It's Friday, and the world continues to change at an unprecedented rate. A drug once demonized as the thing that made jazz musicians crazy is now an accepted medical treatment, and an online innovator is leaving us. One thing, however, will never change: When you're in the ocean in Florida, you need to do the stingray shuffle.
The Bay area's first medical cannabis dispensary opened in Clearwater. Seekers of bear-shaped cookies left disappointed.
A 72-year-old St. Pete man who armed himself and barricaded himself in his home after arguing with his wife was eventually taken into "protective custody" after a lengthy stand-off. Authorities say it took the man so long to surrender because he kept forgetting what the stand-off was about, and also that he was involved in a stand-off.
As many as 10 people were reportedly stung by stingrays during a single day at Clearwater Beach. I particularly love how the article uses the word "zap" to describe a sting, making it sound like A) electricity is involved and B) it's almost kind of fun, like something your buddy does to you that might hurt a little but is also playful and exciting. So, just to be clear, A) it's not, and B) NO IT'S NOT.
And finally, after more than a decade of delivering real journalism, sharing gossip and helping shape the snarky tone that defined much of the first wave of post-print information-sharing, Gawker.com will shut down next week in the wake of billionaire Peter Thiel's campaign against the site and its post-bankruptcy purchase by Univision. Gawker has been a fascinating case study in Digital Age journalism's ongoing identity crisis; despite its reputation for rumormongering and character assassination, the site broke numerous important and/or legitimate news stories, and the fact that a wealthy individual could sue it into nonexistence simply because he didn't like some of the things it said about him and his friends infuriates me, and should worry all of us.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.