1190: "Time"

[SBN]

Pfffft... Who cares about grammar and semantics? I'm too busy enjoying all the cute kitty avatars.

As an animal lover, I like being in the herd* of cats.

*Herd? Flock? Bevy? What do you call a caboodle of cats????

Clowder.

Seriously???

*quick Google check*

Well, I'll be damned! I learned a cool new word.

And a kindle of kittens.

[AK49BWL]

Pfffft... Who cares about grammar and semantics? I'm too busy enjoying all the cute kitty avatars.

As an animal lover, I like being in the herd* of cats.

*Herd? Flock? Bevy? What do you call a caboodle of cats????

You are not alone in your enjoyment of the kitty avatars¹, or your love of cats

I'm also quite fond of azule's Firefox, while we're on the subject.

¹: Of which I have many

[johndda]

I don't know why I keep coming here expecting relevant commentary to the comic...

So, is this the end of time?

[AK49BWL]

I don't know why I keep coming here expecting relevant commentary to the comic...

So, is this the end of time?

Wait for it...



I am also an excessive user of the ellipsis...

[StratPlayer]

Pfffft... Who cares about grammar and semantics? I'm too busy enjoying all the cute kitty avatars.

As an animal lover, I like being in the herd* of cats.

*Herd? Flock? Bevy? What do you call a caboodle of cats????

Clowder.

Seriously???

*quick Google check*

Well, I'll be damned! I learned a cool new word.

And a kindle of kittens.

Yeah! I discovered that and got stuck in a repeated edit loop back on the previous page.

[KarMann]

Another random thought:
The sea, which is big, is incrementing.
C++

I...
I don't...

Would you like some semen or cancer in your Java?

Is that an XOR or just OR? Either way, yes, please, but hold the babbies.

[StratPlayer]

I don't know why I keep coming here expecting relevant commentary to the comic...

So, is this the end of time?

TBD...

And while there may be an occasional off-topic post, there is a lot of relevant commentary here. We've got so much of it, we've got relevancy oozing out of our eyeballs! You should read every page -- I guarantee you'll be enlightened upon your completion of it!

Go ahead -- we'll Wait for ya to catch up...

[SBN]

I'm also quite fond of azule's Firefox, while we're on the subject.

I like that too, but I keep thinking the location says The land of the Golden Puppies and Rainbows

[ChronosDragon]

Another random thought:
The sea, which is big, is incrementing.
C++

I...
I don't...

Would you like some semen or cancer in your Java?

Is that an XOR or just OR? Either way, yes, please, but hold the babbies.

Plain ol' OR. You can have both, if you like. Babies are 50¥ extra (that's British Yen - kinda like Canadian Dollars. Good luck finding some.)

[AK49BWL]

OBLONGGGGGG.......

[KarMann]

The not-quite-black has value 07, now. It does seem to be accelerating, methinks.

[htom]

Pfffft... Who cares about grammar and semantics? I'm too busy enjoying all the cute kitty avatars.

As an animal lover, I like being in the herd* of cats.

*Herd? Flock? Bevy? What do you call a caboodle of cats????

Clowder.

Seriously???

*quick Google check*

Well, I'll be damned! I learned a cool new word.

And a kindle of kittens.

Yeah! I discovered that and got stuck in a repeated edit loop back on the previous page.

"Terms of venery" is the fancy name. Some of them are listed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_names but that list is frequently vandalized. There are books from centuries ago with older names of multiples of beasts (pride of lions comes to mind.)

[spamjam]

I don't know why I keep coming here expecting relevant commentary to the comic...

So, is this the end of time?

Relevant commentary, no, everyone is writing about themselves even though there is no "I" in Time.

Oh, waitaminit, yes there is.

Well, there is no "Me" in Time.

Oh...never mind. And "Me" is the end of Time, so I guess it's OK.

[CharlieBing]

I can't help but think about Bambi vs. Godzilla. Oh well...

[htom]

I can't help but think about Bambi vs. Godzilla. Oh well...

The flags wouldn't hurt, but the posts might be at least noticed. Must coma now.

[tastony]

I am reminded of "Pippin's Song" from LOTR, which seems to fit the mood here now (with a few tweaks):

Beach is behind, the sea ahead
There are many posts to this thread
Through newpics, to the end of Time
Until the haikus cease to rhyme

Beach and castle
All they've made
All shall Fade
All shall fade

[ChronosDragon]

I am reminded of "Pippin's Song" from LOTR, which seems to fit the mood here now (with a few tweaks):

Beach is behind, the sea ahead
There are many posts to this thread
Through newpics, to the end of Time
Until the haikus cease to rhyme

Beach and castle
All they've made
All shall Fade
All shall fade

Was it that haikus
ever rhymed in the first place?
I do not think so

[buffygirl]

Right, so. Someone please direct me to a BSG forum where I can discuss my disappointment with the last few episodes I have watched. I am sensing a jump-the-shark dynamic, and I need a venue in which to express my distress. Namely, Season 3, episodes 12-14. I am not happy. This needle-pulled-thingy is not the place for this discussion, obviously. I am requesting a redirect. Thank you.

