"whiter than white" color name

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
memory of seeing a name for a particular slightly purple tint used in
place of white, but I'm not finding any references to it now. I was
thinking it was "heliotrope," but now I'm only seeing that used to name
the actual color of the flower. Is there another flower whose name I
might have been thinking of?

�R http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/bluemoon.html
"Nothing says 'Thursday' quite like Ira Fusfeld."

[Katy Jennison]

You're not thinking of things like "Reckitt's Blue" laundry whitener,
are you?

--
Katy Jennison

[Horace LaBadie]

In article <cne6b9tqbobaqv5ib...@4ax.com>,

Procol Harum?

[Mynews [ OK US EN ]]

"Stefan Ram" <r...@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote in message news:brighteners-2...@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de...

> Glenn Knickerbocker <No...@bestweb.net> writes:
>>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter.

> A German-language source says (translated by me):
> �Every country has its special preferences for a color
> that signals cleanlines. Where we live it's blue-violet.
> The brighteners of the U.S.A., however, transform black
> light into yellow light.�
>

I painted a room before violet
But when you took a picture
it was Blue

Now is my eyes see violet
But Camera See Blue

Mm
it's was blue-violet

Thanks Stefan

[Whiskers]

On 2013-12-19, Glenn Knickerbocker <No...@bestweb.net> wrote:
> Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
> counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have
> a memory of seeing a name for a particular slightly purple tint used
> in place of white, but I'm not finding any references to it now. I
> was thinking it was "heliotrope," but now I'm only seeing that used to
> name the actual color of the flower. Is there another flower whose
> name I might have been thinking of?

Suppliers of paints dyes etc probably have their own names for such
products. There is a standard set of names for dyes and pigments known
as the "colour index" (or "color index") used internationally
<http://painting.about.com/od/artglossaryc/g/defcolorindex.htm>

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Jack Campin]

> Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
> counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
> memory of seeing a name for a particular slightly purple tint used in
> place of white, but I'm not finding any references to it now. I was
> thinking it was "heliotrope," but now I'm only seeing that used to name
> the actual color of the flower. Is there another flower whose name I
> might have been thinking of?

Gentian Violet? I haven't heard of it being used that way, though.
It was once commonly used as a topical antifungal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 <http://www.campin.me.uk> Twitter: JackCampin

[micky]

On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:38:51 -0500, Glenn Knickerbocker
<No...@bestweb.net> wrote:

>Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a

You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to
laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.

[Jerry Friedman]

I was hoping the thread would be about argent, the hue that is brighter
than white, and fuligin, the hue that is darker than black, but I can't
answer the actual question.

(Gene Wolfe, /Book of the New Sun/.)

--
Jerry Friedman

[Anton Shepelev]

micky to Glenn Knickerbocker:

> > Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet
> > are sometimes used to counteract a yellow tint
> > and make white things look brighter.
>

> You can go back 100 years or so until now that

> "blueing" was added to laundry, to counteract yel-

> low and make white look white.

There may be no yellow to countervail. The human
eye's white point, although adaptive, seems cali-
brated for a bluish white, to compensate for the
sky's blueness. Were it not so, everything would
look bluish outdoors. Every owner of a decent digi-
tal camera can test this.

--
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments

[Mike L]

On Fri, 20 Dec 2013 00:51:57 +0000, Jack Campin
<bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>> Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>> counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
>> memory of seeing a name for a particular slightly purple tint used in
>> place of white, but I'm not finding any references to it now. I was
>> thinking it was "heliotrope," but now I'm only seeing that used to name
>> the actual color of the flower. Is there another flower whose name I
>> might have been thinking of?
>
>Gentian Violet? I haven't heard of it being used that way, though.
>It was once commonly used as a topical antifungal.
>

"They painted my gums purple."

--
Mike.

[micky]

On Fri, 20 Dec 2013 23:14:11 +0400, Anton Shepelev
<anto...@gmail.com> wrote:

>micky to Glenn Knickerbocker:
>
>> > Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet
>> > are sometimes used to counteract a yellow tint
>> > and make white things look brighter.
>>
>> You can go back 100 years or so until now that
>> "blueing" was added to laundry, to counteract yel-
>> low and make white look white.
>
>There may be no yellow to countervail. The human
>eye's white point, although adaptive, seems cali-
>brated for a bluish white, to compensate for the
>sky's blueness. Were it not so, everything would
>look bluish outdoors. Every owner of a decent digi-
>tal camera can test this.

