# 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:** 21
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/401 "2013-07-11T11:38:18Z")
Heh. It just occurred to me that in their world a stick figure is photo-realistic art… ---
**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:** [July 12, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/402 "2013-07-12T01:21:23Z")
It looks like there’s someone in a nearby city who might be able to speak their language! ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/403 "2013-07-16T12:28:04Z")
So they’ve found a real castle. Interesting that they knew what one was but had never seen one (and apparently never expected to be able to see one). Now, is the fact that Megan knows how to build and use a trebuchet going to become important? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/404 "2013-07-16T16:42:41Z")
Hopefully the guy who can speak multiple languages has some answers. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/405 "2013-07-18T18:22:45Z")
“Yes, we’re here all by ourselves and no one knows where we went. And there aren’t that many of us either.” Not that I think Randall is going that way, but Cueball and Megan are a bit too trusting, aren’t they? Especially given that they’ve admitted that the other people in the hills don’t like them. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/406 "2013-07-18T19:06:59Z")
That’s an interesting way of writing a thick accent. It’s straining my eyes trying to make it all out. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/407 "2013-07-18T19:23:57Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > That’s an interesting way of writing a thick accent. It’s straining my eyes trying to make it all out. Indeed. Especially since it’s rendered in black on dark grey. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/408 "2013-07-18T19:32:52Z")
Yeah, I’m hating mostly illegible word blotchies. I get what Munroe is trying to do: the riverfolk stick people can almost but not quite understand castle-person. But its annoying as hell to try make sense of by staring at the comic. Stop it. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/409 "2013-07-18T19:37:57Z")
A higher sea draining into a lower sea? Looks like the Black Sea deluge hypothesis might have been correct. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/410 "2013-07-18T21:16:42Z")
New page access. [http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/#](http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/#) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/411 "2013-07-18T21:30:53Z")
Yeah that accent thing is annoying. So the higher/larger sea has found a way to flow back into the lower one. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/412 "2013-07-19T00:48:59Z")
OK, someone smarter than me identify this map… [![](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/403a35d205067de0815c41bd4ef9d3798213cd9955760e2b8a96b9b95f0c39f5.png) ](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/403a35d205067de0815c41bd4ef9d3798213cd9955760e2b8a96b9b95f0c39f5.png) ---
**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:** [July 19, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/413 "2013-07-19T02:00:09Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > OK, someone smarter than me identify this map… > > [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/403a35d205067de0815c41bd4ef9d3798213cd9955760e2b8a96b9b95f0c39f5.png](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time/403a35d205067de0815c41bd4ef9d3798213cd9955760e2b8a96b9b95f0c39f5.png) Is that Middle-Earth? It’s certainly in that style… ---
**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:** [July 19, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/414 "2013-07-19T02:06:53Z")
And one frame more makes it pretty darned clear what the map is. Which, in turn, settles the timeframe question. The only thing left to wonder is precisely where they are now: Will the civilization of the gibberish-speakers be safe on one of the new islands, or do they need to find a new home, too? ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/415 "2013-07-19T02:32:58Z")
Looks to me that they’re right at the future location of Marseille. Unless the story is set at the end of some future ice age … ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/416 "2013-07-19T02:43:38Z")
That map puts it either about [5.33 million years ago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood)(were their even humans around then? With language and castles?) or sometime in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/417 "2013-07-19T02:55:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And one frame more makes it pretty darned clear what the map is. Which, in turn, settles the timeframe question. > > The only thing left to wonder is precisely where they are now: Will the civilization of the gibberish-speakers be safe on one of the new islands, or do they need to find a new home, too? For those of us barely playing along at home - what did the frame teach us? What is the map? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/418 "2013-07-19T03:01:29Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > For those of us barely playing along at home - what did the frame teach us? What is the map? The map shows the Mediterranean Sea as mostly dry land. The flood is occurring as the Atlantic ocean breaks through the Straights of Gibraltar and floods the Mediterranean. This happened 5.33 million years ago. It may also happen again in the future. If the sea levels fall from an ice age or something the Mediterranean can go dry again. It just takes the water levels falling enough for the Straights of Gibraltar to become dry land. Once that happens the Mediterranean will gradually evaporate faster than fresh water comes in. (This also explains why the water tasted so bad - the sea that is left in what was the Mediterranean will be hyper-saline.). If the climate changes and sea levels rise again, the sea will eventually breach the straights and spill back in. What this tells us is that this is either taking place 5.33 million years ago, or sometime in the distant future after an ice age. It also tells us that the sea that these two used to live by is going to rise a lot. Their home will be permanently underwater, their friends and the people in the hills who don’t like them will have to move upland to escape the flood. The castle they’re in now might be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/419 "2013-07-19T03:08:23Z")
"We learned this has happened before, when our parents were learning to walk upright … " Definitely future. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/420 "2013-07-19T03:14:48Z")
Somebody must have opened a portal. [http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/](http://what-if.xkcd.com/53/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=22)