Every Friday

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

Happy August team. Things tend to slow down this time of year, Autumn is coming. Not us. Relay boys are in full swing, milking every ounce of summer that is left, and we encourage you all to do the same — experience-maxxing™️.

We’re scattered across the country, we’ve got weekends in Napa, the lake(s), and Cape Cod on deck, plus we’re still staring down that late August euro trip. Hang in there gang, step on the gas and sprint the last stretch of summer out.

I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.

- Ronald Reagan

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Top of Mind

The Era of A.I. Propaganda Has Arrived, and America Must Act (The New York Times)

Imagine today’s most effective social media platforms, but on a far greater scale, using a far more comprehensive model of its targets and synthetic propaganda that is even more compelling and difficult to resist.

Hello George Orwell, we’re back for more. In the last decade in America, it’s become abundantly clear that what we consume online is molded and shaped by numerous different actors. Some friends, some foes. With the rise of revolutionary large language model enabled applications, we’ve bumped on a whole new, more potent medium for those actors to leverage.

They Want Him Dead - He Just Wants to Make it Rain (Pirate Wires)

Cloud seeding can’t fix droughts…but if cloud seeding can make 10% more snowpack in a given year, a reasonable estimate per Jonathan, that’s essentially a year’s worth of water supply over a decade. In a state that, much like communities all over the world, desperately needs water. The risks of unintended consequences (limited over 80 years of data) should be judged against the risks of doing nothing.

Weather modification and cloud seeding have been getting lots of airtime on tinfoil subreddits over the last several weeks. Augustus Doricko, 25, founded Rainmaker, a startup using drones and radar to seed clouds with silver iodide to boost precipitation.

The company recently contracted with the state of Utah for it’s largest project yet: increasing snowpack feeding the Great Salt Lake, potentially matching the output of the largest U.S. desalination plant. The tech is still shaky and nowhere near spinning up storms on command like skeptics imagine. But weather modification budgets have ballooned in recent years, especially in Gulf States that see water as critical to diversifying their economies away from oil.

THE TERRIBLE JOYS. (New Yorker, 1966)

We all know it's our deadly passion. Our terrible joy. But if you get into one of my cars- and no one is forcing you to take that seat- you get in to win. Brake later. Steal their line. Make them make the mistake.

A Relay favorite, Founders Podcast, recently recorded an episode titled The Obsession of Enzo Ferrari, covers Mr. Ferrari’s unreal attention to detail and attitude towards work. This story is told on a walk through THE TERRIBLE JOYS, a piece covering his memoir from the 1960s. I (Zach) have run into many historical New Yorker pieces recently which is begging me to purchase a subscription to read their timeless hits from the archive.

Don’t miss our latest Relay Shared Album.

ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition

• Early on, as modern applications of AI were coming online, a lot of us envisioned workflows like being able to tell an AI to book you a trip or a flight and it just goes and does it. Well, Perplexity I’ll give you this one: Book a Table with Perplexity and OpenTable.

• The Free Press gathered a collection of opinions on the Superintelligence article by Zuck we featured last week. A varied set of takes, some better than others.

Best of Substack this Week

• Weekly Provisions: 13 - RILEY HARPER

  • Part of the Relay team will be in Paraggi soon - can’t wait to echo the Portofino vibes.

• How AI Conquered the US Economy: A Visual FAQ - Derek Thompson

• Agency Could be the Next Big Idea - The Political Whiteboard

• Chartbook 402 Dual-circulation: travels through China in the summer of 2025 - Adam Tooze

This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart

PF Flyers Sea Salt Center Lo Classic, Jack

I’m about to go Sandlot mode.

Viro Overshirt Jacket, Le Mont S’Michel, James

I know - yet another overpriced chore coat. I’m about to be back in office after 4+ years being a remote corporate drone & i’m trying to fill in some gaps in my closet. I found this brand in a shop on Cape Cod and I want everything they sell.

Wine Country Hot Air Ballons Rides, Sonoma Ballooning, Zach

As prefaced in the intro, I’ll be in Napa for the weekend. Going to be taking a sunrise hot air balloon ride, a bit scared of 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:

• Why our favorite places are rarely fancy

• Who you choose to move forward with

• Souls aren’t boring, Greg

• Existential dread in elementary school

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