# 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:** 13
**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:** [April 29, 2013, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/241 "2013-04-29T11:36:31Z")
Adjust your screen. It’s still there. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/242 "2013-04-29T11:38:41Z")
The fade out is showing up on the ipad now. Still there, but faint. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/243 "2013-04-29T15:23:22Z")
Apparently, it’s not over: currently is shows a frame with either just black sea, or flat land (kinda difficult to tell them apart). ---
**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:** [April 29, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/244 "2013-04-29T15:26:55Z")
Yeah - it looks like the fadeout was a way to speed up time and cut to what I’m guessing will be a “several days later…”. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/245 "2013-04-29T16:23:22Z")
I must say, Randall has me so gripped. I’m just dying to see where this goes. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/246 "2013-04-29T16:54:36Z")
We’re now (frames 972-973 on aubronwood) seeing Cueball and Megan again, walking on a flat plain, presumably away from the sea, carrying their bags. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/247 "2013-04-29T17:32:15Z")
As I said above, setting out on a trip is something that happens at the start of a story, not the end. Building the castle was prologue. Now the real story begins. This is going to take a looooooong time. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/248 "2013-04-29T17:55:23Z")
I’m going with… > [@Issac Newton](#): > > I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/249 "2013-04-29T19:32:10Z")
Is it me, or is the terrain starting to slope upward? ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/250 "2013-04-29T19:48:40Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > I’m going with… Darn you **tanstaafl**! I was going to post that. Though I’d have mis-attributed it to Einstein. :smack: Young Einstein that is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/251 "2013-04-30T16:44:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Is it me, or is the terrain starting to slope upward? It’s varied in slope over the course of the walking frames, but I don’t think there’s been any consistent pattern. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/252 "2013-04-30T17:09:59Z")
I think it’s about to loop. Frame 998. Look like they’re on another beach. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/253 "2013-04-30T18:03:46Z")
I thought that, too. But they have the bag this time. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/254 "2013-04-30T18:33:31Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I thought that, too. But they have the bag this time. Maybe THIS time they’ll make it into the Black Tower… ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/255 "2013-04-30T19:04:39Z")
Ah, yes, the Bag of Eld. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/256 "2013-04-30T20:19:58Z")
The man in the black hat fled across the beach, and the Cueball followed. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/257 "2013-05-01T06:04:35Z")
Wait, what? When did that happen? At the moment, the top part of the ground, or whatever it is they’re walking on has turned lighter, with veins of the lighter color reaching farther down. It’s barely noticeable though. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/258 "2013-05-01T06:54:26Z")
Frame 1007. The lower portion stays the same on the subsequent frames (i.e. the black level stays the same and the veins are in the same place) but the lighter upper area (and Megan and Cueball) varies as they cross the terrain and climb. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/259 "2013-05-01T10:22:51Z")
And it has gone - from 1007 and on. An error, maybe, corrected back into the past. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/260 "2013-05-01T11:23:37Z")
Someone needs to start a “chapter 2” type animation, so we don’t have to sit through all the sandcastle stuff if we just want to catch up on the latest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=14)