1190: "Time"

[Dracomax]

We called our daughter "Bug" or "Bean" before she was born, and now my wife calls her "Love Bug" and I call her "Sweet Pea." Which, naturally, leads to the melding of names to create "Sweet Bug".

Ha - funny. One of the other endearments I alluded to, but didn't want to mention, was "Little Bug."

But, does New Zealand English have tripthongs? hides

Yeah, I'm terrified of that whole discussion. Pinker's "The Language Instinct" is my main breastfeeding reading material, and after I read that most people pronounce NPR beginning with M (and that that's natural and fine), I realized that I have no idea what sounds are actually coming out of my mouth. Worse, I wondered if thinking about the sounds of speech could evenually jeopardize my ability to understand it. Wonderful book btw.

I hope BlitzGirl is doing okay. I wonder if these pages might go a bit nuts in the next dozen newpics.

I think that pronouncing sounds the way you think you are is facultative so long as you understand the meaning of what is being said.

why yes, I did learn a new word today.
Edit: what's Megan doing now? packing the castle?

[mscha]

I'm sorry... can I ask what is this "OTC" people is talking ago?
Long ago, I tried to keep up with this thread, and was able to do so for the first 60 pages... but damned is I'm going to read the last 347 pages to find it...
Thanks a lot!

http://xkcd-time.wikia.com/wiki/One_True_Comic

There needs to be a redirect from http://xkcd-time.wikia.com/wiki/OTC to http://xkcd-time.wikia.com/wiki/One_True_Comic. I had a quick look, but I can't figure out how to do that.

[moody7277]

So, where are they getting their bags? Do they have a car nearby? A house?

Is there no internet in this world, no wikipedia?

IKEA sells bags.

What good are empty bags?

Take a bit of their castle home with them so that some part isn't washed away in the sea?

[StratPlayer]

Bang-a-GONG!!!




You got a hubcap diamond-star halo...

[Purplepants77]

MOAR FLAGS!

[azule]

This isn't that long. READ IT, please. lol

Thanks, Azule. I was thinking the same thing.

You're welcome? I thought the same thoughts as you because I likes ya. Tis my gift.

Yes, maybe La Petite™ will save the day She did arrive shortly after my wife and I found out that we were expecting, which is always a good sign

Congrats! What number is attached to that sign? I'm assuming a +, maybe with a 42.

It's not a big deal, methinks, as most of the girls in French-speaking countries end up being called "La Petite" for extended periods of their early lives anyway. Similar to "die Kleine" in German-speaking countries, "малката" in Bulgarian-speaking countries , ?????¹ in English-speaking countries, and so on.
¹ that's not badly-converted Unicode, I really don't know.

American style might be baby. My dad calls the little ones baby for a long time. lol.

Mine also had their personal nicknames; what I mean is a generic female nickname you use when you don't know the real one (and in some other situations which vary by country, language, and intent). Maybe something like "kid", or "kiddo", but genderful. Is there such a thing in English?

Slugger for a boy, princess for a girl.

BOMBAY BADONKADONG

Spoiler:

I propose all future spoofs be posted on the hour. I'm confused seeing one mid-hour, but was excited when it could have been a real one due to timing.

Preview edit: r is not a vowel, Our is not a true triphthong it's a diphthong. And i don't care how many times Hour, Fire and Loir are quoted at me R IS NOT A VOWEL /linguistichighhorse

I believe R is. Or a hybrid, if you will, which you won't. Are glottals vowels or consonants?

[dreiarmumig]

Ha, I only just noticed that I appear in two of the haikus. I feel so honoured!

Hmm, I wonder if there is a post length limit. Let's find out! Here are all 452 haiku in the thread up to the point that Sciscitor scraped the text.

Spoiler:

-snip-

Re-edited to
add: delayed ninja'ed by
dreiarmumig.

-snip-

dreiarmumig
wrote:SexyTalon
wrote:Join FaDe.

