1190: "Time"

[KarMann]

Well if HAL won't help, maybe you'll find someone else to help you.

Maybe Black Mesa?

Was that a joke?

Anyway, this cake is great.

So she's told me.
http://xkcd.com/375/

Can I talk to SAL instead? I'm starting to have my doubts about you.

[spamjam]

[Claveluza]

I go on Easter hols and the thread is past the 200 pages... guys, I CAN'T.

So, what are you all talking about now?

[higgs-boson]

Good morning, here's Europe, awake and kickin'.

Was that shirt thing some hundred pages back real or just people goofing off? I think the final push for joining the forums was just to buy a shirt.

I do hope there can be shirts at some point. I don't think changing pictures is very possible though. I think you can do a pic that changes into another pic. (I know they make coffee cups that do that, so might have to settle.) Of course, shirts came up more than once, so I don't know which one you are referencing exactly.

The initial T-shirt (page 38, viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&p=3304764#p3304764) was a fake, however it could have been made real with a shipping address and, of course, a valid credit card number.

Living through what we have lived through, and knowing that #1190 would have to run at least for more than 5 (FIVE) more months to meet Click & Drags greatness on pixel level*, this T-shirt feels not even close to adequate. As tame as a humble nun wearing habit, way to large glasses, and an old style chignon. No offense meant, but the T-shirt resembling The Waiting would have to be a great deal more sexy.

Even "... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" would be laughable weak.
After all, we are experiencing the longest strip tease ever. Aren't we?


*Fortunately, greatness is not measured in pixel**.
**I know what you want to say. Don't.

[Flotter]

A miracle! In the source code I'm currently working on I've found a variable named timeFrame! It must be a Sign!

[Flotter]

Frame 364:

[orthogon]

Guys/dudes/y'all, please no more discussion of 2001 without spoiler tags! Some of us haven't seen the movie yet! Well, ok, "some" is probably an over-estimate. It's probably just me.

[Mr Moriaty]

New theory: This is all a dream inside Cue Balls head, At the end of the dream he will come to in the shower and we will all realise we've all been duped. This explains why nothing makes any sense anymore.
Of course if it is a proper dream there should be some kinky action before the end and maybe a blimp.

[XonqNopp]

I go on Easter hols and the thread is past the 200 pages... guys, I CAN'T.

So, what are you all talking about now?

Y'know... Weather... Tides... Sand... Time...

(Even when I just slept, the thread came with more than 50 new pages... I just can't read them, I am supposed to work...)

[KarMann]

[RobIrr]

Of course if it is a proper dream there should be some kinky action before the end and maybe a blimp.

Ten years on and any blimp reference still makes me chuckle, remembering this.

I'm astonished that after 9 newpix of coma, I still caught up on this thread in less than half of one. What's up with folks? I want my morning entertainment to last longer.


Edit: drat, I de-lurked, didn't I?

[Jonas79]

Oh, he's not doing my design anymore

[KarMann]

[higgs-boson]

Is Cueball playing for time or just that bad on Actual Sized Sand Castle Engineering?

Having to undo and rebuild some work is ... ehr ... not unheared of. But Cueboll and Megan had a plan. At least I suspected ...

• Do we have to assume that there was more talk than Bye/Later, Wanna-Swim and Howsdariver?
• Is there a Plan (with capital "P")?
• How are they dressed (ehr... just curious)?
• What the ... is Megan doing?
• Is the current phase of boredom intended? There'd be much to read into it.
• Will there be another trébuchet? And if yes, how many persons are needed to carry it?
• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.
  

On meta:

Do we have to align our speculations about the things Randall may have intended to say with the comic? Maybe #1190 was nothing but an infrastructural test run for April 1st? Or do we have to evaluate both comics in another context: How many resources (#1190: human resources, #1193: human resources and, of course, a great deal of CPU time, clima etc.) can a single man burn down for next to nothing? Randall does have some kind of Guru status. And like it or not, we are followers, at least to a certain degree. YOU (as you are reading this in a forum commenting on a web comic, on page 230+) could not deny this, fortunately you won't try, anyway.

This is not meant as harsh critisism. Pioneer work does not have to follow a sane business case. The things he did with html5 can be used for really fascinating projects. And given the fact that some browsers did not even show that the page is still open to server-triggered modifications, half of my own ideas may be frightening as well. Html5 is a tool. Html5 is no more evil than a brick... Well, windowpanes may disagree.

