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Creator of xkcd Reveals Secret Back-story of His Epic, 3,099-Panel 'Time' Comic

vikingpower writes "Randall Munroe, the comic author best known as the creator of the xkcd webcomic, reveals the secret backstory of his epic, 3099-panel 'Time' strip in an interesting interview with Wired. He says, 'In my comic, our civilization is long gone. Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years; it seems optimistic to hope that the current one will last for 10,000 more ... The Earth’s axis wobbles over the millennia, and some individual stars move visibly, so I used a few different pieces of astronomy software–with a lot of hand correction and tweaking–to render the future night sky. When the Sun sets in the night sequence, one of the first things you see is the gap where Antares should be, which was the first clue that this is taking place in the far future. Later in the night–which lasted for several days of real time–more astronomical details let readers pin down the date more precisely.' The comic can be seen as an animation on YouTube. There is also a complete click-through version available on geekwagon. This comic inspired a dedicated wiki and has its own glossary."

6 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Re:xkcd is overrated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought I was alone in this until a few weeks ago I found a site called xkcdsucks, and it appears I'm not alone in thinking this.

    Hey, look at me! My opinion is valid because I found a website that says the same thing.

  2. Re:xkcd is overrated by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought I was alone in this until a few weeks ago I found a site called xkcdsucks, and it appears I'm not alone in thinking this.

    Hey, look at me! My opinion is valid because I found a website that says the same thing.

    I'm making a sig out of that.

  3. Re:xkcd is overrated by mopower70 · · Score: 4, Funny

    And how long has writing existed for?

    Randall Munroe is an embarrassing illustration of the mediocrity of the average modern nerd.

    Long enough that we figured out you don't end a sentence with an unnecessary preposition. Talk about embarrassing mediocrity. You can't even muster a proper sentence with which to condemn your betters.

  4. How to keep our civilization alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years; it seems optimistic to hope that the current one will last for 10,000 more

    Indeed, there is only one way to ensure our civilization survives: we must destroy all written records!

  5. Re:xkcd is overrated by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is the sort of bloody nonsense on my lawn up with which I will not put.

  6. Re:xkcd is overrated by oji-sama · · Score: 5, Funny

    His opinion is as valid as yours.

    I'm not so sure, there wasn't a reference to a website.

    --
    It is what it is.