1190: "Time"

[JordanTheProgrammer]

This is a really fast growing religion. http://xkcd.com/1102/

[SWuh]

Looks like the far left few pixels may lead into something else. Is it me or do they start to slope up again?

It's not you. I vote sandpile or build-up to another tower/construction zone... possibly with some more characters?

[peewee_RotA]

Just a thought (and at this point in the thread, it's almost redundant to apologize if someone has already pointed this out):
If I remember correctly, the "Users browsing this forum" count has been between 200 and 800 guests (and a slightly lower number of registered users) since the beginning of Time, 159 newpics ago. Let's make the basic assumptions that most lurkers are lurking this thread, that the average user count has been around 400, and that the typical user spends roughly half [insert appropriate possessive pronoun here] time actually reading the thread, while the site is open. This would boil down to about 32,000 man-newpics or 16,000 man-hours. Most of this time was presumably spent by scientists and engineers.
Would anyone like to hazard a guess regarding how far into the space program this would have gotten us?

Conversions for those using the standard system

159 TimeFrames

32,000 man-TimeFrames

[mojacardave]

Apologies for the weird markup on my original post. Seems you can't post spoiler tags within spoiler tags!

[SWuh]

Apologies for the weird markup on my original post. Seems you can't post spoiler tags within spoiler tags!

The only problem with posting on a thread as active as this is that someone *always* catches your mistakes (missed parentheses, tags, dodgy quotes, merging two posts into one, double posts...) - I hate seeing my mistakes myself, I am too quick to submit without looking at what I am actually submitting!!

[notthepope]

I wonder if the two different castles represent styles of fortification either from different times or different parts of the world so if the new castle is Neuschwanstein (BAN THE LETTER S FROM GERMAN) the initial castle has a middle-eastern feel to it like the Templar/Assassin ones whose names I might be able to remember if I felt in any kind of state to remember my own name given how long I have been looking at this damned comic even while racking up a mobile bill I don't even want to imagine sitting for hours on a train to and from Birmingham where bizarrely enough I saw a street artist doing a sand sculpture which rather gave me pause for thought given how far I understand Birmingham to be from the sea and what with having the builders in at the moment with some guy drilling a wall only a few feet from my head I really am not sure where any frame of reference lies now least of all my own though at least I spotted that the page has some embedded javascript in it and noone else did I am normally a cogent man I think it is the multiple opened parenthetical clauses which pushed me over the edge edit God damn you comma you got in the way of my lucidity

[Grepus]

Stabilisation works and some more construction?

<snip> How do you keep doing that so quickly, SWuh?

Pure luck, I think? Also I use the countdown 'BONG' ( http://www.webcountdown.de/?a=gxMXfoy ) which usually happens around 5secs before the change for me ... I like to watch it change live

Same here... but you keep beating me! Not too worry

(I watch it change live too)

[GerardE]

I wonder if the two different castles represent styles of fortification either from different times or different parts of the world so if the new castle is Neuschwanstein (BAN THE LETTER S FROM GERMAN) the initial castle has a middle-eastern feel to it like the Templar/Assassin ones whose names I might be able to remember if I felt in any kind of state to remember my own name given how long I have been looking at this damned comic even while racking up a mobile bill I don't even want to imagine sitting for hours on a train to and from Birmingham where bizarrely enough I saw a street artist doing a sand sculpture which rather gave me pause for thought given how far I understand Birmingham to be from the sea and what with having the builders in at the moment with some guy drilling a wall only a few feet from my head I really am not sure where any frame of reference lies now least of all my own though at least I spotted that the page has some embedded javascript in it and noone else did I am normally a cogent man I think it is the multiple opened parenthetical clauses which pushed me over the edge edit God damn you comma you got in the way of my lucidity

hope this helps: )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[Bastor]

This is going to be one of those, isn't it? xD

It's probably going to end in April... So see you in a few days. xD

[Flotter]

Just a thought (and at this point in the thread, it's almost redundant to apologize if someone has already pointed this out):
If I remember correctly, the "Users browsing this forum" count has been between 200 and 800 guests (and a slightly lower number of registered users) since the beginning of Time, 159 newpics ago. Let's make the basic assumptions that most lurkers are lurking this thread, that the average user count has been around 400, and that the typical user spends roughly half [insert appropriate possessive pronoun here] time actually reading the thread, while the site is open. This would boil down to about 32,000 man-newpics or 16,000 man-hours. Most of this time was presumably spent by scientists and engineers.
Would anyone like to hazard a guess regarding how far into the space program this would have gotten us?

We could've gotten Voyager back...

