intelligent nametags

[thaumobabble]

Jane alerts everyone to the existence of a new Bell, the nature of her wives and children, and the presence of her mother-in-law.

She stands ready to move in anyone who wishes to attend this new party.

Glass stands ready to receive them.

Comments

[thaumobabble]

"Assumed that I was plotting usurpment."

[prima_sequentem]

"Ouch."

[thaumobabble]

"Yes. And I'm not. I expect it'll smooth over. Why did you make the worldbook planet turn like that?" she inquires.

[prima_sequentem]

"Because it amused me," says Libby. "It's a planet. Planets rotate."

[thaumobabble]

"What planet is it meant to be?"

[prima_sequentem]

"None in particular. It has about Earth's size and rotation speed but an unrelated geography."

[thaumobabble]

"Earth's size?" asks Glass archly.

[incanted]

Aurora writes stuff.

[prima_sequentem]

"Scaled appropriately, yes."

[incanted]

"What does it mean for something to be Earth's size, scaled appropriately? Isn't it just... smaller than Earth?"

[prima_sequentem]

"If it were a picture of Earth, wouldn't you say it was appropriate to say it was a picture of a planet with Earth's size and rotation speed?"

[incanted]

"Uh, I wouldn't say it that way, any more than I would bother to mention that a photo of me is a photo of someone who is my size. And this planet isn't a real planet somewhere, right? Maybe you're cashing out rotation speed as a miles per hour thing instead of a revolutions per day thing...?"

[prima_sequentem]

"It's an imaginary planet, but size is still an attribute planets have, even when they don't physically exist. I'm not an artist; I didn't imagine this picture and then decide it should display planetary rotation. I imagined a set of characteristics for a planet, and then I had the magic generate an appropriate image. If I'd imagined a planet the literal size of the picture on the cover of this book, it would be a lump of rock, or maybe a neutron star."

[incanted]

"Okay," shrugs Aurora. "Well, that's my profile - nice revisions, Glass." And she wanders off.