[tman2nd]

[42guests]

42 guests currently reading this post = that did it for me. After following this post for ages, and spending all day reading the debates over the accepted usage of terms for hypothetical realities and gender-neutral pronouns in the sealed section of 'Pressures'... and wondering what BHG was going to do with that bowling ball in the toilet stalls... and someone posting a link to the Argument sketch..., it was the fact that when I returned to this post (which when I was last reading it the other day, had only 17 pages) there were 42 guests. I know this is off-topic, sorry for the inconvenience, but I signed up to say thank-you to everyone for their contributions to this forum, and that that is what I have been doing with my time today.

[orthogon]

Apostolic Visitator, Holiest of Holy Fun-Havers

Hang on a minute. The historical record as revealed by the One True Thread clearly shows that His (or her) (arse-)holiness Pope Helper the zeroth appointed you Apostolic Vistitator and owing to papal infallibility this must stand. I beseech you to change your sig accordingly, lest you be burned as a heretic.
[Edit: pronouns]
[Edit2: I used the Outsider unit "minute". I meant "Hang on a centilongpix" (roughly speaking). Mea maxima culpa.]

[tman2nd]

[peewee_RotA]

We need a ruling from Pope Helper, although some cardinals can shed light.

What is the preferred standard terminology when converting Timeframes to metric Longpix? Basically we need to make up another clever word to represent the time warp changes that affected the TimeFrame intervals in outsider time.

[XonqNopp]

• What the ... is Megan doing?
• Will there be another trébuchet? And if yes, how many persons are needed to carry it?

Oh, wait! We saw that when we thought someone was "absent", he was actually outside our frame of view (err... french expression, not sure it is good english) building something else (another sandcastle or a trebuchet). She was away for a long time now, so I see two possibilities in this way of thinking: either she built a whole sandfortress and what we see would then only be the scout part of the fortress, or she is building a massive trebuchet for the next step.

Since we do not know what the water is, it can be a river or a small lake (the surface seams very steady so I don't think it is the river, but it might be), which means the opposite side could be not too far from them. Maybe there are other people on the other shore which are also building sandcastles and trebuchet, and both sides wait to be ready to attack the other side...

If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Yeah, definitely! On a second thought... We all know Randall (at least, his comics)... And we know he doesn't have the same fantasms as Mr Everybody... Maybe it IS a dream, building amazing sandcastles, destroying them with cool trebuchets... We still have to wait to understand better this comic...

Randall does have some kind of Guru status. And like it or not, we are followers, at least to a certain degree. YOU (as you are reading this in a forum commenting on a web comic, on page 230+) could not deny this, fortunately you won't try, anyway.

Oh, and since we observed the new pictures were slower to come since yesterday, will there be other slowing phases? Maybe Randall set up this comic to never end (you know, each time running half of the other won't brig you to the other)... Will there be an end to this???

[higgs-boson]

Apostolic Visitator, Holiest of Holy Fun-Havers

Hang on a minute. The historical record as revealed by the One True Thread clearly shows that His (or her) (arse-)holiness Pope Helper the zeroth appointed you Apostolic Vistitator and owing to papal infallibility this must stand. I beseech you to change your sig accordingly, lest you be burned as a heretic.
[Edit: pronouns]
[Edit2: I used the Outsider unit "minute". I meant "Hang on a centilongpix" (roughly speaking). Mea maxima culpa.]

Relax. For we all may speak high of your zeal and sharp eyes, Pope Helper in his wisdom did not pretext the anointing with "Simon says: ", as any member of the Congregatio pro Doctrina Temporis would certainly have to point out. So it is to us to deduce (not to interpret!) the Meaning of Pope Helpers words and not to fumble over semi-mortal syntactical incidents.

[peewee_RotA]

Apostolic Visitator, Holiest of Holy Fun-Havers

Hang on a minute. The historical record as revealed by the One True Thread clearly shows that His (or her) (arse-)holiness Pope Helper the zeroth appointed you Apostolic Vistitator and owing to papal infallibility this must stand. I beseech you to change your sig accordingly, lest you be burned as a heretic.
[Edit: pronouns]
[Edit2: I used the Outsider unit "minute". I meant "Hang on a centilongpix" (roughly speaking). Mea maxima culpa.]

Relax. For we all may speak high of your zeal and sharp eyes, Pope Helper in his wisdom did not pretext the anointing with "Simon says: ", as any member of the Congregatio pro Doctrina Temporis would certainly have to point out. So it is to us to deduce (not to interpret!) the Meaning of Pope Helpers words and not to fumble over semi-mortal syntactical incidents.

We all know how that turns out.