PLEASE only respond with a redirect. I am not trying to take this thread off-topic.

[tastony]

Was it that haikus
ever rhymed in the first place?
I do not think so

I must admit, my first inclination was to say "Until the haikus START to rhyme" - probably should have stuck with that...

[spamjam]

StillAt07ONG

[azule]

I'm also quite fond of azule's Firefox, while we're on the subject.

I like that too, but I keep thinking the location says The land of the Golden Puppies and Rainbows

Woot! I think it's cute too!
Who says it doesn't say that, SBN?

I was about to comment how I noticed all the cat avatars. *fluffy* Someone beat me to it, so yeah, great minds. I was wondering if this was turning into Cheezburger.

I don't know why I keep coming here expecting relevant commentary to the comic...

I would say, is the comic even relevant to itself? Between dialogues there doesn't seem to be much direction. The dialogue tells us what we should be seeing but aren't allowed. The comic will need to end with a really good summation for any of this to be worth it. The OTT on the other hand, is worth it as we speak, because we speak.

[ChronosDragon]

I would say, is the comic even relevant to itself? Between dialogues there doesn't seem to be much direction. The dialogue tells us what we should be seeing but aren't allowed. The comic will need to end with a really good summation for any of this to be worth it. The OTT on the other hand, is worth it as we speak, because we speak.

I suspect that we ourselves will be responsible for the majority of summation. We've been monitoring it the whole time, after all. Heck, we already are summating it - The wiki, among many others. The Books, as another example.

Unless by summating you mean a good wrap up action scene with explosions and kissing and tears and saving kittens. In which case, I think we'll probably provide some of that too.

[Sciscitor]

Okay, version 1.0 is here! http://xkcd-time.kieryn.com/
I will be updating with more features as Time goes on...

Update on the plain-text version of the needle pulled thing up to posting 16440¹.

If there is any interest in having such a thing I would consider setting up an easy to use API (like Time/api/text/user) to pull the text of specific users from the thread. Since it's all in the database anyway, it wouldn't be too much trouble.

¹ The lag is intentional to catch all first user posts after moderation has kicked in.

Sorry - Ninja'd in a way I guess... I've been working on this for about a week...

No problem, had this idea for some time now but got distracted by Outside duties. Your API works great. I would only suggest to add a plain text option too, so folks without programming skills can dump the raw output into a wordprocessor or whatever (Wordle comes into the mind) and play with it without having to deal with XML or JSON overhead.

Just to satisfy my curiosity: How do you handle the moderated first posts and what do you use for a DB?

[AluisioASG]

In which case, cmyk will probably provide some of that too.

FTFY

EDIT: WRONG

[azule]

I suspect that we ourselves will be responsible for the majority of summation. We've been monitoring it the whole time, after all. Heck, we already are summating it - The wiki, among many others. The Books, as another example.

Unless by summating you mean a good wrap up action scene with explosions and kissing and tears and saving kittens. In which case, I think we'll probably provide some of that too.

I mean, putting it all together in the end. Everything that was barely relevant will now make total sense and we'll go, "OH, I see now. SUPER!"
Also, exploding kittens.

[tman2nd]

I suspect that we ourselves will be responsible for the majority of summation. We've been monitoring it the whole time, after all. Heck, we already are summating it - The wiki, among many others. The Books, as another example.

Unless by summating you mean a good wrap up action scene with explosions and kissing and tears and saving kittens. In which case, I think we'll probably provide some of that too.

I mean, putting it all together in the end. Everything that was barely relevant will now make total sense and we'll go, "OH, I see now. SUPER!"
Also, exploding kittens.

Not the kindles of kittens!

[ChronosDragon]

I suspect that we ourselves will be responsible for the majority of summation. We've been monitoring it the whole time, after all. Heck, we already are summating it - The wiki, among many others. The Books, as another example.

Unless by summating you mean a good wrap up action scene with explosions and kissing and tears and saving kittens. In which case, I think we'll probably provide some of that too.

I mean, putting it all together in the end. Everything that was barely relevant will now make total sense and we'll go, "OH, I see now. SUPER!"
Also, exploding kittens.

What? An XKCD fan comic?

Well, there goes the rest of my night. Gotta Blitz this thing.

Edit: Okay. Never mind. That's kind of bad. Desecration of the One True Comic's Origin Comic, even. Just gonna coma.

[azule]

Not the kindles of kittens!

It's just one kitten, not a kindle or a clowder. I...didn't make it... *looks around* No, really. Check the link.