I think there is yellow to counteract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluing_%28fabric%29

While with tints, yellow and blue make green, with lights yellow and
blue make white. When color tv's were adjustable this was easy to
show.

[Steve Hayes]

On Fri, 20 Dec 2013 10:02:17 -0500, micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:38:51 -0500, Glenn Knickerbocker
><No...@bestweb.net> wrote:
>
>>Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
>
>You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to
>laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.

As Katy pointed out, Reckitt's Blue may still be available.

But "whiter than white" is not a colour, it is advertising hype for optical
bleach:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/430363/optical-brightener


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[R H Draney]

micky filted:

>
>On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:38:51 -0500, Glenn Knickerbocker
><No...@bestweb.net> wrote:
>
>>Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
>
>You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to
>laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.

A hundred years ago nothing!...I used some of the stuff in my laundry last
week....r


--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.

[Mark Brader]

"Micky":

>> You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to

>> laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.

Anton Shepelev:

> There may be no yellow to countervail.

The yellow in question is the discoloration of white cloth over time,
which I suspect is due to substances that are picked up from the human
body and not entirely removed by laundering.

> The human
> eye's white point, although adaptive, seems cali-
> brated for a bluish white, to compensate for the
> sky's blueness. Were it not so, everything would
> look bluish outdoors.

Nonsense. First, the blue of the sky is simply a scattering of part
of the white light from the Sun; the Sun itself looks yellowish due
to the removal of this light. When the skylight and direct sunlight
are recombined -- either in filtering through clouds, or directly on
striking an object on a clear day -- you get white again.

Second, the eye is sufficiently adaptive that the claim of being
"calibrated for a bluish white" is meaningles. People move all the
time from daylight to fluorescent light to incandescent light and
hardly notice any differences in color unless they're looking for
them with special care.

> Every owner of a decent digi-
> tal camera can test this.

Standard photography, whether film or digital, does not render colors
perfectly. It will certainly show the differences between, say,
daylight and incandescent light, but this does not prove anything
about the eye.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto But that's what all the other
m...@vex.net individualists are doing!

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Anton Shepelev]

Mark Brader:

> > The human eye's white point, although adaptive,

> > seems calibrated for a bluish white, to compen-

> > sate for the sky's blueness. Were it not so,
> > everything would look bluish outdoors.
>
> Nonsense. First, the blue of the sky is simply a
> scattering of part of the white light from the

> Sun; the Sun itself looks yellowish due to the re-

> moval of this light. When the skylight and direct
> sunlight are recombined -- either in filtering
> through clouds, or directly on striking an object
> on a clear day -- you get white again.

Thanks for correcting my naive views. The only
thing I am unsure of is the recombination you men-
tioned. I don't think it can yield white again be-
cause of directivity and absorption differences. Or
do you think that the spectrum of the Sun's "recom-
bined" light on Earth is similar to that it really
emits, as measured from space?

> Second, the eye is sufficiently adaptive that the
> claim of being "calibrated for a bluish white" is

> meaningles. People move all the time from day-

> light to fluorescent light to incandescent light
> and hardly notice any differences in color unless
> they're looking for them with special care.

Well, I easily do, because the adaptation does not
compensate for all possible spectrum differences,
although it does help remove color casts, and even
that not entirely. So I think that adaptation only
decreases perceived defferences, never removing
them.

> > Every owner of a decent digital camera can test

> > this.
>
> Standard photography, whether film or digital,

> does not render colors perfectly. It will cer-

> tainly show the differences between, say, daylight
> and incandescent light, but this does not prove
> anything about the eye.

When it comes to the white point and eye adaptation,
I am sure it does. One can calibrate the white
point against a sheet of paper outdoors in sunny
weather, and see how the same paper will look in
cloudy wather and indoors. When the camera does not
adapt automatically, like the eye does, it shows re-
al differences. I think that "traditional photogra-
phy" does render colors quite accurately within a
certain range, because only a color-space transfor-
mation (including gamma-correction to match the
eye's brightness scale) and the setting of a white
point are required for natural-looking results.
Film photography (C41) also requires the removal of
film base color and sometimes a finer film-dependent
color correction (cf. film profiles).

[micky]

On 20 Dec 2013 17:40:08 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

>micky filted:
>>
>>On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:38:51 -0500, Glenn Knickerbocker
>><No...@bestweb.net> wrote:
>>
>>>Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>>>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
>>
>>You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to

-----------------------

>>laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.
>
>A hundred years ago nothing!...I used some of the stuff in my laundry last
>week....r

Good to know that I wasn't wrong.

