Happy Friday crew. Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is having a bit of a moment in NYC. Credit where it’s due - he hustled for it. The guy was everywhere (Melted Solids crushed the digital campaign). But when the only other viable candidate was the gropey political nepo baby Andrew Cuomo, something had to give. San Francisco is shaking its head from across the country- they’ve seen this film before.
Remember that asteroid that was maybe-sorta on a collision course with Earth a few months back? Good news: we’re safe. Bad news: your girlfriend’s co-star might not be — because there’s now a non-zero chance it could slam into the moon. Awesome.
Closer to home, 3/4 of us are headed out for an independence day jaunt to Charleston next weekend. Picture oysters, mild sunburns, and at least one night where someone tries to order Fernet at a place that only serves frozen margs. We need any and all recs — feel free to drop ‘em below. Let’s get into it.
"You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.”
— Victor Hugo (Author/Poet, Les Miserables, Hunchback of Notre-Dame)
“Those with a moral deficit put on a good show, and sleep like a baby”
— Paul Newman
Top of Mind
Why We Want Robots at Work but Humans in Art
Leisure is a hall of mirrors, and only another mortal can polish the glass. A robot could throw perfect strikes forever, but no one would pay to watch. We want the thrill of potential failure.
This is decidedly the most beautifully written take we’ve read on what the artificial intelligence age means for the evolution of human interest and taste. Nobody cares about AI art, no matter how cute the AI generated images of ourselves might be.
83.3% of ChatGPT users couldn't quote from essays they wrote minutes earlier.
Deep down… we all probably knew it right? That we were trading deep understanding and retention for short term productivity? The results in this study are shocking, and I would think have users thinking for an extra second that maybe they can come up with that paragraph on their own this time (but they probably aren’t).
This is 90: Carpenter, Author, Publisher Lloyd Kahn Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire (Substack)
I’d been looking forward to being 90. Being able to tell people that. Ninety is way older than 89.
My friend Louie, when he was 88-89, used to tell people he was 90; he said, “The chicks liked it.
Lloyd Khan is a cool old guy. We’ve featured his own Substack here before (I hope y’all are ready for 70 more years of Relay), but this is a short, refreshing interview with him. It’s rare to see content from his age demographic on platforms like this and it should be cherished. We wish Lloyd many more years of skateboarding.
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Cynicism is bad. Applicable, simple, effective career (life) advice from Marc’s blog. You become the people you surround yourself with.
Apple has been slow on the AI take, we all know it. Maybe they’re trying to turn things around with the Perplexity buy. Ian would probably start crying.
Most (all) jobs have tedious aspects that only a crazy person would enjoy doing. Good news! We’re all crazy people. It’s an interesting career take from Adam Mastroianni.
Best of Substack this Week
11's: 8 Proper Pints of Guinness, Plus 3 Disgraceful Pours (@)
In addition, we have a couple of rules to add for any self respecting Guinness:
It should only be served in an official Guinness branded glass.
If it isn’t a full pint, but one of those tiny half pints, you should be warned ahead of time.
it's coolstuff o'clock (@, hyper-local, amazing NYC recs)
This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart
Alta 5" Shorts - Men's (REI), Jack
Recently bought these shorts in the camo color way and on the first run they became my new favorites.
Feel Flows Linen Striped Tee (Buck Mason), Macke
I fell victim to an instagram ad, I won’t lie (I’m also wearing this right now).
Short-sleeve cotton seed-stitch sweater-polo (JCrew), James
They suckered me in with their summer sale (the green is sold-out but I’ve been eyeing the same one in heather)
All about sillitas 🪑 (Rafa Garcia), Macke
Rafa Garcia is a rising artist out of Spain that I’ve been following for some time now; last week, I finally bit the bullet and bought one of his seminal pieces. Now I need to figure out how to frame this.
fr though, 25 individual frames, or 1 mega frame..
Rollbahn Notebook Large (Delfonics), Ian
Oil and Lumber introduced me to this notebook years ago. I’ve tried almost every size, and after a few months with the small, I’m switching back to the large for the rest of the summer.
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.
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and the line about ian crying over apple x perplexity made me lol
kk one of my faves in a while boys