Thread: xkcd Garden Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
How does YOUR garden grow? Randall Munroe has given us yet another weird one.
 
Posted by Eutychus (# 3081) on :
 
I have a boy, girl, turtle, a few tufts of grass and something waving gently in the breeze. I see others have produced a lot more.

But then I've never had green fingers, and indeed am wondering if it's dry enough outside to embark on cutting my foot-high lawn, which has grown virtually all winter on account of it being so mild.
 
Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :
 
I don't get it. I can position up to three lamps, change the angle and colour, but then what? Is something supposed to grow? How do you instigate it?
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
I have a cactus under the pink light, some trees (including a huge dead pole) under the yellow light, and two octopi (someone described them as Elder Gods) and a human form (presumably male by the lack of long hair, which is how Munroe generally distinguishes females) under the lavender light. No turtles yet.

I had the lights separated. Now I am experimenting on a bare spot with mixing the pink and yellow. I've had the tab open for about 3 hours.
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
Oooo! You can weed the garden. Click on one of the growing things and the delete "X" turns red, and you can delete it. I'm getting rid of the elder gods to see what happens. Especially before one of them eats that human.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I have a pink and blue light and made a purple section. Maybe they'll like it?
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
I've now got a deer-like animal, as well as a cat, a turtle, and the human.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Oooh! A kitty and a bird and a park bench! There's a snag, and I think it needs an eagle.
 
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I have a snake. Yes, there is a serpent in my garden. What could possibly go wrong?
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
I don't get it. I can position up to three lamps, change the angle and colour, but then what? Is something supposed to grow? How do you instigate it?
Yep. Bit dull. Not sure how you change the colour.
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
The purple light seems to create animals exclusively.

I haven't gotten any furniture yet although my son has gotten a birdbath. No snake for me either.

To change the color you click on the light then turn the little dot that appears at the top of the circle.

It's not something to sit and watch. Turn it on and then go do something else for an hour.
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Thanks for the tip, MT. 2.5 trees so far.
 
Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :
 
I did leave it and had a cat sat on top of a desk, but then it just reset itself to a single yellow light.
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
I think the octopi may be in honour of Ringo's garden on the Beatles' Abbey Road album.
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I'm on an extremely slow, old pc at the church office so it won't load. I can't wait to get home and try it out. This sounds like an activity about my speed.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
mousethief: It's not something to sit and watch. Turn it on and then go do something else for an hour.
Wow yes, it really takes long.
 
Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
I got to several trees, a cat and a couple of birds, then back a stump and a single light.
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
6.5 trees, 2 sprigs of grass and a bench. Will I get a partridge in a pear tree?
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
Are any of you seeing the wind?
 
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
No wind - that sounds interesting!

A deer has just appeared in front of two cacti. It looks like a camel with three spiky humps.
 
Posted by Garasu (# 17152) on :
 
Does it not work with IE? Or is it just really crap?
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
You have to wait quite some time. Then things spontaneously appear. Then the program resets itself, clears the screen and starts over again. It is very slow moving though so don't expect anything to happen for at least a quarter of an hour.

I found it quite difficult to see any colours from the lights on Firefox - they're very pale pastels.
 
Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Geological time perhaps?
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
Confirmed: the lavender light only grows animals including people.

Now working with just yellow, and I've gotten some shrubbery, a snag, and a birdbath.

quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
Are any of you seeing the wind?
Yes. Blowing the big tree about 1/3 of the way in from the left of the screen, I assume you mean?
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
mousethief: Blowing the big tree about 1/3 of the way in from the left of the screen, I assume you mean?
For a time, all of the trees big and small were swaying to and fro with the wind, while all the rest (animals, bird baths) stayed still.

[ 05. April 2016, 01:49: Message edited by: LeRoc ]
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
Here is my final report on the light.

Pink: Cacti and turtles
Lavender: All other animals including people
Yellow: Birdbaths and all other plants
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
The giant bird baths are taking over. As tall as the trees, they seem just wrong. May have to pull one.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
mousethief: Here is my final report on the light.
Are you still safe in there? Give us a sign when we need to pull you out.
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
I take it back. I am now experimenting with light that is halfway to the right. I have two tentacles growing out of the ground that I hadn't seen with the "pure" light colors.
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
And I see the plants stop growing if you change their light, but they don't seem to die.
 
Posted by Paul. (# 37) on :
 
I've got a spinning tree over the word "Loading..."
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
I can tell from experience that refreshing won't destroy your garden, or at least it didn't destroy mine.

Still no animals. Jealous
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
It reset mine back to the original single light. For some reason it keeps doing that, after only a few seconds I come back to find it's reset again.
 
