1190: "Time"

[peewee_RotA]

Latest frame has this song stuck in my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJ-oT2ZBa0

I'm sad that it may be ending

As a theme song for "Time", I see your Perry Como and raise with a Touch and go ("life's a beach") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryalMzJhmO8

For me, the song I've had stuck in my head this whole time is "Time" by Hootie and the Blowfish.
"Time,
Why you punish me?
Like a wave crashing into the shore, you wash away my dreams.
Time,
Why you walk away?
Like a friend with somewhere to go, you left me cryin'

Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow and all the pain and sorrow,
Runnin' free?
'Cause tomorrow's just another day, and I don't believe in time."

It's still the same old story
The fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time... goes... by...

[TheLochNessCheeseBurger]

Theories: Now that he's gone, we'll probably see a few frames of the castle eroding (Bits falling off, like they were before? Rain? Waves?) and then them coming back to the castle to continue work, possibly with more materials. Or they might never go to the castle again. Although I guess someone else could come in from the right and add to the castle in their own way (flags?).

Either way, I hope this goes on forever, always updating every 30 minutes, changing over the days. Maybe the comic could expand in size, making place for more of the castle, or they could even go underground, maybe to make some sort of underground lounge.

[NevadaWolf]

It's Sloth from The Goonies... I now feel very old

Such is the nature of time. I've met folks who were unaware of Ghostbusters, Back To The Future, etc. ah, great movies from the '80s. But the fun part is 30-40 years from now, they'll feel the same way.

Maybe that's part of the hidden dialogue of these two characters. Looking at this beautiful beach and thinking the's nothing here, so she built the beginning of their castle. We've already seen how fragile it is, both through just the sand falling and poor Cueball. After awhile, others can come by after the castle has fallen away again, and think to themselves why not build something here.

[mojacardave]

Right, this is it: it's presumably either going to advance to a different plot from this point onwards, or become significantly less interesting to stare at for hours on end.

Who thinks that this is the final slide?

Agreed, if there's no difference after the next gong, I'll struggle to stay at my PC until the subsequent one...

In an amazingly well-timed quirk of fate, I'm going to be away from my screen for at least the next 7 updates. Possibly up to 10. It's the perfect time to leave. It should help me to stop going crazy. By the time I'm back, we'll know whether there's more story to come or not (barring anything mean by Randall, like a massive delay in the next set of updates).

[Peter200lx]

c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png
He's gone

I hope we see no change for a couple of frames, just for the conversation it will prompt here.

... Then progressing with new updates.

[Grepus]

Tiiiiiiime is on my side, yes it is...

[TheMulattoMaker]

Holy flurking schnitt.

Okay, so I went to bed last night just as we were completing page 33. I slept quite a bit longer than I expected- musta been a good 18-19 half-hours (I humbly submit that we begin measuring time in "newpix", equal to thirty standard minutes). Anyway, I stayed in bed for almost 20 newpix, and the first thing I did after starting the coffeemaker was open this thread. I didn't wanna open the comic, 'cuz I'd be confused about what I missed- I had to see the gif and read the backstory. So... page 34 had become page 44. Ten pages I had to read. Egad, guys, y'all killin' me. Oh, and I've also started measuring time consumption in "forum pages" as well as newpix. It took me 2 newpix to get through those ten pages, so I was even further behind in the comic. By the time I got almost caught up, y'all were on page 45 instead of 44. By the time I clicked from 43 to 44, page 46 was up. C'mon, guys, I gotta get ready for work soon.

Anyways, all caught up now. Why did he leave without fixing the leftmost part of the castle? He started to, but that one little piece is still not quite wide enough. Hmm.

Oh, and just to be on-topic with what's become of the thread, I'm a dude. Or guy. Man, male, whatevs. If anyone cares.

EDIT: Closing parenthesis added.

[patzer]

MULTI-BUMP (again - feel free to bump this post occasionally if I manage to tear myself away from here!)

