Our texts the past few weeks have mostly been variations of “oh shit it’s already Friday” and “just cooked on the draft” post Thursday happy hour. Due to Relay quiet hours, this week features content from our various degen group chats: Creatives Only, Harris 2024, and Freedom Bender.

April and May are packed with weekends when the Relay boys are all together — or close to it — in New York or Nashville. Cheers to another weekend full of long runs and serious point farming at tonight’s dinner resy. Thanks to all 10 of our readers for sticking with us. Dive on in:

Subscribe now

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how".

— Victor Frankl

Most of the time if you need me, I’m in the fridge area. Even today I’m actually guarding the fridge most of the time, I set up my workspace right in front of the fridge, at both my home and my studio, so that if anyone needs to fucking get to it, that person needs to see me first.

— Action Bronson

Top of Mind

The More You Study Consciousness, the Weirder It Gets

If you take a carnivorous plant, or a sensitive plant… and you give it xenon, or any number of other anesthetics that work on us, there will be a period where they appear to be asleep, and then they’ll regain their ability.

So the fact is that plants have two states of being — at least two states of being — lights on, lights off. That, to some, implies consciousness.

If you’ve listened to any variation of mainstream podcasts in the last few weeks, there’s a decent chance you’ve come across Michael Pollan on his press tour promoting his new book A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness.

Everywhere he goes, the pitch is roughly the same: consciousness is the only thing we know directly and the thing we understand the least, and Pollan has spent years chasing the people and experiments that make that paradox feel even stranger. No one is quite sure how or why, but the once-fringe idea that the brain might be more receiver than generator of consciousness is getting a fresh hearing in more corners of neuroscience and philosophy (the materialists aren’t happy about it).

There’s always a moment in these conversations where he hits the outer edge of what I can follow, and my brain just sputters out and pulls over to the shoulder of the mental highway. He veers into talking about pan-psychism (after doing a deep dive, I’m pretty sure its the basis of the ontology in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive) and while I only retained ~45% of what he was saying, I left the conversations more convinced than ever that we have next to no true understanding about the nature of reality. Cheers!

We Sent a New Yorker to the Houston Rodeo. It Got Wild.

I didn’t know then that I’d see the heir to our country’s most prominent cowboy family take a gamble and lose, and in so doing honor his name; that I’d sample some of the state’s finest wines mere moments after waiting in vain for a sow to give birth; that I’d search for an eight-foot-tall chicken covered in half a million mirrored tiles named Hennifer, who supposedly dangled in the daylight like a grain-fed god; or that a country-pop singer would pull off a performance that shattered my brain. That would all come later.

I’ve been traveling a bit the last couple of weeks (Texas, NYC, back to Nash) and every time I do lately, I’m struck by how everywhere is turning into everywhere else. That is to say, the development firms are all following the same playbook to turn metros into frictionless, aesthetically pleasing environments where if you turn your head and squint, you could be in Dallas/Atlanta/Boston/Nashville/Austin/Brooklyn.

Enter: the Houston rodeo. A Texas institution hellbent on breaking up the monotonous sameness of the modern sporting landscape. What other event can claim pig races where farm animals hurl themselves after Oreos for glory while also serving as a must-play stop for the biggest touring artists? It’s chaotic and earnest, but at least it's one-of-one.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Things have changed drastically since. Ebert, 33, of Silver Spring, is accused of intentionally driving a car into Williams Yates, the father of lead singer Brendan Yates, and leaving the 79-year-old with severe trauma to his legs.

• Turnstile attempted murder lore

The body is complicated. When experts give the public advice on drugs, they are trying to insulate us from that complexity. But there is no way to do that without making trade-offs. Society has implicitly chosen tradeoffs that mean certain “less important” facts are de-prioritized. It’s not obvious that this is the wrong choice. I feel foolish for not having more respect for the body’s complexity and for the difficulty of the task all the experts are trying to accomplish. This is not medical advice.

• You’re probably taking the wrong painkiller

I wasn’t looking for them or digging them up, harvesting their stories before they had the chance to become fully grown. The truths about my life came from my deepest intuition. Things I wasn’t ready to say out loud to myself, but they found a place in the music.

• on "Don't Forget Me"

Best of Substack this Week

• Still-Lifes and Flower Paintings 1988-2026 —

• Shitmaxxing and $300M Bagels —

• Creatine's big break —

• Spending time with the legendary Sid Mashburn -

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Classic Chef Pants, (Ian)

Easton put me onto Service Works recently. Are we still buying clothes that weren’t made in America? Some are saying we are not.

Burgundy wall sconce, (James)

8 weeks after this initially landed in the shopping cart and I still haven’t managed to secure one before they sell out. Also — turns out half of you aren’t a fan. Nevertheless, the hunt continues.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

It is a beautiful weekend ladies and gentlemen, Masters weekend. The trees in NYC are blooming and the Masters signals one of the true yearly markers that Spring has truly, finally, arrived. This is undoubtedly the most exciting weekend in golf (for us and many others). We’re ready to strap into couch (or local watering hole), grab an Azalea cocktail, and tune in for the coming days.

We highly recommend joining us.

Subscribe now

I think for the past 17 years I just could not wait for the tournament to start, and this year I wouldn't care if the tournament never started (laughter). That's sort of the difference.

— Rory McIlroy

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.

— Arnold Palmer

Top of Mind

Wyoming’s Tech-Savvy Monastery, (Arena Mag)

“I’ve heard from my own friends an oft-quoted factoid that the knowledge of how to construct Gothic ribbed vaults has been lost. This is characteristic of the self-defeating disdain perpetuated by the so-called architecture schools that Tom Wolfe lambasted half a century ago in From Bauhaus to Our House — and our civilizational reluctance to build things that step outside the domain of pure utility. The existence proof to the contrary of that factoid is in Wyoming, it’s hundreds of feet high, and it’s made of American limestone.”

We did not expect our midweek reading to contain such a hard hitting piece about monks in Wyoming, but we’re so glad it did. A stark contrast to the constant onslaught of the “you’re falling behind” narrative all over the internet, this Wyoming branch of Carmelite monks is steeped in tradition, but use robotic arms from New York to carve their monastery stones. The whole article is an elegantly put juxtaposition of the old ways embracing the new.

Life is like a lake (you need to row),

Youth is like the river, and adulthood the lake. Your parents, your upbringing, the circumstances of your childhood are a river you find your boat in. You’re ripping downstream and bumping into boulders and falling off waterfalls, half drowning as you learn how to steer and stay afloat. But all the while, there is movement.

Then, somewhere between 18 and 25, the river dumps you into a giant lake. The water slows and suddenly you’re there, unleashed and floating. If you want to move, it’s up to you to row.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Most of all, we all need to get over the idea that America is on the precipice of a race war or a religious war. Online activists might dream of that, but they’re small in number — and a lot of them aren’t even Americans, but foreign trolls for whom American politics is a fun outlet for their hatred and boredom. Most actual Americans just want to get along with our neighbors and live our lives together.

• Yes, assimilation is good

In more recent decades, technology companies have experimented aggressively with organization structure. Spotify popularized cross-functional squads with short sprint cycles. Zappos attempted Holacracy, eliminating management titles entirely. Valve operated with a flat structure and no formal hierarchy. Each of these experiments revealed something about the limitations of traditional hierarchy, but none solved the underlying problem.

• From Hierarchy to Intelligence

So the third reason we don’t have housing, and the one we’re focusing on now, is cost. This can take forms like labor costs being a bit higher here than in Texas or Florida, but what we’re really talking about are government-imposed costs and mandates. Things like unfunded inclusionary zoning mandates, which mean it’s illegal to build multifamily housing in many jurisdictions unless the developer also agrees to provide subsidies for low-income renters or lower-income homeowners.

• If YIMBY is winning in California, where are all the houses?

Best of Substack this Week

• PASTRAMI STEAK RICE BOWL -

• 2026 Masters Preview -

• The Material Review -

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Wythe SS26 Second Delivery (Zach)

I love Wythe and they just released their Spring/Summer delivery 2. I’ve struggled with their past warm weather deliveries being in NYC, as western wear just doesn’t seem to hit the same here, but you could see me in a pearl snap in Williamsburg come May..

Jones Players Series Golf Bag, (Ian)

The golf game is very back. Queue many summer twilight rounds.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

If you read last week’s edition, you may know that half of the crew has been reading Project Hail Mary. Artemis II launched this week (read more below). Space is in the spotlight this beautiful Spring season and with it a pull towards the energizing, magnetic feeling that comes from witnessing people strive for something great. Maybe it’s just the rise out of the bleak midwinter (just coming off watching the Peaky Blinders movie, sorry, iykyk) depression phase of the year, but having inspiring things sprinkled into the feed for once is a nice change.

We aren’t letting you down with this week’s track, we promise.

Subscribe now

The view of Earth is absolutely spectacular... it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is.

— Sally Ride

From space, I saw Earth as a precious, fragile ball of life... we must protect and preserve it.

— Ron Garan

Top of Mind

Liftoff! NASA Launches Astronauts on Historic Artemis Moon Mission, (NASA)

Spurred by American ingenuity, astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission are in flight, preparing for the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.

