1190: "Time"

[imagineddragon]

It's a graph!

[Kieryn]

There are some tideless oceans. I don't know much about them, though.

Not on Earth there aren't. There are only 5 oceans Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic all of which have tides. There are a few seas that have limited tides due to them being shallow or disconnected enough from the world's oceans.

[imagineddragon]

It's a graph!

[arjan]

In the quiet time near the end of a newpix, here's a new theory: eventually it will zoom out and out and wel'll see many more Queballs and more Megans all building sandcastles and watch them destroyed by Time. And then we'll all be depressed about our miserable lifes and Randall orders us to commit mass suicide. After 2048 newpix that would sound like a very normal thing to do.

Or the baby of course.

[AussieJono]

There are some tideless oceans. I don't know much about them, though.

I believe the Mediterranean is virtually non-tidal. A quick check on Wikipedia reveals

Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, tides are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean.

Therefore, my new theory is that they are in Cyprus and have nothing else to do since all their money is in a bank which has been closed for the better part of two weeks.

[lassehp]

So the tide is coming in now perhaps?

This comic reminds me a little of a very boring graphic novel, Le goût du chlore, by Bastien Vivès, btw. I would love a printed version of Time.

Am I the only one to think that the automatic animated gif has been speeded up too much? Perhaps the last 10-15 frames could be slowed down a bit?

/Lasse

[micdi]

Are you sure it isn't it time for a colourful metaphor?

rules say no red...
sry...

What about a Crimson Tide?

Sorry not to have been precise, the rules state: "Red text is reserved for mods, so please do not use any shade of red at all."

[keithl]

Last image and the halting problem.

There may come a point, perhaps soon, when we stop seeing new images here in Outside time. Perhaps one last picture will appear on April first. Or in the Outside year 2075. There may be a program running now, scheduled to present the last image years later, and due to misfortune or a programming mistake, Randall and his server are no more.

How will we ever know when we are looking at the last image?

[udscbt]

Could someone bump the link to the wiki? I forgot to save it before leaving 4 TF ago and I can't find it anymore.

[micdi]

Last image and the halting problem.

There may come a point, perhaps soon, when we stop seeing new images here in Outside time. Perhaps one last picture will appear on April first. Or in the Outside year 2075. There may be a program running now, scheduled to present the last image years later, and due to misfortune or a programming mistake, Randall and his server are no more.

How will we ever know when we are looking at the last image?

the hashs (maybe i don´t quite understand what you are saying, if that is so, i am deeply sorry)?

[boozledorf]

No changes in this new one. Time to go home. Hopefully the next newpic will be different.

[JCPenney]

90% of the people on this thread have joined since march 25th, 2013

Though some of us claim to have old, "forgotten" accounts that we couldn't be bothered to look up.

I searched high and low, I think I registered with an email account I no longer have access to...

well apparently i joined on:

Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:43 pm UTC

Trough my ridiculously low post count shows that I am only lurking most of the time.

Samesies.

I keep feeling like I should be posting, but either I'm too far behind and someone posts first what I would have posted, or I get insecure while typing and abandon the post....I am irrationally concerned with what the community as a whole thinks of my posts.....

[hdhale]

Are you sure it isn't it time for a colourful metaphor?

rules say no red...
sry...

What about a Crimson Tide?

Sorry not to have been precise, the rules state: "Red text is reserved for mods, so please do not use any shade of red at all."

I would have went Kentucky Blue, but then it wouldn't work quite as well for the bit now, eh?

[pdg]

Another very slight darkening of the surface row of pixels on the water.

Speculation about incoming tide in 3...2...1...

[Helper]

Sorry not to have been precise, the rules state: "Red text is reserved for mods, so please do not use any shade of red at all."

I'd imagine the rules would also say something about, uh, not going wildly off-topic for 4k+ posts, systematically trying to kill (or worse) Randall, his SO, and their non-existant baby, and spawning new religions, cultures, and language .

[Lord Cathbad]

No changes in this new one. Time to go home. Hopefully the next newpic will be different.

Is the hash th same?

[fixer]

I keep feeling like I should be posting, but either I'm too far behind and someone posts first what I would have posted, or I get insecure while typing and abandon the post....I am irrationally concerned with what the community as a whole thinks of my posts.....

I feel the same way on every single forum, board, and collection of standing stones I belong to. Yay, social anxiety!

[Pelahnar]

90% of the people on this thread have joined since march 25th, 2013

Though some of us claim to have old, "forgotten" accounts that we couldn't be bothered to look up.

I searched high and low, I think I registered with an email account I no longer have access to...

well apparently i joined on:

Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:43 pm UTC

Trough my ridiculously low post count shows that I am only lurking most of the time.

Samesies.

I keep feeling like I should be posting, but either I'm too far behind and someone posts first what I would have posted, or I get insecure while typing and abandon the post....I am irrationally concerned with what the community as a whole thinks of my posts.....

