Today's xkcd

[Guinastasia]

Aw man, I still can't find the X-wings! (HUGE x-wing fan)

[Jenaroph]

I found a jellyfish using a computer.

And an x-wing.

And what appears to be a Saarlac Pit.

And a Super Mario Brothers level.

And Icarus.

[kayaker]

Originally Posted by Athena

Am I the only one who is less than impressed by this? I love xkcd, and this is OK, but I just don't get why people are so gaga over it. It's a big picture. Whatever.

OK. Maka a bigger, better picture. Than we talk.

[Flander]

The dragging doesn't work on my work computer. It won't let go. I can't even get the first tree out of frame.

[Athena]

Originally Posted by kayaker

OK. Maka a bigger, better picture. Than we talk.

I think that's sort of my point - big complex pictures don't do much for me. Sure, it's kinda cool, I'll give you that, but there's a lot of other xckds that I think are more clever/funnier/just better in general. But I appear to be in the minority.

[lisiate]

I just scrolled up the enormous radio mast to see the following: "Dubai may have taken the record for 'Tallest Manmade Structure' but North Dakota still has 'Largest Buffalo Monument' 'Biggest Hamburger' and 'Tallest Pyramid made of Oilcans'. So there!"

Which I found incredibly cool, as I'm going to Dubai next week and going to go up the Burj Khalifa just cause I can!

[Lumpy]

Is that Gary Seven on the side of the Saturn V?

[Jas09]

I liked Elizabeth Warren in the rigging of the sailing ship. "Why are you in the rigging?" "You call this rigging? The whole system is rigged!" or something like that. Heh, indeed.

[SecretaryofEvil]

Originally Posted by Munch

Here's a google map-like image of it:

http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/

That's probably the best way to view it.

Very cool comic.

[Filbert]

Hm, I should go to bed- hey! A thread about the new XKCD comic- huh, two pages of comments, must be interesting.

I'll just look at the comic, then I'll turn off the computer...

[tanstaafl]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

The world is big. I mean, it's fricking massive. That entire landscape covers about two miles (or 10km by one reader's estimate).

At the extreme left at ground level there are two stick figures, one of which says that they must have walked to the far side of the world while the other says they've only gone two miles. I think that's where the "two miles" is coming from.

My only comment is that Monroe apparently has a thing about antennae, dish antennae especially.

[rowrrbazzle]

Originally Posted by Flander

The dragging doesn't work on my work computer. It won't let go. I can't even get the first tree out of frame.

Maybe Javascript is disabled there. You need it to explore the image.

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by lisiate

I just scrolled up the enormous radio mast to see the following: "Dubai may have taken the record for 'Tallest Manmade Structure' but North Dakota still has 'Largest Buffalo Monument' 'Biggest Hamburger' and 'Tallest Pyramid made of Oilcans'. So there!"

Which I found incredibly cool, as I'm going to Dubai next week and going to go up the Burj Khalifa just cause I can!

I'm pretty sure the tower just left of the starting point is the Burj Khalifa, and it is taller than the radio antenna.

[lisiate]

Yep, I found that after going all the way to the right and then started going to the left. So my questions now are - is that a particular suspension bridge? And are the towers, bridges and Saturn V all to the same scale?

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Quimby

It contains dozens (or more) of jokes, some impressive silhouette artwork and must have taken him weeks if not months to do. Just on that level it's impressive to me. Plus is has a space Jellyfish

There's a joke with the jellyfish too. You see two bird watchers and one of them is saying he sees a yellow warbler. His companion is facing the other direction and says "cool". When you scroll over you see she's looking at the giant flying jellyfish.

[Curiosity Kills Her]

Best xkcd... possibly ever. Loved it.

[cmkeller]

Very impressive, but the workayoff ratio is quite low, especially in the underground portions.

[Khadaji]

Yeah, it is a neat concept, but I got bored quickly with dragging it and only spent about 5 minutes on it.

