Beauty of rare albino humpback

Graceful and majestic, this modern-day Moby Dick weaves through the waters near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The 46-ft long humpback whale is causing a bit of a splash as the only known white specimen recorded in more than a century. Sightings of the magical creature - nicknamed Migaloo, the Aboriginal word for “white fella” - have been eagerly anticipated by whale watchers since he was first spotted in 1991.… Thirty-five-ton Migaloo was spotted off Coffs Harbour, more than 300 miles north of Sydney - with 200 miles to go. He is one of nature’s rarest aberrations - a completely albino wild animal.

Council which wastes millions

The [Derby] council that jailed rebel Josephine Rooney for owing less than £800 has a damning history of waste running into millions…. In 2001, in another example of civic wastefulness, John Kirkham sprayed his taxi yellow to comply with a new council rule. The city council decided he had chosen the wrong shade - and refused to grant him a licence because his vehicle was “too yellow”. After adverse media attention the council backed down.

‘Cameleon’ snake is found in Borneo

Scientists working in the forests of Borneo have discovered a previously unknown type of snake which can change its colour in order to blend in with its surroundings, the Worldwide Fund for Nature has announced. The venomous snake, about half a metre long, is capable of changing its scales from red to white within minutes, according to the German researcher who found it in the wetlands and swamp forests of Betung National Park in the Indonesian part of the island. “I put the reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket. When I retrieved it a few minutes later, it was almost entirely white,” said Mark Auliya, a reptile expert and consultant for the WWF. Dr Auliya, who is working with two American scientists, named the creature the Kapuas mud snake, after the river that flows through the region…. “Its ability to change colour has kept it hidden from science until now. I guess it just picked the wrong colour that day.”

Blue chips see the green light

Business is forever bending the ear of ministers, and often gets what it’s looking for. What was different in this case was that the blue-chip companies were not seeking lower taxes or a bonfire of red tape, but immediate steps to tackle climate change. … The “red” challenge to capital in the 20th century has been replaced by the “green” challenge in the 21st century.

Camera at yellow box junctions cause longer traffic jams

Transport for London (TfL) studied traffic flow at the junctions before and after the cameras were installed and found that up to 150 fewer vehicles an hour passed through the yellow box junctions once camera enforcement began. Some of the 16 boxes in the study showed an improvement in traffic flow but overall it was 4 per cent worse.

Arthur Widmer (1914-2006)

Born in Washington DC in 1914, Widmer studied chemistry at the University of Michigan and worked at the Eastman Kodak research laboratories in Rochester, New York, for many years before joining the Manhattan Project. After the war Kodak sent him west to Hollywood and he was involved in the development of Eastman Color, which requires less light and was easier to process than the prevailing Technicolor system. By the mid-1950s, Eastman Color had become the industry standard and even the Technicolor labs used Eastman negative film. Widmer went next to Warner Bros, where he developed his bluescreen process. It enabled film-makers to marry two separate pieces of film, foreground and background, and so place characters in impossible situations such as inside a volcano or at the bottom of the sea…. A complicated process using filters and mattes, bluescreen gave much greater realism than the previous device of back-projection. John Struges used it extensively for his 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea. In 1964 Widmer joined Universal, with a brief to design and build an optical department.

Double deckers get roofs painted white but it still hits 36°C

It was our transport chiefs’ great white hope in the fight to make London’s sweltering buses cooler: white roofs to reflect the sunshine. But it seems their £1.5million plan has failed. Transport for London also fitted 1,500 new buses with additional opening windows on upper decks and installed ventilation on 472 others. But we found there was no difference between buses with the new white roofs and those that are still red. A survey by the Standard yesterday - the hottest day of the year so far - found temperatures of 36C on the buses as outside reached 27C.

Thousands of parking cheats to face fraud crackdown

Blue badge permits, issued to disabled drivers or passengers, not only allow free parking in city centres but also allow holders to escape the £8 daily congestion charge in London….. The clampdown was announced after the Audit Commission said yesterday that nearly 5,500 blue badges in London, Merseyside and Manchester were cancelled after it was found that they were being used after the holder had died. Its report also discovered that a number of blue badges were reissued in London after the people entitled to them had died.

Red bins for knives

A knife amnesty was launched in England and Wales yesterday, with hope that 30,000 blades could be dropped into special red bins. The amnesty runs until the end of next month and anyone who hands in a knife will not face prosecution.

