1190: "Time"

thecamoninja · Postby **thecamoninja** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:31 am UTC

Does anything about this seem kind of... eerie to anyone? Maybe it's just because it's really late and when I first saw the comic I expected it to be animated and was half-expecting a screamer or something, but the mysteriousness of it all is just giving me kind of a creepy vibe.

Goggalor · Postby **Goggalor** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:33 am UTC

Another update at 1:30am.
The comic went up at 1:00am (stupid DST), first update at 1:10am, second at 1:30am. I'm curious to see if there will be another at 2:00am.

EDIT: apparently I am mistaken. A new image every 30 minutes seems to be the pattern.

arotenbe · Postby **arotenbe** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:35 am UTC

We're actually up to no fewer than 4 distinct images now. Female-stick-figure has turned her head back, but it's a different image than the first two. Very strange...
Edit: The complete set so far, AFAIK.

Goggalor · Postby **Goggalor** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:36 am UTC

Oh really? I must be missing one.

YouTube · Postby **phlip** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:37 am UTC

It seems to be updating every half hour...

[edit] I'll just keep on adding these here.

Spoiler:

I'm not sure what the URLs actually are... They look too long for most common hashing algorithms. I suspect they're just random noise, to deter bring able to find future images. Which means that reverse-engineering that first image will be impossible too, unless they loop eventually.

knowtheory · Postby **knowtheory** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:38 am UTC

Great. Well first post, and my post is getting flagged as spam, so instead of a message detailing what's going on i'll have to narrate.

The image url is actually a url that redirects to another location. So right now it goes Time.png => another xkcd url => an actual image file on xkcd's CDN.

So Randal can programmatically change where the url redirects to, and that's how the image changes over time. I've been playing around with the command line on my mac and watching when things change, but i can't discern the pattern.

davidy22 · Postby **davidy22** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:41 am UTC

Us at the explainxkcd wiki are documenting the images as best as we can. It feels like we're being DDoSed, the amount of visitors we're getting right now.

meastman · Postby **meastman** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 5:59 am UTC

phlip wrote:They look too long for most common hashing algorithms

It could be SHA-256

HagarTopeka1 · Postby **HagarTopeka1** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:00 am UTC

New one just got posted; it definitely changes on the half hour.

5614c47bc2f28b730a360f796cc2993ba04e1f09db0aa3f325e476338777a9c4(dot)png

Looks like I know what I'm doing tonight.

mercutio_stencil · Postby **mercutio_stencil** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:04 am UTC

HagarTopeka1 wrote:New one just got posted; it definitely changes on the half hour.

5614c47bc2f28b730a360f796cc2993ba04e1f09db0aa3f325e476338777a9c4(dot)png

Looks like I know what I'm doing tonight.

Yep, I already have my schedule cleared. Thanks Randall, I didn't want that sleep anyway.

Goggalor · Postby **Goggalor** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:06 am UTC

I've gif'ed the images so far. I want to stay up and capture the next images, but I don't know if I have the endurance.

Spoiler:

davidy22 · Postby **davidy22** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:09 am UTC

Every image so far has been stored on the wiki. Sometimes it switches back to one of the prior images, like it just did a few seconds ago.

Levi Dettwyler · Postby **Levi Dettwyler** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:11 am UTC

Guys,

Imagine how long this could feasibly go on for. As someone on explainxkcd pointed out, 5 years from now, there very well could be a tree growing there. They're simple enough to draw. He could just do them whole batches at a time. Who knows?

Helldrake · Postby **Helldrake** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:13 am UTC

I need to go to uni in a few hours, and im here, looking at pictures that might or might not change.

YouTube · Postby **phlip** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:19 am UTC

davidy22 wrote:Every image so far has been stored on the wiki. Sometimes it switches back to one of the prior images, like it just did a few seconds ago.

I haven't seen it do that with my automated checker/downloader thing. I think if it ever does happen, it's just a result of caching at your end.

Uzh · Postby **Uzh** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:21 am UTC

It strongly reminds me of a piece of music which will approximately take 639 years to perform. By now the first or second tune are played.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible

Georg

EDIT: I reread the article. They have played ten or so notes...

