Month: October 2017

Core exercises will build up your abs, but they do nothing for the layer of fat on top of them. Likewise, no leg exercise can give you slimmer thighs. And yet headlines and tweets about shrinking specific body parts abound—even when the articles themselves contradict the headline.

For example, this health.com article is headlined as a “10-Minute Love Handle Workout.” It begins by saying that a traditional ab workout won’t get rid of your love handles (true) so you need to target your oblique muscles specifically (uh, that’s no better). Then there is a brief moment of clarity:

That being said, it’s a myth that you can spot reduce fat loss. Yes, you can target your obliques to maximize toning, but fat is lost through cardio and diet. We’ve all heard that abs are made in the kitchen, and (unfortunately) it’s true. You can do crunches until the cows come home, but unless you get rid of your excess fat through healthy eating, your toned abs will never be seen. So here’s the best strategy for kicking your love handles to the curb:

The strategy has three steps. One is to diet, described in four words: “Eat lean. Eat clean.” Uh, thanks. The second is a mention that you should do some cardio. The third is the promised “love handle workout.” Of these three, only the first two can shrink your love handles. And yet the headline and bulk of the article are about the third item, which can’t.

Or take this shape.com article on the “Best Inner Thigh Exercises for Women.” They asked 16 trainers to “share their go-to move for slim, sculpted hips and thighs,” even though there is no move that can make your hips and thighs slimmer. (You can exercise a muscle to make it larger.) The first seven trainers dutifully offer exercises that strengthen the inner thighs. The eighth objects: “If you want to reduce the size of your thighs and look more toned, then your goal is really fat loss since you can’t spot reduce.”

But then he offers an exercise anyway, and so do all the rest.

I am sure the trainers, many of them impeccably qualified, understand the difference between losing fat (which happens all over) and strengthening a muscle (which you can target). Several of the others mentioned that they chose exercises that burn lots of calories, which seems like a nod to the truth. But then the article gets written anyway, and packaged with a headline that directly contradicts the facts on exercise physiology.

We’ve got nine long days to wait until the sequel to the BBC’s spectacular 2001 nature documentary, Blue Planet, airs on October 29 in the UK. Fortunately, the BBC has blessed us with a second trailer for Planet Earth II, which looks like it will make even the most extravagant Hollywood blockbusters pale in comparison.

As questionable decisions are made by governments around the world when it comes to ecology and protecting our natural environments, Planet Earth II will arrive just in time to remind us that the world is still a spectacular place, and we should be doing everything we can to help keep it that way.

[YouTube via Tastefully Offensive]

US Customs and Border Protection recently released video of President Trump’s border wall prototypes in San Diego. And we couldn’t help but notice something strange from the video. It shows a bird’s-eye view of the wall from the perspective of a drone. And the drone is much, much higher than the wall.

Do you see what I mean? This is supposed to be a wall that, in President Trump’s words, is going to stop “drugs from pouring into this country.” But the funny thing about a wall is that you can get over it pretty easily these days—especially as drones become more affordable. CBP’s own video proves just how easy it is to get over the damn thing.

Remember the American who was smuggling 13 pounds of meth at a time over the border this summer? He was doing it right near where the border wall prototypes are now being constructed outside San Diego. And President Trump’s proposed wall would do nothing to stop a situation like that. The only thing that does work in such cases is what already worked without the wall: agents spotting smugglers at the border.

When I asked CBP about that, they seemed to acknowledge that the wall obviously doesn’t do shit on its own.

“Matt, don’t forget that there are also agents, sensors, cameras and other technologies monitoring the Border Enforcement Zone,” Carlos Diaz, the Southwest Branch Chief for the CBP Office of Public Affairs, told Gizmodo by email. “The combination of those elements allow for the effective and efficient protection of the wall.”

The funny thing about Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall is that it’s not what CBP leadership has repeatedly asked for over the years. The agency wants more technology. Precisely the kind of technology that has been employed at the border for decades, like cameras and sensors. But that’s not what President Trump is delivering.

It’s estimated the Trump’s proposed US-Mexico border wall would cost anywhere from $15 billion on the low-end (according to Republicans like Mitch McConnell) and $70 billion on the high-end (according to Democratic Senator Kamala Harris). But no matter what the final cost, Mexico has already said that they won’t pay for it.

Whether the wall ultimately gets built or not, it’s safe to say that it’s not going to be stopping drugs from getting across the border. But at least it’ll be incredibly expensive and ugly. Great job, President Trump. We knew we could count on you.

It’s certainly impressive when someone spends an entire week stacking dominoes, but watching them fall over for half an hour gets a little dull after the first few minutes. So domino masters Hevesh5 and Kaplamino teamed up to create a series of seemingly impossible domino tricks that are far more impressive than any Guinness World Record attempt.

Gravity is still the main power source for most of these tricks, but at other times a slight breeze or the subtle vibrations from a domino toppling to the floor is all that’s needed to keep a chain going. Hopefully this video inspires other domino stackers to stop chasing word records, and instead put more thought into their domino runs, because I could watch these for hours.

[YouTube via The Awesomer]