Sunny Delight spills into river

A river turned bright yellow after 8,000 litres of orange juice concentrate used to make Sunny Delight leaked from a soft drinks factory. Dozens of fish died after it leaked into a ditch linked to the river in Bridgwater, Somerset.

Black Saturday for ITV, the FA Cup loser

ITV1 suffered its worst-ever audience share on Saturday - thanks to the FA Cup Final and Doctor Who. Across the day, the channel had only an 11.8 per cent share of viewers, its lowest since records began.

Lifesaver tomatoes!

Scientists have found a substance in tomatoes that can help prevent heart attacks and strokes. It works by helping to stop blood becoming sticky and forming clots that can cause potentially fatal blockages in arteries and veins. The lycopene which gives tomatoes their red colour is known to protect against various cancers. The anti-clotting properties are found in the yellow fluid surrounding the seeds…. The tomato extract, called Fruitflow, is in a range of juices by Sirco that have been endorsed by the charity Heart UK.

Thirsty, chaps? Grab a Bloke Coke

Coca-Cola is to produce a version targeted at men. Coca-Cola Zero has been called Bloke Coke by those in the drinks industry because it is specifically aimed at a young male audience who do not like the taste of Diet Coke, which is seen as a ‘girl’s drink’. Coke is embarking on a multi-million-pound marketing drive for the drink, its first product to ditch the traditional red and white colours and go for a black can.

We said: red wine can stop deafness

Drinking red wine can stop you going deaf in later life, medical experts have discovered. The tipple acts as an antidote to ear damage which can be caused by loud noise and antibiotics. Delicate hairs in the inner ear can suffer from exposure to chemical agents called oxygen free radicals. Antioxidants in red wine can help neutralise the radicals - protecting against hearing loss as people age. Similar benefits are gained from drinking green tea or taking aspirin…. Researchers also say moderate amounts of plonk can help protect against cancers and heart disease.

Beware the yellow peril

There’s a black cloud on the horizon for hay fever sufferers. Or rather a yellow one. Hundreds of baffled residents have contacted the Met Office after finding their cars and homes sprinkled with golden dust. Tests are being carried out to identify the substance. But if the chorus of sneezes across the land is any indication, it is probably birch pollen - and bad news for those plagued by the early summer allergy…. In the satellite pictures, however, the irritating golden dust actually looks a rather restful shade of green. Forecasters said record amounts of birch pollen has been produced in Denmark this year.

Julie Wheldon, Science Correspondent. The Daily Mail, May 11, 2006.

Teaching tools

In the past 20 years we have all been told that “chalk and talk” is not the way for a modern education system. But if the blackboard is replaced by an “interactive” whiteboard (costing hundreds of pounds) then suddenly it is a forward-looking teaching method.

Wristband that shows at least someone cares

Facing a thunderous appearance in the House of Commons, he needed all the support he could get. So perhaps that’s why Tony Blair decided to wear a Hindu wristband - to remind him that somewhere, at least, he has friends. The red band signifies the bond of friendship, something notably absent in the fractured Labour leadership this week. The colour of the thread represents fire which is seen in Hindu culture as purifying…. The woven cotton thread can be multicoloured but it will always have red, or saffron, running through it to signify the colour of the flame. ‘It is not dissimilar to a friendship bracelet,’ Yogesh Patel, press spokesman for the [Shri Swaminarayan] temple, explained. ‘It is the Hindu way that when a guest is welcomed to the temple, a red dot is put on their forehead which signifies auspiciousness and a nada chichi is tied around their wrist as a sign of friendship,’ he added.

Charlotte Gill. The Daily Mail, May 4, 2006.

Black Wednesday (II)

Mr Blair’s Black Wednesday [April 26] might be dismissed as just the dubious judgement of Mr Clarke and Mr Prescott. A portion of blame, however, rests at the Prime Minister’s own door. It was he who conducted (another) botched Cabinet reshuffle in the aftermath of the general election and he has dithered about changing his team for six months after the second departure of David Blunkett.

Blue rinse RIP

Supermarket chain Asda has removed the once-popular hair dye from its shelves, citing a lack of demand for a product which became popular in Britain during the 1930s - when it was used to conceal the appearance of greying hair. However, a rather unearthly blue tinge could also be achieved if it was not applied correctly, such as in the case of television’s Mrs Slocombe, played by Molly Sugden. In real life, the blue rinse look was carried off with more class by luminaries such as the Queen Mother and Raine, Countess Spencer. Ultimately, it became a symbol of a certain breed of middle-class, conservative-voting Englishwoman…. According to Asda, most older women are now choosing to buy blonde dyes. Brunette colours are also gaining in popularity. Tesco has also stopped selling blue rinse, but it can still be bought at Superdrug which reportedly sells around 1,000 kits each week.