Posted by Ariston (# 10894) on :
 
Let's see here...so far, with three lights (with varying angles, colors, crossings, and foci), I've got some balloons on strings swaying in the wind, a kitten, a dude in a beret coming out of the ground, what looks like a sprout, the Washington Monument, and a desk and chair with two deer on it.

Strange.
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
The elder deities must have heard me. I now have three octopuses, all larger than my trees. Except they don't seem strangely large at all because they are dwarfed by the giant obelisk that is taller than all the trees put together.

Between its cactus-growing properties and the turtle it has grown, I think the red light is the desert light.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
Hmph. I am about 20 minutes in with no sign of anything. To be fair, I went with narrow beams of light (one of each color) with no intersecting, so that may delay things.

I see that it claims:

quote:
You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.


Has anybody tried that?
 
Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :
 
Does nobody else have rabbits? I have 5.
 
Posted by Gracious rebel (# 3523) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:

I see that it claims:

quote:
You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.


Has anybody tried that?
Well lets try it.
Here are my rabbits etc
ETA well that doesn't seem to work, clicking the link gives me just the blank the starting garden. Or do others see my rabbits?

[ 05. April 2016, 23:22: Message edited by: Gracious rebel ]
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
No, empty garden with just the one light.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
Odd. Now the link shows a single light ... with grass.
 
Posted by mousethief (# 953) on :
 
Rabbits? You have rabbits? I have what appear to be budding lampposts. At first they looked like five foot tall hookahs but then one sprouted an arm.
 
Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Currently I have rabbits and what look like canoodling deer (and it didn't crash overnight when I shut the computer down, but kept playing)
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Gracious Rebel: I see grass and a tree, so I think it works.

My octopuses kept spreading and landing on top of each other. And each cactus got a turtle on top of it. (Though when I deleted one cactus, sadly it's turtle got deleted too automatically. I felt oddly guilty. Digital-turtle murderer, clearly.)

So now I switched my water-light with my desert-light. We'll see what happens now.

Here's mine: http://xkcd.com/1663/#6e17299a-fb38-11e5-8001-42010a8e000c
 
Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :
 
I can't get anything to appear under a red light. Only yellows and blues do anything.

I have an obelisk at the moment.
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
The red took longer to get started for me too, but once you get things, they seem to often breed more things. I had to prune multiple cacti so that I could see the cacti I had, for instance.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
Sipech: I have an obelisk at the moment.
That's OK, it can happen to all of us.


(Sorry, some of these I simply can't let pass [Smile] )
 
Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
Sipech: I have an obelisk at the moment.
That's OK, it can happen to all of us.
[Killing me] That nearly wasted nearly half a cup of coffee that did!

Do you have recommendations for what to do with the nobbly bits that are growing out of its side?
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Maybe something is behind your obelisk? I had a tree that went through a stage sort of like that.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
Sipech: Do you have recommendations for what to do with the nobbly bits that are growing out of its side?
I'm sorry; I'm not allowed to give medical advice on the Ship [Smile]
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Gwai:
Gracious Rebel: I see grass and a tree, so I think it works.
Gracious Rebel's link has been slowly growing over time. It started as the blank original, then it grew grass, and now has a tree.

quote:
Here's mine: http://xkcd.com/1663/#6e17299a-fb38-11e5-8001-42010a8e000c
Your link does work, in all its glory. I love the turtles perched on the cacti. It reminds me of the line about an elected official being like a turtle on a post: you know he didn't get there by his own merits and you wonder what sort of fool put him there, but you are sure he has no idea what to do now that he is there!
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
[Help] How are you folks manipulating the lights? Or anything except the delete X? I've tried clicking on my one yellow light (which has now given my garden two trees) and different places on the drawing. Nada.

I'm a bear of little brain. I don't understand! [Waterworks]
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Lyda*Rose, if you click on a light, it is surrounded by a circle. With the triangle, you can change the angle and direction of the light. The little circle moves to change the color.

I separated my lights, and the yellow one has a deer and a birdbath (I think the deer must have needed a drink!), the blue light has a stick figure man, and the pink light has two turtles and a cactus.

It's a fun thing to mess with while doing other things!
 
Posted by Paul. (# 37) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Paul.:
I've got a spinning tree over the word "Loading..."
Well I got it to work in a different browser where after about an hour I had a desk and some weeds. But then that got stuck on the loading screen too.

Oh well... I never did have the patience for gardening.
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Thanks, jedijudy. [Smile]
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
You're welcome, Lyda*Rose! [Big Grin]

I have expanded the blue and pink lights for overlap, and have a little tree in the lavender section.
 
Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 
I had a birdbath and a cactus for a short while, but I have a dodgy wifi signal at the moment and it keeps stopping and reloading. Ack. Will have to try again in a couple of days.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
Oooh! My garden has the cutest little portico now!

If the link works, you can view it HERE.
 
Posted by Gwai (# 11076) on :
 
Love the turtle on the portico. The turtles do get everywhere.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
Oh, I am so jealous! Gracious Rebel's link now has a duck on the bird bath!

I never get a duck! [Frown]
 
Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :
 
Nothing has grown. I've got three lights all different colours, they've been there for hours, nothing.
I want an xkcd garden [Frown] [Waterworks]
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I seem to have grown a yard sale. There is now a desk with an office chair and planted behind them is a "Sale" sign. And there seems to be a weed growing on a deer's back.
 
Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :
 
A day later and I have one tiny sprig of grass. Nothing else.
Why is mine taking so long to do so little?
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I have no idea. I wish I could tell you.
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by luvanddaisies:
A day later and I have one tiny sprig of grass. Nothing else.
Why is mine taking so long to do so little?
When I first tried it,(Firefox) I too had nothing show. After trying it in other browsers in which the garden window did not appear, I went back to the link and reopened it. In that session I had a couple of tentacles, but nothing else no matter how long I waited. Closed the tab and tried again. I now have a duck pond, a couple of cacti, a tortoise, a small bird and two columns. All appearing at random intervals.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
There is now an octopus on deer number one, three children have appeared as well as a table with a kitty sitting on it.

One of the boys is standing on the table and waving a baton, like an orchestra conductor. Beside him is a potted plant with four star flowers blooming.

Oh, look. Two more octopuses.

This is what happens when you go away and leave the computer running!
 
Posted by Athrawes (# 9594) on :
 
How do you get an octopus? And a bird bath?
 
Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
They just happen. I've got a person for the first time, and a deer and a table, no trees or plants, after setting it running this morning
 
Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
And I've now got a girl on stilts on the table which looks a tad dangerous, plus some random box.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Three cacti have been added to my garden, and deer number one has a kitty sitting on its back.

There is also a balloon waving in the wind.

Very strange garden!
 
Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
Indeed strange. I installed 3 lights of differing colours a couple of hours ago and now I have an er... tower.
 
Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :
 
I finally have some things! Look!

In case the link doesn't work, there are three sprigs of grass, a girl on stilts, three cacti, and just appeared this evening a tortoise atop the cacti.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
Glad you got it!

quote:
luvanddaisies: a tortoise atop the cacti.
That sounds slightly uncomfortable [Smile]
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I tried to weed the weed off the deer and lost both weed and deer. (Pruning is a bit tricky.) But I have gotten a balloon- a BIG balloon. Got rid of the desk and chair. Gained a cactus garden seemingly planted in a bird bath complete with turtles. [Cool]
 
Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
How do you get rid of things? That teetering stilt girl is disconcerting.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
Tree Bee: How do you get rid of things? That teetering stilt girl is disconcerting.
Knock her off her stilts! [Smile]

I haven't tried this yet, but I understand that when you click on something it will get a red circle. If you then click on the cross, what you selected will be removed.
 
Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
Tree Bee: How do you get rid of things? That teetering stilt girl is disconcerting.
Knock her off her stilts! [Smile]

I haven't tried this yet, but I understand that when you click on something it will get a red circle. If you then click on the cross, what you selected will be removed.
Haha, done it! Tranquil garden! Changed the colours of the lights to shake things up a bit.
 
Posted by basso (# 4228) on :
 
All of you folks are clearly looking at something more interesting than I'm getting.

I've got a blue-line ad for Munro's latest book, that just sits there doing nothing. Is there a hidden link that I'm missing?
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I now have three cats. One, in typical cat fashion, is sitting on one person's face.

My garden is very messy. I'm thinking of starting a new one soon.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
It is possible to trim things out, but you have to be careful. Click on an item and it will "gray out" and that is the item that will disappear if you hit the red X. But make sure you can tell what is grayed out because, when there are multiple objects in the area, it is a little difficult to make sure you are selecting the correct one. Still, a little judicious weeding might save you the trouble of starting over from scratch.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Thanks for the graying out hint, Hedgehog! I did a bit of weeding and trimming, and put the face cat in its time out room. Much better!
 
Posted by Athrawes (# 9594) on :
 
I appear to have a shark fin!
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
I started three gardens this morning; one all red, one all blue and one all green. The red garden has two cacti and two turtles, the blue has a stick man but the green has three trees, four bushes, several tufts and a deer!
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
My blue garden has three identical stick men, my red garden has six cacti and eight turtles (two on top of cacti) but my green garden has three trees, four bushes, lots of tufts, two birdbaths, a deer and a heron. The trees are swaying in the breeze.
 
Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
quote:
Athrawes: I appear to have a shark fin!
*Slowly swims away from Athrawes*
 
Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :
 
I have both a shark fin and an armadillo (though the latter might just be a large rat - it's hard to tell)
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
My green garden is growing beautifully; it looks quite idyllic. My red garden is dull; seven cacti and thirteen turtles, three of which are floating above the cacti. My blue garden is weird; two octopi, one wearing a hat, and five identical stick men.

I think I shall start a fourth, purple garden.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I now have four cats. Which is fine with me, as long as they aren't sitting on faces or being otherwise naughty. I notice that no cat is sitting on any cactus.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
I adjusted my lights this morning, and now I have a tulip growing. Right next to a cactus. Which has a turtle on top of it. So not at all strange, then.
 
Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
The first garden with overlapping light colors includes a duck, a wading bird (perhaps an egret?), 2 deer, various plants, and two octopuses (each wearing a hat) in a bird bath.

I started a new one with slightly overlapping red, blue and green lights (as near as I can see the colors):

Red light only: 1 cactus (with a turtle on it, o f course.)

overlapping red and blue: a bush and some grass

Blue light only: nothing yet

overlapping blue and green: 1 blade of grass

Green light only: several bushes and trees

Oh, and a person just appeared in the blue+green segment as I was typing.


So if you aren't seeing anything, try adjusting your light colors.
 
Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I now have four cats. Which is fine with me, as long as they aren't sitting on faces or being otherwise naughty. I notice that no cat is sitting on any cactus.
Good God, you seem to be up to 6 cats now! I am so jealous! Not only do I never get a duck, but I don't seem to attract cats (which is not at all like real life, where I am a cat magnet).
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I was surprised that five of the cats are standing, and the sixth is lying down. I had assumed that all the kitties would be the same!
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Anyone else find the gardens vaguely disturbing?
 
Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
Oooh! My garden has the cutest little portico now!

If the link works, you can view it HERE.
Your turtles look rather precarious 'tho!!
 
Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Anyone else find the gardens vaguely disturbing?
No - but some are very messy!
 
Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Ooh, I actually HAVE a garden now (got on Chrome instead of the dread IE) with lots of animals! One cat, one bunny (on a desk [Ultra confused] ), one deer, and two birds. And for some reason two freaking pyramids and four huge asparagus spears. And what the heck are the hair thingies that wave back and forth and back and forth and back...
 
Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Oops. The bunnies have multiplied on the desk.
 
Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :
 
I've got a "Sale" sign on mine .

I'm intrigued as to how JediJudy gets cats to appear. I have a couple of tortoises, a couple of deer, and a stilt-walker, who latterly developed a hat.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by luvanddaisies:
I'm intrigued as to how JediJudy gets cats to appear.
Me, too! [Biased]
 
Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I've got four balloons and a roughly equal number of cats.

This will not end well.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
It's too bad we can't move things around! I could have put the giant balloon somewhere where it wouldn't hide a bunny and office chair!
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
There seems to be a shark in my bird bath. [Help]
 
Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :
 
Mine has ceased to grow new things. Maybe I have to work out how to prune it in order to get other stuff.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I started a new garden, and now have three armadillos, three turtles, a rattle snake, a for sale sign and a person beside an octopus.
Interesting!
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by luvanddaisies:
Mine has ceased to grow new things. Maybe I have to work out how to prune it in order to get other stuff.
Click on an item you want out of the picture. A red circle will appear around it. If the thing you want to get rid of has paled to gray, click on the X in the upper right corner and the circle and the thing will disappear. Look carefully to be sure the gray drawing is the one you really want out. When the garden is overgrown the red circle will sometimes take something in the same vicinity. Example: if you try to take out a "For Sale" sign it might try to take a cactus.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I think those are tulips growing by the snake. [Smile]
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Does anyone else have a flying person?
 
Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Never saw that before. And what's sitting on your turtle, a bat?
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
It's a bird flying past. I'd removed the turtles before, but they came back. They must like it there on top of the cacti!!
 
Posted by Wet Kipper (# 1654) on :
 
no flying people, but I do have someone on stilts with a turtle on their head
my garden

[ 10. August 2016, 15:08: Message edited by: Wet Kipper ]
 
Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
You also seem to have a girl with a deer butt up her nose.

I've got a bird bath with a shark fin rising from it. And a "For Sale" sign beside it.
 
Posted by Wet Kipper (# 1654) on :
 
she now has 2 turtles on her head

after a bit of pruning and moving the lights, I had 2xred and a blue combined - and got 2 big blades of grass? and a box in between them ?
 


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