Herroth · Postby **Herroth** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:23 am UTC

I may be another person reading too far into it, but the title and text seem to have a double meaning. There is the literal instructions that tell you the nature of the comic and the metaphor. Since the two people in the pictures have transitioned from sitting next to each other to holding hands it may be about, "waiting for the right time." Although, considering the struggles Randal has been through it may also be about simply having time together.
All conjecture on my part, though.

RunasSudo · Postby **RunasSudo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:25 am UTC

The hexadecimal portion of the file name appears to be 256-bits. If this is a conventional hashing algorithm, it could be (from Wikipedia's 'Cryptographic hash function' article):

GOST
HAVAL
PANAMA
RadioGatun
RIPEMD-256
SHA-256
SHA-3

Of them, SHA-256 would be the most common (and therefore the most likely) candidate.
Anyone feel like cracking a never-before-cracked hashing algorithm?

EDIT: Unless the hash is salted. In which case it's (even more) impossible.

Dr. Strings · Postby **Dr. Strings** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:28 am UTC

It looks like the hairdo on the female figure changes from panel to panel. Snapshots over extended periods of time? Different figures?

Eplicas · Postby **Eplicas** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:29 am UTC

Ignoring how exactly he's doing this, one thing I've noticed between the images is that the drawing style is slightly different each time, while the position has been relatively the same save for the third picture. Perhaps this is a recollection of how he's become better at drawing and developed his style as time has gone on? The third picture could be a representation of the time when he used that style there perhaps were hard times between the two of them. Thoughts?

mercutio_stencil · Postby **mercutio_stencil** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:31 am UTC

Uzh wrote:It strongly reminds me of a piece of music which will approximately take 639 years to perform. By now the first or second tune are played.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_as_Possible

Georg

You also have the work of the Long Now Foundation, and their 10,000 year clock.

RunasSudo · Postby **RunasSudo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:32 am UTC

New file (I think)
69715ed9abc8deac4fa1edfd49a7fde6970b1c8621a381b1fca2c0854b29c0dd.png

EDIT: It was the 5614... one just then, and it's 5:03PM now. Seems to be changing every half hour.

Icalasari · Postby **Icalasari** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:32 am UTC

RunasSudo wrote:Anyone feel like cracking a never-before-cracked hashing algorithm?

EDIT: Unless the hash is salted. In which case it's (even more) impossible.

I expect it done by the end of the week

Honestly, it sometimes feels like if something that people look at for entertainment is taking too long for them, they WILL find a way to make it faster

Wooloomooloo · Postby **Wooloomooloo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:34 am UTC

RunasSudo wrote:Anyone feel like cracking a never-before-cracked hashing algorithm?

Quick, someone write a distributed client we can all run seti@home-style! I can almost see the headlines: "Uncrackable encryption defeated by impatient fans of popular webcomic"...!

RunasSudo · Postby **RunasSudo** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:37 am UTC

Wooloomooloo wrote:
RunasSudo wrote:Anyone feel like cracking a never-before-cracked hashing algorithm?

Quick, someone write a distributed client we can all run seti@home-style! I can almost see the headlines: "Uncrackable encryption defeated by impatient fans of popular webcomic"...!

This.

CrackingTheXKCDComicHashingThing@HOME

EDIT: http://crackstation.net/
I'll be waiting for one to pop up that's in the rainbow tables........
Waiting.....................

EDIT2:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\User\Desktop\Temp\john179\run>john --format=raw-sha256 hashes.txt
Loaded 5 password hashes with no different salts (Raw SHA-256 [32/32])

And now... We wait.

mercutio_stencil · Postby **mercutio_stencil** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:39 am UTC

Icalasari wrote:
RunasSudo wrote:Anyone feel like cracking a never-before-cracked hashing algorithm?

EDIT: Unless the hash is salted. In which case it's (even more) impossible.

I expect it done by the end of the week

Honestly, it sometimes feels like if something that people look at for entertainment is taking too long for them, they WILL find a way to make it faster

While there is a certain beauty that comes out of a slow, drawn out tease, I too would like to see what happens when a very bored, and properly motivated group of people can do. It's this, or world hunger...

keithl · Postby **keithl** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:58 am UTC

Randal could draw one of these perhaps every 5 seconds - if he spent 12 hours total doing so, this would go on for 6 months.

