Philip.paulsson

22 Oct 18:27

Chinese store makes sure that iPhone 6 Plus fits in your pocket

by Edgar Alvarez

Philip.paulsson
Hahah smart!

Let's face it: When it comes to the iPhone 6 Plus, size really does matter....

22 Oct 18:24

How Many Countries Can You Identify By Just Their Outlines?

Philip.paulsson
Ouch... only 10/18.

Time to see how well you paid attention in geography class.

Getty Images/iStockphoto istrejman

22 Oct 17:29

Offended by the 'Hatred' trailer? You're a hypocrite (and that's a good thing)

by Ben Gilbert

Philip.paulsson
Interesting article. Definitely not a game that interests me at all. And I can't imagine it's going to sell very well. But I think it'll be, as the authors says, really scary if this does sell well.

This week, a game about a genocidal maniac was announced. There's a video trailer for the game that depicts ultraviolent bedlam: a murder spree of innocent victims, many begging for their lives. So it's basically another week in video games, then?...

22 Oct 16:07

Chinese State Media Warns People To Stop Calling Themselves Dumbledore

Philip.paulsson
Haha I want to name my kid "Lawyer" now.

This week CCTV News, the broadcaster owned by the Chinese government, warned citizens not to pick an English name that would be considered strange by native English speakers, such as Dumbledore, Lawyer and Satan .

This week CCTV News, the state-run broadcaster, came up with these tips for any Chinese people considering an English name – one of which is to steer clear of "Dumbledore".

It's common for Chinese people to choose an English name – partly to make conversation with non-Chinese speakers easier; many Chinese students in western colleges go by an English name, for example.

But, as CCTV points out, some people are choosing names that might sound odd to English speakers.

The article says: "While native English speakers are stuck with whatever happy or unhappy names they’ve been given, Chinese and other ‘non-natives’ get the lucky choice of picking their own English name.

"However these choices can mean more than you think!"

Warner Bros. Entertainment

Religious, mythical and fictional characters are a no-no, including "Vampire, Satan, Medusa and Edward Cullen".

"Unique names like these aren’t just very amusing to English speakers, it also suggests you have some connection to that name," the article warns.

"So if you call yourself Satan, you might get a few foreigners thinking you’re anti-Christian, or possibly a member of a heavy metal band."

CCTV says Harry is OK, if you're a Harry Potter fan, but that only works because it was a common name to start with.

Getty Images/iStockphoto Hlib Shabashnyi

Also on the "no" list are common everyday words that aren't used as names in English, such as "Lawyer".

Other examples include Surprise, Dragon and Fish – things that might be related to the characters in someone's Chinese name.

"Sure, have fun and pick a random object or word as a name, but avoid them if you want a call back from that serious law firm in America." CCTV warns.

Getty Images/iStockphoto IuriiSokolov

A good way to work out the 'feeling' of a name is to watch a bunch of American movies and sitcoms. They're full of name stereotypes – you'll find the good girls' are all 'Janes', the jock boys are still 'Buds' and the geeks' are called 'Sheldon'.

22 Oct 15:59

Renée Zellweger's Awesome Response To Trolls Over Her Appearance

Philip.paulsson
Woah.

“I’m glad folks think I look different! I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows.”

Getty Images Frazer Harrison

WireImage Steve Granitz

Which in turn resulted in scores of news articles being written about her transformation.

22 Oct 15:33

16 Secrets Professional Chefs Wish Everyone Understood

Philip.paulsson
Professional chefs != 18 y/o kid microwaving the food at your local TGIF/watering hole that wouldn't hesitate to spit in your food.

No, nobody is messing around with your food.

No actual chef has ever done anything unpleasant to your food, regardless of what your "friend of a friend" might have said.

It's not just never happened, it's not even joked about. Because that person would be fired.