[Plutarch]

Time - He's waiting in the wings
He speaks of senseless things
His script is you and me, boys

(Bowie)

[notthepope]

I wonder if the two different castles represent styles of fortification either from different times or different parts of the world so if the new castle is Neuschwanstein (BAN THE LETTER S FROM GERMAN) the initial castle has a middle-eastern feel to it like the Templar/Assassin ones whose names I might be able to remember if I felt in any kind of state to remember my own name given how long I have been looking at this damned comic even while racking up a mobile bill I don't even want to imagine sitting for hours on a train to and from Birmingham where bizarrely enough I saw a street artist doing a sand sculpture which rather gave me pause for thought given how far I understand Birmingham to be from the sea and what with having the builders in at the moment with some guy drilling a wall only a few feet from my head I really am not sure where any frame of reference lies now least of all my own though at least I spotted that the page has some embedded javascript in it and noone else did I am normally a cogent man I think it is the multiple opened parenthetical clauses which pushed me over the edge edit God damn you comma you got in the way of my lucidity

hope this helps: )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

toomanytoomanytoomanyIdon'tevenknowwhatsemanticeffectthatwillhaveontheuniverseaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[inhalvast]

I wonder if the two different castles represent styles of fortification either from different times or different parts of the world so if the new castle is Neuschwanstein (BAN THE LETTER S FROM GERMAN) the initial castle has a middle-eastern feel to it like the Templar/Assassin ones whose names I might be able to remember if I felt in any kind of state to remember my own name given how long I have been looking at this damned comic even while racking up a mobile bill I don't even want to imagine sitting for hours on a train to and from Birmingham where bizarrely enough I saw a street artist doing a sand sculpture which rather gave me pause for thought given how far I understand Birmingham to be from the sea and what with having the builders in at the moment with some guy drilling a wall only a few feet from my head I really am not sure where any frame of reference lies now least of all my own though at least I spotted that the page has some embedded javascript in it and noone else did I am normally a cogent man I think it is the multiple opened parenthetical clauses which pushed me over the edge edit God damn you comma you got in the way of my lucidity

hope this helps: )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

toomanytoomanytoomanyIdon'tevenknowwhatsemanticeffectthatwillhaveontheuniverseaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Good job, GerardE, you broke him.

[SWuh]

What... is that?!

[Grepus]

Is this a new tower?

<snip - again>

ARGH!

[KarMann]

Ninjaed:

Spoiler:

Cueball's getting pretty wild with the sand there!

[appleGirl]

Pardon me if this has already been defined in this huge thread. It seems that a person who does not believe in this new religion spin-off of this comic is called an "outsider" - but what is a believer called? I might be persuaded to convert from whovian, but I need to know what to call myself... "Timer"? "Temporalist"? "Sandcastler?" "TimeWatcher?" "SandcastleWatcher?"

/Lasse

TimeWaiter?

[Envelope Generator]

What... is that?!

It's the squirrel, of course. About time too.

[Jonas79]

Looks like he's holding sand in his hands. I think that is the first time we have seen that in any of the pics. Exiting newpic

[mojacardave]

What... is that?!

At a guess, he's throwing more sand onto the castle. Or he may be starting a sand fight. Or throwing something to Megan. Impossible to tell at this scale really. It may be illuminated in a newpix.

[MattTheTubaGuy]

Just a random thought, if it lasts long enough that night comes, I wonder if it will be possible to determine the Latitude, and possible locations (a beach facing a certain direction on the edge of a body of water)

[SWuh]

It was always a new tower... I am just curious as to what cueball is doing? Throwing sand? An object? A creature? Do we even know?

Also why is he so clumsy in these comics? And why is the panel so SMALL?! I can't tell what he's chucking around!!!! RAGE

[daef]

Stabilisation works and some more construction?

<snip> How do you keep doing that so quickly, SWuh?

Pure luck, I think? Also I use the countdown 'BONG' ( http://www.webcountdown.de/?a=gxMXfoy ) which usually happens around 5secs before the change for me ... I like to watch it change live

Same here... but you keep beating me! Not too worry

(I watch it change live too)

i akshully placed the "bong" 6 secs (or 0.00333333333NP - as you like) before the newpic - exactly for the reason that i like to see the change "live"

[zachbarnett]

I've added an announcement about the IRC channel (#xkcd-time on irc.foonetic.net) to davdy22's thread summary.

An overview of the last 2000+ posts on this thread
Feel Free to Bump

Countdown to next update:

Spoiler:

http://www.webcountdown.de/?a=gxMXfoy

Latest frame (auto updates):

Spoiler:

Live updating GIF:

Spoiler:

More complex program (with manual controls and a soundtrack!):

Spoiler:

http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/

Explain XKCD (with a little more discussion on the comic, when the servers can take it):

Spoiler:

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1190:_Time

915 Connoisseur of frames

Spoiler:

If we're going to do the 915 thing, I suggest we go all the way and group certain frames into periods.
I suggest the following split:

000 - 009 : the debut or what? period: when nobody really knew what was going on
010 - 023 : the dark period: the darkness in the posts of the thread reached heights during these frames
024 - 044 : the sandcastle period: as the sandcastle started to appear, most of the darkness made disappeared.
045 - 074 : the period (second dark period): Initially, this was the 'female period' but I soon realised that would be a pleonasm. Also it was a pretty dark time on the thread.
075 - 087 : the happiness period: the couple is reunited and again the darkness fades.
088 - 105 : the male period: with a climax at frame 103: "the fall of man" frame
105 - 124 : the rebuild period (second sandcastle period).
125 - 136 : Age of the Slow Pixel
137 - NOW : The Great Expansion: Still in progress! How exciting!