I said, "until now".

BTW, are you female? I think it would be hard to find a man who knows
about the stuff, let alone uses it. Remove NONONO to email.

[Dr Nick]

I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"

[micky]

So you were bluffing about last week. That's what misled me. Just
like a man. Or so I've heard.

I'm male and I've heard about it too.

[micky]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 18:23:36 +0000, Dr Nick
<nosp...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:

Sorry. You're not R. H. Draney. That's the one I thought was
female. I didn't notice that the one I replied to wasn't the person
who replied to me

The difference is, you've just heard about it, but that one used it
last week. Must be a she.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 13:43:38 -0500, micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

R. H. Draney is Ronald Hugh Draney who has the general appearance of a
male:

http://alt-usage-english.org/AUE_gallery/r_h_draney.html


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[Dr Nick]

micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com> writes:

> On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 18:23:36 +0000, Dr Nick
> <nosp...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
>
>>micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com> writes:
>>
>>> On 20 Dec 2013 17:40:08 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>micky filted:
>>>>>
>>>>>On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:38:51 -0500, Glenn Knickerbocker
>>>>><No...@bestweb.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Pigments like ultramarine and manganese violet are sometimes used to
>>>>>>counteract a yellow tint and make white things look brighter. I have a
>>>>>
>>>>>You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to
>>>
>>> -----------------------
>>>>>laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.
>>>>
>>>>A hundred years ago nothing!...I used some of the stuff in my laundry last
>>>>week....r
>>>
>>> Good to know that I wasn't wrong.
>>>
>>> I said, "until now".
>>>
>>> BTW, are you female? I think it would be hard to find a man who knows
>>> about the stuff, let alone uses it. Remove NONONO to email.
>>
>>I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
>>it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"
>
> Sorry. You're not R. H. Draney.

I don't think so. I think I'd have noticed by now, but you never can
tell.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, December 21, 2013 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, Dr Nick wrote:

> I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
> it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"

"Blue rinse" refers to hair rather than laundry.

[James Silverton]

Aren't you thinking of laundry bluing that has been used for a long
time to disguise yellowing of white clothing. It's sometimes synthetic
ultramarine or Prussian blue.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[R H Draney]

James Silverton filted:

>
>On 12/21/2013 3:15 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>> On Saturday, December 21, 2013 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, Dr Nick wrote:
>>
>>> I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
>>> it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"
>>
>> "Blue rinse" refers to hair rather than laundry.
>>
>Aren't you thinking of laundry bluing that has been used for a long
>time to disguise yellowing of white clothing. It's sometimes synthetic
>ultramarine or Prussian blue.

It's the same stuff; the bottle even gives instructions for use in laundry, in
hair, and to make a rock-crystal garden....

Specifically to micky: I'm not female, but the first person I saw growing up who
used laundry, and from whom I learned some of the tricks, was...her 125th
birthday would have been this month....r

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, December 21, 2013 4:15:02 PM UTC-5, R H Draney wrote:
> James Silverton filted:
> >On 12/21/2013 3:15 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >> On Saturday, December 21, 2013 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, Dr Nick wrote:

> >>> I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
> >>> it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"
> >> "Blue rinse" refers to hair rather than laundry.
> >Aren't you thinking of laundry bluing that has been used for a long
> >time to disguise yellowing of white clothing. It's sometimes synthetic
> >ultramarine or Prussian blue.
>
> It's the same stuff; the bottle even gives instructions for use in laundry, in
> hair, and to make a rock-crystal garden....

In laundry it's called "bluing" and at the salon it's "blue rinse" -- and
the result of the latter is the little old ladies with "blue hair" (which
isn't, actually).

> Specifically to micky: I'm not female, but the first person I saw growing up
> who used laundry, and from whom I learned some of the tricks, was...her 125th
> birthday would have been this month....r

My grandmother won't be 125 until September 1, 2016.

[Mack A. Damia]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 16:02:52 -0500, James Silverton
<not.jim....@verizon.net> wrote:

> It's sometimes synthetic ultramarine or Prussian blue.

