Brett & Kate McKay 234 posts 0 comments

Swing Kids. I was really into swing music in my youth; my very first website, in fact, was a homage to it. My love of swing music was first inspired by a 1993 film that both Kate and I count among our very favorite movies from our…
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in: How To, Skills Brett & Kate McKay • April 24, 2025In the world of baseball, few skills are more foundational than a proper bat swing. Whether you’re playing in a competitive league or just enjoying weekend softball…
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Note: This is a rebroadcast.Do you have a goal to lose weight? If so, you’re probably thinking about how you need to exercise more. And that can certainly help. But what about the 23 hours a day you’re not at the gym? How much you move…
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In the 13th century, philosopher-theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote about a vice he called “effeminacy.” While the term can sound off-putting or old-fashioned, Aquinas wasn’t talking about mannerisms or gender.Rather, for Aquinas,…
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An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be…
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For my usual lunch meal prep, I cook a batch of chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, and green beans in my pellet smoker on Sunday, store them in the fridge, and then portion out a macro-friendly lunch each day. Sometimes I’ll also slow cook…
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Neil Postman’s Advice on How to Live the Rest of Your Life. Neil Postman is one of my favorite thinkers about media and its effect on individuals and our culture. I recently came across a lecture of his life advice that was posthumously…
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We all need sleep to maintain our physical and mental health and perform our best.So it’s unsurprising that there’s no shortage of content out there about how to improve your sleep.Unfortunately, so much of it repeats the same things…
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You’re headed out of town for the weekend with friends. You packed light, but dialed in the essentials — comfortable, casual clothing that keeps you looking sharp from breakfast in town to relaxing around a firepit at night.1. LUCA Terra…
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The era of artificially intelligent large language models is upon us and isn’t going away. Rather, AI tools like ChatGPT are only going to get better and better and affect more and more areas of human life.If you haven’t yet felt both…
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Shovelglove. Twenty years ago, back in the very early days of the blogosphere, I stumbled upon a fitness protocol that I still think about today: Shovelglove. The concept is brilliantly simple: wrap an old sweater around a sledgehammer…
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When I turned forty a couple of years ago, one of the things I did for that milestone was to go through all the journals I’ve kept from childhood through adulthood. It was a way to do a retrospective inventory at the midpoint of life.In…
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The human urge to explore has taken us to every corner of the planet. From the highest peaks to far-flung islands to even the deepest dimensions of an idea, our species has an innate drive to venture into the unknown.But what exactly…
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in: Advice, Character, Podcast Brett & Kate McKay • April 1, 2025Resilience is often touted as the end all, be all of coping with life’s challenges and setbacks. But my guest knows from her studies, executive coaching,…
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I’ve been doing this dad thing for almost 15 years now. During that time, I’ve read books and articles about how I can be a better parent.One parenting framework I’ve found helpful in rearing my kiddos comes from a child development…
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An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be…
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in: How To, Skills, Visual Guides Brett & Kate McKay • March 27, 2025Whether you’re stuck indoors on a rainy day or looking to entertain friends at your next poker night, launching cards across the room with quick,…
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The Plaza Cafe, Santa Fe, NM. Our family went to Santa Fe, NM to do some skiing/snowboarding over spring break, and the real highlight of the trip wasn’t on the slopes — it was downtown at the Plaza Cafe, right in the historic Plaza of…
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When you think about ancient gladiators, you likely have a certain vision that comes to mind: slaves forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of bloodthirsty Romans.But much of what we think we know about gladiators is actually…
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It’s St. Patrick’s Day.Like a lot of Americans with Irish ancestors, I semi-celebrated the holiday growing up. Our family would eat corned beef and potatoes and decorate the house with shamrocks and pots of gold.We’d also watch St.…
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