Hello, you savvy savant!

In case you were wondering, every word of these emails is written by a human being who cares deeply about what you'll be reading this weekend 🤓

In fact, with the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity on next week, I've also written a guide on how to maximise your time there if you're a lucky fish who is heading to the South of France (please come and say hi if you are!)

Otherwise, enjoy the rest of the neural nuggets below, and have a fantastic weekend!

Big love,

Chris & the 42courses team x

• Our predictions of some 2024 Cannes Lion winners: Of the Cannes Lions shortlisted entries, these are the ones we reckon have the best chances. What do you think?
   
• Dave Dye's top ten ads that come to mind...: Dave Dye has made a career out of his opinions on advertising, and this is what he said about his favourites.
   
• Searching high and low for AI use cases: Benedict Evans, the trend watcher, makes a very interesting point about the usefulness, or lack thereof, of generative AI.
   
• The power of creativity, the creator economy, and connections: Simon Cook is the CEO of Cannes Lions and tells all in this interview about the festival.
   
• Our podcast with Chat GPT-4o: What does AI sound like when it is asked to be the guest on a podcast? Find out here.

• 1777 - US Continental Congress adopts the Stars & Stripes flag, designed by Francis Hopkinson, replacing the Grand Union flag 🇺🇸
   
• 1822 - Charles Babbage proposes a "difference engine" in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables" 🖥️
   
• 1834 - Sandpaper is patented by Isaac Fischer Jr, Springfield, Vermont 🪵
   
• 1839 - First Henley Regatta is held (it became the Henley Royal Regatta in 1851) 🚣
   
• 1847 - Robert Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner 🔥
   
• 1942 - Anne Frank begins writing her diary, in Dutch, two days after her 13th birthday 📖
   
• 1989 - Zsa Zsa Gabor is arrested for slapping a policeman in Beverly Hills 🚔
   
• 2013 - The US government charges NSA leaker Edward Snowden with violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property 🕵️
   
• 2021 - Cristiano Ronaldo removes sponsors coke bottles from his press table at the European Championships, prompting Coca-Cola share price to drop $4 billion ⚽