1190: "Time"

[ctdonath]

Has anybody else noticed the changes in the tide levels? It rippled after the first couple panels and now has risen slightly in the last hour.

Ya know, it's easy for us landlubbers to under-appreciate tidal changes.
We parked our stuff on the beach one fine day and went for a walk down the shore. We passed a telephone pole jammed into the sand, marked off in one-foot intervals, with "High Tide" marked on top. It was so high (some 16 feet or so) we just giggled at it and continued on - maybe on some fluke it might get up there, but here? now? nah. Half hour or so later we wander back up the beach. We get to the pole. It's got about 3 feet poking out of the water. I freaked, ran ahead, and discovered some nice lady had - several times - pulled our stuff (esp. wallet & keys) out of the encroaching waters.
I'd be impressed if this scene ended with the couple leaving 'cuz their pleasant shoreline was under water.

[TimR]

I'll just leave this link here for you to read while you wait:

OK, that was the point at which I'd like to include a helpful link to The Mezzotint, a short ghost story by the nineteenth century writer M. R. James. But I can't include a link in my first post, it seems. Nor even a URL. If I could include a URL, it might look like a bit like gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8486/pg8486.html#id00162 except with three letters 'w' on the beginning. (Actually, it seems to work even without that w-heavy prefix, which is interesting.)

If a moderator takes pity on me, and approves this post, you might like to read the story.

[JackBurn99]

Wow, I'm loving this comic, although maybe not how long it's taking to view. But I suppose that's the point, eh? Anyway, seems that there's another panel up, the sand castle is flattening out, almost complete. Hopefully the mice chap(s) who are running that site with the gif of all the panels can update it with this new image soon? I'm just thankful it exists so I can see what I missed. Anyhow, made an account just for this, so maybe it's actually just a ploy to get forum membership up! Anyway, I had originally thought darkly of this comic, but it's seeming to not be a bearer of bad news. Hopefully it stays that way.

[El Gecko]

Somebody who is better at JS than me should check out the file 'time00.min.js' (sorry can't link it here, get the rest of the link from the source code)

It's substantially different than all the subsequent ones and mentions 'prototype' quite frequently. Perhaps it holds some clues?

[mikrit]

This might be a scene from a movie. recreated by stick figures, obviously, but still.
Anyone has a film with a matching scene in mind?

You made me think of "From here to Eternity". But this must be a version that is suitable for children.

 There is a time for everything,
 and a season for every activity under the heavens:
 a time to be born and a time to die,
 a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to embrace and a time to build sand castles.
Just wait for it.

[agentjwall]

I applaud everyone's efforts to crack the comic but you're missing the point. Time is something that moves at its own pace no matter how fast you move, stop trying to beat it, sit back, and enjoy the comic unfolding before us.

[Takigama]

Thats quite a kewl piece of JS

took me quite a while to figure out how its working...

[RollingHead]

I spent 10 minutes staring at it and it seemed to me like the tide was rising but I wasn't sure if it was just my eyes. I could stare at it all night but I have a paper due in the morning. Fascinating comic.

[applesareforeatingnotcomputing]

the new user rules tell me that i can't put a link so you might have to do this yourself. but i think i have a clue.

hint:

Spoiler:

if you go to #1110, go left for about two or three minutes until you hit the sea (can you see where im going with this) then go all the way to the left hand side where it meets the land and you will see...

maybe massive spoiler?

Spoiler:

tiny little sandcastle on the beach, about where they are building it in this comic, the giant statue of liberty sandcastle, then on top of a cliff slightly above is black hair girl from Time, with white ponytail girl. on the beach next to the castle is the guy from this comic shouting "you maniacs! this sand sculpture trophy is meant to be mine!"

therefore, my theory:

Spoiler:

so i reckon at some point theyll finish the sand castle, the other female will turn up and they will build the statue of liberty one? its not as exciting/meaningful as the other theories in this thread, but i guess the way randall has done it has been a nice experiment on time, patience, life ect. shrug. hopefully im wrong.

sorry for the grammar. sorry if you just read that and i turn out to be right.

[azule]

I don't think the images are on the server (probably being uploaded via script every ½ hour), so even if you could hack in you'd get an error. Unless, maybe you hacked into his personal computer.