[Michael63129]

Originally Posted by tanstaafl

At the extreme left at ground level there are two stick figures, one of which says that they must have walked to the far side of the world while the other says they've only gone two miles. I think that's where the "two miles" is coming from.

My only comment is that Monroe apparently has a thing about antennae, dish antennae especially.

I measured the height of the stick figure at the beginning at about 73 pixels; if you assume he is 6 feet tall and use the width of the image (165,888 pixels), I get about 13,634 feet or 2.58 miles, so that is pretty close (in terms of monitor screen area, it is about 200 feet wide and 100 feet tall, depending on your monitor's PPI; the total size can be seen by doing "view source").

[Dr_Doom]

The right edge is a direct quote of the very first xkcd.

I wonder where I'll float next?

[Drunky Smurf]

Originally Posted by kayaker

Explain xkcd is in a tizzy!

Reposting just to point out that this link has links to all the individual "tiles or whatever" and points out which ones have something interesting and which ones are blank.

[bup]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

Is that Gary Seven on the side of the Saturn V?

I don't see him, but that's way to nerd-cool for Randall to have missed. Where do you see him?

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by bup

I don't see him, but that's way to nerd-cool for Randall to have missed. Where do you see him?

Ok, from the starting point go left past the tower and over the ocean, past two islands until you come to mainland again- Cape Canaveral Florida presumably. There's a figure approximately halfway up the right side of the rocket, just past the first horizontal connection to the gantry tower.

Except now I have my doubts- it doesn't really look like a human figure.

[Yeticus Rex]

Did anyone think the whales were referenced from HHGttG? Still looking for the bowl of petunias though.

[Alan Smithee]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

Ok, from the starting point go left past the tower and over the ocean, past two islands until you come to mainland again- Cape Canaveral Florida presumably. There's a figure approximately halfway up the right side of the rocket, just past the first horizontal connection to the gantry tower.

Except now I have my doubts- it doesn't really look like a human figure.

No, you're right. There's definitely a person there. It looks like a female person to me, though. (Or at least a long-haired person.)

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by Yeticus Rex

Did anyone think the whales were referenced from HHGttG? Still looking for the bowl of petunias though.

That's what I immediately thought of, though I don't know why it's two whales.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by Guinastasia

Aw man, I still can't find the X-wings! (HUGE x-wing fan)

How to find the X-wing:

SPOILER:

Go left from the starting point. Go past the skyscraper and out into the ocean. On the second island, you'll see a big palm tree and a tunnel that goes down. Follow the tunnel down, past the lemonade stand, and it'll bring you to the X-wing.

[Jragon]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

That's what I immediately thought of, though I don't know why it's two whales.

I thought it was a reference to Fantasia 2000.

[Kamino Neko]

There's two X-Wings, by the way.

SPOILER:

One in the sky, one in the ground.

[Gagundathar]

To the right of the X-Wing going up the tunnel, if you follow the east-west passage going eastward you eventually come to this:
http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/#10/-31.4328/-30.0964

It is a rather interesting vista after being underground all that time.

This is easily in my top 5 online comic strips. Amazing!

[Gagundathar]

"I only hope the story of how Building Wax Wings Enabled Me to Fly teaches everyone a lesson about hubris."
http://xkcd-map.rent-a-geek.de/#10/5.8790/3.3117

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

That's still missing the point. The scroll itself is limited compared to other easier methods of viewing a large picture such as zoom in the same way that walking is limited compared to other easier methods of travel such as flight. Flight is quite literally the same as a zoom function; you go very high up, travel a smaller distance (or at least the same distance in a shorter amount of time), then go back down to ground detail.

Just because I get the point doesn't mean I want to drudge through it, any more than I would want to walk all that way when I could fly. I already got the message of what he was doing. Slowly going through it gives me no more information and just delays getting to see what's in it so I can appreciate the work he put into it.