Thomas Jefferson said, "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." So how do you remain cool when the mercury hits 100°F? I decided to take to the streets of Manhattan to find out how the populace was dealing.

It wasn't what I expected out there. The streets seemed kind of quiet. I think everyone who could was staying inside. Most of the people I saw were on the streets for a reason, smoking cigarettes or walking the dog. And there were not half as many near-naked young ladies out there as I expected.

I did see one very cool young cat out there. He was wearing a tee shirt and cargo shorts and carrying a classic Japanese folding fan with which he was casually breezing himself. This brilliantly simple yet effective device originated in Japan, where it gets quite hot, back in the eighth century. We don't see many of them anymore, except of course in photos of Karl Lagerfeld, but I think carrying one in this weather is a brilliant idea, and this fellow, who sounded like he might be a visitor from Scandinavia, looked quite cool and unruffled under the circumstances.