Cameron turns blue to green to woo the local election voters

David Cameron will urge voters to ‘Vote Blue, Go Green’ as he launches the Tory local election campaign today with a pledge to clean up the environment…. With the polls on May 4 representing Mr Cameron’s first big electoral challenge as leader of the Tories, Labour will today launch its most personal attack to date on him. The party will unveil an election broadcast that depicts Mr Cameron as ‘Dave the Chameleon’ - a computer-generated cartoon character designed to mock the Tory leader’s attempt to appeal to all voters.

Kicked off the bus - for carrying a can of paint

As Brian Heale, 73, boarded the No 9, he was told by the driver: ‘I don’t think you can come on the bus with that - it’s against regulations.’ The driver checked with head office and explained to Mr Heale that tins of paint were banned from buses under new health and safety rules…. The driver then ordered the pensioner to get off, leaving him stranded in the rain clutching his tin of antique cream emulsion…. The regulations class paint as a ‘hazardous article’ that must be carried in two containers, such as a tin and a bag in case it tips over and bursts open. A spokesman for Cardiff Bus said: ‘We apologise to Mr Heale for the obvious inconvenience caused.’

Cheers to 200 years of the cocktail

B is for Bellini: White peach puree topped with chilled Prosecco sparkling wine. Created by Giuseppe Cipriani at the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice, this pink drink is named after the 15th-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini, who used lots of pink in his work.... W is for White Russian: Vodka, kahlua, double cream and milk. Very popular in Finland…. Leave out the cream and milk and add cola for a Black Russian. Top that up with Guinness for a Black Irish. Replace the vodka with rum to make a White Cuban.

Tomato ‘that fights cancer’

A new tomato said to have cancer-fighting properties goes on sale tomorrow. Tesco will launch the £1.89-a-pack vine tomato, bred in West Sussex to contain twice the usual amount of lycopene, the anti-oxidant that makes the fruit red. Studies in mice have shown lycopene to cut the growth of human prostate cancers by up to half.

Smile4life tooth whitening

A ph-balanced hydrogen peroxide Zoom! Whitening gel is dabbed on to teeth and they are exposed to UV light for 20 minutes. The lamp increases the gel effectiveness by 33 per cent. Factor 30 sun cream is applied to the lips to protect them from the UV light. As the hydrogen peroxide gel is broken down, oxygen penetrates the tooth enamel and dentin, bleaching any colour on the teeth. A second or third coat is applied, depending on staining. For the first 48 hours after the treatment, I’m advised to steer clear of anything that may discolour my teeth, such as coffee, red wine and tobacco. How much? A brief consultation costs £25. The full whitening procedure costs £575.

A thin blue line that will entice suspects to confess

Gwent Police have abandoned the greys, browns and beiges of the 20-century police cell and have used colour psychology to decorate them. Ystrad Mynach station, which recently opened at a cost of £5 million, has four cells with glass doors for prisoners who suffer from claustrophobia. Designers have painted the frames yellow, which researchers say is a calming colour. Other cells contain a royal blue line because psychologists believe that the colour is likely to encourage truthfulness…. Designers and psychologists have worked for years on the properties of colour. Blue is said to suggest trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection and calm. It also suggests coldness, aloofness and unfriendliness. It is thought that strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft shades will calm the mind and concentration. Yellow is linked with optimism, confidence, self-esteem and friendliness. Get the shade wrong and it could provoke irrationality, fear, depression and anxiety, but the right yellow can lift spirits and self-esteem.

Blair paints No 10 front door socialist red

Along with the Houses of Parliament, it is the best-known symbol of Britain’s political heritage. But now - in a move seen by critics as unhinged - the famous shiny black front door of 10 Downing Street has been seen for the last time. In an incredible break with some 250 years of tradition, it has been painted red - a colour normally associated with the Labour Party. Political insiders said the paint job had been ordered by the Prime Minister, apparently feeling well and truly at home nine years after claiming the keys to Number 10.… April Fewell, a design consultant, said: ‘It’s a significant declaration of personal ownership by Tony Blair. But it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the street.’

A victory as Stilton stays blue

Stilton lovers were toasting success yesterday after winning a battle with officials who tried to take the blue out of the cheese. The Food Standards Agency applied pressure to cut the cheese’s salt content from 2.3 to 1.9 per cent. Makers said this would prevent Stilton’s famous blue-veined mould from developing. But now the agency has backed down after criticism by MPs, the Lords, gourmets and manufacturers.

