The Supreme Court and Bad Health Tricks
It's been a very bad week for democracy — in many ways, in many places, in many directions, the most obvious and egregious of these being the Supreme Court’s decision in the aptly named Trump v United States. A bad week for democracy means a bad week for
The Extra Mile
Spring Energy, Protein Candy, and a Few Thoughts about Consistency
Consistency. Influencers and pundits from all sectors, but particularly from health and wellness, like to talk about consistency as the key to greatness. "A habit must be established before it can be improved," James Clear writes in Atomic Habits. "If you can't learn the basic
The Extra Mile
Happy Monday (and happy birthday to Kin!) and welcome to "The Extra Mile," an extra newsletter for Second Breakfast's paid subscribers. This is where I work out a bunch of ideas about health and technology that are still largely fragmentary, speculative, and – in a busy breakfast
Taco Bell Fitness Franchises and Neuralink Monkey Scratches
I screwed up on Monday, sending all subscribers not just paid subscribers, an Extra Mile newsletter (which is supposed to be "bonus content" for the latter). I'm quite proud of how that Monday missive is shaping up, so I'm not mad that everyone got
The Extra Mile
A couple of weeks ago I complained – half jokingly and entirely straight-faced – about the lack of innovation in dental technology. But I confess, I neglected to mention the technological upgrade I did actually experience in the dental chair: being fitted for a mouth guard – a process that did not entail
Hot Dog-Eating, Testosterone Testing, and Mewing Gum
On Tuesday, I received a push-notification from The New York Times. Breaking news, you know. Important stuff. Joey Chestnut was out of this year's hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. Chestnut, who's won the competition sixteen times, has split with the sponsor of the Fourth
The History (of the Future) of Weightlifting Machines
The debate over which is better for muscle development — free weights or machines — is a long one, and I'll just state here at the outset of this essay, really beyond the scope of the kinds of stories I tell here at Second Breakfast. You can definitely find the
The Extra Mile
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Second Breakfast, and I cannot begin to articulate how relieved I am that, after everything I've been through – the book, the pandemic, the death, the grief – I've started to write again. Thank you so much for subscribing to this
MDMA, Third Thumbs, and Tooth Regeneration
Each Friday, I gather all the stories about health and sports technologies – "wellness," "fitness," whatever – that I've seen over the past week. It's all in an attempt to identify the prevailing narratives about the future of our minds and bodies. I'
The Extra Mile
In a recent essay in The New Yorker, Kyle Chayka writes about the "new generation" of online culture creators: curators, who "guided by their own cultivated sense of taste, ... bring their audiences news and insights in a particular cultural area, whether it’s fashion, books, music, food,