[SBN]

BOMBAY BADONKADONG

Spoiler:

I propose all future spoofs be posted on the hour. I'm confused seeing one mid-hour, but was excited when it could have been a real one due to timing.

I've been thinking spoofs should have a colored border or something to distinguish them. Some of you are just too good at this.

[azule]

Now Megan is planting all of the missing flags. Funnily, no one complained that they were missing (though, I thought it), so it's not a change made for the forum.

BOMBAY BADONKADONG

Spoiler:

I propose all future spoofs be posted on the hour. I'm confused seeing one mid-hour, but was excited when it could have been a real one due to timing.

I've been thinking spoofs should have a colored border or something to distinguish them. Some of you are just too good at this.

Nah, that's what the file name is for. Won't be exciting if it's obvious at first glance.

[BlitzGirl]

Quest progress: 378 out of 408 pages.
Third Megan Period. NP 792.

Signpost passed: 330 out of 375 pages

Megan just laid down for a nap, apparently exhausted by her detail work on the Next Level Sandcastle. The One True Comic may be moving along rather slowly, but the thread of Time keeps on slippin' (slippin', slippin') quite crazily into the Future! I present to you this basic summary of the posts I've been passing by lately:

Spoiler:

Yeah. That sums it up rather well, actually. (Original manip by cmyk and caption adapted from a comment by tman2nd.)

Specific pastpost responses:

Spoiler:

I'm surprised buffygirl beat Blitzgirl.

Yeah, you are right. Apparently I only got 6 instances where she was tagged as a noun. The NLP must not be that great. I need to recheck this -- thanks for pointing it out. Back later

Does it treat proper nouns differently? If so, it probably assumes BlitzGirl is a proper noun since it begins with a capital letter. That would also explain the lack of Megan and Cueball in both lists.

Megan and Cueball are on this list, so they don't count.

Proper nouns are tagged separately yes... though I included all nouns.
Anyway, bug fixed -- here is the corrected list:

newpix 990
cueball 683
frames 478
blitzgirl 324
sandcastle 294
temporal 185
castles 182
coma 167
timewaiters 136
sandcastles 116

http://kieryn.com/xkcd-time/data/top5000timeNouns.txt

Okay, Kieryn-of-the-pastpages is sheer awesomeness, especially because of this: http://jsfiddle.net/fgxda/20/embedded/result/

I caught up to page 160! Why is it significant? Well, because, by the first time I posted in the thread, I was about 160 pages behind. Or something.
NOW, I'm 214 pages behind, so apparently it'll take me much longer to catch up to my first post in the thread than I anticipated.
I also find weird that despite all this progress, I'm still reading content from March 30. 21 days behind? It doesn't add up, unless the content per day decreased significantly over time, yet my distance to the last message of the thread keeps increasing. Odd. Anyway, just posting this landmark because even though I realized I'll never catch up to the present moment (Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:25 pm At the time this sentence was written, the distant past, at the moment I catch up to this message), at least I can keep catching up to my own landmarks. See you guys in the future. Preview: Yup, definitively slowed down, last time 3 messages appeared as I tried to post; now, none.

Another Blitzgirl? Clearly not as fast as Blitzgirl, but I guess it's hard to beat lightning.
I think I'll send a message.

Aha! Now I know who Vytron is! Good luck to you on your Quest, fellow pilgrim!

Damn yer fast, mscha!

Well, he's cheating. I think he's contributing to thread slowdown too. There were times when I made an effort to make sure the Newpix got posted, which meant I was online and might respond to what someone said. I'm less likely to respond to things said while I'm away, depending on how many newpages I have to catch up on. Now I have a high confidence that it will be posted, so less need to stay here.

I really think mscha needs to stop using the bot (if he really is). It's kind of dickish, and I'm pretty sure it's not entirely in accordance to the rules.
EDIT: well that was kinda rude of me. Fixed for posterity. Din't worry Blitzmädchen, we're still a happy family!