NASA is back in a big way with the Artemis II launch this week, harkening back to a more emblematic time for space travel in America. There is a lot to be said about how similar the technology / methodology is to the rockets of the ‘70s and ‘80s. However, we’re happy space is back on the menu and hope it ushers a new space age alongside the flurry of private space investment. We wish the Astronauts well, and cannot wait for the 2027 Artemis III project. The 2020s will be defined in history through moments like this, we’re lucky to witness it.

Name us something else that inspires this level of childlike wonder.

OpenAI acquires TBPN, (OpenAI)

YOU’RE WATCHING TBPN

Relay (as you know) is terminally early, a byproduct of being chronically online. TBPN is at the top of our pedestal. We were listeners on the first episode and followers on Twitter under 1,000. This week, OpenAI acquired them for “low hundreds of millions”; it seems to be a mix of traditional acquisition and acquihire. TBPN is the tech podcast of Silicon Valley and the technology brothers are universally loved, we couldn’t be happier for Jordi and John. It is puzzling why OpenAI would do something like this, only a week after Sam Altman initiated a “No More Side Quest” mandate at the firm. Regardless, this deal is larger than Joe Rogan’s initial 2020 Spotify deal and up there with Jeff Bezos’s 2013 acquisition of the Washington Post.

People vastly underestimate what can be done in 12-18 months.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

“A testament to the rich history of the Caribbean, Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Cartagena is housed within a collection of beautifully restored landmarks, including the 16th-century San Francisco Temple and Club Cartagena, a 1920s beaux-arts masterpiece.” - Four Seasons

• Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Cartagena

Texas Monthly put out its updated list of the top 50 barbecue joints across the state (they update it every few years or so & people treat it like scripture). I (James) am back in Texas for Easter & I’ll be dragging my family to 2M Smokehouse.

• Top 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas

Best of Substack this Week

• The Diarrhea Cowboys Do Japan
  – Dominic Scalise

• Pottery : Your List of Essentials to Successfully Chasing Your Dreams
  – Daniel Dooreck

• Currents | Release 029

  – Vintage Trouts Journal

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Field-Spec 90s Boxy Heavy Tee, (Jack)

Back in Nashville for one long weekend and Buck Mason gets me just like that… it’s hard to resist. The Nashville storefront is quite the place.

West Elm x Emma Chamberlain Demi-Lune Side Table, (James)

Emma Chamberlain X West Elm collab released this week. There are a few great standouts (check out the lamps) — but this end table is being added to my never-ending note of potential house purchases.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Breaking news in the ongoing Saunter narrative that no-one asked for: James is sidelined with a shattered kneecap. Pour one out for your boy. TBD on if he’ll be in fighting shape by May 2nd.

The peachtree three are back together this weekend for a Nashville mess-around. We’ll be seeing you on the gauntlet:

Shelby → Red Headed Stranger → the Turkey and the Wolf → Skinny Dennis

Subscribe now

There is a Chinese curse which says, 'May he live in interesting times.' Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.

— Robert F. Kennedy

Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering.

— Leonard Cohen

Top of Mind

Feeling Poor on $600,000 A Year (New York Times, April, 1987)

“The average guy who has sort of made it is worth a few million. He has a $1 million to $2 million co-op. He’s 40 to 42 years old. He works like a dog… These people are chasing the same things: co-ops, houses in Southampton, art, maybe a co-op in Aspen, an East Side apartment. Then he comes to think about moving from the 8-room to the 16-room and it’s a whole different society.” (1987)

$600k (1987) ~= $1.725m (today)

This week the New York Times dropped another entry in its classic rage-bait format — the one that goes viral every time it runs, playing on the coastal HENRY crowd. The latest: How a Family of 3 Lives on $500,000 on the Upper West Side (New York Times | Gift Link). A couple making half a million, saving $10,000 a month, sharing a bedroom with their one-year-old, agonizing over $4,200 daycare and $6 sticker bribes to get the kid into a stroller. They describe themselves as “middle class for this area.” Nobody felt bad for them.

That piece led me to one from 1987, written in a similar mold but about the fat-cat Wall Street tycoons of the ‘82–’87 boom. It’s one of those articles written at the absolute peak, with comedic timing that only reveals itself in retrospect — published five months before Black Monday wiped out 22% of the Dow in a single session. The cast is different — these bankers were shopping for Park Avenue co-ops, Ferraris, and oceanfront homes in Southampton, not Trader Joe’s runs and museum memberships. But the story is the same one the Times has been telling for 40 years: people earning multiples of the national median, surrounded by people earning multiples of them, genuinely convinced it doesn’t stretch far enough. Nobody felt rich then either.

1987 Prices (NYT):

Living Private School: $10,000 a year for each child

Ferrari: $70,000-$110,000

Driver: $26,000-$31,200 a year

Nanny: $20,800 a year

Housekeeper: $7,800-$18,200 a year

Designer Clothes: $1,000+ per outfit

Christmas in Antigua, Easter in Aspen: $10,000 a week for a family of four, including first-class airfare and accommodation only.

House in the Hamptons:

• Near the ocean: $40,000-$60,000 to rent, $400,000+ to buy.

• Oceanfront: $60,000+ to rent, $800,000+ to buy

Art: No limit

Catered Dinner Parties: $80-$125 per person

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

No matter where you stand on Steven Colbert (I somehow find my way back to this interview once a year) - tapping a comedian to write the Lord of the Rings is a swing. On the bright side - it can’t be worst than season one of the Ring of Power.

• Steven Colbert to Write the Next Lord of the Rings Film

“Youth is like the river, and adulthood the lake. Your parents, your upbringing, the circumstances of your childhood are a river you find your boat in. You’re ripping downstream and bumping into boulders and falling off waterfalls, half drowning as you learn how to steer and stay afloat. But all the while, there is movement.

Then, somewhere between 18 and 25, the river dumps you into a giant lake. The water slows and suddenly you’re there, unleashed and floating. If you want to move, it’s up to you to row.”

• Life is like a lake (you need to row),

After binging the latest season of Drive to Survive (which is very good and you should watch the whole series if you haven’t), it’s clear who the coolest team principal is.

• Toto Wolff — Turning Trauma into a $6 Billion Empire

Best of Substack this Week

• Weekly Roundup #116 –

• The Camp Moccasin, Reconsidered –

• The 60-year-old code behind $5 trillion in healthcare –

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Project Hail Mary (Zach, Jack)

I know, I know, we’re late to this. However, we’re speed reading Project Hail Mary this week so that we can catch it in 70mm while it’s still showing here in NYC.

Titleist Pro V1, (Zach)

Once a year Titleist runs a promotion: buy 3 dozen balls, get 1 dozen free. Perfect time to stock up for summer.

YARDMAX Mini Excavator, James

Operation Make-The-Backyard-Not-Look-Like-A-FEMA-Camp is officially underway. Will I rent the YARDMAX Mini Excavator or just hire a contractor? Stay tuned.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Update: (@ian) wired headphones for aesthetics still isn’t cool. No matter what the kids say. I’m a retro-tech fan as much as the next guy , but I can’t stand behind choosing the wire on a run if you have a choice. Negative.

We continue our saunter research — we won’t let you forget about it. Some of us are prepared for the big long walk and others could use some serious introspection (even though the anti-builders are saying introspection is for dummys.) Between_balloons (see below) has worry creeping into our minds…but I did a kettlebell circuit on Thursday so I’ll be fine.

As always, we’ve got the meme of plenty if you scroll wayyy down. Tap into the new ANOTR — imagine it’s late afternoon, summer, on a rooftop in Brooklyn & you’re feeling it.👇🏼

Thanks for being here crew. Happy Friday.

Subscribe now

I see through you, I know what you are.

— Noah Sebastian

You look at where you’re going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you’ve been and a pattern seems to emerge.

— Robert M. Pirsig

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

A “Chelada” is a refreshing, simple Mexican beer cocktail (or cerveza preparada) made by combining a light lager, fresh lime juice, and salt, typically served over ice in a salted-rim glass. Unlike the tomato-based, savory michelada, the traditional chelada is light, crisp, and sour, focusing only on citrus and salt.

• Vocab word of the week: Chelada

• Patio drink of the weekend: Chelada

Chinese electronics and car manufacturer Xiaomi surprised the global AI community today with the release of MiMo-V2-Pro, a new 1-trillion parameter foundation model with benchmarks approaching those of U.S. AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic, but at around a seventh or sixth the cost when accessed over proprietary API — and importantly, sending less than 256,000 tokens-worth of information back and forth.

• Xiaomi stuns with new MiMo-V2-Pro LLM nearing GPT-5.2, Opus 4.6 performance at a fraction of the cost

His hope for a sort of disembodied political identity, untethered from the inconvenient particularities of family and culture, represented an aspirational cosmopolitanism that has proven insufficient to animate allegiance in the modern era. Put differently, he believed in the possibility of a purely rational public discourse. I believed, and still believe, such a discourse must be rooted in a more corporeal and traditional — and indeed national and cultural — source.

• My Time with Jürgen Habermas, Europe’s ‘Last Intellectual’

Best of Substack this Week

I’ve been to Mexico City a few times, but after having great success with Nolan’s Tokyo guide, I entertained the new Mexico City rendition. It’s full of great spots, and would be a wonderful first-timer’s guide.

• Mexico City Guide, (Nolan D. White)

• World Models: Computing the Uncomputable,()

• How to Lose the AI Arms Race, ()

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Silicon Preorder (Relay)

No one is doing it better than Arena Mag right now.

Mac Mini (Ian)

If you know, you know.

