# 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:** 15
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/281 "2013-05-06T08:47:40Z")
Cueball lies down. Megan sits behind him. Cueball: Our rope isn’t strong enough Megan : What? Cueball : Hold this or you’ll fall. Megan looks around then takes hold of … something. Cueball’s hair? This is getting weirder. What the hell is that about? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/282 "2013-05-06T12:20:42Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Cueball lies down. Megan sits behind him. > > Cueball: Our rope isn’t strong enough > Megan : What? > Cueball : Hold this or you’ll fall. > > Megan looks around then takes hold of … something. Cueball’s hair? > > This is getting weirder. What the hell is that about? Seems like he was talking in his sleep. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/283 "2013-05-06T12:30:28Z")
Frame 1138 has cueball rubbing his eyes, with circles above his head indicating grogginess. As **Moriah** said, looks like he was asleep. ETA: 1136 has Megan poking him with a stick, waking him up. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/284 "2013-05-06T13:17:13Z")
Okay, that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/285 "2013-05-07T13:02:39Z")
> [@xkcd](#): > > Cueball: When our river gets too big, it fills with stuff. > Cueball: Wood and leaves and things from people in the hills. > > Cueball: This river doesn’t look like that. > > Megan: Maybe it only flows through empty places. > > Megan: If this river isn’t what’s making the sea rise, we need to get past it. > Megan: Either way, we continue upriver. > > * * * > > Megan: I wonder how high the water is now. > > Cueball: I wonder if other people have noticed. It’s been days. > Megan: Not a lot of us by the shore this time of year. > Megan: A few kids, maybe. > > Megan: It’d have to rise a lot higher before any tents got wet. I have no idea where this is going… ---
**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:** [May 7, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/286 "2013-05-07T13:22:45Z")
Neither do I, but it seems to be going somewhere that isn’t right around the corner. The format is one that lends itself to extension, even if Randall had a specific story line, he can change it and insert a month’s worth of content at any time. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/287 "2013-05-07T13:53:20Z")
If he had ended it with the fadeout from the sandcastle after they decided to go “see what’s out there” then it would have felt complete (nonwithstanding the beret girl dragging something in at the very last moment) The fact that it has continued means he is going somewhere, I just can’t tell where that is. And Aubronwood is showing that it is on frame 1165, which means it is getting close to having the same number of frames as all of xkcd. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/288 "2013-05-07T23:26:47Z")
OK, the general message I’m getting is that they’re part of an entire population of people, and yet those two are the only ones who actually wonder about anything and go exploring to find the answers to questions. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/289 "2013-05-08T00:18:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, the general message I’m getting is that they’re part of an entire population of people, and yet those two are the only ones who actually wonder about anything and go exploring to find the answers to questions. Which I’m sure neither Randall nor many of his readers can relate to. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/290 "2013-05-08T21:43:12Z")
It passed 1190 a few hours ago, so there are more frames in this comic than there were previous comics. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/291 "2013-05-09T01:22:00Z")
Still not quite as many as there are total other comics, though, since the regular comics have continued since then. When it catches up, I suppose he might just make his tri-weekly workload one regular comic, and one new frame of Time. Then again, if he’s been able to maintain this thing for this long, he might just keep on going at the same pace indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/292 "2013-05-09T11:36:37Z")
Current frame is 1211. Current xkcd is 1209. So “Wait for it” is now longer than the rest of xkcd combined. And it looks like Cueball is falling behind. Megan has looked back for him at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/293 "2013-05-09T13:33:44Z")
To be fair, a lot of these frames would take a few seconds to generate, just updating the previous frame a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/294 "2013-05-09T19:15:50Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > And it looks like Cueball is falling behind. Megan has looked back for him at least once. And now he’s caught up with her. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/295 "2013-05-15T19:46:41Z")
OK, something weird has happened. Look at the next frame here: [http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/?i=1362&playing=0&audio=0&speed=200](http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/?i=1362&playing=0&audio=0&speed=200) Or here: [http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1359](http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1359) (Their frame counts are off slightly from each other.) Where does the tree and Megan go? Also, some people are speculating that the two are eventually going to wind up in the click-and-drag comic from a few months ago, based on this image: > **[xkcd #1110 - Click and Drag - Map](https://victorz.ca/xkcd_map/)** > > Explore a gigapixel of the xkcd-1110 webcomic in a zoomable interface. Anyone else still watching this? Any new thoughts on what is going on? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/296 "2013-05-15T19:51:02Z")
I check the aubronwood site every morning and rewind to check what I’ve missed. I think Cueball (if that is the character’s name?) is just taking a wander whilst Meghan (sp?) is still napping under the tree. I really have no idea where this will end, but ultimately I hope the destination is worth the journey. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/297 "2013-05-15T22:35:39Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I check the aubronwood site every morning and rewind to check what I’ve missed. > > I think Cueball (if that is the character’s name?) is just taking a wander whilst Meghan (sp?) is still napping under the tree. Yeah, looks like he’s gathering flowers for Megan while she sleeps ---
**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 16, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/298 "2013-05-16T11:56:30Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Yeah, looks like he’s gathering flowers for Megan while she sleeps Eating berries, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/299 "2013-05-16T16:29:33Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > Eating berries, I think. You’re right - I was judging from the one image of him bending over by a bush, and misjudged what he was doing. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/300 "2013-05-16T16:39:09Z")
And now we’re seeing more indirect evidence of other humans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=16)