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November 10[edit]

The Lament for Icarus and Ethel Warwick[edit]

Was the model Ethel Warwick, used by Draper in The Lament for Icarus, the actress Ethel Warwick for whom we have an article? She would have been about 16 at the time it was painted, which would be about right. If she was, do we know which of the figures she is? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 02:26, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

According to The British Art Journal article "Ethel Warwick (1882-1951), artist's model and actress: The life and career of a real-life Trilby", (The British Art Journal Vol. 3, No. 1 (Autumn 2001), pp. 51-55) she was also an artists model, and did pose for another of Drapers paintings. Oh here we go..she is described as being depicted as a "forlorn sea nymph" for that particular painting. Curdle (talk) 06:42, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Any idea what "a real-life Trilby" is? Okay, I'll answer that myself: see Trilby (novel): "Trilby O'Ferrall, the novel's heroine, is a half-Irish girl working in Paris as an artists' model and laundress; all the men in the novel are in love with her". Alansplodge (talk) 09:34, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you Curdle and Alansplodge (I did know Trilby, but I'm sure many others didn't). I found our Spanish article w:es:Ethel Warwick has considerably more about her career as a model than our own English article, and Commons has lots of pictures from her modelling days. commons:category:Ethel Warwick. DuncanHill (talk) 09:52, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

To address one of your questions (for the benefit of other readers) which you haven't explicitly answered, Duncan, do you concur that Ethel Warwick is depicted as the (young-looking) red-haired nymph at the bottom of the picture, rather than either of the two (more mature) blonde nymphs further up? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.218.14.42 (talk) 16:45, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I feel sure that she is the nymph at the bottom, but I am not a reliable source for matters of art history and connoisseurship. DuncanHill (talk) 19:21, 11 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly that ref didnt give any information as to exactly which nymph she was. Draper did paint her a few times though - she was also the face for "The Seamaiden", when she would have been about 14, although a more buxom lady was used for the figure. She also modeled for several other artists as well. She sounds quite interesting actually; I'm waiting on a couple of books from the library which may round out the information a bit more. Curdle (talk) 13:18, 12 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Does the left hand not know what the right hand is doing?[edit]

The Daily Telegraph of 27 October reports a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority that Smart Energy GB must stop advertising "free" smart meters. This is because they are paid for through consumers' bills. An alternative wording, "at no extra cost", has been agreed. However, in a letter dated three days later my supplier instructed me to "Get a free smart meter". Five days later the Telegraph reported that a comparison website has been accused by the Competition and Markets Authority of breaking the law by telling home insurers that they cannot offer more favourable terms on other comparison websites (the so-called "Favoured Nation clauses"). The Authority made a similar ruling in 2014 but this applied to motor insurance. So can one company continue to make claims that another company has been told not to?

I won't be complying with the directive, and neither will another reader, who said in a letter to the editor that his supplier had sent him unsolicited an appointment for an installation. It gave the option to "reschedule" but not to "cancel". So he says he has told the company that he will not permit the engineers to enter his premises. 86.157.229.93 (talk) 18:29, 10 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The letter you got from your supplier might have just not been updated to reflect the advertising ruling. No idea about the comparison site, and we can't give legal advice here if that's what you were seeking. If you don't want a smart meter in your home (e.g. for privacy reasons), I'd say just tell them so. How they are advertised seems like a side issue. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 00:05, 11 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't call it a side issue. Two points:

Is it morally justified to pressure a consumer into taking a service (s)he doesn't want and
Should companies be permitted to lie to sell their products (e.g. "this is the last one remaining" or "we can't hold this price")

Whether it is or not (and as it happens I too am currently refusing SSE's similar attempts to foist a smart meter on me), the Wikipedia reference desks are not the place to debate the issue, get legal advice about it, or seek affirmation of your views (with which I do not disagree). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.218.14.42 (talk) 18:49, 11 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You could try rescheduling for some far future date, e.g. the next millennium. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:58, 11 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I know nothing about the UK, but in many cases in the U.S., if the utility company has the right to come onto your property to read the meter, then it also has the right to come onto your property to repair or replace the meter (which is actually owned by the utility company). In my town, the city-owned utility replaced ordinary meters with "smart meters" fairly quickly, without much advanced warning or controversy afterwards. However, in California, a significant number of PG&E customers had higher electric bills after smart-meters were installed, and the company was not able to address these complaints in any useful way, leading to a long and bitter controversy there over smart-meter installation... AnonMoos (talk) 18:32, 12 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]