King George V chose a color of blue for his 2-1/2 penny Silver Jubilee
1935 commemorative stamp, and a few were printed in Prussian blue
before they were changed to ultramarine. The stamp in Prussian blue
is now worth �12,000.00.

http://proactiveinvestors.co.uk/genera/files/sponsor_extras/Image/Silver_Julbilee.png

My father had quite a few of them for that series and issue - and some
of the 2-1/2d stamps were in different colors of blue. We knew about
the rarity, but we didn't realize the significance back in the 1950s -
1960s, and it all came to bugger-all anyway when my bratty three year
old nephew took a pair of sizzors to my dad's stamp collection.

--

[Nick Spalding]

Peter T. Daniels wrote, in
<26020a3f-6782-4fa9...@googlegroups.com>
on Sat, 21 Dec 2013 13:20:17 -0800 (PST):

One of mine would be 154 if she hadn't died in 1900.
--
Nick Spalding
BrE/IrE

[Robin Bignall]

On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 13:41:53 -0500, micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

[AUE]
I'm a male and know of it because my mother used it regularly. Last
time I looked at washing powder for whites (which was a while ago) it
had blue specks in it that I assumed had the same purpose.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England (BrE)

[Robin Bignall]

Did your three-year-old nephew ever get to four? The temptation must
have been great.

[Peter Moylan]

On 22/12/13 08:25, Mack A. Damia wrote:

> My father had quite a few of them for that series and issue - and some
> of the 2-1/2d stamps were in different colors of blue. We knew about
> the rarity, but we didn't realize the significance back in the 1950s -
> 1960s, and it all came to bugger-all anyway when my bratty three year
> old nephew took a pair of sizzors to my dad's stamp collection.

My younger sister ate my stamp collection. I didn't have the heart to
start a new one.

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[micky]

Speaking of additives, when I heard in advertisements that washing
powder had enzymes it, I assumed it was nonsense. Until I heard on
the news people at the packing plant were getting sick because of the
enzymes. I hope they solved that problem, and I think the new stuff
is better than the old stuff. That means I can get my clothes
dirtier.

[micky]

You're right! He does. No offense meant RH.

[Reinhold {Rey} Aman]

PeteY Daniels wrote:
>
> My grandmother won't be 125 until September 1, 2016.
>

Golly, that's one old broad!

--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~

[R H Draney]

Peter T. Daniels filted:

Nor mine (named Micky!) until December 19th, 2038...I was speaking of my
Granny....r

[R H Draney]

Robin Bignall filted:

I'm betting that he got to four, but that without the money from selling the
stamps, he didn't get to college....r

[Ian Dalziel]

On 21 Dec 2013 13:15:02 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

>Specifically to micky: I'm not female, but the first person I saw growing up who
>used laundry, and from whom I learned some of the tricks, was...her 125th
>birthday would have been this month....r

She's 125 and you saw her growing up? How old are you, then?

--

Ian D

[Peter T. Daniels]

Is that a great-grandmother?

[micky]

On 21 Dec 2013 13:15:02 -0800, R H Draney <dado...@spamcop.net>
wrote:

>James Silverton filted:
>>
>>On 12/21/2013 3:15 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>> On Saturday, December 21, 2013 1:23:36 PM UTC-5, Dr Nick wrote:
>>>
>>>> I know about it and I'm male. I've never used it. But I've heard about
>>>> it in reminiscences and I've heard of the "blue rinse brigade"
>>>
>>> "Blue rinse" refers to hair rather than laundry.
>>>
>>Aren't you thinking of laundry bluing that has been used for a long
>>time to disguise yellowing of white clothing. It's sometimes synthetic
>>ultramarine or Prussian blue.
>
>It's the same stuff; the bottle even gives instructions for use in laundry, in
>hair, and to make a rock-crystal garden....
>
>Specifically to micky: I'm not female,

Good to know. Also, the photo convinced me.

> but the first person I saw growing up who
>used laundry, and from whom I learned some of the tricks, was...her 125th
>birthday would have been this month....r

My mother would be 105 this year, my grandmother about 125, and my
ggrandmother died in Lithuania in the '20's I think, probably of
(typhoid or typhus, I forget which). There was an epidemic.

I think my mother just used detergent. When I got to college I took
all of my shirts except the one I was wearing to the laundry. Even
though they'd all be washed several times before, they shrank them all
so small I couldn't put them on. A couple years later, someone I
forgot and I put new maroon-colored gym shorts (U of Chicago) in the
wash and I dyed all my underwear pink. That was a problem until they
wore out.