It's kind of offensive to assume that because people are working in the service industry, they are also moral vacuums.

youtube.com / Via lightsglisten.tumblr.com

asseenontv.com

22 Oct 15:16

it's almost hallowe'en! Therefore I call this story, "Tim's HELL Phone"

Philip.paulsson
Hahah


archive - contact - sexy exciting merchandise - search - about

← previous	October 22nd, 2014	next
October 22nd, 2014: GETTING SO EXCITED FOR HALLOWE'EN, you guys. I carved a pumpkin! I called my carving, "Um, Actually, The Constitution-Class Enterprise Never Canonically Encountered The Collective". – Ryan

22 Oct 13:49

An 18 Foot, 60 Ton Girl Holds Up The Ocean In The World's Largest Ever Underwater Sculpture

Philip.paulsson
Cool.

This piece by Jason deCaires Taylor shows that girls can even be badass underwater.

Earlier this month, artist Jason deCaires Taylor installed this stunning 18-feet-tall, 60-ton underwater sculpture of Bahamian girl carrying the weight of the ocean in Nassau, Bahamas.

underwatersculpture.com

The piece is called "Ocean Atlas" and is reportedly the largest ever underwater sculpture. The title is a reference to the ancient Greek myth of Atlas, a Titan who held up the celestial spheres and personified endurance.

underwatersculpture.com

chattanooga.craigslist.org

22 Oct 11:43

This Guy Looking For A Frisbee Partner Just Made The Most Inspirational Craigslist Ad Ever

Philip.paulsson
Hahah

“All I wanna do is toss a goddamned frisbee.”

"No frisbee golf, no ultimate. Don't care what race or gender you are. Not trying to jack off or fuck anyone. All I wanna do is toss a goddamned frisbee at you, and you throw it back. I don't care if you're any good. Let's just try this shit. Yes, I am awesome at frisbee throwing and catching (especially for a man of my portly stature), but don't let that intimidate you. Embrace my awesome. Have a drink from my flask. Let's do this shit."

22 Oct 11:36

Second Puberty Is A Real Thing That Exists And Here's How To Prepare For It

Philip.paulsson
Hahah I like the term. 2nd Puberty.

Spoiler alert: No preparation will help.

College Humor has opened our eyes to this depressing part of life.

Welcome to second puberty.

Much like first puberty, you will begin to notice some changes. Like hair where there wasn't hair before.

You'll start to notice lines and marks.

21 Oct 20:53

"Basic" Is Just Another Word For Class Anxiety

Philip.paulsson
Basic is the new hipster.

Damn kids these days.

Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed

“My grandma’s so basic she buys multivitamins at Costco,” a friend joked with me the other day.

“My grandma’s so basic she reads the Parade inserts in the Sunday paper," he continued. "She’s so basic she owns Harry Connick Jr.’s entire discography. She’s so basic she calls Folgers Coffee ‘the good stuff.’" He was joking, but in so doing, he touched on the crux of the rise of the 2014 version of the basic: She's laughable because she consumes boringly.

According to our current definition of “basic” — a shortening of “basic bitch” — a “basic” is a millennial who is inescapably predictable. She (and it is always a she) cherishes uninspired brands — a mix of Target products, Ugg boots over leggings, and Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes (the ultimate signifier of basicness) — and lives a banal existence, obsessed with Instagramming photos of things that themselves betray their basicness (other basic friends, pumpkin patches, falling leaves), tagging them #blessed and #thankful, and then reposting them to the basic breeding grounds of Facebook and Pinterest.

A grandma who shops at Costco, reads Parade, and loves Folgers is, then, just her generation’s version of predictable consumerism. In the ‘50s, basics were called “men in the gray flannel suit”; in the ‘20s, they were “Babbits.” Back then, the object of anxiety was men’s patterns of consumption, in part because men were still the primary consumers, even for the home; today, women aren’t just consuming more, they are consuming more visibly — which is part of why they’ve become the locus of this generation’s critique. That’s how “basic” is used today: as a means for people anxious about their position within both the purchasing and cultural currency to denigrate the purchasing and cultural habits of others.

And as Noreen Malone pointed out in New York Magazine, “basic” is primarily a label wielded against a particular type of woman: one who “likes being a woman, or at least she buys the products that are so inherently female-skewing that they don’t even NEED to be explicitly marketed to women ... she delights in all the things that men dismiss as unserious or that don’t even register for them as existing — celebrity gossip, patterned disposable cocktail napkins that mean something sentimental.”

