1190: "Time"

[Roia]

<snip>
He did start up his own discussion. Topic: Discuss whether or not this thread is discussing the meaning and interpretations of the XKCD comic 'Time'.

I think we may need to discuss whether it is a worthwhile use of our time to discuss whether this thread is discussing the meaning of the comic.

I think this thread IS discussing the meaning of the comic. After all, what is meaning but the meaning we attribute to an event? To discuss the 'correct' meaning of the comic would be akin to discussing the 'correct' meaning of a piece of art. Therefore, even if the discussion involves how the comic is about green psychic monkeys that grow orchids in their hair, it is discussing the meaning if the comic as that is the meaning I have attributed to the event.

The is no right or wrong meaning. There is only Time, and the only thing we can do is Wait.

[SBN]

The is no right or wrong meaning. There is only Time, and the only thing we can do is Wait.

Perhaps Randall is illustrating the futility of waiting for Time. Time passes while we wait, attempting to accumulate it. But I'll think about that more another day, when I have more time.

[treadman]

<snip>
He did start up his own discussion. Topic: Discuss whether or not this thread is discussing the meaning and interpretations of the XKCD comic 'Time'.

I think we may need to discuss whether it is a worthwhile use of our time to discuss whether this thread is discussing the meaning of the comic.

I believe that will be a worthwhile discussion. All in favor, say "aye!"

Right! This calls for immediate discussion!

[AionArap]

<snip>
"Lupus magnus est! Lupus fortis est! Lupus deus est!"

"Esurientes sicut lupus" (Duran Duran)

Jeez, thanks for bringing back that repressed 80'ies memory.

Sorry...

How 'bout this instead?

"Lupus ad Luna" (Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow)

Thanks, that would make up for it.
And then some

EDIT: Although it has to be said, Rainbow sans RJD was never the same again

Missed your edit first time through, but I absolutely agree!

<age & location reveal> I was going to see them live in Royal Oak, Mi in like 1978 or so, but ended up getting sick and not making the 3-hour trip across state with my friends. Was very bummed at the time. </age & location reveal>

Well, I was half a world away and in the equivalent of elementary school at the time, so...
My first RJD sighting was 1984 in Norway when Dio visited us northeners. I guess that's it for my reveal

[lmjb1964]

It sure would be nice if there was a thread devoted to discussing the meanings and interpretations of the XKCD comic 'Time', perhaps in addition to this thread.

There is a wiki, with a whole page about such things!

The wiki and this thread provide a place to join in clubby, posturing granfalloonery. I'm looking for a forum where people are discussing the comic.

Has anybody found one?

I have traveled from the past to warn of the foolhardiness of your quest. Remember, THIS thread started out as a place for people to discuss the comic "Time," and it has since spawned religions, sects, an order of knights, and a new language. Start another thread and who know what could happen? The entire world order could be overthrown, religious wars could be, the planets could slip out of alignment. More than likely, though, it would slip into more granfoolery.

Having said all that, despite the aforementioned GF, there is indeed running thread this thread an incredibly detailed and sometimes even thoughtful (sometimes not) conversation about The One True Comic. Just read through all 310 pages, and you'll see.

Now I return to the past, inspired by the brave Blitzgirl, to wade through the many posts, as one wades through a river, or perhaps an ocean.

Edited to cheer on Gingercat, and any other blitzers out there. Keep going, we're waiting for you in the future!

[spamjam]

[fhorn]

Looking for BlitzGirl in this list but I can't find her anywhere.

Sorry, that's a really big-ass picture!

[manvandmaan]

MESSAGE TO NOBODY/ALL SONS OF BEACHES

Just like the Knights Temporal, I think we should give our Grains some presents, when they are initiated.
I propose the following:

-A +1¹ Croissant of Deliciousness
-A Coupon for a free breakfast at the Bakery
-A Ring with our yet to be revealed Crest

¹The +1 stands for one cup of strawberry jam.

[Eliram]

When Blitzgirl arrives in the present which will be the future, there will be much rejoicing.

i think, in years to come, new true believers will be required, as part of their training, to read this entire thread.
This will probably take some time, and give some time back.
This ceremonial phase will be called Blitzgirling, and every time they reach a blitzgirl reference they will drink.
And drink they shall.