Lecturer who claimed blacks have lower IQs than whites faces dismissal

Dr Frank Ellis told the Leeds Student newspaper there was a ‘persistent gap’ in the average IQ between the races…. Students at the university have called for Dr Ellis to be sacked, and have started a petition against him.

Daily Mail Reporter. The Daily Mail, March 24, 2006.

Doc’s wrong button blunder ‘killed baby’

A baby died after a doctor pressed the wrong button on hospital equipment…, an inquest heard today…. Cardiac surgical registrar Dr Simon McGuirk told the Birmingham hearing he did not know how to start the machine. He said: “I phoned a colleague and was told to press two buttons. There were two orange and two blue. I pushed two blue because it was a less horrid colour. It was immediately apparent there were air bubbles in the blood.”

Blue Cross code that keeps our pets in the pink

Blue Cross is a veterinary service for people who find it difficult to pay the price of private care. No injured cat or dog is ever turned away, and the hospital’s mission is to ensure that no ‘pet’ is denied medical care because its ‘human companion’ lives on a retirement pension or income support…. Blue Cross is explicit: its first concern is for animals. This is how it has always been - ever since the charity was created in 1897, with a glorious name of Our Dumb Friends’ League, to care for the badly treated and overworked horses of Victorian London.

We all live in a BLUE submarine

Royal Navy chiefs are painting their entire fleet of submarines BLUE to camouflage them better. They are ditching black, which has been the colour of choice in the 105 years of the “Silent Service”. Nuclear sub HMS Torbay has become the first to get the new paint job. The rest of the fleet is expected to be changed by the end of the year. Navy boffins picked the colour after exhaustive trials and lab tests. They also discovered black was the WORST low-key colour to deceive an enemy. The new shade - called Steely Blue - was the hardest to spot against different shades of light and through water…. HMS Torbay has left Devonport, Plymouth, on a secret six-month mission during which her new colour will undergo visual tests from the air, land and sea.

Red and Brown

The long-serving Chancellor recently caused a stir when he softened his dour image by wearing pink neckwear for a TV interview, but he’s 1/3 to revert to the famous red number he has worn at the Dispatch Box on every other occasion. Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchinson said: “Most chancellors aren’t too keen on being in the red, but Brown appears to love nothing better.”

Black is new cream for upbeat Aga

Although cream is still popular, some 30pc of the Aga cookers it now sells are sturdy black in colour. And last year’s aubergine and pistachio are fading fast, the company says.

Toilet paper

A Portuguese company has launched red toilet paper. Renova hopes the new range will repeat the success of the black toilet paper it developed last year. A spokesman said red is “the colour of our hearts, of passion, lust, fury, laughter, anger, love, fire”.

Sales of bubbly in the pink

Britons drank a record amount of champagne last year, with a growing number turning to pink fizz…. Sales of the rosé version have soared by more than 20 per cent since 2000 to more than two million bottles. Pink varieties are usually more expensive because they use a special type of red wine that is hard to come by in the Champagne region.

Grey pound helps the Pru to prosper

Strong Asian and US growth, combined with focus on “financial services for retirement” at home, helped push insurance and pensions giant Prudential’s profits up one-third to £1.71 billion…. Chief executive Mark Tucker said: “The business is growing strongly. I am confident of the outlook for the group.” He set up a review last May which concluded one of the group’s best prospects was designing services to tap into the grey pound - customers approaching retirement.

Scratch-proof car paint claim

Nissan have unveiled a new car with scratch-proof paint which it says will “heal” itself of any small scrapes and scuffs. It works by using a special transparent surface layer made from a highly elastic, dense resin. When gently warmed by sunlight, the coating flows back into the holes left by the scratch, leaving it looking like new. It is effective for about three years after which it behaves like conventional paint.

A Hindu holy dye

Hindu holy men celebrate Holi, the festival of colours, in Varanasi yesterday, while schoolchildren in Kolkata throw petals and a vendor sells coloured Gulal powder to mark the arrival of spring.

Solar storms to light up sky but mess up mobiles

Mausumi Dikpati at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the US says sunspot activity will start to rise later this year, culminating in maximum activity around 2010 and 2011. It is believed the south of England could even see the northern lights because of the increased activity. Areas, including southern England, which never normally witness such events, could see major auroral events glittering in the night skies.