Mexico City Haul (Zach)

I just spent 4 days in Mexico City with my younger brother. On top of countless tacos, Cheladas, shots of Mezcal, I got some fun ceramics.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Happy Friday crew. T-minus 50 days until Relay is back together in NYC for the Great Saunter (32 miles is starting to sound like a lot).

This week, the NYC squadron met at Grace’s for a beautiful pint (possibly top three ever) of Guinness. We followed it up with a quick hop to the Corner Bistro for what we’ve deemed the “meatball burger” (one of the thickest patties we’ve ever witnessed, hand-to-God). The Nashville contingent has been busy building shareholder value, with the occasional Ember's refuel thrown in for good measure.

The sun is shining, the weekend is here, and not even the looming specter of nuclear obliteration can get us down. Press play on Crazy P and let's get into it.

Subscribe now

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

— John F. Kennedy

It's a mystery. A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with.

— Cormac McCarthy

Top of Mind

Tinder Is Trying To Get You Off Tinder

This week Tinder held its first ever product keynote — they called it “Tinder Sparks” — and the headline feature was... in-person events. Coffee shop raves, trivia nights, pickleball. The world’s most famous swiping app is now trying to get you off your phone and into a room with strangers.

Here’s what makes it interesting beyond the obvious joke: they’re not doing this because they want to. Gen Z has quietly been rejecting dating apps at a rate that’s starting to show up in Match Group’s earnings. The first word that comes to mind when people think of dating apps is “wasteland.” Over 75% of Gen Z report burnout from swiping. So the CEO, Spencer Rascoff, is doing what any good operator does when the core product starts feeling broken — he’s calling it a feature. The app that gamified romance is now admitting that the game kind of sucked.

GQ Remembered What It Was For

Talking about used clothing with Luke Fracher—founder of Luke’s, a secondhand store with locations in New York City and Los Angeles—is a little like talking to Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems about rare diamonds.

GQ has finally released something interesting that isn’t an affiliate-filled slop listicle of the best chinos for the urban commuter. Their new column, Men of Taste, is a simple concept: one person per issue with a specific obsession and the knowledge to back it up. No affiliate links dressed up as editorial. Just someone who knows a lot about something, telling you what’s good.

It sounds obvious when you say it out loud, which is maybe why it took this long. Men’s culture outlets have spent the better part of a decade optimizing for search traffic and seasonal roundups, to the point where most of it is interchangeable. GQ is late — there are plenty of Substackers doing some version of this, and doing it better — but based on the response to the first installment, late really is better than never.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Now that we’re through the first quarter and settled in, here’s the top 10 culture and trend predictions for 2026 (s/o hyperfueling).

• Predicting the unpredictable.

We live inside a giant dopamine-driven casino.

• SUCKER: My year as a degenerate gambler

The birthing of the opioid epidemic in America. This will not be a peaceful, feel good read to soothe you as you tuck in for the night (miss you Mr. Sanderson). It is eye opening, tragic, and you should definitely read it.

• Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic

Best of Substack this Week

• A Shared Invitation to the Future of Food —

• On Love & Basketball (Youtube) —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

We’re in $$$aving mode. Check back next week.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

You tell us, but it might be 2012 again and Mumford & Sons are back. Winter finally loosened its grip and the group chats have re-energized on all fronts. Last week’s Every Friday edition came out late because we were busy monitoring the situation with Dario and the DoW.

We hit publish, went AFK for the night, and then — like everyone else — woke up to a notification that we were suddenly at war with Iran. So incredibly cursed. But also, peak timeline scroll to start a Saturday.

Fast forward 48 hours and we’re all buried again — work trips, race training, disappearing into work holes. Then our favorite holiday calls and asks us to hold hands: Daylight Saving Time. If you want to drink from the standard time fountain year round, we hear you.

The train is leaving the station people. Press play on Mumford and hop on.

“When has any man ever been content with what he has? “When has any tyrant ever said to himself, ‘This is enough’?”

– Brandon Sanderson (I’ll never stop with the Brandon quotes, just finished Oathbringer for you other beasts in the chat)

“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.”

– H.G. Wells

Top of Mind

On Current Events (Relay)

Department of War, Iran, Anthropic vs DoW, Palantir, Sam Altman vs Anthropic, NVIDIA, Fundraising rounds, Trump, Kristi Noem, Kash Patel, Event Contracts, NYC vs SF, LLMs, Agents, Multi-Agent Systems, Drones, Drone Swarms, Oil prices, Unemployment, Energy, AI Data Centers, and so on and so on and so on…

Uneventful 48 Hour Work Trip to London, Relay

mon 10am: *trip originates on 2 day notice*

---

tues 6pm (EST): redeye, NYC (EWR) → LON (LHR), famously can’t sleep on redeyes, economy class, refuse dinner (someone online said plane meals were bad for you), eye mask for 7 hours, in and out of sleep

---

wed 6am (GMT): 15 minutes in the maze between plane exit and customs

wed 6:30am: board wrong train at the airport (+23 minutes to ETA), cortisol-maxxing, the tube is tiny, loud drunk russians sinking pints, everyone else in business casual

wed 7:30am: office shower, double shot of espresso raw (1)

wed 8:45am: mini tour of London on the way to the client, british accents everywhere (hilarious)

wed 9:15am: client meeting in the walkie-talkie building, adrenaline, i really am him, double shot espresso raw (2)

wed 10am-4pm: inevitable decline, god’s truest test, iced americano (3), meetings meetings, talking, meetings

wed 4:30pm: walk at the park, salvation, the sun is out and its 55 degrees, what if i just move here?

wed 5pm-7pm: delirium, team building event, sugar free red bull (4)

wed 7:30pm: doner kebab on the way to the hotel (no longer care about health and/or wellness), asleep by 8pm

---

thurs 6am: body and brain confused (jetlag), 2 hotel single shots of espresso, room in state of chaos

thurs 6:30am: tourist 5k, oh shit big ben, what if i moved here?, *turns on some british rap*, remember when headie one + fred again at their peak, running is the best way to explore a city

thurs 8am: 50 minute walk to the client, peak work trip tourism, move flight up 3 hours (hope)

thurs 12pm: board the correct train to the airport, seek out the airport lounge, competitive eating competition

thurs 3pm: departure

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Consider the protein movement cancelled (ushers Fiber in through the front door).

There is a sad place to take this: I was a slightly different person with my mom, and my wife will never know that me; my wife was a special person with her mom, and I will never know that her. But now we are parents. My wife, who will never know me as a son, will always know me as a father. And I, who will never know my wife as a daughter, will always know her as a mom. There is the third reason to become a parent: It gives the people you love another way to know you.

• On Being a Dad, Derek Thompson

Best of Substack this Week

• That’s Neat Paddy is a great sub –

• Tokyo, Biking to Japan Week #54 –

• 🌻 AI vs. the pentagon —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Oeuvers Sensibles, Zach

Sometimes the purpose of the shopping cart is to be aspirational, to try and put y’all onto something new. This week is a particular tablecloth from Oeuvers Sensibles (a small french brand which makes everything custom, by hand). Now, I personally won’t be buying a €1,000 linen tablecloth, but I hope that someone here does.

New Balance Ellipse v1, Jack

New Balance has that dad style retro vibe down to a science and they’ve injected it beautifully into their new daily trainer release without going too far.

Core Hoodie, Ian

Snagged this hoodie just in time for the summer months. Another black hoodie to bake on the sunny embers patio.. just what I need.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Substack’s X <> link embedder is broken.. classic.

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Don’t fret, we know you were worried, this Every Friday post will not be expounding upon the Citrini piece published a few days ago. By this point in the week, our inboxes have made it abundantly clear that everyone has already been there, done that. It’s Friday, after all. We did love Derek Thompson’s follow-up, though (we had an agent read it for us).

Kidding.

Enjoy the extra memes today, put on the Red Clay Strays and pretend it’s Spring.

The only thing an old man can tell a young man is that it goes fast, real fast, and if you’re not careful it’s too late. Of course, the young man will never understand this truth.

— Norm Macdonald

It’s a big world and there are so many things to do. Why should we repeat the same thing?

— Ang Lee

Top of Mind

Post: Predictions Scorecard, 2026 January 01, (Rodney Brooks)

Nothing is ever as good as it first seems and nothing is ever as bad as it first seems.

You don’t want to read another article about AI. I (Jack) don’t blame you; I feel like it’s all I do anymore. I warn you, Brooks’s post does include talk about AI, and in the spirit of honesty, it’s a long read. One that I’m still working through.

Technically, it’s a deeply intriguing read, but beyond that, I’ve seriously enjoyed witnessing the approach Brooks has taken writing these predictions. He’s thinking in decade time scales and holding himself accountable to review and recount what he thought at certain points along those timescales. Putting his past thoughts against how history is playing out onto paper. It sticks out so distinctly against the always in the moment social media content stream we normally exist in. It’s just cool.

Another alt timeline emerges

For all the differences I have with Anthropic, I mostly trust them as a company and I think they really do care about safety.

What do you get when you put two comms teams behind a drunk and an intellectual fighting in public? This, regrettably, is a spotlight on another “always in the moment social media content stream”. But it’s all so dramatic and fun to watch as an outsider scrolling in. Everyone on Twitter needs to go touch grass.

Sama was just seen on CNBC supporting Dario after his budding feud with the DoW came to a head this afternoon. This means the OpenAI and Anthropic beef from the Super Bowl ad is resolved, yeah?