Malone’s reading is correct, but if a certain swath of millennial white girls is basic, so, too, is a larger swath of white, middle-class grandmas and white, middle-class moms, many of whom live in suburbs. They just consume in feminized (and thus readily dismissible) ways appropriate to their generations: my mom, who lives in northern Idaho, is so basic that she drinks decaf single-shot lattes at Starbucks, shops online at Chico’s, and posts pictures of her heirloom vegetable garden to Facebook. She drinks slightly more expensive white wine and goes to a slightly more erudite book club than the basics half her age, but she too is basic.

Getty Images Photodisc

“Basic” is, at bottom, a stereotype. And like all stereotypes, we fling it at others in order to distance ourselves from them. These people are this thing; therefore, I am this other thing. Stereotypes are deployed most fervently — and with the most hostility — when the group wielding them is most anxious to distance itself from another group that, in truth, isn’t so distant after all. See: “Fresh Off the Boat,” “White Trash,” “Hipster.” These stereotypes are explicitly rooted in race, but implicitly, and most powerfully, are rooted in class distinction. By calling someone “white trash,” a certain segment of white consumer person distinguishes themselves from another segment of white consumer, thereby bolstering their position within the capitalist hierarchy.

But that’s not how it was used even five years ago. According to a Google Trends map of the word’s usage, "basic" entered the vernacular around 2011. But that original usage had nothing to do with middle-class white girls. Instead, “basic bitch,” like so many things that become commonplace within mainstream (white) culture, was appropriated from black culture, where it had long been deployed in a slightly different, if generally class-centric, matter:

As stand-up comedian LilDuval explained in 2009 YouTube video,

“If you’re a black girl and your weave is red, green, purple, or blonde, you’s a basic bitch.”

“If you bend your ass over in all your pictures just to make it look big even though you ain’t got one, you’s a basic bitch.”

“If you sing any Beyoncé song, all day, every day, something like 'Upgrade' and there ain’t nothing been upgraded about you since high school in ‘92, kill yourself, and you’re a basic bitch.”

This original usage has more to do with posturing and performance, but that doesn’t mean that class isn’t at its root: If you’re pretending to be something you’re not, especially when you don’t have the means to “upgrade,” you’re a basic bitch.

Kreayshawn’s’ “Gucci Gucci,” released in 2012, articulated the same values, only with a white female voice: “Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada / Them basic bitches wear that shit so I don’t even bother.” The video for “Gucci Gucci,” which became a viral sensation, seems to mark the beginning of the gradual rise in usage of the word that would eventually spike first in April 2014, when Emma Stone told Vogue that, after googling herself, she’d found herself described as a “bland basic bitch,” and again in October, as pieces ridiculing “Things Basic Girls Like” — including nearly a dozen on BuzzFeed — went viral; the most popular of which (“25 Things That Basic White Girls Do During The Fall”) has been viewed 4.9 million times.

Which is all to say that “basic bitch” was a commonplace adjective within black culture, albeit with slightly different connotations, for years before it went “mainstream” over the course of the last few years. It’s crucial to acknowledge that just as “basic bitch” was primarily used by black people, toward black people; the deracinated “basic” is primarily used by middle-class white people toward middle-class white people.

So what are those who make fun of basics actually frightened of? Of being basic, sure, but that’s just another way of being scared of conformity. And in 2014 America, the way we measure conformity isn’t in how we speak in political beliefs, but in consumer and social media habits. We declare our individuality via our capacity to consume differently — to mix purchases from Target with those from quirky Etsy shops — and to tweet, use Facebook, or pin in a way that separates us from others.

To make fun of the basic, then, is another way of displacing concern over the increasing difficulty to do so, to cloak concern over the flattening of American consumer and mediated culture in the form of a meme. I’m basic, my mom is basic, and my friend’s grandmother is basic because we all grew up in rural or suburban towns where, over the course of the last 50 years, the chain store has come to dominate. My mom shops online at Chico’s because her only other choice in her 30,000-person Idaho town is Macy’s or Walmart; as a result, she chooses one basic option over another. And she gets a latte at Starbucks because it’s the only coffee shop in town. For one of her college-age students to be excited about the September arrival of the Pumpkin Spice Latte isn’t an indicator that that student has no taste as much as it's about how there are few other outlets accessible to her.