A nice red, vin guard for your teeth

Red wine might turn your brightest smile a shade of grey, but it is good for your teeth, scientists say. Although the drink can discolour your teeth, chemicals in red wine may also help stave off gum disease. Researchers have found that the polyphenols, chemicals which give red wine its colour, help reduce the effects of periodontitis, which damages gums and bone around the teeth. The disease occurs in 65 per cent of over 50s and in 15 per cent of those between 21 and 50 - and can lead to permanent tooth loss.

Lennon pal reveals childhood drawing that inspired big hit

It started out as a schoolboy’s attempt to draw a stranded whale…. John Lennon was 13 when he and a school friend drew a 21ft whale that had to be shot after becoming trapped in the River Mersey in Liverpool in 1953. His choice of colour may be a clue to the song that stormed into the charts 16 years later - Yellow Submarine. David Ashton, the friend who helped with the drawing, recently came across it while trawling through his belongings. He said: “I was always aware of some link between the whale and Yellow Submarine, but when I found the picture it really confirmed it.”

Who were the real stars at Tussauds?

The Planetarium isn’t being closed down due to lack of interest. It is suffering from lack of interest because it is being closed down and has recognisably been doing so for about a decade. It wasn’t so long ago that the queues for the Planetarium rivalled and exceeded those for the Madame Tussaud’s celebrity attraction next door…. The rot set in with the decision to replace the old colour projector with a monochrome one that was completely unsuited to the task of showing the multi-coloured wonder of the universe. It was clear that the Tussauds Group was attempting to turn the Planetarium into a theme-park ride.

Plain crazy, a £1m block of blue paint

It is simplicity itself - a single block of colour in a vivid blue. Many of us would probably be able to knock out a similar effort with paint found on a DIY store colour chart. But that didn’t stop one art lover from paying £960,000 for the work called IKB 92 by French artist Yves Klein. A second of his paintings – also a block of blue – went for £680,000 at the Southeby’s sale of modern art. Klein started making monochrome works in 1947 and ten years later he gained recognition for developing his unique shade of ultramarine. He called the colour International Klein Blue (IKB) and it became his trademark. The artist did not give titles to these works. However, after his death in 1962 at the age of 34 his widow assigned a number to each of his 200 or so monochrome paintings using IKB…. A Damien Hirst painting of multi-coloured dots went for £243,200.

Iran’s Green-salt Blues

Green salt isn’t something you’d want to sprinkle on French fries. It’s what nuclear chemists call uranium tetrafluoride, a grainy substance that can be used to make fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb. In short, it’s scary stuff, which is why the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confronted Iran late last month about a secret Iranian research effort called the Green Salt Project. Iran has long maintained that it wants to enrich uranium to generate nuclear power, not to make a bomb.

Sky’s new system ready to launch

The future of TV is a world of colour, detail and pictures so vivid they are better than being there. That is the verdict after the Standard was given an exclusive screening of high definition (HD) television. The innovative service, promising a new level of picture quality, will be launched here this spring. It is being touted as the biggest change in British TV since the arrival of colour in 1967.… The picture is so vivid that TV producers in the USA have had to introduce different make-up techniques.

Brighton’s gay pink plaque plan

Pink plaques could be used to celebrate homosexual history in the city dubbed Britain’s ‘gay capital’. A councillor in Brighton said the idea would help illustrate its gay heritage. But local historian Selma Montford said the plaques should stay blue: ‘People should be commemorated for their work not their sexuality.’

Schools close … as ‘black eye’ bug bites across the UK

Health experts said the twin effects of a three-year peak in Influenza B cases and a virulent outbreak of Norovirus were causing widespread outbreaks of illness…. Health staff said the recent strain of Influenza B has an “attack rate” of 25 per cent, meaning that, if the virus hits a school, around a quarter of pupils would be expected to become ill. The virus has been nicknamed the “black eyed bug” because it causes black rings around the eyes of its victims.

Thousands of grey squirrels will be killed to save their red cousins

Environment minister Jim Knight will call for ‘humane’ culling in areas where the red squirrel is threatened. But critics warned yesterday that leaving local people to plan their own culls could encourage a wholesale nationwide slaughter of greys by anti-squirrel vigilantes…. Grey squirrels steal food from other forest dwellers and carry a disease called squirrel pox, which kills the red but not the grey. Reds have now been driven out of much of Britain, remaining dominant only on the Isle of Wight, Anglesey and Kielder forest in Northumberland. There are pockets of reds in Cumbria, Merseyside, Wales, Lancashire, Poole Harbour and much of Scotland. Supporters fear they may be wiped out in 20 years.