ExplainXKCD says we're a botnet (check there for more info) running Randall's ever changing script for some unknown end. I, jokingly, submit that:

Spoiler:

we're processing a cure for cancer.... Don't hurt me!

My guess so far is that the comic is simply getting us all to appreciate the time we have, that the small things in life (sitting around, playing in the sand, etc.) are not a waste of time, they're important. Maybe even sitting around obsessing over this comic is too. Hah! Maybe...

[quiddity]

For the readers who are predicting dark and depressing outcomes:

Spoiler:

You're decreasing the chances that Randall will want to read the forum, if every time he does something mysterious or ambiguous or poignant the forums are filled with the word "cancer". Stop it! Please!

[Ashtar]

d8a70a1ca8aa3a3f9933169fead2d6f0784863f4563f83345bfafcb42a9dcafa.png

[syberspot]

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

[Perilous_3D]

It takes time for two people to build something, it's an allegory for relationships and all the more poignant because you are all trying to rush it; some things can't be rushed.

It's really not surprising that the XKCD crowd would fixate on the java and/or whether or not something will happen... I also hope the negative nancys who always have something derogatory to say about the comic are eating crow for saying 'he just wants a day off,' you're probably the same guy who says the comic is meh/sucks when you don't get it...

Edit: time also erases all things... there is obviously a tide rather near this sand castle

[paulmiranda]

Hmm... So there's server-side stuff presenting both an event ID and an image URL that's a hash of something (presumably a timestamp of some format). Not sure why the .js has to be so complex for this since all the really good stuff isn't in it.

(I am perfectly happy to wait for each frame to appear in it's own time... but it does give me time to look at how the thing works

[Syberiyxx]

The set of 9 pictures started at the beginning again a few minutes ago. I think this is it.

[conorjh]

In Endgame Beckett describes the time of our lives as "the impossible heap":

CLOV (fixed gaze, tonelessly):
Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.
(Pause.)
Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
(Pause.)
I can't be punished any more.

It's a powerful image, life doesn't feel like part of lifetime while it's happening, but it all adds up to one.

[Camahueto]

I made a quick thing to view everything thus far, and I'm working on making it auto-update.

http://aubronwood.com/singlefileprojects/xkcd.php

THANKS (a lot).

[Camahueto]

And What if the name of the image is the image itself?

[tvall]

what if the name is a salted hash of the next image? perfect way to prevent cheating. even if we could crack the hash, we'd need the image after it

[xspeedballx]

I am not seeing the "water level" changing. Unless the Gif is being adjusted in some non-obvious way.

[Davidy]

I think the joke here is the time all the programming/hacking geeks are spending trying to figure this out. All will be revealed 4/1/2013.

[kaley]

I put my cursor 1 pixel above the water line and it never moves. It "blips" a bit, but doesn't appear to be rising to me.

[drummerpatch]

I put my cursor 1 pixel above the water line and it never moves. It "blips" a bit, but doesn't appear to be rising to me.

It's a PNG (not a GIF disguised as a PNG, an actual PNG), so it not changing. It's the image is being updated to point to a new location. So it's actually a new image. It's not going to rise while you watch, it's going to be a sudden (if minor) change (every half hour).

[brenok]

I put my cursor 1 pixel above the water line and it never moves. It "blips" a bit, but doesn't appear to be rising to me.

It's a PNG (not a GIF disguised as a PNG, an actual PNG), so it not changing. It's the image is being updated to point to a new location. So it's actually a new image. It's not going to rise while you watch, it's going to be a sudden (if minor) change (every half hour).

I believe he was talking about those animated gifs that have been posted on this thread

[drummerpatch]

I put my cursor 1 pixel above the water line and it never moves. It "blips" a bit, but doesn't appear to be rising to me.

It's a PNG (not a GIF disguised as a PNG, an actual PNG), so it not changing. It's the image is being updated to point to a new location. So it's actually a new image. It's not going to rise while you watch, it's going to be a sudden (if minor) change (every half hour).

I believe he was talking about those animated gifs that have been posted on this thread

Ah, right. That makes more sense.