[tman2nd]

Not the kindles of kittens!

It's just one kitten, not a kindle or a clowder. I...didn't make it... *looks around* No, really. Check the link.

Well, you did say, "exploding kittens"

[boozledorf]

If this is how it ends, I will be very disappointed.

[Kazza3]

I don't think Randall would just fade it out now and end it without resolving any of the questions/plot points, if you could call them that(though they say He works in mysterious ways). It'll fade to white, then either fade or cut to Cueball and Megan somewhere on their journey, possibly where they'll meet LaPetite.

[Random Element]

Which if the cat was fulling to earth through a vaccuum it would hit the ground with a force of 100 kilos of TNT

[Actaeus]

upto8thisisreallymovingalONG!

[KarMann]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/6e6848820df351d8a6c6594d48455d44e248c73063074003360ec3bbea6b2d6b.png

upto8thisisreallymovingalONG!

Do you suppose it goes up to 11? Or even 0x11?

Added: Curiouser and curiouser. I know a while ago, there were a few pixels even darker than the predominant near-black shade, but not as dark as the frame, presumably from anti-aliasing. Now, that's no longer the case; there's nothing in between 00 & 08 at all. Looks like it's been this way since the jump from 04 to 05.
Added²: I waited an hour for 78,257 barely lightening pixels?!?

[azule]

Good night. I think my days of crazy rants is over. You cannot schedule them, at least. lol. Next time I feel psycho, I'm coming for you guys. You know, to share my "sane" thoughts.

*fades to 0xFFFFFF*

[mikrit]

<snip>

By the castles I swear R is not a vowel modifier

It is if you're a pirate. "Aaarrrrrrrgh, me matey!"

Ha! For a long time, I have wondered why pirates are supposed to say "Aaarrrrrrgh". Or is it sailors in general that say it? But why? Did it start with some famous movie I should be aware of?

Even more off-topic: who was the first villain who said: "Ah, my old nemesis, we meet again, but this time the advantage is mine." ? First time I saw it, it was said by an evil duck (Gary Larson).

Hello, BlitzGirl!

[higgs-boson]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/6e6848820df351d8a6c6594d48455d44e248c73063074003360ec3bbea6b2d6b.png

upto8thisisreallymovingalONG!

Do you suppose it goes up to 11? Or even 0x11?

Hurry, notre fille de foudre! When Time ends, thou shalst be with us!
Hurry, Arch-Cardinal, chapelière! For Time's end shall be bare (and I have not yet added my two heads to the lot)
Hurry, La Petite, to sweeten Time's end! Please show up, for Carmen does not sound French!


Fearing Time fading
She still strides with steady steps.
Oh Anointed One!

[123Adz321]

Grey-ness color update - Photoshop CS6:




#080808

EDIT: It also seems this screenshot shows the ACTUAL grey rather than how I see it on the comic page...
(chrome)

[Exodies]

So has anyone actually tried to break the hash?

I believe the consensus is that it's probably not actually a hash, but just a random ID, so there's nothing to break.

I actually believe it is a hash, but likely seeded and would be very difficult to crack. However the random attack approach suggested by jjjdavidson is not an entirely bad idea, but would likely be detected very easily and shutdown. Plus, if it is a seeded hash, it would be very easy for Randall to then change the seed and essentially all of the image links.

I don't know whether the image names are a hash or a random string, but I don't believe they're related to file content, and probably not to the sequence numbers. Back around frame 255 or so, the comic page was returning two different file names, depending on how fast you captured the image--but both names returned the same image.

Nevertheless, I seriously had to wonder if Time and Externalities were linked somehow (especially since nobody's yet figured out the data for the Externalities-hash). I really did test all 193 contiguous 64-digit substrings of the E-hash, and likewise the reversed E-hash. No joy. (I'm still thinking about variants like every fourth digit, every fourth bit, and so on.)

Not that I expected to get anything back, anyway--at least not any future image. After all, it's pretty trivial coding to have the next image uploaded to the image server just in time; that's standard practice for most of the webcomics out there, where the next image name is often quite predictable. (Skin Horse doesn't, I've discovered, but each of their file names includes a few words of an ongoing story, so they're not easy to predict.)

Whoever is drawing the OTC will need to keep an ordered list of the Frames, so they will have names like comic number, frame number so that they can get the story right. After they have been sent to the delivery service, the artist may want to recall some for amendment, so they need to be found by comic, frame. The delivery service needs to post them in order, so they still need to be an ordered list. At dong time the names could be randomised, but after the show is over, there may be a different presentation mechanism and so still a need for an ordered list. And that's why I think these fancy names which the techies amongst us call hashes can be algorithmically converted back to comic, frame. This is probably the only clue to the decryption - the clear text will be sorted.

[KarMann]

Grey-ness color update:

Spoiler:

#080808

Except it just went to 09ONG!