[orthogon]

Apostolic Visitator, Holiest of Holy Fun-Havers

Hang on a minute. The historical record as revealed by the One True Thread clearly shows that His (or her) (arse-)holiness Pope Helper the zeroth appointed you Apostolic Vistitator and owing to papal infallibility this must stand. I beseech you to change your sig accordingly, lest you be burned as a heretic.
[Edit: pronouns]
[Edit2: I used the Outsider unit "minute". I meant "Hang on a centilongpix" (roughly speaking). Mea maxima culpa.]

Relax. For we all may speak high of your zeal and sharp eyes, Pope Helper in his wisdom did not pretext the anointing with "Simon says: ", as any member of the Congregatio pro Doctrina Temporis would certainly have to point out. So it is to us to deduce (not to interpret!) the Meaning of Pope Helpers words and not to fumble over semi-mortal syntactical incidents.

I must bow to your greater theological knowledge. In my heathen ignorance I had presumed to notice that the symbol t has long been held as symbolic of Time itself, and that the denomination "vistitator" contains exactly three instances of the Holy Grapheme, which I foolishly thought might symbolise the Holy "Trintity" (Cueball, Megan and the One True Castle) itself.

[higgs-boson]

...

I must bow to your greater theological knowledge. In my heathen ignorance I had presumed to notice that the symbol t has long been held as symbolic of Time itself, and that the denomination "vistitator" contains exactly three instances of the Holy Grapheme, which I foolishly thought might symbolise the Holy "Trintity" (Cueball, Megan and the One True Castle) itself.

No offense Tttaken.

---

We need a ruling from Pope Helper, although some cardinals can shed light.

What is the preferred standard terminology when converting Timeframes to metric Longpix? Basically we need to make up another clever word to represent the time warp changes that affected the TimeFrame intervals in outsider time.

Long time ago I suggested vpx /nju:pix/ (first letter being Greek ny) for the "physical appearance" of a newpix. Definition of vpx/min, average vpx/day (with min and day being some strange Outside time units) would be easily done. In the Beginning, we experienced 1 vpx/newpix, then it dropped to 0.5 vpx/newpix, creating the need for longpix as new calibration target for gauging.

Would this help?

However, if we'd dig into newpix as a measurement of time (no capital T) and tie it to the events, we would let Time bending time and risking knots in our brains.
Yeah, a Cardinal statement would be appreciated*.

*Apostolic Visitators are known for their questions, not answers.

[KarMann]

Is Cueball playing for time or just that bad on Actual Sized Sand Castle Engineering?

Having to undo and rebuild some work is ... ehr ... not unheared of. But Cueboll and Megan had a plan. At least I suspected ...

<snip>
• Is there a Plan (with capital "P")?

Oh, crap. Cueball & Megan are toasters?!?

• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Or the symbolic version, perhaps.

On meta:
Do we have to align our speculations about the things Randall may have intended to say with the comic? Maybe #1190 was nothing but an infrastructural test run for April 1st? Or do we have to evaluate both comics in another context: How many resources (#1190: human resources, #1193: human resources and, of course, a great deal of CPU time, clima etc.) can a single man burn down for next to nothing?

Don't forget Wikipedia editors' time, for #1193.

Randall does have some kind of Guru status. And like it or not, we are followers, at least to a certain degree. YOU (as you are reading this in a forum commenting on a web comic, on page 230+) could not deny this, fortunately you won't try, anyway.
<snip>

Gee, what gave it away? Was it the part where we referred to him as Great Lord Randall, by any chance?

[StratPlayer]

Catching up on some of the recent postings I missed, and I see this from our Arch-Cardinal:

Ok, so I think that the final culmination of The One True Comic (if there is one) MUST involve something specifically about either Time or Waiting. Also, I think we will have another zoom-out, and then maybe another few after that. Eventually it will be the earth, then the solar system, the galaxy, the universe.

The castle-building is a metaphor for human existence in general, and the eventual zooming out will put both Humanity and Time in perspective -- maybe something going all the way back to the Big Bong Theory.

Okay, all you people care about is Hats and Evil (snipped from quote). The Arch-Cardinal posted about the content of the One True Comic! for once Hear Her!


Signed,
buffygirl, She who Rises From The Flames Like A Phoenix To Continue With Her Pursuit of Hat Perfection.

Edit: *pouts*

You know what? That was a really insightful thought amidst the normal hatophilia! I apologize for not being on-line earlier and commenting on it at the Time -- hopefully this will retroactively de-pout ya!

EDITTED too coreckt mie schitty spelingk..