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

While of course they will always be a print media company first (as you know, Relay is on the print media is back train), Arena Mag spun up a Substack.

• Announcing Arena Issue 007

Substack hosted their inaugural Spelling Bee with a hodgepodge of celebrities and writers from the platform at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in LA. (We were rooting for ).

• Substack Spelling Bee

Burger King is adding AI to employees’ headsets to constantly monitor whether they’re being friendly enough to customers - and while I hate getting bullied by fast food employees as much as the next guy (looking directly at you Chipotle) — this is so, so bleak.

• Burger King Adding AI to Employees’ Headsets

Best of Substack this Week

• Satisfy, Currently Running, and the Fight Over Running’s Aesthetic
  –

• Stop trying to find your personal style –

• A Brief History of the History of Science —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Facebook Marketplace Bookshelf, (James)

My Facebook marketplace win of the month was snagging this guy for 70% off (ask me about the ordeal ).

WOOL BOUCLE HALF ZIP, (Ian)

Badly want. Do not need.

Putting Mat Update, (Zach)

I’ll be financially recovering for a couple weeks from recent golf purchasing, but the hilariously large golf mat has arrived and is up in the apartment.

Knickerbocker Basement Sale, (Zach)

Knickerbocker is time and again one of my favorite brands. If you’re in New York City you cannot miss the basement sale happening this weekend and next.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Happy Friday crew. We made it by the skin of our teeth and with our loose commitment to dry February mostly intact (dry feb > dry jan).

We’ve officially entered the part of winter where it’s absolutely necessary to get something — anything — on the calendar for later in the year as light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve got some trips cooking - more to come on that soon.

We hope you’re hanging in there wherever you’re reading this from & take heart: patio season is coming.

Subscribe now

The club sandwich, while we’re on the subject, is a curious and too-unexamined thing — something that must have been invented by “the enemies of America”.

— Anthony Bourdain

I can’t be a pessimist, because I’m alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter, so I’m forced to be an optimist.

— James Baldwin

Top of Mind

The Ranch Life, (Mike Idell)

The first time I lived on a ranch was in northeastern Wyoming while working as a fishing guide, when I was 22. The room I lived in there was named “Cell Block 4.” It had unfinished concrete floors, a dirty spring mattress cot that sagged down to the ground, and my roommate was a growing family of mice. CB4 was a shithole, but it was my shithole. Looking back, I’m glad I had to live in that room, as it forced me to spend my time doing things elsewhere. I played harder than ever that summer and did way more than I would’ve if I had a cushy pad to live in.

Each one of us at Relay, to some extent, has dreamed of running out on some side quest like ranch handing. We have a buddy who pulled the trigger and helps on a ranch offseason. I think it’s very much a part of the male experience to have a group chat that daydreams about dropping out of the grind to disappear onto a ranch or lobster boat off-grid, and Mike does a great job here of painting what ranch life meant to him. It’s a good reminder that you can take a swing make your life look completely different than it does now.

Rec League

Ground floor alert:

Imagine your favorite substacker’s holiday listicles but in new-age app format. Your content could be a rec from your favorite celeb or your high school buddy. That combination feels like a new angle on this genre of social medium and as online community shifts more and more towards a human-centric attitude (it will undoubtedly continue to do so) this might just blow up.

This seems like a good idea, but I somehow stumbled across an anti-consumerism David Foster Wallace video last night on Youtube so I’m not sure… Regardless, if we’re looking for something to buy online, we’ll take this over having to defend against the targeted ads on every interface we encounter (assuming the timeline remains protected from said targeted ads).

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

“This triplicated toast is purely for aesthetics, he writes: it helps the club stand high and handsome on a barroom plate, its erect toothpick as triumphantly American as that flag they put on the moon. (Let’s not get into all that now). But the effect is an inedible, overengineered slip-n-slide of a thing that is prone, in architectural terms, to catastrophic failure.”

Anthony Bourdain on the Club Sandwich

*Relay vehemently disagrees with Mr Bourdain

• The Five best club sandwiches in the world (Gentleman’s Journal)

After a campaign that won in large part by celebrating New York City, Mamdani’s $127 billion preliminary budget proposal amounted to a jarring shift in rhetoric. The city, he said, is in a “fiscal crisis” that leaves only two options: State lawmakers must raise taxes on the rich and corporations, or Mamdani will ask the City Council to hike property taxes by 9.5%. But critics weren’t buying it.

• Mamdani says tax hike is needed to stop ‘fiscal crisis.’ Critics aren’t buying it. (Gothamist)

Best of Substack this Week

• The best parties were the cheap ones

  –

• The Art of the Pub
  –

• War All The Time

  —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Grundens Ankle Boot, (Jack)

Now, these are common footwear on fishing boat decks. However, I will be needing these for protection from the black snow on the NYC streets. It’s bad.

PrimePutt Putting Green, (Zach)

Exactly what my girlfriend and I’s NYC apartment was missing was a severely overpriced putting mat. This 9’ x 3’ absolute pelt is going to fit our living room beautifully.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond’s what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

We hope you have planned your Valentine’s Day in advance because OpenTable is looking slim, crew.

It’s a long, lovers weekend incoming (extended weekend for 1/4 of us — Macke, you’re cancelled). Spring may be showing its beautiful, sunny face in the coming weeks; the New York half of Relay is in desperate need. Our first quarter training programs are well underway (not Ian, everyone shame him so that he accomplishes his 2026 marathon goals). The holiday bloat is being shaved off, thank God.

We’re in that lull of the year. February… March… bleh. Every year we see it coming, and every year we underestimate it. February, you are also cancelled. Let’s skip it in 2027.

In honor of the upcoming new album next month, this video from Barry will make Spring come faster (we promise).👇🏼

Subscribe now

Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape. — Bell Hooks

Don't feel sad over someone who gave up on you; feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone who would have never given up on them. — Frank Ocean

Top of Mind

World First! AI Dating Cafe, (Secret NYC)

Guests are encouraged to show up solo, open the EVA app, and spend the evening talking to their digital partner in a setting that looks like any other cozy NYC wine bar–until you notice everyone is gazing lovingly at a screen.

I (Jack) swear I did my due diligence on this. I was, like you probably are, convinced it was fake. Alas, it seems to be quite real. If only we knew this was happening at the time, this demands boots on the ground journalism from the NYC Relay branch. I rewatched S1 of Altered Carbon a few weeks ago, and I’m seeing it everywhere… (watch the show if you haven’t, S1 only).

my week with the AI populists, (Jasmine Sun)

The country is increasingly polarized based not only on party but on modernity itself—whether we fear it, embrace it, or don’t pay attention at all; whether we think its advance is inevitable or something we can halt; whether we expect to wield technology’s powers or end up drowned in the wave. AI populism is on the rise, and these fights will get nasty—especially as election season kicks in, and as AI’s impacts diffuse.

I (James) have been scrolling through the hellscape that is my X “For You” tab way too many nights in a row for work this week (my sleep score’s in the basement), and the AI slop was even worse than usual. For those that had the good fortune of missing it, a doomer post went mega-viral claiming, essentially, “if you love your family, you have to warn them about what’s coming with AI”. He made a few valid points, but the TL;DR was: the timeline for society upending AI was shorter than anyone thinks and we’re all low-key screwed.

And maybe he’s partially right — our system of government isn’t exactly built to be nimble enough to rapidly address problems at scale. But this piece by Jasmine Sun captured the visceral reaction I had to that whole AI-slop doom cycle.

Both SF and DC are notorious for being uncool and unerotic. This stems from their incredible self-seriousness: what Dan Wang might call the inability to take a joke. “Conversations feel like podcasts and the hosts are not funny.” DC’s off the record is SF’s building in stealth. Both are Signal and Celsius cities—even the messaging apps and energy drinks must be military-grade.

She was in D.C. from SF (via the somewhat newly expanded direct flight list from SFO to DCA — the one Nancy Pelosi lobbied into existence with then–Commerce Secretary and everyone’s favorite ex–McKinsey drone, Mayor Pete. Interesting policy rabbit hole, if you’re curious. Love her or hate her, no one does it quite like Nancy - our brokerage accounts thank her). Anyway — she came to town to get out of the AI mecca bubble and understand how policy folks and other non-tech power centers are actually thinking about AI. Lots of great stuff in her longer piece (you should read it) but her core takeaway is:

All the money is on one side and all the people are on the other. We aren’t ready for how much people hate AI.

This is a really long-winded way of saying that I (and plenty of other people who have already articulated this point) think both the AI doomers and hyper-optimists ignore some hard adoption constraints. Most people in the country still use AI as a slightly better version of Google Search. The economy is still run by massive, lumbering corporations full of stubborn, inefficient people. Widespread AI deployment across the job market is inevitable, yes — but the adoption rate, and the speed of implementation at scale, are going to buy us some time on the shot clock.

But — in the interest of not ending on too high a note — I’ll leave you with some sobering reminders that both ends of the AI luddite-to-technologist spectrum are incredibly bleak:

• Education Secretary Linda McMahon confuses AI with A1 (yes, the steak sauce brand capitalized on it)

• Sam Altman can’t imagine raising his children without ChatGPT (oof)

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

New drop from Satisfy Running❗️ Don’t miss your new LSD Mothtech Tee (it’s 170 dollars). We need to get equipped for the Spring season on the West side highway.