Countdown to next update:

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

Latest frame (auto updates):

Spoiler:

Live updating GIF:

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

http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/

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

http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.p ... 1190:_Time

How is this so very captivating???

Anyway I think we should just complete our full transition into comic 915 now.

I think frame 97 is the best so far. "Complete" castle with head looking right totally beats frame 98 with head looking left. Although the utter chaos of 103 evokes some cosmic ponderings that are unequaled by other frames.

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). Still in progress! How exciting!
125 - NOW: the deserted period (?)

My favourite is frame 26, It symbolises more hope than any of the other ones. Also frame 20, because I find woman who shake their hair sexy.

Discuss!

Bumping the good posts, feel free to rebump

[trusstopher]

Imagine the elation and celebration that would ensue on here if there were no updates for 3 or 4 update cycles and suddenly someone new steps into frame or our original couple returns.

[Corrado]

c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png
He's gone

I hope we see no change for a couple of frames, just for the conversation it will prompt here.

... Then progressing with new updates.

Up to this point, there have been changes with a somewhat predictable time associated based on the common tasks performed. With a completely static scene, there is no longer any reference point for elapsed time.

I think it would be a bit of a cheat on the part of the comic to abruptly change the rate of time *NOW*, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few new images (in terms of URL/filename) that are unchanged.

[Lord Cathbad]

Holy flurking schnitt.

Okay, so I went to bed last night just as we were completing page 33. I slept quite a bit longer than I expected- musta been a good 18-19 half-hours (I humbly submit that we begin measuring time in "newpix", equal to thirty standard minutes. Anyway, I stayed in bed for almost 20 newpix, and the first thing I did after starting the coffeemaker was open this thread. I didn't wanna open the comic, 'cuz I'd be confused about what I missed- I had to see the gif and read the backstory. So... page 34 had become page 44. Ten pages I had to read. Egad, guys, y'all killin' me. Oh, and I've also started measuring time consumption in "forum pages" as well as newpix. It took me 2 newpix to get through those ten pages, so I was even further behind in the comic. By the time I got almost caught up, y'all were on page 45 instead of 44. By the time I clicked from 43 to 44, page 46 was up. C'mon, guys, I gotta get ready for work soon.

Anyways, all caught up now. Why did he leave without fixing the leftmost part of the castle? He started to, but that one little piece is still not quite wide enough. Hmm.

Oh, and just to be on-topic with what's become of the thread, I'm a dude. Or guy. Man, male, whatevs. If anyone cares.

We would need a centrifuge. they're what separate the men from the boys.
http://store-xkcd-com.myshopify.com/products/centrifuge

[dp2]

</flamewar>

Please help me stop this off topic gender neutral thing!! Post all other comments to: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=101095

(Like this is ever going to happen, but I will at least try....)

Actually, it got me thinking about why we assume the genders of the characters in the comic. That then broadened to how we know the gender of ANY xkcd character. Hair? Ridiculous. Clothing? Being intimate with another character? Please -- are you paying attention to what's happening in the Supreme Court this week (maybe some of you aren't because you'r'e too busy with this comic)?

So, everyone's assignment between frames is this: pick a regular xkcd character and find the first proof of that character's gender within a comic.

Go!

[orthogon]

In an amazingly well-timed quirk of fate, I'm going to be away from my screen for at least the next 7 updates. Possibly up to 10.

So. It has come to this. Measuring out our real lives by the number of Time updates something will take.

Also, what kind of update period is 30 minutes? Minutes aren't an SI unit. It should update every kilosecond, or perhaps every kibisecond. When the bottom 10 bits of the unix time are zero.

[gumbo]

I wonder if at some point one of the people scraping the comic is going to have to set up an email alert service that sends out a message if this comic ever changes.

[Kit.]

English has gender-neutral singular pronouns already, it doesn't need more.

If one thought about it for a while, one might come up with an example.