Oh, you should be. We're all extremely judgement people here. If you make one slip - just something tiny that we happen to not like...well, you'll never live it down. Obviously.

/s

[mscha]

Sorry, had to go Outside for a few newpix...
Just the tiniest bit of sea level rise in the past two frames. (Green pixels, hard to spot.)


Hmm, maybe it will keep rising ever so slowly until the castles have drowned. That'll take weeks.

ETfix image URLs

[GirlPhoenix85]

So, after RL intervened with a meeting last night & a desperate need for sleep, I am far too happy to have finally caught up on this thread after staying stuck about 20 pages behind for most of the day (finally got to catch up as work finished).

Second epoch of waiting?

[Roia]

There are some tideless oceans. I don't know much about them, though.

Not on Earth there aren't. There are only 5 oceans Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic all of which have tides. There are a few seas that have limited tides due to them being shallow or disconnected enough from the world's oceans.

Did a bit of research - My previous comment was incorrect, there's not such thing as a completely tideless ocean. There are some seas that have a barely noticeable tide, though, like a few inches. The Mediterranean Sea, for example. My only experience has been from a holiday in Turkey, where the water level only rose about a centimetre the entire week I was there.

[anyLH]

90% of the people on this thread have joined since march 25th, 2013

Though some of us claim to have old, "forgotten" accounts that we couldn't be bothered to look up.

I searched high and low, I think I registered with an email account I no longer have access to...

well apparently i joined on:

Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 10:43 pm UTC

Trough my ridiculously low post count shows that I am only lurking most of the time.

Samesies.

I keep feeling like I should be posting, but either I'm too far behind and someone posts first what I would have posted, or I get insecure while typing and abandon the post....I am irrationally concerned with what the community as a whole thinks of my posts.....

Same here...what if I show too much a preference for the Iceism theories after their time has passed? What if I'm not up on the most current caffeine-baby trends?! I can't afford to lose the brethren in this cult at this stage of the game!!

[Kieryn]

This is too much for me now. The suspense is killing me. ARRRRGH!

[Pikrass]

The sea is sloooowly rising. That gives credit to the Great Destruction And Loop theory.
If this goes like when the camera zoomed out, it should rise exponentially, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Yet.

[Helper]

This is too much for me now. The suspense is killing me. ARRRRGH!

I wonder if Randall could be charged with manslaughter?

[arjan]

The last one says it was was created 2013-03-27T06:42:46-04:00 and modified 2 two days EARLIER at 2013-03-25T00:56:32-04:00.

It might mean that we're watching a movie while it's being made.

[blowfishhootie]

Sorry not to have been precise, the rules state: "Red text is reserved for mods, so please do not use any shade of red at all."

I'd imagine the rules would also say something about, uh, not going wildly off-topic for 4k+ posts, systematically trying to kill (or worse) Randall, his SO, and their non-existant baby, and spawning new religions, cultures, and language :D.

Hey, I don't think anybody was trying to kill (or worse) the author. It's just ... some people were perversely anxious to jump to the conclusion that something awful was about to happen to him with absolutely no reason to believe so whatsoever. At least the trend went away relatively early in this experience.

[Incognito357]

The last one says it was was created 2013-03-27T06:42:46-04:00 and modified 2 two days EARLIER at 2013-03-25T00:56:32-04:00.

It might mean that we're watching a movie while it's being made.

Or that he's just messing with us now, by changing the date on his computer

[treadman]

Perhaps it is a metaphor for a relationship:

At first they are sitting together. Not doing much. Just getting familiar with each other.
They start building a life together. It's nothing special but they like it.
But he leaves her. "Later" "Bye" She continues to build.
He returns. He gets right back to helping build their life, even though she's done most of the work by now.
Then she walks out without a word of farewell. He continues to build.
Finally, sensing that it's time to move on, he walks away from the life they had built.
He finds her again. She has built a new life. A nicer life. She allows him to be a part of her new life and lets him build with her.
She goes back to take a look at their old life together. Maybe by sprucing it up, she can remember those times more fondly.
But she's not so sure and decides to sit and contemplate.
He finds her sitting there. Thinking it might help their relationship, she asks if he would like to take some time off together.
Maybe a vacation. "Wanna swim?" "Yeah"
Perhaps it wasn't a good idea, though. Perhaps none of this life together was a good idea.
"Are you OK?" "PFFTHH *cough* Just got some in my mouth" She's sick of it.
She leaves. He putters around a little. He leaves.
The life they built together is abandoned and left to the ravages of time.

[TheBauhausCure]

After all this, it'd be so sad to see it washed away. I know it's inevitable, but I'd rather the roller-coaster of emotions this comic has been to end on a happy note.

[KarMann]

I always find AIs that don't realise they're AIs quite poignant. I really should stop releasing them into the wild.

I'm never quite sure which it is with me.

Self-realisation: What if we are all Randall?!!!