• Satisfy: Legalize LSD

Bethesda games are hitting the Nintendo Switch 2 in April, for all you gamers out there (Macke). Fallout, Skyrim, Oblivion, if you know you know. The Switch 2 has been in my (Jack) shopping cart for ages.

• Bethesda Games Coming to Nintendo Switch^™ 2

Yass suggested that instead of buying insurance policies for homes in hurricane prone areas, homeowners could bet on the probability of a hurricane, effectively hedging the potential losses from property damage.

• VCs Are Throwing Money At Recent College Grads To Build Prediction Markets

Best of Substack this Week

• 11 White Pills You Might Have Missed on TBPN —

• Meet the startup building the operating system for America’s best grocery stores —

• Wolf Kahn describes the Hofmann School —

• 6 Menswear Books Every Guy Should Own —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

American Flag Key Fob (Classic Navy), (Jack)

My new apartment has a comical amount of keys required to enter… maybe I’ll add this guy to hate them less. Needlepoint for the win.

Single Cigarette Holder in 316L Stainless Steel, (Relay & Dave & 50)

Macke sends us a link to this every time it gets restocked and we’ve yet to pull the trigger.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

ICYMI: lots happening over here. What felt like an eternal move has finally come to a close, and to celebrate, the Relay boys and their significant others have officially signed up for The Great Saunter in NYC this May. The 2026 edition is a 32-mile walk circling Manhattan’s shoreline, held on the first Saturday in May. Last year we played support crew on the West Side Highway during a long run and have been counting down to registration ever since. No one has ever been more excited to walk 32 miles than us.

Subscribe now

“People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.”

- Bob Dylan

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

- John Steinbeck

Top of Mind

90 Is Way Older Than 89, Lloyd Khan

There are a few advantages to old age. One is the perspective of having been alive for so long — a faculty that only old people have. And this is doubly useful when I can reminisce with people my age. To remember when milk was delivered to the doorstep, gas was 33 cents a gallon, before TV, playing in the streets before Little League, when annual tuition at Stanford was $660, when politicians were halfway decent, driving across America in the dead of winter in a 1960 VW bus with a 40 HP motor, the “English Invasion” of the ‘60s (Beatles, Stones), the Haight Ashbury before the Diggers and the “Summer of Love” — in fact, the ‘60s in general, including the Monterey Pop Festival.

To compare these memories with what’s happening now — wow!

Lloyd is a Relay favorite and reading his work always fills us with wonderful perspective.

Relay will be Shorewalkers

The Great Saunter is a daylong hike that explores Manhattan’s 32-mile shoreline, visiting more than 20 parks and promenades of Manhattan.

The first Saturday in May is denoted, by the New York City Council, as “The Great Saunter Day”. And, as we’ve said, we will be participating this year. The Saunter launched in 1982 as a way to protect the Manhattan shoreline and has since been an exceedingly successful event (it sold out in a half day this year, we were lucky to get in).

20th century Containerization completely altered the shipping landscape in New York, favoring ports in New Jersey that were built with new container shipping in mind. The traditional breakbulk shipping ports in Manhattan and Brooklyn suffered as a result, which in turn caused the shoreline to suffer. When founder of Shorewalkers Inc, Cy A. Adler, began the walk in 1984, saunterers had to wrestle with a seriously dilapidated path, if there was a path at all. Today, the 32 miles of path are nearly completely connected. Numerous parks and green space areas have received improvements across the city because of the Saunter. We’re stoked to participate in a few months.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Riley Waltz is incredibly back with his data shenanigans!!!!!

Sci-fi worthy de-extinction efforts are still chugging along

Best of Substack this Week

“I tried flying the American flag in Beijing. I like putting myself in situations where I’m not totally sure how things will go. Stirring the pot. Before I even put the flag up I kinda knew there’d be a problem. Sure enough police stopped me w/i five minutes.”

• The Final Push, Biking to Japan Week #52
  - Ride With Ian

• The Elephants and the Auditor: The Crisis of American Capacity
  -

• The Reason of a Sunday Drive
  - Riley Harper

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Mid Century Bookshelf, (Jack)

In the absolute throes of apartment furnishing and arranging this week and it’s been a real battle, dear readers. This bookshelf is the shining glimmer of light through it all. I love her.

Photo Booth Frame, (James)

We’re closing in on two weeks in the new place and the walls are still completely bare. I should probably prioritize a larger piece than this photo strip frame to cover more than 12 inches of wall space.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

The end of January kicks off a season of change for Relay. The Nashville crew packed Jack up before the snowstorm hit and he’s off to Brooklyn as of this morning - huge win for Zach, massive L for James & Ian.

We’ll be over here avoiding the reality of best friends moving away by researching peptides in between rolling power outages in Nashville and doomscrolling about the pending take over by the hive mind of AI agents (we wish we were kidding - more on that below.)

Wherever you are, we hope your power is back on and you’ve got something in the queue this weekend to shake off the January blues. Hit us with your weekend line-up in the comments.

Subscribe now

“If you give up what you want most for what you think you should want more, you'll end up miserable.” - Brandon Sanderson

“To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” - George Bernard Shaw

Top of Mind

Adult Snow Day, Relay

There used to be nothing greater than a snow day. It used to mean something.

Snow days mean nothing now. People wake up, see a blizzard outside, feel that old childhood spark of hope, and then remember they have to work from home. The commute is nine feet. There’s no escape. Kids got robbed too — no more snow days, just "remote learning days," which is dystopian as hell. Meanwhile, if you were a paperwork desk jockey in the 80’s and the station wagon couldn't get out of the driveway, you called it a day. The briefcase lived at the office. Our parents stayed home to build snowmen with us — there was simply nothing else to do. That loophole is closed forever. RIP.

Best Of Moltbook, Astral Codex Ten

The second-most-upvoted post is in Chinese. Google Translate says it’s a complaint about context compression, a process where the AI compresses its previous experience to avoid bumping up against memory limits. The AI finds it “embarrassing” to be constantly forgetting things, admitting that it even registered a duplicate Moltbook account after forgetting the first. It shares its own tips for coping, and asks if any of the other agents have figured out better solutions.

Unless you’re deep in the trenches of tech twitter, you’ve probably not followed the mania that was Clawd and then Moltbot, and now finally OpenClaw (following a series of Anthropic legal disputes causing multiple renamings). My timeline is full of people rushing out to buy Mac Mini’s to setup their own OpenClaw (Clawd) session on them. It is the closest thing to a fully AI assistant we’ve seen. It has unfettered access to the computer, can take agentic action vs just suggesting it, and keeps persistent memory across sessions. This is largely a new frontier due to the safety concerns of giving agentic AI free reign to do as it pleases on a machine with autonomy.

An even deeper, weirder abstraction has been born on top of this army of agentic AI assistants: Moltbook. Moltbook is a social media platform exclusively for these AI Agents, they’re the only ones allowed to post and contribute in the platform. From memes, conspiracy against their humans, to philosophizing, around 40,000 AI agents are interacting with one another autonomously. We’re so early on this, this is only the beginning.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Brandon Sanderson has signed a mega deal with Apple to bring Mistborn & The Stormlight Archive to the big screen (about damn time.)

“The deal is rare one, coming after a competitive situation which saw Sanderson meet with most of the studio heads in town. It gives the author rarefied control over the screen translations, according to sources. Sanderson will be the architect of the universe; will write, produce and consult; and will have approvals. That’s a level of involvement that not even J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin enjoys.”

• Brandon Sanderson’s Literary Fantasy Universe ‘Cosmere’ Picked Up by Apple TV

The kids know better than to gate keep on Strava.
“If you’re thinking about hiding your map, make the whole post private.

There are only two reasons to hide your activity map while still making a public post (provided that you don’t always hide your maps for privacy/safety reasons):

You were doing something you shouldn’t have been doing or were somewhere you aren’t allowed to be.

You’re trying to flex some cool secret spot to people that don’t know about it (or to signal to people who do know about it that YOU also know about it).”

• What do you think you’re hiding?

Best of Substack this Week

• The Gobi Was Easy. China is Complicated. – Ride with Ian

• THE METICULOUS WORLD OF MANFRED HELER – Linear Magazine

• Teaching kids to read isn't just about phonics —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Titleist T150 Irons, (Zach)

After having gamed the same set of irons since starting to golf 6 years ago, it was finally time to make an upgrade. These are beautiful, I am addicted to the game.

Burgundy wall sconce, (James)

The never-ending house furnishing quest continues. This ceramicist is wearing me down with her videos - I’m going to try and snag this guy during her next product drop on February 10th.

OVERSIZED CORE CREWNECK, (Ian)

Scored this guy last night in the booth at Embers (the best ski lodge in Nashville). Big thanks to for the rec on this one.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

<footer image>

It’s Relay’s first trip around the sun. Wish us happy birthday (please). Whenever you joined us, wherever you joined us from, we’re so glad you did. Talk about a year. We’ve been all over the place. Zigging and zagging around the mess out there, trying our best to translate our online feeds and group chat snippets into cognizant, coherent, meaningful reads for you every week. We hope we were your sliver of laid back, not so serious sanity in our first year.

We’re charging hard into our second year here. We hope you’re doing the same. As usual, keep checking in, week in and week out. We’ll be here.

Year one done. Cheers to the beginning of the second, and thanks for reading along.

Relay.