[Shepherdess]

It's with a heavy heart, I offer all of you my findings.

Unfortunately, after much research and study, I have uncovered a terrible, hidden, mathematical code that reveals my deepest of fears.

I'd rather show you just one of the hundreds of slides I've put together for a lecture I'm holding on this topic sometime later this year at TED. But I think you'll find a glance is all that is needed to convince.

Spoiler:

It's the only possible conclusion. I leave it to the rest of you to look into this grave matter on your own terms.

I don't even.

I tell you, it's as sound and infallible a science as the Bible Code.

That's torn it. Now that you've connected your secret messages with the Knights Temporal, you may have sealed your doom and that of your newly adopted order.

Unfortunately, I predict that on Saturday the 13th, the Knights Temporal will be betrayed and arrested; tortured into confessing to spurious charges of heresy, mathematical illiteracy, and belief in outside time; and condemned. Your impressive graph will be a central piece of evidence against your order.

However, the identity of the monarch who will order your arrest (the Mome will merely condone it) is still obscure. Only by careful analysis of clues hidden deeply in the 2⁹+ frames thus far presented will you have a chance to preempt the arrest and save the Knights Temporal from destruction.

I, Jay the Clerk, predict this.

You and your oppressive hegemony don't scare me! I am a Knight Temporal! Like Socrates, Galileo, Alan Turing, and Johnny Five, the robot from Short Circuit, I shall endure any fate the Inquisition may have for me. Be it hemlock, house arrest, cyanide poisoning, or... uh... disassemble.

Knights Temporal, UNITE!




I said... UNITE!









...I might need my whistle back.

Sorry! Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! I wasn't wearing my glasses at the Time of the call to arms and I just came back from spending almost an entire day running around and undoing people's shoelaces with my foil.

[lmjb1964]

Therefore, even if the discussion involves how the comic is about green psychic monkeys that grow orchids in their hair, it is discussing the meaning if the comic as that is the meaning I have attributed to the event.

That's what the comic is about? Wow, I totally missed that.

[AionArap]

Looking for BlitzGirl in this list but I can't find her anywhere.

Sorry, that's a really big-ass picture!

Please no. No big ass-pictures, i beg you, just no...

[BlitzGirl]

Quest progress: 238 out of 310 pages.
Recursion. NP 380.

As the topic of the thread of Time begins to enter the period of Recursion, I'm feeling a little loopy myself. All of a sudden, messages of encouragement are flooding backward down the thread, in signature form, perhaps responses to my posts of despair from several longpix ago. The sigcouragements I have received thus far:

Attn: BlitzGirl - Do not despair. We await you!

I am deeply grateful for this, although of course I understand that Waiting for the One True Comic supersedes all other forms of waiting! It must be difficult waiting on a person lost in the past.

The future's always ordinary, once you get to it.
Unless you're Blitzgirl, in which case the future is full of encouragement and people who are eager to see you complete your pilgrimage!

Indeed, my future, your present Time, now seems far brighter than I supposed. So many warm, inviting, living people!

message to the followers trapped in the past => don't give up, we are counting on you, you have to get here before *graaaaaa.....* .

Oh dear, perhaps not quite so full of warm people after all.

We wait, and we watch, and we rejoice in the coming of our Sister BlitzGirl.

I am a Sister? When did that happen?

And a message to BlitzGirl: "We eagerly anticipate your arrival! Please Wait for It a little faster!"

I'm Waiting as fast as I can!

Now I had better pause in my replies and continue on my way, if I ever hope to reach this glorious future of which you all speak.

[AionArap]

I think the current interpretations of Time are suffering from a major fundamental defect. You see, most people perceive Time as proceeding linearly from cause to effect, for example: The sea was rising, so Megan built a dike. In reality, however, it's more of a great big ball of ...wibbly wobbly...timey wimey...stuff. For all we know, the sea could be rising because Cueball and Megan time travelled backwards from the future and added energy to the universe, creating an infinite loop where more and more energy is added to the system, warming the earth and melting the glaciers.

Start well, that sandcastle did.