Whew, that's a relief. Don't make me turn the Timeflow of this thread around! Please!

If there is a downturn in discussion, at least BlitzGirl will get here sooner. And what will we do then? I suggest we destroy the moon.

Why destroy the moon? I'm sure we can find a better use for it than destruction...

PS. I propose we abolish all titles given to BlitzGirl and simply call her "The Archduchess of Time". A single, magnificent title.

I don't know if it's fair to replace an honorary title with a new honorary title - that's why I simply add new ones to the list. Since this is still a proposal, I didn't make any changes (yet).

<snip> BlitzGirl has been making good progress. I realized that my predictions on page 365 were based on faulty math, I've corrected that (I think). My current prediction puts unity at NewPage 454. About two [BlitzGirl] posts ago my model predicted a relative maximum of 497, so she's been doing a lot of catching up over the last few dozen newpix. If I had to take a guess based on my model it would be around 420ish? What with the lull in newposts and other people assumption that she will sprint when the end is in sight.

Good estimates, though I don't think I will make the 420 endpoint today - the thread is still buzzing up there in the future, apparently!

Back home and ten new pages to read. I'm feeling slightly Blitzy.

And of course, sigcouragement:

Spoiler:

Blitzgirl, Blitzgirl, I'm your fan! if you can't do it, no one can! FTFM

Woo! Though if I fail to make it, it seems Vytron has undertaken a similar Quest to reach you of the future, so perhaps you will see Vytron one longpix.

BlitzGirl: "wait fast, but wait well" *And good luck with the rest of your journey!!*

Orange! Everything's better in orange!

Dear BlitzGirl,
I left you a present on page 395, hope you enjoy it.
Also, if the cake is not a lie, can you pick some up for me, apparently I missed it.

A present? Yay! And cake? I'll definitely keep a lookout for that!

Thanks for the Cake!!!

To help motivate you on your journey BlitzGirl I have a quote from YOUR future.

Further confirmation that cake awaits me in coming newpages. How exciting!

Onward to the cake!

[Caswallon]

Yay! The Blitzgirl approaches our present!

Although, I'm tempted to denote the meeting of Blitzgirl and our present as "Blitzpocalypse", but then again it could also be "Blitzrapture"!

[Someguy945]

4. It is revealed that the sand is actually a giant T-1000, and after everyone is gone, it forms into a giant Robert Patrick, and goes off to kill John Connor.

I imagine it would look more like this.

That never happened. there was no third Spiderman movie. There was a Hatman and the kingdom of the crystal skull, starring Harrison Ford, but it had no connection whatsoever to any popular or enjoyable series.

Yes, I am perfectly capable of self deception. I also choose to believe that the water isn't just water.

But that scene is so beautiful it transcends the terribleness of the rest of the movie. The scene is filled with so much GOOD that it causes the first few youtube comments to be coherent. This is no ordinary scene.

[jovialbard]

BlitzGirl progress holding steady, prediction still around 470 and 5/1

[Pikrass]

So, where are they getting their bags? Do they have a car nearby? A house?

Is there no internet in this world, no wikipedia?

IKEA sells bags.

What good are empty bags?

Maybe they have nothing to bring, but want to collect souvenirs from around the world?

[jovialbard]

Congratulations! Our kids should build sandcastles together

Well if we ever have a OTC reunion as proposed several pages ago, there will certainly be sandcastling involved, I am certain We can also speak in pirate voices so that all our Rs are consonants

[lunarul]

There needs to be a redirect from http://xkcd-time.wikia.com/wiki/OTC to http://xkcd-time.wikia.com/wiki/One_True_Comic. I had a quick look, but I can't figure out how to do that.

Done. My one contribution to the wiki

[Caswallon]

I know we have had at least one other attempt to track people's locations. But curious if anyone else is from the Puget Sound/Northwest US Region? Just noticed at least 2 other people who were.