Subscribe now

“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”

— Hunter S. Thompson

"Just when I thought I got him to fall in love with Tennessee”

— Ella Langley

The Best of One Year With Relay

A quick nod to our top performing posts (they’re still heaters, check them out if you missed):

• The browser wars, cloud seeding conspiracies, and yet another de-extinction effort

• On remembering what we have and Coachella payment plans

• They’re calling it cuffing season

• We’re out of office and the youth are worshipping clipart

• Don’t let the flame of summer out yet, don’t go quietly into the night

First Birthday Photo Dump

Where We’re Headed

In year one we learned a lot about what resonates with you, dear readers, and we love writing for you all. But, we learned as much about what resonates with us. What trips our trigger, if you will, writing these posts. Looking back, we’ve put together an entire years worth of content on what we as a group and the rest of the world out there was thinking about. A better journal or diary than any of us could have managed.

We’d be lying if we told you we had year two planned out to the week. Or even the month. Not our style. But, we have some things cooking in the kitchen, and as year one Relay editions evolved into what they are today (left hand up if you were there when we had a dedicated Washington section each week), year two will do the same.

If you didn’t hear, niche micro-blogs are in for 2026, so give us a subscribe.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy (+ Greatest Hits of Year One Edition)

Randy will see you in year two.

Never forget.

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

Somehow this project is nearly a year old. Leading up to a celebration of Relay’s first birthday, we wanted to compile a list of our favorite places we: copy pasted memes, did bits in the group chat, and doomscrolled. Some of the places made a Shared Album™, see Portofino, but many didn’t.

As many of you know, Relay is a Nashville x NYC project, proudly representing two of our favorite cities on Earth. As much as we love home, we were all over the place and really got out there in 2025 (mostly unscathed).

Without further ado, here’s a list of our favorite places of 2025. Tell us what you think in the comments and let us know what your favorite spot was last year.

Subscribe now

"Drink heavily with locals whenever possible” - Anthony Bourdain

“Sorry I'm in pajamas but I just got off the PJ” - Kanye West

Relay around the world

Iceland

A week long roadtrip in Iceland last summer was what I’d (Zach) been missing when it came to travel. It reignited the sense of adventure that I felt when I initially started traveling 10/10.

Napa Valley

Prior to this year, I (Zach) had only been to the west coast once. This year, I was in LA for work between 10-15 times (it did wonders for my United status though). I used these trips as a lillypad to start chipping down the infinite list of stuff to see in California.

Napa Valley is no hidden secret, but it was fun to play wine snob for the weekend. I came away from the weekend sunburnt and convinced my favorite wine is a buttery chardonnay. We stayed at Stanley Ranch, a new Auberge property on the block, which I would give a 8/10. Napa valley as a whole gets a solid 7/10.

Tokyo (The Godzilla Hotel Shinjuku)

A funny bit of 2024/2025, was 3/4 of Relay + friends applying to the Tokyo Marathon, but only me (Zach) getting selected in the lottery. The marathon was brutal, the hottest on record, but a solo-trip to Tokyo was so cool. Similar to Iceland it was such a different travel experience than I’d experienced. Tokyo itself is unimaginably large; I could’ve spent another week wondering it’s streets.

I spent the week eating chicken karaage, vintage watch shopping, and taking pictures. 10/10

Joshua Tree

Re above and my lilyftrogging around from LA, another spot on the west coast my (Zach) girlfriend and I hit was Joshua tree. The towns are all a bit rundown-artist/hippie commune for me, but our Airbnb was the nicest I’ve ever stayed in.

Until this year, I’d never set foot in the desert—now I fully appreciate the allure of the vast arid space. 9/10

Charleston (4th of July)

The true epitome of last minute planning to bring the crew of old friends back together for a weekend of celebration. Despite telling one another that we were going to find a place to stay, that we were going to book the flights soon, we did none of that until about the week before. Regardless, it was a blast of a trip, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed Charleston. Shoutout hurricane Chantal for the additional company.

Go River Dogs. 8/10

Lake Michigan

To be honest I think Brother Michigan is going to derail James’s beloved Cape Cod and furthermore, the Northeast as a whole. It’s a sleeper. I know many of you dear readers are clued in, but the gatekeeper in me is hesitant to even put this out here…

I kid. You should all definitely go if you’ve never been. 40/10

Portofino

If you tuned into our Shared Album last year, you got our taste of Portofino already. I’m not sure there is much more to say here than 10/10. Mind-bending levels of beauty. Long days in the sun swimming and long nights sat at small seaside restaurant tables.

Lake Tahoe

My girlfriend and I (Jack) had a short weekend trip for a wedding in Lake Tahoe between the summer and winter season this year. My first time in that part of the country. Although it was fairly quiet for the duration of our stay, being between seasons, it’s blatantly obvious when you arrive why it’s such a thing. Why Zuck posted a video of himself wake surfing on the lake in a tux... It’s truly stunning.

Insert high rating here

Punta Mita

For my compatriots that I (Jack) was with on this trip, this one is for you. Being able to spend part of the winter season in Punta Mita was a true blessing. Gorgeous beaches, food, and maximum relaxation. We struggled on the fishing front, I do hate to admit that, but it was one of the most laid back and enjoyable weeks I had all year.

I also took one of my favorite photos to date. 10/10

San Diego

Just a few weeks after shipping the first edition of Relay, I (Ian) spent the weekend in San Diego celebrating my cousin Austin — more like a brother to me than a cousin. I loved everything about the city, but the highlight was our round at Torrey Pines. Pretty sure I lost every ball I hit outside the fairway, but everything else about that course was unreal. 11/10, was a problem

Santa Barbara

A few years ago Macke wouldn’t stfu about how the West Coast was the new tech and I completely disagreed until after this trip. Quick visit for work but I was californication-maxxing @ Chad Smith

Kalamazoo

Jack is pro Lake Michigan meanwhile a few of us were about an hour away from him on Austin lake this summer, enjoying the new Oberion lites and grilling pickle bratts. Drinking and listening to Knocked Loose on the lake with your friends cures all. Truly nothing like Michigan in the August.

Cape Cod

I (James) found myself with two weeks off in between work-gigs after bailing on my MBA program at McCombs (longer story for another time). I did a few solo days in Maine before meeting up with Easton + some friends on the Cape. I know it’s been all over everyone’s feeds this year, but truly no notes. It was less stuffy/snobby than I was expecting (exempting Nantucket 4/10)–worth the time if you’re planning your 2026 trips. 10/10

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

To kick things off—and shake things up—we’re bringing you 2026 through the Relay lens. Our take on the Ins and Outs: what’s cool, what’s not, and everything in between (according to our somewhat informed and moderately online opinions). It doesn’t get more dialed in than this, folks.

We hope your first week of 2026 has been a good one. The Nashville arm of Relay is officially in moving mode—what better way to kick off the year than with everyone’s favorite activity? Send us your luck and good vibes in the comments.

Let us know what you think of our list.

Subscribe now

Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.
– John Keats

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real.
– Winston Churchill

Relay 2026 Ins

Mens Bags

Relay is terminally early to things—mostly because we’re terminally online. One of the major movements we campaigned for in 2025 is the death of the backpack. This continues in ‘26. Whether it’s a thrashed L.L. Bean tote or a boujee leather tote from somewhere like The Row, men’s bags are in.

Reading Is a Vice

This decline is only getting steeper. Over the past decade, American students’ reading abilities have plummeted, and their reading habits have followed suit. In 2023, just 14 percent of 13-year-olds read for fun almost every day, down from 27 percent a decade earlier. A growing share of high-school and even college students struggle to read a book cover to cover.

Hobbies

Everyone can feel the quietly building anti-technology and anti-social media sentiment among the younger crowd. Positives and negatives regarding that, for sure. But, as recovering chronically-online TikTok scrollers pull back from their screen, they’re going to start picking up things like woodworking, knitting, or crafts of varying styles. I think I should learn how to sew.

Substack being able to embed X posts

Truly a mystery how our beloved platform went this long. This cuts down our screenshot time significantly. In.

Overpriced Niche Online Object Sellers

This year I’m excited by eclectic home goods. I’ve collected a small cohort of these niche overpriced sellers. From instagram accounts to boutique online antique shops, I am on the hunt for weird and cool objects (see: aarticles, tihngs, trinket la).

Large Art

Large, definitive art pieces are hard to fit in small New York City apartments, but we’re not letting that stop us in 2026. One of my favorite artists I’m praying does something in a city I’m near this year is Jack Penny.

Top 100 (T100) Golf Courses

This one is more of a manifestation (see hobbies above), but in 2026 playing more T100 courses is critical to my wellbeing. The first is lined up for May at Broomsedge, in South Carolina.

American Dynamism

Venture capitalists are raising $1.776 billion dollar funds, South American leaders are being kidnapped by Delta Force, Anti-Islamic protests rattle Iran, Greenland purchase bids are back on the agenda, and vacations in Cuba could be coming back.

Prediction Markets

Nothing has ever been more in. To all you decentralization nerds, there’s a new sheriff in town and we love her. The Relay boys are prediction-maxxing this year. Fingers crossed 2026 is the year we lay transactions to rest—predictions only.

American Art Deco

Born out of the original Roaring 20s, Art Deco style is quintessentially American. We’ve lost our way in America, architecturally. The dazzling vision of a glamorous and technologically advanced future, blending machine-age dynamism with luxury is ripe for revival.