I'm Randall, and so's my wife!
(This does get somewhat disconcerting, with Randall being my RL name, and so every time I see Him mentioned here, I have a split second of "huh?".)

[arjan]

The last one says it was was created 2013-03-27T06:42:46-04:00 and modified 2 two days EARLIER at 2013-03-25T00:56:32-04:00.

It might mean that we're watching a movie while it's being made.

Or that he's just messing with us now, by changing the date on his computer

In that case it's a very important observation. The messing has been going on since monday, but now there's EXTRA messing around!

[xspeedballx]

NO! You said the word, you said it!

Argh! Now I said it! AHHH! Make it stop! Oh no!

What's wrong with you? What is it?

It's it.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTQfGd3G6dg#t=4m40s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERTT_sv8sV0

[Black Hat Guy]

Occam's Razor for me: no coffee lake, no snow, just a beach and a (awesome) sand castle.

Occam's razor is about simplifying one theory, not about picking between two theories.

May i quote Wikipedia on Occam´s razor?
"It states that among competing hypotheses, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be selected."

Well according to Ocam's Razor then, you do not exist. Ha.

Nope. If he doesn't exist, why is he on the forum? Ghost? Where did the ghost come from? What mechanism is therefore needed? This all needs explaining, so a better theory is that he is simply a living person.

[blowfishhootie]

After all this, it'd be so sad to see it washed away. I know it's inevitable, but I'd rather the roller-coaster of emotions this comic has been to end on a happy note.

Every person obviously interprets it differently, but for me, I don't think the castle being washed away (or eroded, or otherwise destroyed through natural processes) is necessarily sad. It's kind of peaceful really, and in some ways romantic. Here's this thing these two (presumed) lovers built together, and only time and mother earth can break it down again - but it's not destroyed, it just kind of disassembles it for the next happy builders to come along and repeat the sequence. Without the destruction there can be no new creation - eventually we'd just run out of material. Nothing humans make is endless, but this is about as nice an end as any human creation could wish for. Better than if it were a real castle, pretty much designed to be invaded by hostile forces looking to tear it down.

[AionArap]

The last one says it was was created 2013-03-27T06:42:46-04:00 and modified 2 two days EARLIER at 2013-03-25T00:56:32-04:00.

It might mean that we're watching a movie while it's being made.

Or that he's just messing with us now, by changing the date on his computer

In that case it's a very important observation. The messing has been going on since monday, but now there's EXTRA messing around!

As much as I love the idea, this is normal. Copying a file updates the creation date on the copy, but not the modification date. Sorry

[Incognito357]

Occam's Razor for me: no coffee lake, no snow, just a beach and a (awesome) sand castle.

Occam's razor is about simplifying one theory, not about picking between two theories.

May i quote Wikipedia on Occam´s razor?
"It states that among competing hypotheses, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be selected."

Well according to Ocam's Razor then, you do not exist. Ha.

Nope. If he doesn't exist, why is he on the forum? Ghost? Where did the ghost come from? What mechanism is therefore needed? This all needs explaining, so a better theory is that he is simply a living person.

did you forget bot?

[midian]

thank you Aubron Wood (http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/#), you have made something remarkable a lot more accessible. i like being able to go frame by frame at my own speed. now i get to appreciate the ones i missed.


i also am really excited about what new might be there tomorrow (which is just 4 newpix away in my time zone). 'time', 'the past', next: 'the present'?

however i suspect it will turns out to be unrelated. and time goes on quietly in the background, as it does in life.

bravo, RM, bravo.

[bgzi]

After all this, it'd be so sad to see it washed away. I know it's inevitable, but I'd rather the roller-coaster of emotions this comic has been to end on a happy note.

Every person obviously interprets it differently, but for me, I don't think the castle being washed away (or eroded, or otherwise destroyed through natural processes) is necessarily sad. It's kind of peaceful really, and in some ways romantic. Here's this thing these two (presumed) lovers built together, and only time and mother earth can break it down again - but it's not destroyed, it just kind of disassembles it for the next happy builders to come along and repeat the sequence. Without the destruction there can be no new creation - eventually we'd just run out of material. Nothing humans make is endless, but this is about as nice an end as any human creation could wish for. Better than if it were a real castle, pretty much designed to be invaded by hostile forces looking to tear it down.

Ah, that's life, isn't it?

[Kieryn]

The sea is sloooowly rising. That gives credit to the Great Destruction And Loop theory.
If this goes like when the camera zoomed out, it should rise exponentially, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Yet.

Assuming all the following:
-the flow of their time is constant between newpix
-this it is in fact a tide,
-the tide is following a normal sinusoidal pattern
-the tide will rise around 100-200 pixels or enough to wipe out the castle

and given:
-we have had about 190 frames at the baseline of the sine curve
-its now only just starting to visibly rise at a rate of at a guess less than 0.5 pixels per newpix

then by my calculations, we are looking at least 2000 more frames before full tide.