# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/121 "2013-04-02T16:28:24Z")
Anyone know why there’s no image at frame #290 on Aubron Wood’s page? (Number at upper left corner, you can page through frames using left and right arrow keys.) Was there actually no image on xkcd at that point? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/122 "2013-04-02T17:24:10Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > A key bit of dialog appeared a little while ago: > Girl: “Any idea where the river is now?” > > Boy: “Still pretty far out. It’s actually retreated a little this week.” > Any ideas what THAT’S all about? I bet “the river” is a code name for Summer Glau. ---
**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 2, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/123 "2013-04-02T19:07:41Z")
My crazy theory - the whole thing will eventually turn out to be a visualization of Mark Twain’s\* The Mysterious Stranger.\* ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/124 "2013-04-03T11:48:41Z")
So when this ends do you think it will just stop on its final frame and never change again or cycle back around to the beginning and run indefinitely? Interestingly, I could see either as a fitting metaphor for time, albeit saying different things (“You can’t go back to the past” vs. “History repeats itself”). Either way, the last frame has to be the same as the first, the two of them on the beach, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/125 "2013-04-03T12:05:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That article makes a good point. We’re treating this like it’s a movie but that isn’t the way it was presented. It was presented as a series of still pictures with the title “Time”. I suspect that’s entirely the point. No way Randall didn’t anticipate that someone would do this, and that we’d watch it in the most convenient way possible, no matter what the artist’s presentation was. We don’t give a shit what the creator designed. We’re time lords now. We timeshift our television, we time manage our jobs, we reverse time’s effects on our bodies with surgery, we time out our kids 😉 … a many hundred panel comic strip unfolding over days or weeks? As the great philosopher of our time said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” We think we don’t have time to watch two cartoon figures build sand castles, even when we’re intently interested in what’s going to happen. When was the last time we gave ourselves the time to actually get sand under our own fingernails? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/126 "2013-04-03T16:55:24Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > As the great philosopher of our time said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/127 "2013-04-03T19:16:03Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I suspect that’s entirely the point. No way Randall didn’t anticipate that someone would do this, and that we’d watch it in the most convenient way possible, no matter what the artist’s presentation was. We don’t give a shit what the creator designed. We’re time lords now. We timeshift our television, we time manage our jobs, we reverse time’s effects on our bodies with surgery, we time out our kids 😉 … a many hundred panel comic strip unfolding over days or weeks? As the great philosopher of our time said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” > > We think we don’t have time to watch two cartoon figures build sand castles, even when we’re intently interested in what’s going to happen. When was the last time we gave ourselves the time to actually get sand under our own fingernails? This may be my favorite post on here in months. ---
**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 4, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/128 "2013-04-04T19:33:39Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I bet “the river” is a code name for Summer Glau. Uh, I doubt that. The river seems to be rising in the comic - it’s been going up ever since it panned out to the larger viewpoint. ---
**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 4, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/129 "2013-04-04T22:32:16Z")
He’s making a tiny little copy of the castle on top of the middle platform of the big castle! ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/130 "2013-04-04T22:32:28Z")
I hadn’t noticed that the water is rising. The last day or so has been as interesting as watching someone twiddle their thumbs. I hope something interesting happens soon. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/131 "2013-04-05T00:01:34Z")
The river discussion has got me thinking… are we looking at the _River of Time_ and the _Sands of Time_? Surely the “Wait for it” should then be some bad pun related to “\_\_\_\_ of Time”. Or are there any other concepts that could be addressed? The worst idea I had was that two mallards swim up and then there would be a Time Paradox. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/132 "2013-04-05T00:25:39Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > He’s making a tiny little copy of the castle on top of the middle platform of the big castle! Who said it was going to be a fractal? I think they win! ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/133 "2013-04-05T01:41:24Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Who said it was going to be a fractal? I think they win! I said it! I guessed fractal! Just kidding, I gave up on it along time ago and have been cheating with the sped-up link. ---
**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 5, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/134 "2013-04-05T12:25:48Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Who said it was going to be a fractal? I think they win! That was [me and leahcim](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16140566&postcount=80). ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/135 "2013-04-05T17:50:15Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > That was [me and leahcim](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16140566&postcount=80). All you. I wasn’t thinking “fractal”. I was thinking that they’d finish the second sandcastle and the view would shift again to have more space up the beach (pushing the original sandcastle off to the right) to build another one, and that would happen indefinitely. I now predict velociraptors. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/136 "2013-04-05T19:14:15Z")
Looks like Megan wasn’t impressed with sandcastleception… ---
**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 5, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/137 "2013-04-05T20:55:48Z")
Zooming into the center sandcastle to reveal a fractal-like, infinite regression of this scene looping seems very _xkcd._ But I dunno, maybe it’s supposed to be pretty mundane and anti-climactic. A lesson in obessive anticipation and how it self-generates hype too great to ever meet any expectations. Or, he could be building up to sex on the beach, but just before, a nuke scorches everything… Hrmm… The joke’s on us, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/138 "2013-04-05T23:10:31Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > A key bit of dialog appeared a little while ago: > Girl: “Any idea where the river is now?” > > Boy: “Still pretty far out. It’s actually retreated a little this week.” > Any ideas what THAT’S all about? Probably wrong, but the idea that occurred to me when I read the dialog above in the Time comic was that it will end with the river washing this sandcastle away. The idea I came up with after reading this thread, on the other hand, is that it will pan out eventually to show that the whole thing’s taking place inside an hourglass. Hard to say, have to wait and see what the actual end will be (if there is one) ---
**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 6, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/139 "2013-04-06T01:22:07Z")
Tiny trebuchet! ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901/140 "2013-04-06T03:40:38Z")
There is going to be a tsunami. I feel it in my bones [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-1190-time-randalls-setting-something-up/653901.md?page=8)