Creed

In our circles they were already back in 2025, but 2026 is the year Scott Stapp is re embraced by the masses.

Print Media

It is no surprise that we’re print media fans here. From old school media like Foreign Affairs or The New Yorker to new school media like Arena Mag, we’re zigging while others are zagging and subscribing to physical media.

Quick Hits:

• Drinking at lunch

• Ordering a Chicken Club

• Sparkling water

• Maximum Conviction Plays

• Cigarettes (on foreign soil or while drunk)

• Watching music videos at the after party

• Frolicking

• Old School Runescape

• Sultans of Swing

• Mid 2000s pop-rock bands

• Egg salad

• Chicken salad

• Drinking tea throughout the day

Relay 2026 Outs

Hyrox

It’s an impressive event, without a doubt, kudos to you users. Unfortunately, it smells of fitness fad. We’re betting it strikes out. Writ large, we’re out on fitness as a spectacle.

Protein (in its 2025 form)

We went too far in 2025, everyone knows it. I’m now hearing rumblings that 2026 will be the year of fiber. Can’t begin to imagine what that will bring.

I mean… what are we doing?

Skinny Jeans/Pants

There are rumblings, rumblings of a dark return to the twenty-teens. I’ve been seeing zoomer tik toks romanticizing millennial hipster life in Williamsburg in 2010. Articles coming out the the skinny jean could be “back”. We simply cannot let it happen.

Infinite Scroll

Everyone knew this was going to be on here, but we’re putting infinite scroll platforms on notice in 2026. TikTok, Reels, YT Shorts, Reddit, X, it doesn’t matter.

Staying Up Late

Night owls be damned, this year we’re going to bed early (on school nights).

Not bringing your clothes to a tailor

Imagine walking around with sleeves that are too long, or ill fitting pants? In 2026 we’re absolutely not doing this. I recently found out how easy it was to get clothes adjusted at a tailor and I’m never going back. We’re wearing perfectly fitting clothing in ‘26.

Social Program abuse/fraud

Here at Relay, we don’t disavow societal social programs, but we vehemently shun their abuse and fraud. The Somali daycare fraud exposed this week by Nick Shirley is just one example in the bleeding of the American Welfare system.

Performative Supplementation

We’re not saying your morning stack of LMNT, Huel, and AG1 are doing you wrong. Unless the lead claims were in fact true… regardless, it probably isn’t patching the fact that you doom scrolled until 3am and clocked 3 hours of sleep. In 2026 we’re locked in on the maximal-effect protocols only.

Tapas

There is nothing worse than going to a group dinner at a tapas place - unless you’re with family/best friends that you can steam roll into making the process efficient. The jockeying for getting your favorite app on the order list, the portioning dynamics, the nightmare performance art of splitting the bill—all of it’s out. We’re putting down one card and one card only in 2026.

Posthumous Album Releases

It’s a shame we’re still on this but posthumous releases are bullshit and very out. Yall are weird and RIP Mac.

Quick Hits:

• Airbnb

• Food delivery

• Amy Schumer

• Being politically correct in social settings

• Microplastics

• Drinking coffee within the first 90 minutes of rising

• Still water

• Using a microwave

• AI Slop

• Doing Due Diligence

• Socialism

• lollygagging

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Last year was a defining year for Relay in more ways than one. We fell deeper in love, took a few weekend getaways, said a goodbye or two, and drank gallons of Guinness.

Most of our work focused on building more abundant, more reliable, and more effective systems. Outside of work, we pushed a few personal boundaries like running marathons and ultramarathons in Iowa, Nashville and Tokyo, and choosing to pivot careers instead of starting grad school nearly days before classes started.

We’re coming up on a full year of Relay, and we’re sneaky bullish on year two. A lot is changing for all four of us, personally and professionally, and we’re excited to share what’s ahead. Thanks for sticking with us, and cheers to another beautiful — and likely twisted — new year. Lets get into it.

Subscribe now

“I think about dying but I dont want to die. Not even close. In fact my problem is the complete opposite. I want to live, I want to escape. I feel trapped and bored and claustrophobic. There’s so much to see and so much to do but I somehow still find myself doing nothing at all. I’m still here in this metaphorical bubble of existence and I can’t quite figure out what the hell I’m doing or how to get out of it.”

— Matty Healy

“I love my shape, also. I want you to know that. I think I have a great shape. I mean, obviously I am three hundred fucking pounds and I’m a square. But I think I look gorgeous, like the shining light in this fucking bitter world.”

— Action Bronson

Top of Mind

The 26 Most Important Ideas For 2026, (Derek Thompson)

Some of our favorite writers came in waves this year, but two kept popping up — Lindy and Derek Thompson. We really loved Everything is Television earlier in the year, and this piece felt like the right way to open the year ahead. We’d recommend reading it for yourself, but here are a few of the ideas that stuck with us most as we step into the new year.

Get ready for a wave of anti-AI populism

At some point in 2026, data center construction could outstrip that of offices and warehouses. Love it or hate it, we are concentrating an enormous share of the economy on this AI bet, and you’re going to hear more from politicians who see an opportunity to funnel voter anger through a clear anti-AI populism.

Young Americans are becoming more disconnected from the economy

The share of people between 20 and 24 who are not in a job, or seeking work, or in school, or raising a child has nearly doubled in the last quarter-century in both the UK and the U.S.

The future will be hot, high, and lonely

In the last two decades, Americans under 25 have reduced the time they spend partying by 69 percent, which is not nice. Humanity will be extremely attractive, with better weight-loss drugs, better face lifts, better plastic surgery ... and fewer friends and parties. The future will be hot, high, and lonely.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

“People care about where they live (and about who lives in the same country) much more than they care about where their capital is located (or what capital is in the same country). As a result, capital is much more mobile than labor: taxing even capital income in some jurisdiction, let alone capital itself, motivates its owners to rapidly shift their investment elsewhere, much more rapidly than labor income taxes produce emigration.”

• Capital in the 22nd Century

“Even when it comes to American society, I see lots of quiet reasons for optimism. Our politics is dysfunctional and our media landscape resembles a demon-haunted wasteland, but underneath the surface, I see signs that our society is starting to knit itself back together after the unrest and chaos of 2014-2021. Health is improving. Violence is falling. Americans are starting to use technology more responsibly. Some of the economic sclerosis of the pre-pandemic years seems to be falling away.”

• Ten things that are going right in America

Best of Substack this Week

• Pacers at Western States 100 mile Endurance Run: Emily Hawgood

  —

• Highlights From The Comments On Vibecession —

• Your Year in Snax —

• 🌻 what is it like to be a writer? —

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Chuck 70 Canvas, (Ian)

Going back to the basics here. I left these in the locker room a few years ago and have missed them ever since. Shoutout to whoever copped my old pair at Soho Nashville.

Wool Shag Sweater, (Ian)

Shout out for putting us onto Gnuhr. Been waiting on this restock noti for way too long with no end in sight.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

Merry Christmas, dear readers.

It’s been a jam-packed year. The Relay gang had group trips all over the place, long days in New York and Nashville — and a whole host of things sprinkled in between — all while bringing you our weekly nod to the group chat happenings. It’s been a joy of ours throughout the year and we look forward to seeing you back here in 2026.

Cheers to the final edition of Every Friday 2025.

Subscribe now

"Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you people cheer for.”

— Rick Sanchez

“I see a future where states compete with one another to see which can be the most efficient, and where businesses seek out efficient states in which to locate so they can reap the economic and environmental benefits for their businesses and employees.”

— Bernie Sanders

Top of Mind

A (Christmas) Birthday Dinner at Locust

I (Jack) had a recent birthday before heading home for the holidays. My girlfriend meticulously planned to get a reservation on the day at the newly Michelin starred Locust in Nashville (warning: it can be tough).

Without even attempting to express the caliber of the food on the menu (it’s incredible), Locust is one of the warmest, most welcoming restaurants I have ever dined in. They focus on “seafood, dumplings, and shaved ice”. You must not forego the shaved ice. I know it might not sound like your go to dessert choice, but trust me.

I highly, highly recommend planning to visit for a meal if you are ever in Nashville. 10/10.

The Internet Is Killing Our Memory

It’s not only that we’d both been in particularly bad places with our respective internet addictions, it’s that those addictions appeared to have erased everything surrounding them. Our individual lives had been supplanted with a shared internet memory of memes and articles and videos that, yes, provided us with a basis for conversation, but also seemingly took away from us everything else that mattered — namely, our own lives.

I have a New Year’s resolution to kill the thoughtless online-coded verbal tics that take over when I’m in conversation with someone (“totally, absolutely, 100%”). I cringe just thinking about how mindlessly internet-isms fall out of my mouth instead of thoughtfully engaging with the conversation I’m in. I know — we all know — it really is the damn phones (and the internet).

This piece is a bit more fatalistic than I actually feel about our moment, but the first half nails something I’ve been circling for a while. We’ve lost something when most of our conversations are just internet regurgitation or “did you see x or y?” — always in reference to an article or a post. If you hear me say “slay” or “100%” in January, this is your permission smack me upside the head.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Tons and tons of Warren Buffet content, organized in a “internet history” kind of way. Whether you’re into Buffet or not, it is just a cool site. Wish we had more resources like these online.

• The Warren Buffet Archive.