Getty Images Photodisc

Unique taste — and the capacity to avoid the basic — is a privilege. A privilege of location (usually urban), of education (exposure to other cultures and locales), and of parentage (who would introduce and exalt other tastes). To summarize the groundbreaking work of theorist Pierre Bourdieu: We don’t choose our tastes so much as the micro-specifics of our class determine them. To consume and perform online in a basic way is thus to reflect a highly American, capitalist upbringing. Basic girls love the things they do because nearly every part of American commercial media has told them that they should.

Basics are good and steady consumers of good and steady American businesses, which is another way of saying they’re good Americans. But to look around and realize that all of our lofty ideals about the rights of the individual under democracy have in fact yielded a society in which “choice” — at least for a certain demographic — is the difference between two forms of scented body wash... well, that’s existentially terrifying.

Instead of grappling with the fundamental principles that have wrought this system, however, popular culture has transformed it into a way of disciplining the women who manifest it most vividly. To call someone “basic” is to look into the abyss of continually flattening capitalist dystopia and, instead of articulating and interrogating the fear, transform it into casual misogyny. And that’s a behavior far more troubling — and regressive — than taking pleasure in all things pumpkin spice.

21 Oct 15:02

Media Stumped On How To Handle Missing Mixed-Race Woman

Philip.paulsson
LOL

WASHINGTON—Struggling to find an appropriate response to a delicate situation, members of the American news media admitted Tuesday that they remained stumped on how exactly to handle the case of missing mixed-race woman Alison Johnston.

bernot likes this

21 Oct 13:52

Amazingly Neat "Umbrella" Uses Air To Propel Rain Away From You (And Onto People Nearby)

Philip.paulsson
Neat idea, but I don't like the idea of my umbrella running out of batteries while I'm using it.

The Kickstarter for the Air Umbrella has already raised eight times the projected goal.

Facebook: wang.chuan.779

You'll be the hit of the sidewalk! (Don't quote me on that.)

"If nearby pedestrians do not take [their] umbrella... they will be affected more or less, but they will get wet in a rainy day if not taking umbrella anyway," creator Chuan Wang said.

Air Umbrella

21 Oct 11:54

Leslie Jones Joins "Saturday Night Live" As Cast Member

Philip.paulsson
She's already been in more skits than half the new cast members. I'm glad she's joining officially!

Jones, who has been writing for the show since January, will be SNL’s second black female cast member this year, after Sasheer Zamata was hired earlier in January.

Leslie Jones with Colin Jost and Michael Che during the Weekend Update skit on Sept. 27.

NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Leslie Jones is joining Saturday Night Live as a cast member, Deadline reported Monday. Jones will make her debut during Saturday's show hosted by Jim Carrey.

Jones has been a writer for SNL since January and has been featured many times on screen in Weekend Update, causing a stir for her skit on slavery. It is common for the show to promote from within its own staff.

Leslie Jones during an interview with host Seth Meyers on Sept. 4.

NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

SNL has faced criticism recently for its lack of diversity. The cast's lack of black female members was obvious and awkward for the show, as no one was able to play some of the most important figures in politics and pop culture.

In response to the criticism, the show held an audition exclusively for black women and then hired Sasheer Zamata in January, making her the first black female cast member on the show since Maya Rudolph left in 2007. Shortly afterward, SNL hired Jones and LaKendra Tookes as writers.

Jones, who will continue to write for the show, joins Pete Davidson as the second new cast member for the fall season.

20 Oct 19:44

This Man Got A Boner At The Worst Possible Time

Philip.paulsson
Hehe

Worst erection ever. H/T to LiveLeak.

At first the man is sheepish, he tries to hide his arousal using his backpack.

