Every Friday
relaybimbo please stand up
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.
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.
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 Jedidiah Jenkins).
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.
Best of Substack this Week
Satisfy, Currently Running, and the Fight Over Running’s Aesthetic
– Kyle FrostA Brief History of the History of Science — Asterisk Magazine
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.
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3 beers in at embers and I’m skipping all of the ai content and going straight to the memes happy Friday