[Magdiragdag]

[Exodies]

A time joke

An old Italian man is dying. He calls his grandson to his bedside.
"Guido, I wan' you lissina me. I wan' you to take-a my chrome plated ..38 revolver so you will always remember me."

"But Grandpa, I really don't like guns.. How about you leave me your Rolex watch instead?"

"You lissina me, boy. Somma day you gonna be runna da business, you gonna have a beautiful wife, lotsa money, a big-a home and maybe a couple of bambinos. Somma day you gonna come-a home and maybe finda you wife inna bed with another man. Whatta you gonna do then? Pointa to you watch and say, 'times up'?!"

[StratPlayer]

Is the NewPix interval still at one Outsider "hour"? Or is the Time dilation continuing?!?

EDIT: OK, never mind -- another NewPix as expected... <whew>

[StratPlayer]

• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Or the symbolic version, perhaps.

"Oh yeah baby, let's erect a sand-castle..."

[bigcrag92]

• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Or the symbolic version, perhaps.

"Oh yeah baby, let's erect a sand-castle..."

what does the trebuchet symbolise in that scenario?

[orthogon]

Incidentally, the Holy Grapheme is not to be confused with the Holy Graphene, which along with the Holy Uranium-238 is guarded by Mr Moriarty, Holy Geophysicist and Keeper of the Holy Elements.

[KarMann]

• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Or the symbolic version, perhaps.

"Oh yeah baby, let's erect a sand-castle..."

"I herd u didn't liek forming babby, but I accidentally in your moat."

[KarMann]

Incidentally, the Holy Grapheme is not to be confused with the Holy Graphene, which along with the Holy Uranium-238 is guarded by Mr Moriarty, Holy Geophysicist and Keeper of the Holy Elements.

What happened to all the Holy U-235, anyway?

Added: *snicker* After seeing that, I suddenly thought "Holy U-235, Hatman!"

[Dracomax]

Good morning, here's Europe, awake and kickin'.

Was that shirt thing some hundred pages back real or just people goofing off? I think the final push for joining the forums was just to buy a shirt.

I do hope there can be shirts at some point. I don't think changing pictures is very possible though. I think you can do a pic that changes into another pic. (I know they make coffee cups that do that, so might have to settle.) Of course, shirts came up more than once, so I don't know which one you are referencing exactly.

The initial T-shirt (page 38, viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&p=3304764#p3304764) was a fake, however it could have been made real with a shipping address and, of course, a valid credit card number.

Living through what we have lived through, and knowing that #1190 would have to run at least for more than 5 (FIVE) more months to meet Click & Drags greatness on pixel level*, this T-shirt feels not even close to adequate. As tame as a humble nun wearing habit, way to large glasses, and an old style chignon. No offense meant, but the T-shirt resembling The Waiting would have to be a great deal more sexy.

Even "... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" would be laughable weak.
After all, we are experiencing the longest strip tease ever. Aren't we?


*Fortunately, greatness is not measured in pixel**.
**I know what you want to say. Don't.

How about a t-shirt with "I was part of the longest strip tease ¹ever" on the front, and "No, i seriously waited for pixels², and all i got was this awesome t-shirt; a new religion, and a possessed hat⁴!" on the back?

¹should this be hyphenated?
² maybe mention newpix in here somewhere?
³join us!
⁴ your hat may not be possessed. this is a good thing, as it means you are not dealing with the ultimate evil.^5
5if you are dealing with the ultimate evil, expect a visit from the inquisition.^6
6the inquisitions chief methods of torture are recursing foot-notes¹, comfy chairs, the iron maiden⁷, and pillows⁸.
⁷However, with all the pointy, phallic bits inside, it should probably be renamed the iron slut
⁸I may have taken this joke too far....^9
9time for ridiculous speculation: the lump is Megan's buried body, which is obviously Randall's way of telling us he's been murdered and needs our help to find his killer.

[StratPlayer]

• If Cueball is dreaming, why the hell ... well, imagine: Megan. Cueball. River. Beach. And he came up with this...?! This must be the censored version, then.

Or the symbolic version, perhaps.

"Oh yeah baby, let's erect a sand-castle..."

what does the trebuchet symbolise in that scenario?

Ummm.... Cranking on it to the launching point results in rock-hard orbs flung with abandon, which thrust deeply into the soft, moist, and eagerly yielding sand?*

*(sandishness still unconfirmed)

[KarMann]

Good morning, here's Europe, awake and kickin'.

Was that shirt thing some hundred pages back real or just people goofing off? I think the final push for joining the forums was just to buy a shirt.