[Dracomax]

4. It is revealed that the sand is actually a giant T-1000, and after everyone is gone, it forms into a giant Robert Patrick, and goes off to kill John Connor.

I imagine it would look more like this.

That never happened. there was no third Spiderman movie. There was a Hatman and the kingdom of the crystal skull, starring Harrison Ford, but it had no connection whatsoever to any popular or enjoyable series.

Yes, I am perfectly capable of self deception. I also choose to believe that the water isn't just water.

But that scene is so beautiful it transcends the terribleness of the rest of the movie. The scene is filled with so much GOOD that it causes the first few youtube comments to be coherent. This is no ordinary scene.

There is... truth... in what you say.

[SBN]

I know we have had at least one other attempt to track people's locations. But curious if anyone else is from the Puget Sound/Northwest US Region? Just noticed at least 2 other people who were.

I consider it home, but haven't lived there since years didn't start with 2.

[airdrik]

GONG!

[Dracomax]

GONG!

Does this feel a bit like High School Graduation, (or possibly the point about halfway through the last book of a long series when you realise that before too much longer, you'll never have new adventures with characters you've grown to love) to anyone else?

[RobIrr]

I know we have had at least one other attempt to track people's locations. But curious if anyone else is from the Puget Sound/Northwest US Region? Just noticed at least 2 other people who were.

The map below should populate itself with visitor locations after a day or so, assuming people actually pass through this page

[Dracomax]

I know we have had at least one other attempt to track people's locations. But curious if anyone else is from the Puget Sound/Northwest US Region? Just noticed at least 2 other people who were.

The map below should populate itself with visitor locations after a day or so, assuming people actually pass through this page

Hey, anything to increase my post coun---I mean, Sure, in the name of Science!

[Purplepants77]

Does this feel a bit like High School Graduation, (or possibly the point about halfway through the last book of a long series when you realise that before too much longer, you'll never have new adventures with characters you've grown to love) to anyone else?

This is all I can imagine for some reason-

Watching them leave on an adventure to get to the bottom of why bad things are happening so they can save their castles. While they are gone (whether we follow them or not) The sea/weather tear away at the castle, but leave it in tact enough to feel like a desolate ghost town or eerie old ruins. The end will be a depressing:

Spoiler:

[Dracomax]

Does this feel a bit like High School Graduation, (or possibly the point about halfway through the last book of a long series when you realise that before too much longer, you'll never have new adventures with characters you've grown to love) to anyone else?

This is all I can imagine for some reason-

Watching them leave on an adventure to get to the bottom of why bad things are happening so they can save their castles. While they are gone (whether we follow them or not) The sea/weather tear away at the castle, but leave it in tact enough to feel like a desolate ghost town or eerie old ruins. The end will be a depressing:

Spoiler:

That's ...a little lot bleaker than what I had envisioned. I was thinking more on the line of either we do, or we don't go with them. either way, something we have grown to care about (either the castle, or M&C) are gone, possibly forever. We may follow to new adventures, but nothing will ever be the same. We have to bid farewell to one or the other.

What's more, Megan and Cueball have to bid farewell to the castle, with every reason to believe that this work they have labored over will fall into the ever-rising sea before ever they see it again.
it's bittersweet.

[buffygirl]

Spoiler:

OhmygoditwasearthallalONG

For the past month, in addition to my duties as Arch-Cardinal, I have been watching for the first time all seasons of a particular show that everyone here has seen. I actually *don't* know how it ends, and if you just spoiled it for me, I will be very upset!!! Please Randall, remove this possible knowledge from my head!!!

[cmyk]

Megan just laid down for a nap, apparently exhausted by her detail work on the Next Level Sandcastle. The One True Comic may be moving along rather slowly, but the thread of Time keeps on slippin' (slippin', slippin') quite crazily into the Future! I present to you this basic summary of the posts I've been passing by lately:

Yeah. That sums it up rather well, actually. (Original manip by cmyk and caption adapted from a comment by tman2nd.)

