Former A's pitcher Joe Kennedy, 28, died at his home in Florida this morning. At this time the cause of death is officially unknown, but it was "sudden" and a brain aneurysm is rumored to be at fault, according to the Chronicle.

Making his major league debut in 2001 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kennedy went on to play for other teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Toronto Blue Jays, and of course, the one and only A's.

His career record, it seems, was "43-61 with a 4.79 ERA." (You more sporty types probably know what that means better than we could possibly explain.) He is survived by his wife, Jamie, and his one-year-old son.

What’s the best show you’ve ever played and what made it great?
My favorite my favorite was the first show I ever did which was at a party when I was in the 9th grade in Florida. I like to go into every show hoping that I can somehow recreate a little bit of that same feeling.

What’s your favorite venue to play?
The opera house in Toronto, Ont. Canada.

Where are the best fans?
Home Depot has a good selection.

What’s your favorite song to play?
It changes everyday, the last song I played was the Beatles’ “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?” On my parents’ piano.

What’s your relationship w/ Apple computers? Are you as big an enthusiast as Emmett?
I had an Apple computer and I really liked it until I left in Amsterdam. Now I check my email bi-monthly and write postcards. But I really did like that Apple computer.

Phillyist is concerned that the war on Trans fats could affect it's beloved cheese steak sandwiches, something for which we should all be concerned. They also seem to be concerned about which subterranean creature could be responsible for a bunch of underground explosions. Also of interest is a Quest for the Holy Grail Benefit Bike Race! which just sounds like an awesome idea but do people actually ride bikes or do they pretend to while somebody walks behind them hitting a cocoanut?

Torontoist ponders a blogger who is trying to take a picture of every damn building in the city and the incompetence of the Toronto Port Authority. They also turn to bigger issues and interview the new leader of Canada's Green Party and debate whether it's okay to diss their own city. Do Canadians diss anyone?

DCist meanwhile has a lot of visitors on their minds, especially Borat of Kazakhstan who was all over the city. Not as exciting, but more of a hassle was the appearance of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his motorcade. Thanks to DCist, if either of them visited a restaurant, they would have learned a lot about how the heirarchy of restaurant tipping and whether to tip or not.

LAist, however, is more concerned with things feminine as they pondered a feminine dye product and how does one get a date to end. They also interview mysterious blogger LA City Nerd.

Chicagoist ponders why everyone still thinks the city is gangsta and where to get the best cocktail. They also have lots of Susie Oprah news, and crow a little bit over the fact two Chicago roasters won "Roasters of the Year" awards. Suck it, Seattlest.

Bostonist ponders the fact two other tunnels now need work and if it's possible to survive without Google for a day (stupid Comcast). With the elections coming up on us, they detail the Gubernatorial debate, featuring a question by Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's wife who apparently isn't registered to vote in the state.

Over in the Lone Star State, Houstonist celebrates the fact that the Space Center made it to on the new Monopoly board and that Houston is is going to the dogs. Fortunately for Houstinist, Jesus is too-- he is, in fact, moving to the 'burbs where he could hang out with pastor Joel Osteen and his bitchy wife.

Austinist isn't quite feeling the religious vibes, but is feeling the vibe of a Howard Dean visit and Austin City Limits being called the best music show on TV. Meanwhile, the county won't pay for weight reduction surgery anymore so it makes it that much greater a car share service will be set up. And while a historic landmark is getting knocked down, the Austin Film Festival is getting ready.

Gothamist has a taping scandal not involving a high-tech company but the Attorney General and his wife. Which isn't nearly as messed up as something a real-estate broker does (it involves both Satan and poop and do you really need anything else to know whether a story is awesome or not?). And speaking of bad behavior, they also contemplate their public transportation pet peeves.

Which, in a way, is also what SFist is up to this week as they listed some of theirs too. In fact, public transportation weighed heavily this week as their Mayor whines about the public transportation in his town. Elsewhere, their Green Candidate for Congress dances and squirrels attack!

Overseas, Shanghaist missed a track meet but went to the after-party that looked way too cool for something involving track and field and went to a jazz concert where hopefully they went used one of Shanghai's most romantic Metro spots to find love. Not finding love are several political types who ran into all sorts of trouble for a pension scam and all sorts of other nefarious acts. Politicians being arrested for wrongdoing, what is the world coming to?

Parisist, meanwhile, pondered about the beauty of break dancing, how to breathe in all of those smoky French cafes, and all the wonderful Parisian blogs (French version here, bad Google translated version here).

Links compiled by SFist's Jon "NKOTB" Shurkin

It's so much fun to complain about public transportation that we sometimes forget it's almost just as fun to take it (well, sometimes, anyways.) Here's two events that'll bring a bright ding-ding to your day.

Tonight: NewMindSpace, an interactive public art group (one of whose founders writes for our Canadian cousin Torontoist), has put on bubble-blowing parties in New York, an Easter Egg hunt in Toronto, and a pillow fight in New York's Union Square. Tonight, they're bringing the whimsy to the West Coast, with a MUNI Metro Party.

The party starts at 7:59 p.m. at the N Judah 4th and King stop -- and they'll be turning the N into your second childhood -- Legos, dolls, costumes, and a "renegade sound system." They claim they've never had problems with the authorities before, once they realize that they're "partying out of their love of public transit." We're excited to see how this one turns out (not the least of which is that we betcha the partiers'll have to wait at least 20 minutes for the first N to head out of the station).

And on Saturday: Tired of MUNI's restrictive stroller rules? Well, scoot on across the station and check out BART, who's sponsoring the last of their August "kids ride free" Saturdays. Download a pass (or buy one at Safeway), and be at Powell Street at 10 a.m. The first 10,000 riders get Kids Packs filled with anime, manga, and a Pokemon DVD. We can't promise any kind of renegade sound system at this event, but you can't dispute that it'll also be a re-embracing of childhood.

Beane, like Brian Sabean of SF Giants hype, makes his bones when it counts most-- during the trade deadline. This year, the flutter of butterfly wings could be heard from the A's camp. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Barry Zito's name would pop occasionally, but without much merit or context. Beane shifted his strategy to last off-season instead, picking up perpetually cranky Milton Bradley and an aging agit-prop artist Frank Thomas to bolster the cheese-whiffing line-up. He added Esteban Loaiza (gulp!) to support the pitching staff. If anything, Beane has foresight. Odds are always in favor of Rich Harden straining an oblique muscle or a hammy or whatever muscle we’ve never heard of, and to miss significant time. The A's receive mega-bonus points when he returns. Moreover, the Kirk Saarloos-Brad Halsey conundrum, a project of deep curiosity to SFist, has actually worked for the better part of selected innings here and there.

Ultimately, Beane's genius for finding the right kind of 'mannish' man to slash the A's into the playoffs will be measured by Milton Bradley's fire. The otherwise light-hitting, vanilla line-up Beane assembles each year, typically has that one white-hot firebrand that carries them after the all-star break. In the past, it was Tejada, and to some extent, Giambi when he was focused on success and not his physique. Today, Bradley is their 4-tool horse who, despite his cantankerous nature, is their best player, and can carry a squad of grown men on his back. Just ask BJ Ryan of Toronto. On Sunday, Bradley took Ryan’s best body blows and wacked a 400-plus foot walk-off bomb over the centerfield fence. What every half-witted prognosticator ever predicted about Bradley’s talents will finally be proven correct this fall-- the dude rules! Plus, the A's own the month of August. After last nights lackluster showing, they are 103-40 during the month of August since 2001. What is that, a .725 winning percentage? Truly off the scale, and why they'll beat the great pretenders from the South.

SFist Kevin contributing