"One" is a noun, not a pronoun.

[TheMulattoMaker]

English has gender-neutral singular pronouns already, it doesn't need more.

If one thought about it for a while, one might come up with an example.

"One" is a noun, not a pronoun.

One is the loneliest number.

[AluisioASG]

</flamewar>

Please help me stop this off topic gender neutral thing!! Post all other comments to: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=101095

(Like this is ever going to happen, but I will at least try....)

Actually, it got me thinking about why we assume the genders of the characters in the comic. That then broadened to how we know the gender of ANY xkcd character. Hair? Ridiculous. Clothing? Being intimate with another character? Please -- are you paying attention to what's happening in the Supreme Court this week (maybe some of you aren't because you'r'e too busy with this comic)?

So, everyone's assignment between frames is this: pick a regular xkcd character and find the first proof of that character's gender within a comic.

Go!

I'm not sure how regular Robert is, through.

[BJ Nemeth]

For those of us watching this unfold "live," the next frame (Frame #126 according to http://xkcd.aubronwood.com) will possibly be one of the most important we've seen so far.

Will the scene change, or not? And what sort of precedent does that set for the "rules" of this specific comic's "world"?

[yaddayadda]

Holy flurking schnitt.

Okay, so I went to bed last night just as we were completing page 33. I slept quite a bit longer than I expected- musta been a good 18-19 half-hours (I humbly submit that we begin measuring time in "newpix", equal to thirty standard minutes. Anyway, I stayed in bed for almost 20 newpix, and the first thing I did after starting the coffeemaker was open this thread. I didn't wanna open the comic, 'cuz I'd be confused about what I missed- I had to see the gif and read the backstory. So... page 34 had become page 44. Ten pages I had to read. Egad, guys, y'all killin' me. Oh, and I've also started measuring time consumption in "forum pages" as well as newpix. It took me 2 newpix to get through those ten pages, so I was even further behind in the comic. By the time I got almost caught up, y'all were on page 45 instead of 44. By the time I clicked from 43 to 44, page 46 was up. C'mon, guys, I gotta get ready for work soon.

Anyways, all caught up now. Why did he leave without fixing the leftmost part of the castle? He started to, but that one little piece is still not quite wide enough. Hmm.

Oh, and just to be on-topic with what's become of the thread, I'm a dude. Or guy. Man, male, whatevs. If anyone cares.

I've stopped actually checking http://www.xkcd.com/1190/ until I've gotten fully caught up here. With work, sleep, eating etc. it's taking me 2-4 newpix to get caught up - but it's totally worth it!

</flamewar>

Please help me stop this off topic gender neutral thing!! Post all other comments to: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=101095

(Like this is ever going to happen, but I will at least try....)

Actually, it got me thinking about why we assume the genders of the characters in the comic. That then broadened to how we know the gender of ANY xkcd character. Hair? Ridiculous. Clothing? Being intimate with another character? Please -- are you paying attention to what's happening in the Supreme Court this week (maybe some of you aren't because you'r'e too busy with this comic)?

So, everyone's assignment between frames is this: pick a regular xkcd character and find the first proof of that character's gender within a comic.

Go!

This was brought up early in the Time discussion, specifically which character was he and which was she. Hair length was initially given as the indicator, but ultimately the question appeared to be answered by a canonical explainxkcd link.


(a person/human that also identifies as a dude/guy/boi/man/stud and prefers the he/him/his, but would be okay with gender-neutral alternatives)

[belliott4488]

Until such time that the English language develops a gender-neutral pronoun system, and for as long as the male form remains the accepted default in the English language, I suggest that all further debate of the topic center solely on what might be done to address the underlying linguistic cause at its root, rather than the perceived transgressions of those using an imperfect language to communicate as clearly as they are able.

You said it, bitch!

Not sure if attack, or agreement.

LOLed anyway.

Pure LOLing!

[TheMulattoMaker]

I'm not sure how regular Robert is, through.

