweiser? So it would seem. But even if it weren't, his columns made for a cracking good read.

And speaking of sweltering, it has been well into the 90's in southern California and here in the corner office. The papers have several articles on heat for those who hadn't noticed. Here's one. This one is about our local "microclimates" and actually is interesting. This one has advice for those with trouble absorbing the stupifyingly obvious: don't wear heavy clothing in the heat; you will be cooler in an air conditioned room. Worth your 50¢ all by itself.

That last article also says to drink plenty of fluids, which may be more difficult now that one of our fine federal judges has gotten his way. It seems part of the aqueduct system providing water to this part of the world is incommoding a fish: the popular Delta smelt. So we're to lose about a third of our water in the middle of a drought. There's a story about it here and another one here. No, I didn't actually think you were going to click on any of those links. It's pretty dull going, especially if you're not one of those looking water rationing in the face. But it's a blog; you're supposed to link stuff.

And for those of you wondering, yes this is a semi-desert. And, yes, it is colossally over-built, considering the natural infra-structure. And, yes, any building/planning/zoning commission in most of southern California that wasn't insane or on the take would have prohibited any further growth years ago. In my humble opinion, of course. But they didn't and they still don't, and here we are. And turn off those sprinklers.

Finally, the sports pages. Here's a puzzler: it says here that Tony Francona, the manager of the Boston Red Sox, has gotten the MLB panjandrums terribly annoyed at him because he may not have been "wearing his jersey under a blue team pullover". They pulled him from a game to check on this.

Francona said Wednesday that the commissioner's office contacted him when the Red Sox were in Cleveland this month, reminding him to wear his uniform top. He also spoke with MLB vice president Bob Watson before Wednesday's game, and Francona said he showed him he was wearing his uniform under his jacket.

He also said it's more comfortable to wear the pullover without the uniform top, but he started doing it after the commissioner's office stressed its importance.

Uh, O.K.

And the "importance" of this would be. . . . .?

And, anyway, didn't Connie Mack manage Philadelphia in a suit and tie? And a fedora? Doesn't seem to have fatally harmed the team or the game.