He soon realises that if he is going to get on this train he is going to have to show the world his boner.

liveleak.com

And then the worst thing that could possible happen, happens.

liveleak.com

Poor man.

liveleak.com / Flo Perry / BuzzFeed

20 Oct 17:45

Smoke Detector Saves Family From Buying New Batteries For Remote

Philip.paulsson
Hah!

Smoke Detector Saves Family From Buying New Batteries For Remote

20 Oct 14:03

21 Easy Pumpkin And Apple Recipes For Everyone In Love With Fall

Philip.paulsson
The pumpkin beer/cider combo could be good if it's not too sweet, I think.

All hail the fruit power couple of the season.

Microwave Apple Cinnamon Crisp

Ooey, gooey apples brought to you by your trusty microwave. Get the recipe here.

Photo by Maggie Gorman / Via nu.spoonuniversity.com

Sparkling Pumpkin Cider Beertail

Celebrate Oktoberfest in your apartment with this dynamic combo. Prost!

Photo by Naomi Rawitz / Via washu.spoonuniversity.com">Sparkling Pumpkin Cider Beertail

Apple Chickpea Hash

Healthy, hearty and hella good. Get the recipe here.

Photo by Kendra Valkema / Via nu.spoonuniversity.com

Pumpkin Cake For One

Like you would share anyways. Get the recipe here.

Photo by Emily Hu / Via spoonuniversity.com

20 Oct 13:51

Lorde's "Royals" Banned From San Francisco Radio During World Series

Philip.paulsson
Hah!

Two DJs teamed up to keep the New Zealand singer’s hit song off the airwaves while the Giants battle the Kansas City Royals.

Lorde performs during the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas in September.

Steve Marcus / Reuters

Two San Francisco radio stations have banned Lorde's hit song "Royals" from the airwaves while their Giants battle the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

The Guardian reported:

KOIT's decision followed a torrent of complaints from their listeners. Critics claimed that by playing Royals KOIT was backing the wrong team to take home baseball's biggest prize, according to Fox 4 News. "Our listeners told us to do it, so we did it," declared programme director Brian Figula. "As of 4pm today we've removed Lorde's Royals from the our playlist until the end of the World Series. Go Giants, beat the Royals!"

20 Oct 13:51

'Halo: The Master Chief Collection' needs 20GB day-one patch

by Edgar Alvarez

Philip.paulsson
20GB day one-patch?!? That is absolutely not OK.

When the long-awaited Halo: The Master Chief Collection gets released next month, the first thing players will have to do is download what's estimated to be a 20GB update, according to developer 343 Industries. The day-one patch, which is required to...

17 Oct 16:29

American Voices: Jimmy John’s Requiring Sandwich Makers To Sign Non-Compete Clause

Philip.paulsson
Hahah!

Sandwich chain Jimmy John’s has been requiring employees to sign a non-compete clause prohibiting them from making sandwiches at competing restaurants that sell “submarine, hero-type, deli-style, pita and/or wrapped or rolled sandwiches”...

17 Oct 15:34

This Parisian Art Is Supposed To Be A Tree But It's Actually A Massive Butt Plug

Philip.paulsson
LOL

Filling a hole in the skyline.

Welcome to the newest piece of public-art from US artist Paul McCarthy called "Tree" erected at Paris' Place Vendome for the FIAC Contemporary Art Fair.

Bertrand Guay/AFP / Getty Images

It's an 80ft inflatable butt-plug though.

Bertrand Guay/AFP / Getty Images

And with everything that's tall, cylindrical and shaft-like it's become the latest tourist attraction in Paris. People cannot resist.

Chesnot / Getty Images

Cannot. Resist.

Chesnot / Getty Images

17 Oct 14:17

Lockheed Martin thinks it can give the world unlimited clean energy in 20 years

by Daniel Cooper

Philip.paulsson
Fingers crossed that it's for real this time!

Remember back in the '50s, when official-sounding newsreels promised that we'd have new-kew-lur-powered cars by the '70s and no one would ever be unhappy? Probably not, since we've gotten a skewed sense of history from watching too many episodes of...

16 Oct 19:33

Brogamats Are Yoga Mats For Guys

Philip.paulsson
Hahah

No girls allowed (or something).