End of Comic Theories

Spoiler:

- Wave destroys castle(s)
- BHG shows up (with possible destruction of castle(s))
- Castle(s) slowly erode
- Somehow loops back to start frame
- Ends with an April Fools
- Goes on for months (maybe forever)
- wait for it....

What is a newpix?

Spoiler:

A Newpix is defined as one 30 minute period. AKA the time between the release of each new image
Newpic is also accepted as a singular version.

Did you guys see the Javascript?? (the answer is yes)

Spoiler:

As it was mentioned wayyy back in the first 5 pages of this thread, the javascript is on its 7th revision and is there to do two things: Load a new image and refresh the image so that you dont have to mash F5 and crash his server when a new picture loads.

Speculated meanings behind this comic

Spoiler:

- THEY ARE HAVING A BABY
- Randall died
- Increase Forum Activity
- To make the most posted forum topic something other than a massive flame war
- Publicity stunt
- Targeted Advertising
- Its just a freaking sandcastle... don't read into it...
- April Fools Leadup
- Taking a vacation and wanted something to keep our attention

IRC Channel (chatroom) for discussion of this comic

Spoiler:

#xkcd-time on irc.foonetic.net

[SWuh]

I think maybe a frog? I hope it's a frog anyway!

i akshully placed the "bong" 6 secs (or 0.00333333333NP - as you like) before the newpic - exactly for the reason that i like to see the change "live"

Ya, I know - I think I was around when you updated it. Quite an exciting moment for me. Meant I could (literally) stop watching the clock

[mojacardave]

I've added an announcement about the IRC channel (#xkcd-time on irc.foonetic.net) to davdy22's thread summary.

Add it to the XKCD-Time wiki: http://xkcd-time.wikia.com. We're trying not to do the bump any more.

[Grepus]

Cue 18 hours of zooming in to see what that new thing is...

[higgs-boson]

Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany, dates back to somewhere 1850-1900 (use g8gle yourself, if exact numbers are needed).

The first sand castle looked Roman or Norman, at least for the first couple of newpix the castle was visible, later the rightmost tower seems to be a typical bergfried (defensive tower with an entrance located well above ground), which came up in the early days of the late middle ages in Europe.

Oh - I guess building that bridge to the bergfried on a shore already is advanced sand castle engineering (considering the flag and poles as issues for a real pro as Megan of course would be <3 ).

[peewee_RotA]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

[mojacardave]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

[daef]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

[SWuh]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Now THAT would be worth the wait.

[mojacardave]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

[Mr Moriaty]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

They've also rewritten the rule book on foreplay. There's something wrong if you leave for several hours in the middle.

[appleGirl]

11 newpix after getting out of bed, I finally caught up with all the posts I missed during the thing the Outsiders call "night".

[daef]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

imagine pr0n without the possibility to seek or fast forward... one would HAVE TO watch the whole "story"
on the other hand - i like sandcastles... seriously - that could easily develop yet another fetish of mine...

...great - now i've got to build a fucking sandcastle

[mojacardave]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

They've also rewritten the rule book on foreplay. There's something wrong if you leave for several hours in the middle.

...though the building of sandcastles is obviously a recognised technique.

[daef]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

They've also rewritten the rule book on foreplay. There's something wrong if you leave for several hours in the middle.

...though the building of sandcastles is obviously a recognised technique.

i hope somebody is already wiki'in' that...

[elec1cele]

Hello everyone. After several days of lurking, I'm one of these new subscribers. :p
Is there any web page displaying all the images of this comic? I know there is a gif, but I would like to be able to compare easily some frames and gif is not the ideal to do so.

Anyway, it has been a wonderful trip since the beginning of this strip, and I'll keep reading this thread.
Gentlemen, it has been a privilege waiting with you tonight.

Sorry if this has all ready been answered i went a few pages ahead and din't see any response. I can't post links yet but.

xkcd DOT aubronwood DOT com

it will automatically scroll thru the frames but you can manually control it with arrow keys as well.

[MdN]

We're trying not to do the bump any more.

Population control?

roflysst

maybe it's "population control" cueball is holding... and we're going to witness wild sand-castle-sex now... %)

Cueball and Megan would set a record for the longest sex scene ever shown on the internet.

imagine pr0n without the possibility to seek or fast forward... one would HAVE TO watch the whole "story"
on the other hand - i like sandcastles... seriously - that could easily develop yet another fetish of mine...

...great - now i've got to build a fucking sandcastle

A sandcastle for fucking? Sounds fetish-y alright.