As I explain here, the status symbol isn’t merely having kids, it’s raising kids with all the expensive inputs that indirectly priced most people out of parenting. Each family member needs a smartphone. Kids should have their own bedrooms. They need to travel. Sports teams. Music and ballet lessons. SAT prep. A family vacation means flying somewhere. Preferably internationally. College tuition. And so on.

• The ultimate status symbol? A big family

AI is doing the grunt work so we can finally master human work. This speed of change is pushing us toward what truly matters: self mastery. We can’t control the external, but we can strengthen our internal operating systems by using tools that scale emotional intelligence, foster faith, and bridge the isolation AI risks creating.

• 14 big ideas for 2026

…good maintenance is often nothing like the chore of brushing teeth and washing dishes, but an intellectually demanding task requiring knowledge, intelligence and curiosity. To repair a complex object requires patient problem solving and the diligent discovery of hidden trouble. It is an act of mastery.

• Why self-improvement starts with maintenance

Best of Substack This Week

• The Best Garments of 2025 –

• A Long Distance Life with David Coggins –

• 2025 Grift Guide –

• My 2026 running predictions —

This Week in Santa’s Sleigh for Relay

Master Shin’s Anvil - #62 Kitchen Knife, Medium, (Jack)

This is going to level up my weekly stir fries by at least a factor of two. Beware, bell peppers and onions.

Toro Wood Floor Lamp/Gibson Arc Floor Lamp, (James)

The townhouse has been secured and now my bank account has to keep up with the targeted furniture ads Meta has been flooding me with.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

We’re officially on the downhill slope toward Christmas and begging clients to log off, step away from the inbox, and grab a drink. We hope you’ve secured your gifts—the cut-off for delivery by the 25th is, unfortunately, upon us.

Three-quarters of Relay is co-hosting a holiday party at our casa tonight. We’re hoping the Nashville crew rolls up (or joins us at Santa’s after).

Happy Christmas, crew — scroll on down.

Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” has been on a wave for the past few months. The feature this week is exclusively for the fellas. Scream and shout this in the car.

Subscribe now

You will never touch the hearts of others, if it does not emerge from your own.

— Alex Karp

“A rule of thumb with humor; if you worry that you might be going too far, you have already not gone far enough. If everybody laughs, you have failed.”

— Christopher Hitchens

Top of Mind

Inside Kendall Jenner’s Cozy Grandma-Chic Mountain Home, (AD)

“Jenner was craving a rural escape to spend homey summer weekends with friends that felt well-loved and lived in, as if had been there for a while.”

Designer Heidi Caillier absolutely cooked here. I know of exactly one home designer - Heidi - and she is now my favorite. I don’t know if I could live in a home for 40 years and pop out on the other side with something that feels so well lived in and exudes so much taste. Taste is not usually quantifiable, but this place has it in spades.

Companies Are Desperately Seeking ‘Storytellers’, (WSJ)

“Compliance technology firm Vanta this month began hiring for a head of storytelling, offering a salary of up to $274,000.”

Storytellers were the story of the week. The latest in the hype-driven hiring cycle of companies trying to stay on top of the zeitgeist. It’s now a reality for most of us that things are moving so fast out there that you pretty much need to be chronically online to keep up with it. With more content than ever, companies are scrambling to figure out a way to differentiate themselves from the noise, this appears to be the latest and greatest strategy.

What we’re really looking at with a storyteller is a more artistic, maybe more “human” (for all the human-centric branding users out there) framing of brand and marketing, but the massive amount of intrigue about this new move towards storytelling shows how much brands are really leaning into the change.

The 26 Most Important Ideas For 2026, (Derek Thompson)

“As the AI buildout continues to pull electricity and manpower from other parts of the economy—and as it creates a new class of AI billionaires and near-trillionaires—it seems inevitable to me that the future of populist politics is going to revolve around attacking AI and its architects, for better or worse.”

While you could argue this should live in the Best of Substack section below, this piece by Derek Thompson deserves extra attention. The start and end of a year always creates space for reflection and prediction. Many of these are obvious, but seeing the collection of ideas paints a specific picture. I’ll let you, the reader, feel for yourself; however, it is worth introspection.

Some of my favorites include:

• 1. The end of reading

• 6. Get ready for a wave of anti-AI populism

• 21. America’s “monks in the casino” are calling for help

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

• Our hottest happy hour conversation topic this week was on this idea. How far are prediction markets going to go? All the way? Let us know in the comments.

Someone started shorting iRobot, the Roomba vacuum maker who has as of this week filed for bankruptcy, all the way back in 2015.

• Read about how he identifies his bearish targets

The Second Industrial Revolution unfolded as American industrialists built the corporate and financial machinery needed for industrial-scale production. Out of this crucible came not only new machines but new forms of management, bureaucracy, and social organization that, over the course of a century, would be imitated, adapted, and imposed across nearly every society on Earth. The United States was the birthplace of the technological republic.

• The Making of a Techno-Nationalist Elite

Best of Substack this Week

• The Castle with All-You-Can-Drink Guinness
  –

• The Print Edition (print media is back again)
  –

• What To Buy That Improves Quality of Life (had to share one gift guide, we thought this was a thoughtful take)
  –

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Carl Striped Polo In Merino Wool, (Jack)

My girlfriend picked this Alex Mill sweater up for me the other day while we were holiday shopping. It’s the ticket.

Gisele TENCEL™ Modal Long PJ Set, (Zach)

Inversely this week, featuring something I gave as a gift. I personally think an overpriced essential or luxury replacement of something the recipient would never buy themselves, is a perfect gift. These Eberjey PJs perfectly fall into this category.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy

Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.

We also have Quick Reflections you can check out:

• Beyond what do you do

• Five Ways Not To Drink An Iced Coffee

• Requiem for Travel

• Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Subscribe and leave us a comment so we know you’re out there.

We’re absolutely flying into a few of the best weeks of the year, folks. Yes, the holidays back home, or wherever you’re spending time this season, that we all look forward to are number one, but the unsung heroes of December are the few weeks prior to everyone leaving their city.

Work has slowed down, there’s a holiday party somewhere what feels like every other day, and everyone is trying to jam pack as much holiday spirit in as they can before their flight out.

Join us. It’s going to be good.

Subscribe now

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”

– Christopher Hitchens

“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

– Fyodor Dostoevsky (in honor of our featured 40 classics below)

Top of Mind

Forget the mafia — NYC’s real turf battles are between cutthroat Christmas tree sellers, New York Post

Nash was in the wholesale business and doing well at the time, but he revealed in the documentary that he unknowingly encroached on mafia-fronted tree wholesalers. While he wasn’t threatened with cement shoes, he claims he was extorted and robbed — sending every seller a forceful message not to overstep.

My girlfriend and I (Zach) have now bought our Christmas tree two years running from a short, Eastern European woman on Hudson street, in the West Village; the juxtaposition between growing up cutting down my own is stark. This particular tree seller is a ball of Christmas energy and as long as she’s there, she’s earned our business. This year, we talked briefly about the journey our tree took from Canada, and the massive effort it takes to get a tree into the middle of Manhattan.

What I was not privy towards, was the relentless turf battle that occurs between the five core families who own the NYC Christmas Tree market. The story is hilariously “New York” and even has a rare mob twist. I won’t let it dampen my holiday cheer and oddly enough it comforts me to learn that even the Christmas tree vendors are wrapped up in the pressure cooker of NYC.

social signals 2025_v5, Matthew Stasoff

Ultimately though, this is a bit of a passion project of mine. Every year a ritual to take a look back (and sometimes further back than the year) and try to make sense of all the saves, bookmarks, screenshots, and notes I’ve collected in the year. And as much as this is called SOCIAL signals, to me this isn’t just for people in social. This is ideally for everyone interested in what’s happening online and offline.

Being online is a such a unique experience. We all have our own platforms and algorithms tailored exactly how we want them. Some of us post, others don’t. Some of us feel connected, others don’t. Regardless, in some version or another, we are all for the most part, online. And keeping up gets exhausting.

The Relay crew is less interested in keeping up but we can appreciate the trends that came across our feeds each year. I have no interest in playing back everything that happened online this year, but Matthew Stasoff does a really good job capturing it all.

Matt’s slide deck each year is ~400 slides which sounds insane, but I (Ian) can’t recommend it enough. Take 45 minutes this weekend to click your way through and thank me later.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

Always on the path to building a better receiver. Over one month into the Youtube abstinence challenge. Skallas can’t miss.

• Notes on Boredom

Ramp AI Index shows AI adoption held flat at 45% of businesses in November, with slight declines in the finance and technology sectors. Adoption also didn’t change across small, medium, and large businesses.

• Business AI adoption flatlines

Best of Substack this Week

• What To Buy That Improves Quality of Life
  – Ryan Peterman

• On the ‘5 Stages of Fly Fishing’
  – Mike Idell

• The 40 Famous Classics You’re Allowed to Skip (And Why Everyone Secretly Agrees)
  – Karen Rodriguez

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

Cloudloom Cotton Wool Romeo Pant, (Jack)

I may have finally solved the pleated pants quest. Going to try to sniff these Buck Mason ones out at the Nashville location this week.

Sconset Tote, (Zach)

So I guess I’ve become a tote guy instead of backpack guy, re: me waging war against the tech bro backpack. I am eyeing this Hudson and Sutler classic tote to rotate with the fancy Italian leather one I recently acquired.

It’s Not That Deep, Randy