You thought these were yoga mat bags, right? They're not. THEY'RE BROGAMAT BAGS. FOR BROS.

You thought these were yoga mat bags, right? They're not. THEY'RE BROGAMAT BAGS . FOR BROS.

The bags were designed by Dan and the Brogamats crew, who wanted to create yoga products that dudes might like.

"Brogamats was founded on the belief that yoga practitioners defy simple categorization, and include people of all walks of life, all genders, all Lululemon budgets, and all levels of earthy pretentiousness," says the Brogamats site. "We are avid yogaphiles who felt the range of yoga products currently available was frustratingly narrow, so we decided to start designing our own."

There's one that looks like an unwrapped burrito.

(Which you probably shouldn't eat right before or after a heavy yoga sesh).

There's one that you're supposed to pair with your axe.

Because you totally have an axe.

16 Oct 19:28

Apple and Facebook will cover the cost of freezing employees' eggs

by Mariella Moon

Philip.paulsson
What do the ladies think about this?

Apparently, Facebook has been offering to cover the costs of egg freezing for female employees since January 1st this year, and you know who's following in its footsteps? Apple. The iPhone-maker plans to offer the same service to its employees...

16 Oct 16:44

This "Worst Cats" Tumblr Has Some Gross Misconceptions About Cats

Philip.paulsson
LOL

All cats are beautiful. Except for those weird rubbery steak cats.

The Worst Cats tumblr is finally taking cats to task. Especially those sweaty, bald, rubbery cats you've maybe seen pictures of floating around online. What's going on with them?

These rubbery wet cats are the worst.

worstcats.tumblr.com

Like, does ANYONE like them?

worstcats.tumblr.com

Yeah... I'm pretty sure cats don't eat leaves.

worstcats.tumblr.com

Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Via worstcats.tumblr.com

16 Oct 16:23

PlayStation TV impressions: Small things come in small packages

by Kyle Orland

Philip.paulsson
If I had a 2nd TV I'd be all over this.

When the console is smaller than the controller, it has really earned the term "microconsole."

We didn’t have a chance to evaluate the PlayStation TV before its North American release Tuesday, but we have now picked up a retail unit and put it through its paces for a few hours over a couple of days. What we've found so far is a device that's perfectly fine when it works as intended, but quite a few important limitations get in the way of its advertised functionality.

For those who may have missed the previous announcements, the PlayStation TV can be best thought of as a $100 PlayStation Vita without the screen. The microconsole hooks up to a TV via HDMI to let you play Vita games (originally designed for portable play) on the big screen. In addition, PSTV supports many downloadable PSOne and PSP classics, PS3 games streamed via the PlayStation Now service, and remote play off a PS4 connected to the same network. Basically, it’s the PlayStation ecosystem’s version of the Ouya or a cheap Steam streamer box—a cheap, low-power device designed for smaller titles and remote play of bulkier titles running elsewhere.

Right out of the box, it’s striking just how small the PlayStation TV is. If you have room for a deck of playing cards under your TV, you have room for its tiny, rounded plastic form. Setup was a painless process. Plug the box into the wall and to the TV via HDMI, then sync a Dualshock 3 or Dualshock 4 controller via USB (you can unplug it afterward), and you’re off and running. Going through initial menus to set things like the time, the Wi-Fi connection, and my PSN account took about five minutes.

16 Oct 13:28

Watch This Motorcross Spectator Cheat Death Like A Boss

Philip.paulsson
Haha smooth.

Them reflexes.

A spectator has narrowly escaped serious injury with complete class during round 12 of the GNCC Motorcross championships at Powerline Park in Ohio.

During the event a dirt bike rider was jumping over a pond of mud.

Upon landing the rider instantly lost control of the bike sending it sliding towards a group of spectators.

Fortunately a tree blocked the bike from hitting anyone but a man in front of the tree escaped serious injury by jumping the sliding motorcycle.

The spectator, who was on the phone at the time, wasn't phased by the crash and immediately returned to his phone call.

Feta, rocket and olive pasta salad

16 Oct 12:48

Is reheated pasta less fattening?

Philip.paulsson
For Mr. Baisley!