[arjan]

After having read some articles on time management, this was the very first day I finally succeeded in not checking my e-mail every 5 minutes. The first results of the experiment are in. Not compulsively checking my email has an adverse effect on my productivity.

[kaley]

I put my cursor 1 pixel above the water line and it never moves. It "blips" a bit, but doesn't appear to be rising to me.

It's a PNG (not a GIF disguised as a PNG, an actual PNG), so it not changing. It's the image is being updated to point to a new location. So it's actually a new image. It's not going to rise while you watch, it's going to be a sudden (if minor) change (every half hour).

I believe he was talking about those animated gifs that have been posted on this thread

Yes, SHE was talking about the animated gifs being posted because she knows PNGs are static.

[OtherRob]

Thanks to everyone who are posting updating GIFs. Now I don't have to be afraid to leave work in case I miss something.

[morgothcr]

It seems they just finished building the castle... now what? the waiting is killing me!
If the point Randall wanted to make was about impatience, and how the current lifestyle prefers instant gratification over slow progress, well... point bloody taken! I've been biting my nails and compulsively hitting F5 on the browser over the incredibly simple story that's being unfolding there...

[frizzychicory]

Maybe Randall is just a Hendrix fan?

"And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually"

[JulianHzg]

Randall mentioned earlier that some frames are missing from the gif, and especially the way to the water and back seem very abrupt to me. Does anyone have any additional frames there?

That's between
fb0cabb8215b77a9d2fbdb44511eccdf9b921125bff5060dc511c9a49e97aa81.png
and
426033682a26a0012a6f8e0c47287af91b7991a852d81c77402c937ffbd650c6.png

and between
a901246fd70dcd0054429bf55ced123ecead832300d73dedd78857d91eaff2df.png
and
4b1dd11cb21b5631ee8c36f157076fd6185c62a90a580b41357901fcbb7f2190.png

[brenok]

I believe he was talking about those animated gifs that have been posted on this thread

Yes, SHE was talking about the animated gifs being posted because she knows PNGs are static.

Sorry. Was unsure about the gender, and just went for the most probable . Maybe I should try finding something gender-neutral

[Whizbang]

I wonder what they are saying to each other. It is obvious the time lapse allows for at least a few seconds, maybe even a minute. It is probably mostly things like "Nice day, huh?", "I'm going to check the water temp.", "Ugh. Got sand in my hair. Wanna build a castle?", but what if its something like "Oh, man. This is going to be so good! These (off-screen) people are going to flip! Just act cool. Lets build a sand castle or something so we don't seem suspicious. Don't look around."

And where are the seagulls?

[kaley]

Sorry. Was unsure about the gender, and just went for the most probable . Maybe I should try finding something gender-neutral

Not offended. He is statistically more likely and it is kind of insulting.

EDIT: "IT" as a pronoun instead of "HE", not ... the other way

[Corrado]

Considering the massive amount of time spent on some of these comics in the past, I wouldn't assume this story resolves in a day, if it ever does. It wouldn't be *that* difficult to bang out 48 frames a day to what could eventually be a feature-length GIF.

(..and I'm not saying this is easy, I'm just saying that the time required to keep this going indefinitely puts it in the realm of XCKD-possibility).

[TheLochNessCheeseBurger]

It seems they just finished building the castle... now what? the waiting is killing me!
If the point Randall wanted to make was about impatience, and how the current lifestyle prefers instant gratification over slow progress, well... point bloody taken! I've been biting my nails and compulsively hitting F5 on the browser over the incredibly simple story that's being unfolding there...

You don't even need to F5, it updates automagically. At least it does it for me.

[Forbidden 403]

35 frames and 12.5hrs later, having called in a sick day, time for me to turn in. Hope I can watch the story develop and come to fruition along with you all tomorrow.

Waiting for it...

[Prosthetic_Lips]

Sorry. Was unsure about the gender, and just went for the most probable . Maybe I should try finding something gender-neutral

Not offended. He is statistically more likely and it is kind of insulting.

My preference is always "s/he" ... shows both options, relatively succinct, and most people understand it pretty quickly. Plus, it correlates with trying to cover all three options (she, he, it) when speaking ... fewer giggles than running "she" and "it" together.

[paulmiranda]

Time and tide wait for... Randall.