Ha! I thought I had caught up from my Time away, but I apparently missed this. Nice work tman2nd.

[cmyk]

Spoiler:

OhmygoditwasearthallalONG

For the past month, in addition to my duties as Arch-Cardinal, I have been watching for the first time all seasons of a particular show that everyone here has seen. I actually *don't* know how it ends, and if you just spoiled it for me, I will be very upset!!! Please Randall, remove this possible knowledge from my head!!!

Not unless you're talking about Planet of the Apes, you should be fine.

[Febrion]

Spoiler:

OhmygoditwasearthallalONG

For the past month, in addition to my duties as Arch-Cardinal, I have been watching for the first time all seasons of a particular show that everyone here has seen. I actually *don't* know how it ends, and if you just spoiled it for me, I will be very upset!!! Please Randall, remove this possible knowledge from my head!!!

Not unless you're talking about Planet of the Apes, you should be fine.

Thanks for spoiling that one for us, you damn dirty ape!

[jovialbard]

What a sad turn this forum speculation has taken. I still hope we get to go on an adventure!

[Dracomax]

What a sad turn this forum speculation has taken. I still hope we get to go on an adventure!

Actually, my point was that it's sad even if we go on an adventure. Either we follow the adventures of the sand castle and the sea, or the adventures of Megan and Cueball. Either way, we are most likely saying goodbye, possibly forever, to one of them.

[Sciscitor]

Updated and cleaned up (no quotes, correct HTML-entities etc) full text of the One True Needle Pulled Thing up to posting 15440: Here.

Enjoy.

[buffygirl]

Spoiler:

OhmygoditwasearthallalONG

For the past month, in addition to my duties as Arch-Cardinal, I have been watching for the first time all seasons of a particular show that everyone here has seen. I actually *don't* know how it ends, and if you just spoiled it for me, I will be very upset!!! Please Randall, remove this possible knowledge from my head!!!

Not unless you're talking about Planet of the Apes, you should be fine.

*sighs in relief* Right! I'm sure I knew that. Just got a little freaked for a moment, lost my head.

[airdrik]

Ding dong.

[StratPlayer]

I have been doing the art of MultiTasking¹ for the last several Newpix...

While slowly catching up on the NewPages I've missed (and I'm not quite current yet), I've also been staying reasonably up-to-date with the new ones (and even got to add the old T-Rex "Bang-a-Gong" song link as a Newpix post), AND -- more importantly -- have updated my avatar from the old Stratocaster schematic to a much more appropriate one, that is, if I might suggest, much more suitable for hatting² should any esteemed Arch-Cardinal of Time³ deem it worth of her fabulous haberdashery abilities.

So, if I might humbly request⁴ a hat of Her Cardinalship, I would be most honored⁵ and shall wear it proudly for all of Time! I also shall give my utmost⁶ as Knight Temporal Sir Vincent, Lord Of Nominal Goodness, Defender Of NewPix Glory⁷ to serve⁸ Her Cardinalosity in all perpetuity⁹ for this great honor!



¹ An Outsider term form doing many things badly all at once instead of just screwing up one thing at a time.
² Very carefully, as to avoid the sharp, pointy fangs and the razor-like claws of the guitaroraptor, of course...
³ Lady Buffygirl, I'm lookin' at you, my Dear...
⁴ i.e., read: Beg endlessly, with much whining and grovelling!
⁵ and squeal like a little girl as I do my happy-dance twirl of joy!
⁶ Provided I don't actually have to do anything, of course.
⁷ aka "Sir Vinnie LONGDONG"
⁸ See footnote 6...
⁹ ...or like, you know, until I forget about it and move on to other shiny things that grab my interest...

[Purplepants77]

That's ...a little lot bleaker than what I had envisioned.
<snip>
it's bittersweet.

