# XKCD 1190: "Time"---Randall's setting something up... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901 "2013-03-25T10:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/1 "2013-03-25T10:31:32Z")
…and I hope it’ll be something good. As fans of XKCD know, Randall is fond of every now and then producing special occasion comics which strain the limits of the medium in a unique, and often nerdy, way. It seems something like this is happening again, as the current comic, [time](http://xkcd.com/1190/), consists of nothing but a single frame of two people sitting in a landscape. But the frame has been subtly changing, every half hour or so—the pictures are catalogued in order at the [‘explain XKCD’-wiki](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page), and also [in this post](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?p=3301934#p3301934) at the XKCD forums (which currently is one picture ahead of the wiki). Also, the forum features an interesting discussion about the technicalities of how the updating works. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/2 "2013-03-25T10:49:07Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > …and I hope it’ll be something good. But the way this is going, I fear it might not be: the girl’s lying down in the grass now, and the boy has stood up and seems to be leaving. Given that Randall’s blogged about his then-fiancée (now wife) having [breast cancer](http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/), I really _really_ hope I’m reading too much into this and at the end just look like an overly worrisome gossip… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/3 "2013-03-25T11:05:02Z")
He’s not leaving. See now the “ground” turns flat to his right? He’s looking at the water. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/4 "2013-03-25T11:17:22Z")
I do hope you are a overly worrisome gossip, but when he started walking away I got scared too ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/5 "2013-03-25T11:31:38Z")
Just changed for 6:30 am. Guy was looking across the “water”, now he’s looking down at it. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/6 "2013-03-25T11:52:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > He’s not leaving. See now the “ground” turns flat to his right? He’s looking at the water. Apparently, he’s now trying out his footing on the water… I can’t really say why, but this new one seems a bit more light-hearted, less melancholy. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/7 "2013-03-25T13:02:33Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > …and I hope it’ll be something good. > > As fans of XKCD know, Randall is fond of every now and then producing special occasion comics which strain the limits of the medium in a unique, and often nerdy, way. It seems something like this is happening again, as the current comic, [time](http://xkcd.com/1190/), consists of nothing but a single frame of two people sitting in a landscape. But the frame has been subtly changing, every half hour or so—the pictures are catalogued in order at the [‘explain XKCD’-wiki](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page), and also [in this post](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?p=3301934#p3301934) at the XKCD forums (which currently is one picture ahead of the wiki). Also, the forum features an interesting discussion about the technicalities of how the updating works. [This post](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&start=120#p3302095) is putting them in a gif. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/8 "2013-03-25T13:10:58Z")
I swear the latest one I just saw that the wiki had him sitting back down with her after looking down at the water, but now I just get a 500 error when I try to view it. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/9 "2013-03-25T13:14:08Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > [This post](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=101043&start=120#p3302095) is putting them in a gif. And it even auto-updates. This is both impressive and terrifying! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/10 "2013-03-25T13:44:17Z")
I think that the message is just that time spent with a loved one, doing something unexciting like sitting quietly at the beach, is still time well-spent. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/11 "2013-03-25T13:50:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that the message is just that time spent with a loved one, doing something unexciting like sitting quietly at the beach, is still time well-spent. …As opposed to time spent obsessively pressing F5 hoping some website updates… :rolleyes: 😛 But I’m home sick, so I’m allowed to go and be pathetic on the internet! ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/12 "2013-03-25T16:35:23Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > …As opposed to time spent obsessively pressing F5 hoping some website updates… :rolleyes: 😛 What about time spent with a loved one, doing something unexciting like obsessively pressing F5? Seems to be looping at this point anyway. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/13 "2013-03-25T17:13:18Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > Seems to be looping at this point anyway. No, there are still new ones. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/14 "2013-03-25T17:16:34Z")
I think they may be building a sandcastle. It will be a few hours before we know for certain though. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/15 "2013-03-25T18:15:20Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > I think they may be building a sandcastle. It will be a few hours before we know for certain though. Like sands through the hour glass, these are the days of our lives… ---
**Author:** ![Starkan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Starkan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starkan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/16 "2013-03-25T18:17:52Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > I think they may be building a sandcastle. It will be a few hours before we know for certain though. The girl shakes her head because she was laying on the sand, to get it out of her hair. I’m definitely thinking they’re on a beach, and sandcastles are on the way. I’m excited for more. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/17 "2013-03-25T20:22:32Z")
I suspect I’m doing it wrong. I’m just going to wait until it all over and then go look at it in a high speed gif. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/18 "2013-03-25T20:54:56Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > No, there are still new ones. Silly me, was looking at cached stuff, I guess. As per usual XKCD topics, I’m now expecting this to end in some cunnilingus, followed by a “your mom” joke. ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/19 "2013-03-25T21:06:09Z")
Someone at the XKCD’s forum link mentioned above has posted a capture of [all of them together](http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/) so far. Note the comic count in the upper left and the slower/faster option in the upper right. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/20 "2013-03-26T05:41:56Z")
This is starting to freak me out. They’re saying goodbye now. I’m praying for glurge at this point. Please let it be glurge. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=2)