I think that's the only time he's ever mentioned. Good catch, though.

[AluisioASG]

Still changing. Still the same.

[TheMulattoMaker]

...did it update? I can't tell...

[Chuckey]

Comic 507. Also brings up the use of the word "dudes."

[inhalvast]

...did it update? I can't tell...

It looks the exact same to me, then again, my eyesight is horrid.

[Srt252]

IS THIS THE END OF TIME?!

[TheVenerableBede]

It didn't change?!

[benjaminswill]

Wait for it...

[TheMulattoMaker]

...did it update? I can't tell...

It looks the exact same to me, then again, my eyesight is horrid.

Can ay of the hashtag gurus verify a change???

...erm... hashtag might be the wrong word... still early for me...

[TheLochNessCheeseBurger]

The old one is
c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png
and the new one is
48283abb3b3bea7632a09ebf4494cb3023f5fbe1c564d4f27ba162ccc92dd2f3.png
but they look exactly the same
EDIT: WAIT NO! there is a change!
in the new one, a few pixels on the left side of the second lowest tower, on the bottom of the ledge dripped down to the bottom!

[Grepus]

I think we're "OUTA TIME"...

[Mikeski]

English has gender-neutral singular pronouns already, it doesn't need more.

If one thought about it for a while, one might come up with an example.

"One" is a noun, not a pronoun.

It is both. Also an adjective. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one

[digimuzik]

It didn't change?!

Inconceivable!

[mscha]

There is a tiny difference in the last two images: check the wall to the left above the gate, a few grains of sand fell off.

Edit: there are a few more such tiny changes, if you look very carefully while toggling between the images. One on the inside of the gate, one on the third turret from the left.

[TheMulattoMaker]

The old one is
c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png
and the new one is
48283abb3b3bea7632a09ebf4494cb3023f5fbe1c564d4f27ba162ccc92dd2f3.png
but they look exactly the same

Ah, okay. Thanks.

So... no update?

...no... change?


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[mojacardave]

The tag changed, so I'm optimistic. If it was just going to end, I wouldn't have thought Randall would have bothered producing two (near?)-identical images.

PS. I know I said I was leaving but that turned out to be premature. Unfortunately!

[essaunders]

on one level I'm ready for it to end (so I can stop checking this thread!)

[peewee_RotA]

Latest frame has this song stuck in my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJ-oT2ZBa0

I'm sad that it may be ending

As a theme song for "Time", I see your Perry Como and raise with a Touch and go ("life's a beach") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryalMzJhmO8

For me, the song I've had stuck in my head this whole time is "Time" by Hootie and the Blowfish.
"Time,
Why you punish me?
Like a wave crashing into the shore, you wash away my dreams.
Time,
Why you walk away?
Like a friend with somewhere to go, you left me cryin'

Can you teach me 'bout tomorrow and all the pain and sorrow,
Runnin' free?
'Cause tomorrow's just another day, and I don't believe in time."

It's still the same old story
The fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time... goes... by...

Tiiiiiiime is on my side, yes it is...

As long as there's sand and
as long as there's sea
as long as their's time
I'll wait hopefully...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApiUC-R5_6Q

[TheMulattoMaker]

on one level I'm ready for it to end (so I can stop checking this thread!)

I have a feeling that whenever this ends, it's gonna be like the end of The Truman Show. Everybody just kinda tries to figure out what there is to do other than watch Truman.

[gnutrino]

Code: Select all

$ diff 48283abb3b3bea7632a09ebf4494cb3023f5fbe1c564d4f27ba162ccc92dd2f3.png c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png
Binary files 48283abb3b3bea7632a09ebf4494cb3023f5fbe1c564d4f27ba162ccc92dd2f3.png and c918850ed18afe2c3f3acbeef9c799aba5b10a8efeb45a2f026565383f0a72bc.png differ

Something changed but I'll be damned if I can see what