OTOH, the comic is simple enough that the placement of heads, arms, and legs could be algorithmically generated. In which case, there could be an huge number of computer generated images spooling out at a half-hour clip, for years. That seems more like Randal's style.

With enough "frames" captured, perhaps someone can diff them and see how similar the parts are.

sourmìlk · Postby **sourmìlk** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:01 am UTC

New one at 3:00am EDT:

: time3EDT.png (4.18 KiB) Viewed 203056 times

Exkakx · Postby **Exkakx** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:08 am UTC

I wonder if something exciting will happen.

Quicksilver · Postby **Quicksilver** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:11 am UTC

yeah, this is what I've done regarding refreshing images:
http://ajaxtest.comoj.com/

squareroot · Postby **squareroot** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:21 am UTC

No scripts, though; the .png is actually .png...
...I was almost hoping it was a MIME-type gif, with .png extension. Just to throw people for a loop.

But no, it's all server-side, so there's nothing we can do but guess hashes.

murrow · Postby **murrow** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:29 am UTC

Speaking of which, anyone trying? It's likely time based, so it needs to evolve naturally. It's probably something simple, and it's probably sha 256 unless someone knows better.

Anybody collected all the hashes yet?

edit: Oh, and I tried looking at it through tor, current image is the same so it doesn't seem to be user-specific but global.

assuming only upper, lower, numbers, characters it is more than 5 characters long.

So Far:
69715ed9abc8deac4fa1edfd49a7fde6970b1c8621a381b1fca2c0854b29c0dd
752687b61523144c61736cd89f8c153dc41e19128f72d78d44947ff800f057fa
6e162ade96f5a05b3223df0bcc6fd2ca3c76447a8d6095cee7ff56b2816c959c
cdcc6b46b32c53f8596cd0106958b42c4260b9cbc022e6d94054147aa6554960

taoistpage · Postby **taoistpage** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:45 am UTC

Here are the ones I've seen so far, which is one less than one for each half hour, or one extra, not sure if it went up at 12 or 1

edit:

I've also got a cronjob collecting them and posting them to my dropbox here: dropbox [dot] com/sh/lkddoimlwidux4b/_BweKh8LPL

here is my current list:
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izzy84075 · Postby **izzy84075** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 7:53 am UTC

"wget --trust-server-names [image URL]" saves it with the hash as the filename. Got cron saving it every 5 minutes on my server... Have to use the filesystem timestamp to sort it properly, but...

EDIT: Well, it seems to be using the last modified time from the server on the local filesystem... Hrm...

EDIT2: I'm now using "wget --trust-server-names --no-use-server-timestamps -a log.txt [Image URL]" as my command.

dalcde · Postby **dalcde** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:02 am UTC

2013-03-25T08:00:00Z: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/cdcc6b ... 554960.png

murrow · Postby **murrow** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:05 am UTC

Not using just epoch time with sha 256.
Using numbers and '/' ':' It is not within the first 9 characters.

Any other hot ideas?

oleM · Postby **oleM** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:12 am UTC

It's not just updated every 1/2 hour or so. Try spamming F5, every time you reload, there's a chance to get a different *.png. Nice riddle so far.

Envelope Generator · Postby **Envelope Generator** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:14 am UTC

Eplicas wrote:Ignoring how exactly he's doing this, one thing I've noticed between the images is that the drawing style is slightly different each time, while the position has been relatively the same save for the third picture. Perhaps this is a recollection of how he's become better at drawing and developed his style as time has gone on? The third picture could be a representation of the time when he used that style there perhaps were hard times between the two of them. Thoughts?

My thought: http://xkcd.com/915/

J. Curwen · Postby **J. Curwen** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:16 am UTC

murrow wrote:Not using just epoch time with sha 256.

Of course Randall gave us a hint some comics earlier in No. 1179

HagarTopeka1 · Postby **HagarTopeka1** » Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:28 am UTC

Levi Dettwyler wrote:Guys,

Imagine how long this could feasibly go on for. As someone on explainxkcd pointed out, 5 years from now, there very well could be a tree growing there. They're simple enough to draw. He could just do them whole batches at a time. Who knows?

My guess is that it's all been drawn already, and that it loops every 24 hours, or perhaps every week.

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