Many food-lovers worry about pasta making them fat. But could simply cooling and then reheating your meal make it better for you, asks Michael Mosley.

There are few things that really surprise me about nutrition, but one of the experiments from the latest series of Trust Me, I'm a Doctor really did produce quite unexpected results.

You are probably familiar with the idea that pasta is a form of carbohydrate and like all carbohydrates it gets broken down in your guts and then absorbed as simple sugars, which in turn makes your blood glucose soar.

In response to a surge in blood glucose our bodies produce a rush of the hormone insulin to get your blood glucose back down to normal as swiftly as possible, because persistently high levels of glucose in the blood are extremely unhealthy.

A rapid rise in blood glucose, followed by a rapid fall, can often make you feel hungry again quite soon after a meal. It's true of sugary sweets and cakes, but it's also true for things like pasta, potatoes, white rice and white bread. That's why dieticians emphasise the importance of eating foods that are rich in fibre, as these foods produce a much more gradual rise and fall in your blood sugars.

But what if you could change pasta or potatoes into a food that, to the body, acts much more like fibre? Well, it seems you can. Cooking pasta and then cooling it down changes the structure of the pasta, turning it into something that is called "resistant starch".

It's called "resistant starch" because once pasta, potatoes or any starchy food is cooked and cooled it becomes resistant to the normal enzymes in our gut that break carbohydrates down and releases glucose that then causes the familiar blood sugar surge.

So, according to scientist Dr Denise Robertson, from the University of Surrey, if you cook and cool pasta down then your body will treat it much more like fibre, creating a smaller glucose peak and helping feed the good bacteria that reside down in your gut. You will also absorb fewer calories, making this a win-win situation.

One obvious problem is that many people don't really like cold pasta. So what would happen if you took the cold pasta and warmed it up?

When we asked scientists this question they said that it would probably go back to its previous, non-resistant form, but no-one had actually done the experiment. So we thought we should.

Cold pasta recipes

Picnic pasta salad

Mango and mangetout noodle salad

Cheese and spinach pasta salad

Dr Chris van Tulleken roped in some volunteers to do the tests. The volunteers had to undergo three days of testing in all, spread out over several weeks. On each occasion they had to eat their pasta on an empty stomach.

The volunteers were randomised to eating either hot, cold or reheated pasta on different days.

On one day they got to eat the pasta, freshly cooked, nice and hot with a plain but delicious sauce of tomatoes and garlic.

On another day they had to eat it cold, with the same sauce, but after it had been chilled overnight.

And on a third day they got to eat the pasta with sauce after it had been chilled and then reheated.

On each of the days they also had to give blood samples every 15 minutes for two hours, to see what happened to their blood glucose as the pasta was slowly digested.

Dr Denise Robertson (back, left) and Dr Chris van Tulleken (back, second from right) with the volunteers

So what did happen?

Well we were fairly confident the cold pasta would be more resistant than the stuff that had been freshly cooked and we were right.

Just as expected, eating cold pasta led to a 50% smaller spike in blood glucose and insulin than eating freshly boiled pasta had.

But then we found something that we really didn't expect - cooking, cooling and then reheating the pasta had an even more dramatic effect. Or, to be precise, an even smaller effect on blood glucose

In fact, it reduced the rise in blood glucose by a further 50%.

This certainly suggests that reheating the pasta made it into an even more "resistant starch". It's an extraordinary result and one never measured before.

Denise is now going to continue her research - funded by Diabetes UK - looking at whether, even without other dietary modifications, adding resistant starch to the diet can improve some of the blood results associated with diabetes.

Chris was certainly blown away by this finding.

"We've made a brand new discovery on Trust Me I'm A Doctor", he says, "and it's something that could simply and easily improve health. We can convert a carb-loaded meal into a more healthy fibre-loaded one instead without changing a single ingredient, just the temperature. In other words our leftovers could be healthier for us than the original meal."

Bon appetit.

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15 Oct 20:11

This Little Bulldog Puppy Trying To Howl Will Melt Your Cold Heart

This is the cutest. There has never been anything cuter.

Aroooooooo

dead

*dead*