Haha, yeah I guess it is. I don't know why that came to mind, I guess it's just been so sad/depressing recently I can't hep but expect it to end like that. Kinda sticks with the "inevitability of Time" theme we keep coming back to. It does seem to have picked up a bit though within the last several newpix, maybe bittersweet is a good word for the mood right now.

I wonder how ridiculous we¹ will think we sounded in our current present when we advance another 800 newpix and look back on our future past comments and predictions. Will our Newpage 400 selves seem as naive to our Newpage 800 selves as our Newpage 10 selves appear to us now?? What if Randall really does intend to introduce time travel? What if all of the past frames do change?? What if there is a whole new level to this that we're not even seeing right now and won't become apparent until we reach the foretold It?! We have no proof to rule out almost any outlandish theory you can come up with, so why should we expect "It" to be simple?!? I can't handle this! What do I do?! How do I cope with so many possibilities!?! Ahh!! My head might explOHDUFDSF


¹"We" refers to the group of individuals or bots that are following this needle-pulled-thingy at any given point in Time. "We" is a legally binding contract and is subject to change at any Time. "We" assumes no liability.

[jovialbard]

Actually, my point was that it's sad even if we go on an adventure. Either we follow the adventures of the sand castle and the sea, or the adventures of Megan and Cueball. Either way, we are most likely saying goodbye, possibly forever, to one of them.

Yeah, I know. But like I said, the sea may come and take the castle away, but it will always exist, on some server somewhere, forever. So let's go on an adventure!

Edit: If PFAN still existed we would have to go on an adventure now! Unfortunately it doesn't, so i'll resort to hoping.

[cmyk]

Spoiler:

OhmygoditwasearthallalONG

For the past month, in addition to my duties as Arch-Cardinal, I have been watching for the first time all seasons of a particular show that everyone here has seen. I actually *don't* know how it ends, and if you just spoiled it for me, I will be very upset!!! Please Randall, remove this possible knowledge from my head!!!

Not unless you're talking about Planet of the Apes, you should be fine.

Thanks for spoiling that one for us, you damn dirty ape!

[buffygirl]

Spoiler:

I have been doing the art of MultiTasking¹ for the last several Newpix...

While slowly catching up on the NewPages I've missed (and I'm not quite current yet), I've also been staying reasonably up-to-date with the new ones (and even got to add the old T-Rex "Bang-a-Gong" song link as a Newpix post), AND -- more importantly -- have updated my avatar from the old Stratocaster schematic to a much more appropriate one, that is, if I might suggest, much more suitable for hatting² should any esteemed Arch-Cardinal of Time³ deem it worth of her fabulous haberdashery abilities.

So, if I might humbly request⁴ a hat of Her Cardinalship, I would be most honored⁵ and shall wear it proudly for all of Time! I also shall give my utmost⁶ as Knight Temporal Sir Vincent, Lord Of Nominal Goodness, Defender Of NewPix Glory⁷ to serve⁸ Her Cardinalosity in all perpetuity⁹ for this great honor!



¹ An Outsider term form doing many things badly all at once instead of just screwing up one thing at a time.
² Very carefully, as to avoid the sharp, pointy fangs and the razor-like claws of the guitaroraptor, of course...
³ Lady Buffygirl, I'm lookin' at you, my Dear...
⁴ i.e., read: Beg endlessly, with much whining and grovelling!
⁵ and squeal like a little girl as I do my happy-dance twirl of joy!
⁶ Provided I don't actually have to do anything, of course.
⁷ aka "Sir Vinnie LONGDONG"
⁸ See footnote 6...
⁹ ...or like, you know, until I forget about it and move on to other shiny things that grab my interest...

StratPlayer has been added to the Mob.

[StratPlayer]

<snip>

Very, very nice!!! +(sideways-eight) internets to you, Good Sir!

but, um, shouldn't Megan be there also, astride the horse and wearing her animal skins?