All posts tagged: starter pack

What Chef Jon Kung Swears By in the Kitchen (2026)

What Chef Jon Kung Swears By in the Kitchen (2026)

Published by skeptic

When I ask influencer chef Jon Kung to name the purchase they regret most, there’s no deliberation. “In my early twenties, I bought this used SMEG fridge,” the 42-year-old Chinese American TikTok creator tells me. “It’s got this giant British flag on it, and I still have it. I’ve stuck Sex Pistols, Ozzy Osbourne, and Spice Girls stickers on the sides to try to make it a little better.” It’s become a conversation piece at the dinner parties Kung hosts at home. Every holiday season, Kung whips up their Chinese takeout feast; it’s a seven-course spread that maps their upbringing across Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Toronto, and Detroit—mapo tofu, pumpkin and lotus root curry, superior stock wonton noodle soup, crab rangoons, Balinese crab fried rice, mushroom lo mein, and, for the grand finale, Cantonese roast duck with cherry duck sauce. And, obviously, dessert. That layered, third-culture palate is exactly what has made Kung one of the most compelling food personalities of his generation, with over 2 million online followers. (They also published a cookbook, Kung …

What’s in Hasan Piker’s Starter Pack? Creatine, Zyns, Signal

What’s in Hasan Piker’s Starter Pack? Creatine, Zyns, Signal

Published by skeptic

Hasan Piker is 15 minutes late to our Zoom. He’s just gotten back from the gym, where he works out seven days a week, first thing in the morning, with no rest days. He’s been up since 5. In 45 minutes, he goes live for an eight-hour stream on Twitch. Everything is already set up, so we can chat right up until he needs to switch over, he tells me. There’s no buffer time. Piker is a man accustomed to operating under pressure, which is fortunate because the pressure has rarely been greater. To his audience—mostly young, white men—the 34-year-old far-left commentator is a spokesperson against a failing establishment. To his critics within the Democratic Party, he is a liability protected by his “jock insurance” when he makes controversial comments about Israel and US foreign policy. Last month, a Wall Street Journal op-ed demanded that Democrats sever ties with him entirely, branding him “anti-American, anti-women, anti-Western, and antisemitic.” As Politico puts it, the left is in a Piker pickle. Piker has learned to manage with …

Jessie Diggins’ Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Jessie Diggins’ Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Published by skeptic

Jessie Diggins is the most decorated cross-country skier in American history. She is also ranked as the best cross-country skier in the world, in a sport that rewards only the most spectacularly fit. Now competing in her fourth and final Olympics, the three-time Olympic medalist arrives at Milan as a different athlete than she was at her first Games. She tells WIRED that she’s more confident, more empowered, and more invested in the world beyond the sport. Diggins helped secure the first US gold in cross-country skiing at Pyeongchang, but her work extends far off the course. She advocates for mental health and eating disorder recovery through her work with the Emily Program, supports climate action as an ambassador for Protect Our Winters, and champions broader access to winter sports through the Share Winter Foundation. “I’m still focused on being as good a teammate as I can be and performing to my highest potential,” she says, “but there’s much more behind each race now.” To remind her that there’s a lot more than race results …

What Paralympic Athlete Monster Mike Schultz Packs for His Races

What Paralympic Athlete Monster Mike Schultz Packs for His Races

Published by skeptic

When he was 27, snow cross racer Mike Schultz (who got the nickname “Monster Mike” because of his renowned fearlessness) drifted off course in a race, flew off his snowmobile, and obliterated his knee. It required multiple surgeries and multiple days in a coma to save his life. Ultimately, his medical team had to amputate his leg. Rather than give up his love of action sports, Schultz engineered his own prosthetic knee and founded his own high-performance prosthetic company, BioDapt. His prostheses use a patented proprietary linkage system and mountain bike shocks to dial in such precise performance, enabling him to return to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Since 2008, he has won multiple Winter Paralympics and World Championships for adaptive snowboard cross and banked slalom. More importantly, however, extreme athletes, amputees, and veterans all use his prosthetics. That includes many of his competitors, whose gear he sometimes ends up repairing right before an event. “You never get the temptation to, you know, ‘fix’ a competitor’s Moto Knee?” I asked him over …

Brenna Huckaby Starter Pack: Paralympic Winter Games 2026

Brenna Huckaby Starter Pack: Paralympic Winter Games 2026

Published by skeptic

Eight years after Brenna Huckaby’s first Paralympic Games, the pressure is on. She’s a highly decorated para snowboarder, with four medals across two Paralympic Games and 10 World Championships. But she doesn’t let the pressure get to her. “Win or lose, I’m still the same Brenna,” she tells WIRED. “I’m loved. I have an incredible family. [Snowboarding] is important, but it’s not everything to me.” That’s why Huckaby makes a point to keep the atmosphere light. If Huckaby has a good day in training, she wears the same socks for qualification and racing. If she had a good race for those, she’ll wear them for the next race. “So, sometimes I wear dirty socks to compete,” she says. “This past season, though, they’ve been really clean, so hopefully for the Games I have dirty socks, because that means things are going well.” Beyond her clean or dirty socks—only time will tell—we asked Huckaby what other essentials are keeping her company at Milano Cortina 2026. Her Skin Savior Courtesy of La Roche-Posay La Roche-Posay Lipikar Balm …

Alpine Skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Alpine Skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Published by skeptic

Ryan Cochran-Siegle was practically born on skis. He started sliding around Vermont snow at age 2 and grew up in one of the most storied families in American alpine racing. His grandparents built a nonprofit ski area in 1961, and his mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, won Olympic gold in Sapporo in 1972. When Cochran-Siegle made the US national alpine team in 2011, he joined his cousin, two-time Olympian Jimmy Cochran. But Cochran-Siegle’s career hasn’t been an inheritance story. It’s been shaped by catastrophic injuries, long rehabs, and a steady belief that his best skiing was still ahead of him. Cochran-Siegle is no longer the wide-eyed rookie who debuted in Pyeongchang or the comeback story who won silver in the super-G at Beijing 2022 and was the only US alpine skier to medal at those Games. “I’m more established as a skier,” Cochran-Siegle tells WIRED. “There’s some confidence to take into it.” Before a race, Cochran-Siegle looks for a warm-up slope, practicing movement patterns and “getting all the wheels greased.” He wants to feel like the …

Nick Goepper’s Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Nick Goepper’s Starter Pack: Winter Olympics 2026

Published by skeptic

Pit Viper’s Magic Magnet system makes lens changes easy, even with gloves on. Goepper rotates between just two: a blackout lens for daytime sessions and a clear lens for nighttime. With an ultrawide field of view, the BN5000 delivers sharper spatial awareness at full throttle, and the bold flames on the grippy strap don’t hurt either. “They make you go faster,” he jokes, “and they keep your head nice and warm on those cold days.” His Bluetooth Speaker Sony SRS-XB100 Compact Bluetooth Wireless Speaker “I’ve got music going 24/7,” he says, holding up his Sony SRS-XB100. It’s compact enough to clip onto a backpack but loud enough to cut through wind and open space, with a deep bass that does justice to Goepper’s eclectic rotation. On any given day, that might mean Juicy J’s “Moonwalking,” Sum 41’s “Underclass Hero,” or Kreator’s “Satanic Anarchy.” “These days, it’s a combination of metal, hip-hop, and the occasional country song,” he says. The speaker is IP67-rated against dust and water and lasts up to 16 hours on a charge. …