OVERWORLD:
-Nvidia’s $3 trillion brand is weak — which makes sense-

ONE BETWEEN:
-A$AP Rocky surprises Paris with pretty solid design debut-

THE DEPTHS:
-They built this with 20 million-year-old lava rock-

“If you want a new idea, read an old book.”
— Ivan Pavlov

✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
Ex-OpenAI genius launches new “Super Intelligence” company

✖️ X:
A 3.5h play that covers 160 yrs of history of the Lehman Brothers bank, with only 3 actors.

❓
Mystery link.

Nobody knows I’m winning

Nvidia’s $3 trillion brand is weak — do people even know about it?

If you asked a homeless person on the street what Apple, Amazon, Google, or Microsoft are... they'd probably know. Maybe they’d even name the CEOs.

But do they know Nvidia and Jensen Huang? Probably not, which is interesting because it rose to the most valuable company in the world, surpassing Microsoft and Apple.

But how can an enterprise be so big and still have such a weak brand?

✦Most valuable background singer✦

Nvidia is not blatantly part of ordinary life in the same vein as Meta, Google, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Disney, and Netflix.

It’s hard to have the iconic pull of older consumer brands when you’re primarily supplying pickaxes and shovels behind the scenes.

Things are getting better: It’s just the start, and Nvidia's name recognition is growing; potentially as exponentially as the stock. Interbrand’s data actually shows how Nvidia’s awareness quadrupled in the past year.

(Per CNBC)

✦QUICK HITS✦

✦Business & Tech✦

War: Anthropic announced Claude 3.5 Sonnet, a powerful AI model, available on Claude.ai and the Claude iPhone app. It features improved understanding, writing, and coding abilities.

Important: How Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Failed Children on Safety, States Say

Apple won't release its Apple Intelligence AI product, iPhone Mirroring, or SharePlay enhancements in the EU in 2024 due to the Digital Markets Act's interoperability requirements, citing privacy and data security concerns.

Sweet: New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed two bills to protect kids from social media harms. The SAFE for Kids Act requires parental consent for addictive feeds, and the Child Data Protection Act limits data collection on minors.

Ew: OpenAI CTO Mira Murati admits at that AI might kill some creative jobs: “Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Ironic, seeing how ChatGPT would’ve never existed if those jobs never existed.

✦Fashion & Culture✦

Nike and Converse sued 52 counterfeit networks, operating 98 websites and 267 social media handles, for selling fake goods. The lawsuit targets mainly foreign networks, seeking to stop trademark misuse and recover profits.

Farewell: Dries Van Noten retired with a grand farewell in Paris featuring a memorable fashion show and party. His Spring 2025 collection showcased his iconic style, with notable references to past designs. Despite retiring, Van Noten will stay on as an adviser.

Rick Owens’ spring show was a cinematic spectacle, evoking biblical epics and Busby Berkeley. Owens called it “The Rick Owens Army of Love Movie.”

✦Hmm… Interesting✦

Useful and useless: Every word you can write on a calculator

Watch: Why Nike is Facing Its Worst Performance in Years

Cozy 1-minute-read: The most potent drug - Nostalgia

Cozy 5-minute-read: The DJI Drone Ban: A Uniquely American Clusterfuck

Big read for big brains: Why your brain is 3 milion more times efficient than GPT-4

For developers: Ruby: a great language for shell scripts!

Good shit from 1952: Can Men Live Without War?

ONE 

BETWEEN

Good job, guy

A$AP Rocky surprises Paris with a pretty solid design debut

A$AP Rocky, known for impregnating Rihanna and not making a good album since 2013, had his design debut at Paris Men’s Fashion Week.

The brand is called American Sabotage and lies under his creative agency AWGE. Unlike his recent discography, pretty good effort.

From the first distorted strains of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” it was evident that Rocky’s designs were offbeat; American socio-political galore.

Rocky described his collection as “political satire,” inspired by poverty, mass incarceration, and tax issues. Models carried trash bag-like sacks, referencing homelessness and consumerism. The designs, upcycled from items like NYPD sweatshirts and DEA caps, conveyed a message on capitalism’s exploitation.

Here are the best looks:

THE DEPTHS

Humanity does its thing

They built a church with 20 million-year-old lava rock

20 million years ago, volcanoes exploded across the land we today call Auvergne, France.

20 million years later, those volcanoes are dead. However, as the area has cooled, it left behind an extremely beautiful residue — volcanic rock.

This rock is black as the night, durable, and most importantly, easy to shape. Those characteristics proved perfect for the Catholics of Clermont-Ferrand in central France. With it, they built one of the planet’s prettiest cathedrals.

This is the Clermont-Ferrand cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

And much like a distant, towering volcano à la Mt. Fuji, the Clermont-Ferrand completely dominates the city's skyline. Sweet.

✦Construction✦

Construction began in the 13th century, under the auspices of Bishop Hugues de la Tour. The work continued periodically over several centuries up until the 19th century. Then, final touches were added by renowned architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's guidance.

One of the cathedral’s most remarkable features is its grand rose window, placed on the western sun-setting façade. The stained glass depicts scenes from the Last Judgment, illuminating the interior with a kaleidoscope of colors as the sun sets.

Inside, the soaring nave, supported by slender columns and ribbed vaults, leads the eye upwards, creating a sense of divine elevation.

The Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral is not just an architectural marvel but also a repository of religious art and relics. It houses numerous statues, including a revered statue of the Virgin Mary, which draws pilgrims from across the region.

This cathedral is not only a place of worship but also a symbol of Earth’s history, from fiery chaos to orderly divine construct — a beautiful line between Earth's geological history and humanity's technological history.