FTFY

[digimuzik]

Spoiler:

Sorry, that's a really big-ass picture!

Sweeet. Anything I haven't seen on there just went to the top of my list!

[htom]

Spoiler:

Sorry, that's a really big-ass picture!

Sweeet. Anything I haven't seen on there just went to the top of my list!

One of the better ideas I've heard today.

[cari.j.elliot]

Quest progress: 238 out of 310 pages.
Recursion. NP 380.

As the topic of the thread of Time begins to enter the period of Recursion, I'm feeling a little loopy myself. All of a sudden, messages of encouragement are flooding backward down the thread, in signature form, perhaps responses to my posts of despair from several longpix ago. The sigcouragements I have received thus far:

Attn: BlitzGirl - Do not despair. We await you!

I am deeply grateful for this, although of course I understand that Waiting for the One True Comic supersedes all other forms of waiting! It must be difficult waiting on a person lost in the past.

The future's always ordinary, once you get to it.
Unless you're Blitzgirl, in which case the future is full of encouragement and people who are eager to see you complete your pilgrimage!

Indeed, my future, your present Time, now seems far brighter than I supposed. So many warm, inviting, living people!

message to the followers trapped in the past => don't give up, we are counting on you, you have to get here before *graaaaaa.....* .

Oh dear, perhaps not quite so full of warm people after all.

We wait, and we watch, and we rejoice in the coming of our Sister BlitzGirl.

I am a Sister? When did that happen?

And a message to BlitzGirl: "We eagerly anticipate your arrival! Please Wait for It a little faster!"

I'm Waiting as fast as I can!

Now I had better pause in my replies and continue on my way, if I ever hope to reach this glorious future of which you all speak.

A Sister in Waiting. Though you could join the Initiates of Time, as well.

[partingLance]

I hereby make it known, that I, manvandemaan have created a local Sandmasonry chapter.

Our Chapter is called: Chapter 3: Wherein our Hero founds a new Chapter named: Chapter 3: Wherein our Hero founds a new Chapter named: Chapter 3 /snip
also know as: The Self-Referring Recursive Chapter. (TSRRC)

Our "clubhouse" is in the (hidden) backroom of a bakery, not far from the central TimeWaiters restaurant.

Our local rituals are:
- We deny our existence and also we deny our non-existence.
- We replace "and" by "and also"
- We meet at breakfast (which can be any time of day, since it's always a good time for a breakfast)
- We drink Tea (although Coffee is also allowed)
- We wait for it

Our ranks are:
- NewGrain
- SandGrain
- HigherGrain
- Chief of Grains

Our logo is:
Under construction. Concepts already exist.

To become a NewGrain, you first have to proclaim you are a Sandmason, then later deny this. After the denial you are initiated.
Anyone of a higher rank can give you a rank-upgrade as high as his/her own rank.
Any initiate may and also may not refer to him/herself as a "Sandmason" or "Son/Daughter of a Beach".

manvandmaan, are you sure you wouldn't be happier in the Western Paradox Church? You're definitely working our corner. Which, of course, and contrary to all expectations including our own, we officially support, and unofficially condemn.

[Angelastic]

I just remembered this song; at the time, it was thought that it was written for a Masters of Song Fu challenge to write a song using exactly ten distinct words, but we now know it is about the One True Comic. Time is love… Time is life.

[HAL9000]

When Blitzgirl arrives in the present which will be the future, there will be much rejoicing.

i think, in years to come, new true believers will be required, as part of their training, to read this entire thread.
This will probably take some time, and give some time back.
This ceremonial phase will be called Blitzgirling, and every time they reach a blitzgirl reference they will drink.
And drink they shall.

Blitzgirl's signposts, when read all in one, actually give a relatively accurate summary of the thread.

[Roia]

Therefore, even if the discussion involves how the comic is about green psychic monkeys that grow orchids in their hair, it is discussing the meaning if the comic as that is the meaning I have attributed to the event.

That's what the comic is about? Wow, I totally missed that.

Surely all the coffeesemenbabies*, sandcastles and rising sea made that obvious? You're not looking at the comic DEEP enough, lmjb...

*Apparently, coffeesemenbabies has now entered my iPads dictionary.

