# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/81 "2013-03-28T13:20:53Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I was thinking that as well. Maybe some sort of sand castle fractal… Oh God no, my mind just exploded. That would be too much. I don’t know how much time I spent browsing “Click and Drag.” (Hidden amongst all the urls is the GPS location of the actual sandcastle that Randall has already built!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/82 "2013-03-28T14:55:18Z")
Thank you for this thread. I’d been off on vacation for a few days and when I clicked through XKCD I saw a guy with a sandcastle and the alt-text of “wait for it.” So I did. I kept it loaded all day on another tab. Nothing happened. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/83 "2013-03-28T18:38:38Z")
So, the couple just went for a swim, and it looks like the very back end of the sandcastle eroded a bit… ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/84 "2013-03-28T19:52:56Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > So, the couple just went for a swim, and it looks like the very back end of the sandcastle eroded a bit… I’m taking advantage of my medium’s impermanence… This sculpture is about transience. As this figure _erodes_, it invites the viewer to contemplate the evanescence of life. This piece speaks to the horror of our own mortality! ---
**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 28, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/85 "2013-03-28T20:09:56Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > So, the couple just went for a swim, and it looks like the very back end of the sandcastle eroded a bit… Yes, you’re right. A corner seemed to collapse. She just came back from the swim coughing, but said she just “got some in her mouth”. Presumably she means water. > [@standingwave](#): > > I’m taking advantage of my medium’s impermanence… This sculpture is about transience. As this figure _erodes_, it invites the viewer to contemplate the evanescence of life. This piece speaks to the horror of our own mortality! You are? Are you Randall then? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/86 "2013-03-28T21:13:58Z")
Like sands through a sandcastle, so are the days of our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/87 "2013-03-28T21:48:58Z")
> [@Shadez](#): > > It took me a full day to realize that in the lower right corner it mentions some other info, like you can use arrow keys to move it at your own speed. And yes, several times I have held down the right or left arrow key to see it go in “real time” - forwards or backwards. I’ve only just spotted the music note in the lower left corner. Click for added ambience. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/88 "2013-03-28T22:12:26Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > > [@standingwave](#): > > > > I’m taking advantage of my medium’s impermanence… This sculpture is about transience. As this figure erodes, it invites the viewer to contemplate the evanescence of life. This piece speaks to the horror of our own mortality! > > You are? Are you Randall then? I think that was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes snowman-sculpture strip. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/89 "2013-03-28T22:45:22Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I think that was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes snowman-sculpture strip. [Genius is never understood in its own time](http://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/search.php?phrase=impermanence). 😃 ---
**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:** [March 29, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/90 "2013-03-29T01:00:13Z")
He’s bridging the gap… What do it mean?! Maybe they’re playing real-life Minecraft. ---
**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 29, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/91 "2013-03-29T04:41:33Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I think that was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes snowman-sculpture strip. Man, I hate it when I miss a reference. That’s it; from now on I google everything. ---
**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 29, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/92 "2013-03-29T14:44:21Z")
And it now looks like **leahcim** was right about the dueling trebuchets. At least, there appears to have been _some_ projectile that arced in and damaged the castle. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/93 "2013-03-29T16:53:48Z")
Yeah, the woman is now on the far left with a trebuchet aimed further to the left at someone or something else. I wonder how long this is going to run? ---
**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 29, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/94 "2013-03-29T17:19:26Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Yeah, the woman is now on the far left with a trebuchet aimed further to the left at someone or something else. It’s aimed right. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/95 "2013-03-29T17:45:14Z")
Huh. So it is. It threw me since that means she is sitting in front of it. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/96 "2013-03-29T18:18:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And it now looks like **leahcim** was right about the dueling trebuchets. At least, there appears to have been _some_ projectile that arced in and damaged the castle. And in true psychic fashion, I intend to tout my prediction of trebuchets as proof of my l33t powers of coolness, and not mention my many other wrong guesses ever again. 🙂 (Although if it was procedurally generated, and those procedures included randomized trebuchet attacks, that would be fifty shades of awesome.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/97 "2013-03-29T19:40:59Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Yeah, the woman is now on the far left with a trebuchet aimed further to the left at someone or something else. > > I wonder how long this is going to run? I’ll go out on a limb and predict that it’s going to be far longer than we suspect right now. Like, probably months, maybe years. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/98 "2013-03-29T20:01:46Z")
Like I said, 97 minute film animated at 4fps and reeled out over two years. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/99 "2013-03-30T00:25:23Z")
Speaking for myself and all the rest of us who do webcomics? Randall, stop making us all look bad, Mmmkay? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/100 "2013-03-30T11:35:00Z")
They haven’t quite got the hang of that trebuchet, have they. Vertical throw, almost hit themselves. And now, reconstruction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=6)