[R H Draney]

Peter T. Daniels filted:
>
>On Saturday, December 21, 2013 11:49:39 PM UTC-5, R H Draney wrote:
>> Peter T. Daniels filted:
>> >On Saturday, December 21, 2013 4:15:02 PM UTC-5, R H Draney wrote:
>
>> >> Specifically to micky: I'm not female, but the first person I saw growing
>>>> up who used laundry, and from whom I learned some of the tricks, was...her
>> >> 125th birthday would have been this month....r
>> >My grandmother won't be 125 until September 1, 2016.
>>
>> Nor mine (named Micky!) until December 19th, 2038...I was speaking of my
>> Granny....r
>
>Is that a great-grandmother?

It was until the mid-1970s....r

[Robert Bannister]

I thought the more modern laundry detergents contained stuff that reflected
more ultra-violet light, producing the "whiter-than-white" look - a sort of
glow.
--
Rob's iPad

[Robert Bannister]

Mark Brader <m...@vex.net> wrote:
> "Micky":

>>> You can go back 100 years or so until now that "blueing" was added to

>>> laundry, to counteract yellow and make white look white.
>

> Anton Shepelev:
>> There may be no yellow to countervail.
>
> The yellow in question is the discoloration of white cloth over time,
> which I suspect is due to substances that are picked up from the human
> body and not entirely removed by laundering.
>
>> The human
>> eye's white point, although adaptive, seems cali-
>> brated for a bluish white, to compensate for the
>> sky's blueness. Were it not so, everything would
>> look bluish outdoors.
>
> Nonsense. First, the blue of the sky is simply a scattering of part
> of the white light from the Sun; the Sun itself looks yellowish due
> to the removal of this light. When the skylight and direct sunlight
> are recombined -- either in filtering through clouds, or directly on
> striking an object on a clear day -- you get white again.
>
> Second, the eye is sufficiently adaptive that the claim of being
> "calibrated for a bluish white" is meaningles. People move all the
> time from daylight to fluorescent light to incandescent light and
> hardly notice any differences in color unless they're looking for
> them with special care.

I can't agree with that last point. I have frequently bought clothes the
wrong colour because they looked right in the shop's lighting. At home,
dressing by a more yellow light, I often confuse navy and black. It's
probably a good thing I don't have a red light.
--
Rob's iPad

[Mike L]

On 22 Dec 2013 21:23:51 GMT, Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com>
wrote:

>Robin Bignall <docr...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, 21 Dec 2013 13:41:53 -0500, micky <NONONO...@bigfoot.com>
>> wrote:

[...]

>>
>> [AUE]
>> I'm a male and know of it because my mother used it regularly. Last
>> time I looked at washing powder for whites (which was a while ago) it
>> had blue specks in it that I assumed had the same purpose.

Was there some industrial-chemical logic in Reckitt of blue and Colman
of mustard merging?

>
>I thought the more modern laundry detergents contained stuff that reflected
>more ultra-violet light, producing the "whiter-than-white" look - a sort of
>glow.

Some certainly do: makes a nice cheap stage effect when you train a UV
light on something washed in one of them and kill the other lights.

--
Mike.

[Katy Jennison]

Yes, I wore a white shirt to a party earlier this year and was quite
surprised by the result.

--
Katy Jennison

[Bob Martin]

It was popular at parties I went to in the 70s.

[Pierre Jelenc]

In article <2000023775409440075.875...@news.individual.net>,

Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:
>
>I thought the more modern laundry detergents contained stuff that reflected
>more ultra-violet light, producing the "whiter-than-white" look - a sort of
>glow.

It does not reflect UV, it actually absorbs it, then re-emits the energy
at a slightly longer wavelength --in the blue range-- via fluorescence,
thereby offsetting the loss of blue caused by the yellowing.

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org

[Mark Brader]

Mark Brader:

>> Second, the eye is sufficiently adaptive that the claim of being
>> "calibrated for a bluish white" is meaningles. People move all the
>> time from daylight to fluorescent light to incandescent light and
>> hardly notice any differences in color unless they're looking for
>> them with special care.

Robert Bannister:

> I can't agree with that last point. I have frequently bought clothes the
> wrong colour because they looked right in the shop's lighting.

You have an extra word "can't" in there. This happens precisely *because*
you didn't notice the difference between the store's lighting and the other
lighting relevant to you.
--
Mark Brader | "If the standard says that [things] depend on the
Toronto | phase of the moon, the programmer should be prepared
m...@vex.net | to look out the window as necessary." -- Chris Torek

My text in this article is in the public domain.