I do hope there can be shirts at some point. I don't think changing pictures is very possible though. I think you can do a pic that changes into another pic. (I know they make coffee cups that do that, so might have to settle.) Of course, shirts came up more than once, so I don't know which one you are referencing exactly.

The initial T-shirt (page 38, viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&p=3304764#p3304764) was a fake, however it could have been made real with a shipping address and, of course, a valid credit card number.

Living through what we have lived through, and knowing that #1190 would have to run at least for more than 5 (FIVE) more months to meet Click & Drags greatness on pixel level*, this T-shirt feels not even close to adequate. As tame as a humble nun wearing habit, way to large glasses, and an old style chignon. No offense meant, but the T-shirt resembling The Waiting would have to be a great deal more sexy.

Even "... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" would be laughable weak.
After all, we are experiencing the longest strip tease ever. Aren't we?


*Fortunately, greatness is not measured in pixel**.
**I know what you want to say. Don't.

How about a t-shirt with "I was part of the longest strip tease ¹ever" on the front, and "No, i seriously waited for pixels², and all i got was this awesome t-shirt; a new religion, and a possessed hat⁴!" on the back?

¹should this be hyphenated?
² maybe mention newpix in here somewhere?
³join us!
⁴ your hat may not be possessed. this is a good thing, as it means you are not dealing with the ultimate evil.^5
5if you are dealing with the ultimate evil, expect a visit from the inquisition.^6
6the inquisitions chief methods of torture are recursing foot-notes¹, comfy chairs, the iron maiden⁷, and pillows⁸.
⁷However, with all the pointy, phallic bits inside, it should probably be renamed the iron slut
⁸I may have taken this joke too far....^9
9time for ridiculous speculation: the lump is Megan's buried body, which is obviously Randall's way of telling us he's been murdered and needs our help to find his killer.

Dammit, where the Hell does 3 come from?! You bastard!

[bigcrag92]

Good morning, here's Europe, awake and kickin'.
<snip>

wow you're all of europe? I'm impressed.

[bigcrag92]

Good morning, here's Europe, awake and kickin'.

Was that shirt thing some hundred pages back real or just people goofing off? I think the final push for joining the forums was just to buy a shirt.

I do hope there can be shirts at some point. I don't think changing pictures is very possible though. I think you can do a pic that changes into another pic. (I know they make coffee cups that do that, so might have to settle.) Of course, shirts came up more than once, so I don't know which one you are referencing exactly.

The initial T-shirt (page 38, viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&p=3304764#p3304764) was a fake, however it could have been made real with a shipping address and, of course, a valid credit card number.

Living through what we have lived through, and knowing that #1190 would have to run at least for more than 5 (FIVE) more months to meet Click & Drags greatness on pixel level*, this T-shirt feels not even close to adequate. As tame as a humble nun wearing habit, way to large glasses, and an old style chignon. No offense meant, but the T-shirt resembling The Waiting would have to be a great deal more sexy.

Even "... and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" would be laughable weak.
After all, we are experiencing the longest strip tease ever. Aren't we?


*Fortunately, greatness is not measured in pixel**.
**I know what you want to say. Don't.

How about a t-shirt with "I was part of the longest strip tease ¹ever" on the front, and "No, i seriously waited for pixels², and all i got was this awesome t-shirt; a new religion, and a possessed hat⁴!" on the back?

¹should this be hyphenated?
² maybe mention newpix in here somewhere?
³join us!
⁴ your hat may not be possessed. this is a good thing, as it means you are not dealing with the ultimate evil.^5
5if you are dealing with the ultimate evil, expect a visit from the inquisition.^6
6the inquisitions chief methods of torture are recursing foot-notes¹, comfy chairs, the iron maiden⁷, and pillows⁸.
⁷However, with all the pointy, phallic bits inside, it should probably be renamed the iron slut
⁸I may have taken this joke too far....^9
9time for ridiculous speculation: the lump is Megan's buried body, which is obviously Randall's way of telling us he's been murdered and needs our help to find his killer.

Dammit, where the Hell does 3 come from?! You bastard!

if you were reading footnotes correctly you shouldn't have noticed...

[Mr Moriaty]

Incidentally, the Holy Grapheme is not to be confused with the Holy Graphene, which along with the Holy Uranium-238 is guarded by Mr Moriarty, Holy Geophysicist and Keeper of the Holy Elements.

What happened to all the Holy U-235, anyway?

Added: *snicker* After seeing that, I suddenly thought "Holy U-235, Hatman!"

Its locked in a broom closet. I am unsure of what Pope-Helper plans to do with it but it goes great on toast with some Stilton and a little Port. .