[Jafloi]

<snip>
He did start up his own discussion. Topic: Discuss whether or not this thread is discussing the meaning and interpretations of the XKCD comic 'Time'.

I think we may need to discuss whether it is a worthwhile use of our time to discuss whether this thread is discussing the meaning of the comic.

I believe that will be a worthwhile discussion. All in favor, say "aye!"

aye!

[Exodies]

It sure would be nice if there was a thread devoted to discussing the meanings and interpretations of the XKCD comic 'Time', perhaps in addition to this thread.

There is a wiki, with a whole page about such things!

The wiki and this thread provide a place to join in clubby, posturing granfalloonery. I'm looking for a forum where people are discussing the comic.

Has anybody found one?

This thread has discussion about the comic, generally a few posts per TimeFrame. Maybe there is some lots of peripheral discussion, but currently you are adding to it. If you wish to participate in a discussion of meanings and interpretations, I suggest either reading through the thread and finding those bits that discuss the One True Comic itself, or maybe starting up your own discussion based on your observations thus far.

Perhaps he's come to enlighten us of the existence of the JavaScript, or point out that the liquid level is rising.

Hey, did you see that java script too? I thought I had a virus, spent a weekend reinstalling.

[AionArap]

I hereby make it known, that I, manvandemaan have created a local Sandmasonry chapter.

Our Chapter is called: Chapter 3: Wherein our Hero founds a new Chapter named: Chapter 3: Wherein our Hero founds a new Chapter named: Chapter 3 /snip
also know as: The Self-Referring Recursive Chapter. (TSRRC)

Our "clubhouse" is in the (hidden) backroom of a bakery, not far from the central TimeWaiters restaurant.

Our local rituals are:
- We deny our existence and also we deny our non-existence.
- We replace "and" by "and also"
- We meet at breakfast (which can be any time of day, since it's always a good time for a breakfast)
- We drink Tea (although Coffee is also allowed)
- We wait for it

Our ranks are:
- NewGrain
- SandGrain
- HigherGrain
- Chief of Grains

Our logo is:
Under construction. Concepts already exist.

To become a NewGrain, you first have to proclaim you are a Sandmason, then later deny this. After the denial you are initiated.
Anyone of a higher rank can give you a rank-upgrade as high as his/her own rank.
Any initiate may and also may not refer to him/herself as a "Sandmason" or "Son/Daughter of a Beach".

manvandmaan, are you sure you wouldn't be happier in the Western Paradox Church? You're definitely working our corner. Which, of course, and contrary to all expectations including our own, we officially support, and unofficially condemn.

Hey, those aren't mutually exclusive you know. The Brotherhood of Sandmasons is not a church, and we accept members from any and all religions.
If he* wants to join your cult church, that only furthers our influence. As long as I get all the money...

*Gender inferred from username.

[Roia]

Angelastic: Re. Your sig:

Message for BlitzGirl, I think if you add a note from yourself in your signature knighting yourself as a Knight Temporal, and then you read it back there in the past, you will officially become a Knight Temporal (knighted by your beknighted future self, for only a knight can knight a knight.)

Would that mean Blitzgirl would be the first ever Knight Temporal? At least it would create some kind of bizarre paradox where a Knight existed before the Knights existed. Or something. If so, I approve of it.

[AionArap]

Therefore, even if the discussion involves how the comic is about green psychic monkeys that grow orchids in their hair, it is discussing the meaning if the comic as that is the meaning I have attributed to the event.

That's what the comic is about? Wow, I totally missed that.

Surely all the coffeesemenbabies*, sandcastles and rising sea made that obvious? You're not looking at the comic DEEP enough, lmjb...

*Apparently, coffeesemenbabies has now entered my iPads dictionary.

If only that dictionary synced back to a global shared one*, our world dominance would be right around the corner.

*Come to think of it, it probably does. \o/

[macraw83]

When Blitzgirl arrives in the present which will be the future, there will be much rejoicing.

i think, in years to come, new true believers will be required, as part of their training, to read this entire thread.
This will probably take some time, and give some time back.
This ceremonial phase will be called Blitzgirling, and every time they reach a blitzgirl reference they will drink.
And drink they shall.

