Here's what you may have missed this week.
Pet a Rat and Sip Coffee at SF's New Rodent Cafe, Eater
"Somebody call the health department: A squeal-inducing, bizarro version of the cat café trend, a new pop-up called The Black Rat Café, is headed to San Francisco. Whereas KitTea Café in Hayes Valley and Cat Town in Oakland let patrons meet and adopt cats over coffee, tea, and snacks, the rat café will do the same with rodents." Read more.
Nudists to celebrate 'Summer of Love' with parade through San Francisco, SF Gate
Nude activist Gypsy Taub, whose fbeen putting on clothes-free events in protest of the city's ban on public nudity—is organizing a parade for this Saturday in celebration of "body freedom and the hippie movement spread across America and the world." Read more.
'Green rush' in Salinas Valley turns fields from chrysanthemums to cannabis, The Cannifornian
Salinas Valley, "the Silicon Valley of agriculture," isblooming with a new flower. Last November's legalization of marijuana means that crops can finally expand from the remote mountains of the Emerald Triangle to areas known for the finest horticulture in Northern California. Read more.
Tick population explodes after wet winter, warm spring; could carry Lyme disease, KRON
The wet winter we had this year may have brought the lushest grasses we've seen in a while, but they also likely brought a surge in ticks, which are known to thrive in moisture. They're also known to be carriers of Lyme disease, which is growing in prevalance throughout the Bay Area. Read more.
Lyft and Waymo Reach Deal to Collaborate on Self-Driving Cars, New York Times
Waymo, the self-driving car unit that operates under Google's parent company, has signed a deal with the ride-hailing start-up Lyft to work together to bring autonomous vehicle technology into the mainstream through pilot projects and product development efforts. Read more.