Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 October 30

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October 30

Who was Saint Albright?

Driving through the village of Stanway in Essex on Wednesday, I was intrigued by the dedication of the parish church to St Albright, who I have never heard of before. The only reference I can find for him is on the church's website, which says that Albright may be either "King Ethebert" (who seems to be King Æthelberht II of East Anglia) or else a companion of Saint Cedd. Can a) anyone find a better reference for Albright and b) are there any other churches with the same dedication? Alansplodge (talk) 10:27, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

This book by George Buckler from 1856 agrees with the Ethelbert (also spelled Aegelbriht). It also mentions another church in Marden, Herefordshire dedicated to the saint. Mikenorton (talk) 10:42, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

This mentions a chapel in Suffolk. Mikenorton (talk) 10:46, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Thank you both - I thought I had exhausted Google but can't have found the right search terms. The church at Marden is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, but is on the supposed site of Æthelberht/Ethelbert's martyrdom. Alansplodge (talk) 15:51, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

And the chapel in Suffolk (it actually seems to be just over the Essex border) can now only "be seen in crop marks". Alansplodge (talk) 16:06, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Articles now amended - thanks! Alansplodge (talk) 21:40, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Resolved

Bookshops with sofas and comfy chairs

Some bookshops in Ireland (and I am pretty sure in other countries too) offer their clients the possibility to sit and read. There is no limitation as to how long you stay. Want to read the whole book? You're welcome. How can this be good for business? --Denidi (talk) 12:32, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

They think that if they create a relaxed and welcoming environment people will come in to browse and ultimately buy more books. --Viennese Waltz 12:45, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

A friend of mine runs one and yes it's quite true what Viennese Waltz says. Also he is creating a sense of community among the browsers, selling coffee and cake (which is another income stream so quite canny doing that), and he also runs folk nights and film nights. Diversifying in business can be quite profitable. --TammyMoet (talk) 15:11, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

I can testify to the above, since I've often become engrossed in a book and been obliged to buy it at closing time. Let's hope that bookshops don't get killed-off by the internet. Alansplodge (talk) 17:33, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

This is a very common thing among the big chain bookstores in the US. (as well as the aforementioned coffee and pastries) They wouldn't provide those comfy chairs unless they felt that they could make money on it. So, why not a small retailer? Additionally, the larger chains have the marketing capital to be able to study whether it helps their bottom line. So, obviously, they've studied it and found it to be a net gain. The smaller shops can just look at what the big boys are doing and leach off the marketing research that they see before them when entering a big store. Dismas|^(talk) 18:47, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Barnes & Noble, for one, not only allows lounging but also typically has a café, to further encourage sticking around. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:16, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Waterstones, a big chain in the UK, also has couches and coffee shops in them. You can sit there all day reading a book. My friend's girlfriend works there. They make their money from the coffee and tea and cakes that you buy whilst reading. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 04:47, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Going one step further Shakespeare and Company (bookstore) has several beds that people can sleep on in the store. I'm not sure that you can stay there until you finish reading War and Peace though. MarnetteD|Talk 04:55, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Record shops used to have the same sort of thing. I spent many hours at the Virgin shop in Glasgow listening to various records. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 00:15, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Not that this is a general retail business question, of whether you want to encourage customers to loiter, or to make their purchases and leave. For restaurants, for example, this depends on many factors, such as how much space is available and the customer volume. If you have a high customer volume and very limited space, best to get them in and out quickly with just a take-out counter. If you have lots of space and few customers, better to encourage them to stay, as maybe they will order more food and bring their friends and family in, too, to order even more. As was mentioned previously, bookstores often serve food and drinks now, and that may even become their primary source of income, with the books being more of a theme than primary product.

I went to a cider mill that has also taken the entertainment idea to the max. While cider mills originally allowed people to buy apple cider and maybe donuts, and perhaps pick their own apples, this one added a restaurant, hay rides, a petting zoo, and a mini golf course, since they had lots of room and wanted to find ways to keep people there longer to spend more money. StuRat (talk) 00:54, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

• This is a well-known economic principle known as a loss leader: businesses give away an item for free, because doing so generates sales down the road. We know it works because everyone does it. If it didn't work, the businesses that did do it would be put under by those that didn't. QED. --Jayron32 01:12, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

• Re: "We know it works because everyone does it." Let's see references showing that all businesses use the loss leader pricing strategy, please. StuRat (talk) 02:55, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

In the UK, the two largest bookshop chains, Waterstones and Blackwell's have both embraced the coffee and comfy chairs paradigm, but I found this 2013 BBC article which quotes the head of marketing at Foyles (once "the world's largest bookshop"), who said; "The idea of people dwelling all day with a book in their hand in a comfy chair is lovely," she says. "But I think we all know it's not particularly financially sustainable. We can't really pay for people to sit on our couches and read our books all day". So maybe not universally accepted. In the 1980s and earlier, Foyles used to go out of the way to make it hard to buy anything in their labyrinthine London shop; you had to take the book you wanted to an assistant who would spend ages wrapping it in brown paper and tape and then write out an invoice by hand, which you then had to take to a cashier round several corners and sometimes on another floor. Once you had paid, you had to find your way back to the original assistant with the stamped invoice and finally exchange it for your purchase. It was quite surreal. Alansplodge (talk) 15:32, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

How are laws against illegal abortions enforced in the US?

I know abortion is heavily regulated. It must be performed by a licensed medical practitioner, and there are restrictions for underage mothers. But how is the law enforced? Can't a woman just wolf down an insane number of pineapples and oranges outside the law to induce abortion? Is there a way to find out whether an illegal abortion has taken place? 107.226.233.219 (talk) 12:52, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Sadly, in many place where access to safe and legal abortion is restricted, many women can and do resort to unsafe measures. See Abortion#Unsafe_abortion, and Unsafe abortion. Here [1] is a news story about an Indiana women has been convicted of feticide for seeking to abort a fetus through extra-legal means. Here's another report on the same case [2]. Here is a general overview of some of the ways that anti-abortion laws are hurting women [3]. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:21, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

May I assume that your "insane number of pineapples and oranges" is premised on the belief that a large dose of Vitamin C can act as an abortifacient? It is not clear how effective that is. The subject is touched upon very briefly in both Vitamin C§Possible side-effects andAbortifacient§Natural abortifacients. In this 2011 article, a couple of medical students reviewing available literature failed to find any reliable study showing the effectiveness of Vitamin C in this role. -- ToE 18:07, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

• My understanding is that in most cases it is the abortionist who is prosecuted, see, for example, the case of Kermit Gosnell who got thirty years for killing fetuses delivered alive. Women are indeed sometimes prosecuted for the abuse (or death of late term) fetuses. See, for example, this case where a Tennessee woman was prosecuted for assault for using drugs during her pregnancy. μηδείς (talk) 18:08, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

Zdzisław Beksiński paintings on view in america?

Are there any? Googling has returned no sufficient results, his official website says nothing, our page on him says nothing... NIRVANA2764 (talk) 20:11, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Here's a link to our article, so everyone knows who he is: Zdzisław Beksiński. StuRat (talk) 20:18, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Very rare; I stumped the reference desk. NIRVANA2764 (talk) 23:21, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

This (somewhat less than reliable) obituary notes that he had works on display in the U.S., at least during his life. I have no idea which works, where, and if they are still on public display, but at least preliminarily the answer seems to be "maybe". --Jayron32 04:11, 3 November 2015 (UTC)