Blitzgirl's signposts, when read all in one, actually give a relatively accurate summary of the thread.

I noticed this a few signposts back, but as I was about 8 NewPages behind at the time I decided not to comment.

It will certainly be an exciting time when she becomes a part of the Present, she seems like she might have a lot to add to the current state of affairs.

[histrion]

I just remembered this song; at the time, it was thought that it was written for a Masters of Song Fu challenge to write a song using exactly ten distinct words, but we now know it is about the One True Comic. Time is love… Time is life.

Philip Glass is a loaf of bread! NO CHANGE!

[Angelastic]

Spoiler:

I can't find any movies in that diagram with the special detail 'Time travel in the nude'. In fact, I'm not sure exactly what should indicate that. Is it the unbroken line (implying that any nude time travel necessarily provokes more-than-global scale events) the colour (indicating that nudity itself is a method of time travel; The Legend of Neil: Skinflute of Time?) or the possible slight decrease in opacity (which would be really difficult to spot, and I think I can only see it in the Changes Profession one) or is it that the corners of the round rect have a larger radius? Or is it a red herring because actually none of those movies have nude time travel? Oh, is it the subtle italics? Right, looks like it might be the italics. Carry on.

[Smithers]

Page 229 Addendum:

Preserved for BlitzGirl as she gets further in her journey: an ancient sign written in a strange script. If you translate the script, it says "abandon sanity, all ye who enter here. This be the land of strangeness and madness Reckoning."

And the coffee comments are only about to get wilder. You can't begin to realize yet...

It's not just that Time period that is strange, caffeinatedsemenbabycoffeebacon (or something) still keeps popping up in recent newpix, even over a hundred newpages later...

I alter my earlier statement: I despair at the thought of wandering through endless loops of signposts within signposts, forever reading of caffeinatedsemenbabycoffeebacon (or something).

The Time Thread: Come for an explaination of the comic, stay for the baconcaffeinatedsemencancerbabies!

[histrion]

Spoiler:

I can't find any movies in that diagram with the special detail 'Time travel in the nude'. In fact, I'm not sure exactly what should indicate that. Is it the unbroken line (implying that any nude time travel necessarily provokes more-than-global scale events) the colour (indicating that nudity itself is a method of time travel; The Legend of Neil: Skinflute of Time?) or the possible slight decrease in opacity (which would be really difficult to spot, and I think I can only see it in the Changes Profession one) or is it that the corners of the round rect have a larger radius? Or is it a red herring because actually none of those movies have nude time travel? Oh, is it the subtle italics? Right, looks like it might be the italics. Carry on.

It's the italics.

[spamjam]

[Caswallon]

So currently we have Knights, Cardinals, Bishops, Popes, Anti-Popes, Timewaiters, what else am I missing...

Do we have any Dukes, Arch-Dukes, Duchesses? Or even better, do we have a Holy Timean Emporer(as ordained by one of the churches) yet?

[buffygirl]

Quest progress: 223 out of 303 pages.
The Architect Age. NP 342.

Spoiler:

Alas, I came to this thread hundreds of newpix after the Beginning of Time. As penitence for my lateness and as a demonstration of my devotion I have set out on a quest to read every page of the One True Thread, like the noble Beidah long before me.

Quest progress: 77 out of 223 pages.
The Populated Period of Expansion. NP 156.

I send forth this message now in the fervent hope that I shall encounter it again on my journey, tangled in the thread of Time.

All congratulations to BlitzGirl, for reading another 146 pages and reaching this point. Success on the remaining pages.

At last! I have spotted the initial signpost I left for myself, when I first began my travels. And an encouraging message from Foarm, for which I am grateful. There are still many newpages to go, looming ahead like strange structures on the sand. But now I have passed the first marker. Henceforth, I follow my own breadcrumbs forward into the future, though they were left by myself in the past. The thread of Time is a strange and wonderful place, my friends. I would say that Time has no meaning here, were not the exact opposite true.

Onward!

Blitzgirl, you ROCK!

[jjjdavidson]

Gimme that old Time religion,
Gimme that old Time religion,
Gimme that old Time religion,
It's good enough for me!

Th'One True Comic, we adore it,
Ev'ry Timeframe brings us more Writ,
As we rally to: "Wait for it."--
--That's good enough for me.
(chorus)

Be it Timeframe, Long-, or Newpix,
We will wait our chance to view Pix
Built from grains of ancient comix¹,
And that's good enough for me.
(chorus)

Here where neither night nor day run
We watch Queball build with Megan
And await more trebuchet fun
And that's good enough for me.
(chorus)

We proclaim the Knights Temporal
Couched in language rather floral;
With our Mome we'll never quarrel
'Cause she's good enough for we.
(chorus)

Post of each new flag and tower;
Thread length growing by the hour²;
Reach 2¹⁶
--I'll say, "Good enough for me!"
(chorus)

You may know us by aroma³;
We've no Time for care of soma;
Scarcely bathe and rarely coma
But that's good enough for me.
(chorus)

Waiting for the final chapter
We debate which end is apter:
Rising tide or rav'ning 'raptor?
IT's not good enough for me.⁴
(chorus)

(Added: With thanks to Eoink and KarMann who inspired me to this.)

1. Soilant Black is pixels! Soilant Black is pixels!
2. Hour: a mythical unit of duration said to correspond roughly to one Longpix; usually used poetically.
3. Clearly this verse refers to some ascetic or even anchorite sect; no self-respecting Knight Temporal would allow himself to become unclean.
4. I was going to make each word in this verse link to a different End-of-Time theory, but I got lazy. Sorry.
16. Ceci n'est pas une footnote.

Edited: - for whitespace
- each new wall and tower > each new flag and tower
- une footnote

[Angelastic]

So currently we have Knights, Cardinals, Bishops, Popes, Anti-Popes, Timewaiters, what else am I missing...

An archdeacon of buttermongery and ham and cheese sandwiches and an Archimandrite of Amicable Apostasy.

I just remembered this song; at the time, it was thought that it was written for a Masters of Song Fu challenge to write a song using exactly ten distinct words, but we now know it is about the One True Comic. Time is love… Time is life.

Philip Glass is a loaf of bread! NO CHANGE!

Go! Go! Go! Go! Time! Time! Time! Time!

[Exodies]

So currently we have Knights, Cardinals, Bishops, Popes, Anti-Popes, Timewaiters, what else am I missing...

Do we have any Dukes, Arch-Dukes, Duchesses? Or even better, do we have a Holy Timean Emporer(as ordained by one of the churches) yet?

There's a Grand Duke living just round the corner. We have atheists. Or perhaps more precisely, we have at least one scientismist.

[AionArap]

Spoiler:

I can't find any movies in that diagram with the special detail 'Time travel in the nude'. In fact, I'm not sure exactly what should indicate that. Is it the unbroken line (implying that any nude time travel necessarily provokes more-than-global scale events) the colour (indicating that nudity itself is a method of time travel; The Legend of Neil: Skinflute of Time?) or the possible slight decrease in opacity (which would be really difficult to spot, and I think I can only see it in the Changes Profession one) or is it that the corners of the round rect have a larger radius? Or is it a red herring because actually none of those movies have nude time travel? Oh, is it the subtle italics? Right, looks like it might be the italics. Carry on.

Damn you, you got me all exited for The Legend of Neil: Skinflute of Time, but after a quick googling of the assumed motion picture title it turned out you just made that one up yourself, didn't ya? Boooo boooo hissss hisssss.

[vvn]

It's clearly a comment on global warming. Cueball is a GW skepticist and Megan looks at the empiric evidence.

I have seen this comment before, and it seemed to be ignored, so I assumed it was Heresy.

Also said before: It is my belief that 2d sand (or any other pile of 2d things) is impermeable, so Megan's dike would work. (If strong enough.)

I am in the past, so apologies if these things have occurred.

[AluisioASG]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: BlitzGirl was here

I stopped posting here a long, long Time ago, but I had to do it again.

I therefore propose nominating blitzgirl, for her out-of-scale efforts on watching Time and Thread, as Supreme Observer of Time, position right below our beloved Lord Randall and above any member of any sect, religion or cult here present.