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[AprilArcus]

So by my count it's Wednesday after Labor Day 2006-ish, classes start tomorrow, and Tai is hosting a library debauch "this Friday". Looks like everything lined up perfectly!

[MooskiNet]

So by my count it's Wednesday after Labor Day 2006-ish, classes start tomorrow, and Tai is hosting a library debauch "this Friday". Looks like everything lined up perfectly!

I don't know which I'd be more impressed by - if it was intentional or accidental.

[jwhouk]

Only one small thing: Claire was wearing a "ReaderCon '09" shirt at one point. (Strip 2371?)

[Method of Madness]

Well yeah, that's because it's always the present.

[Orkboy]

Only one small thing: Claire was wearing a "ReaderCon '09" shirt at one point. (Strip 2371?)

Maybe it's a vintage shirt from 1909.   

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

QC operates in comic time. It is simultaneously 2006 and 2015. I blame post-singularity tech.

[Thrudd]

I blame Midnight-Hobo. 

[DSL]

I blame Midnight Hobo for post-singularity tech. And vice-versa.

[Gladstone]

QC operates in comic time. It is simultaneously 2006 and 2015. I blame post-singularity tech.

I almost corrected you on that, because QC time is simultaneously 2006 and the present, which is obviously 20--HOLYCRAP IT'S 2015. 

[Carl-E]

*sigh*

Time to stop re-dating every check I write...

[AprilArcus]

Hey everyone! Here's the latest version, with an extra week interpolated into late July, as we discussed upthread. This gives us agreement with Henry's line in 2373 about the wedding being in two weeks, pushes back Marten and Claire's date to Labor Day, which makes sense of it being on a Monday, and means that the Friday library debauch Tai is flyering for in 2869 will take place after classes are back in session. Additionally, I've switched to a rectangular layout and added dates from the 2006 Smith College academic calendar, and eliminated subpixel anti-aliasing artifacts. I haven't prettified January-March yet, but I will eventually.

[FunkyTuba]

wow...that's a lot of work... thanks for undertaking this!

[MooskiNet]

wow...that's a lot of work... thanks for undertaking this!

Agreed in spades.

I chuckled, though, reading "Claire flirts with Marten at Work." followed by "Marten asks Claire Out." - these statements, while accurate, are hilariously understated considering the Marten/Claire squeefest that happened between statement 1 and statement 2.

[Welu]

That's impressive, April.

[AprilArcus]

Okay, here we go again! Fixed an off-by-one error with the real world dates and reformatted again. Now containing all the work in this thread so far, January-September (strips 1311-present). To explicate the tortured logic of this document:

• Mark Tai's party as the Friday of Smith's real-world finals week (dialogue evidence: strip 1933), taking place May 12, 2006
• Note the completion of Espressosaurus II the following day (strip 1978, May 13, 2006)
• Backdate six weeks to its commissioning date (strip 1645, April 1, 2006).
• This fits the timeline of Marten getting over the breakup with Dora, but only barely — it means that his remark that it's been "weeks" since the breakup (strip 1861) must refer to exactly fourteen days. This is the least comfortable fit in the current analysis, but it does fit.
• Count two days forward to Wil's first appearance with a mustache (strip 1650, April 3, 2006).
• Backdate seven weeks to the commissioning of Espressosaurus I (strip 1439, Feb 11, 2006), rationalizing that the first one may have taken longer to make.
• Count one week forward to the Saturday of Smif Nrrdcon (dialogue evidence: strip 1511), taking place Feb 18, 2006 (presidents' day weekend), and Wil's final appearance sans-mustache (strip 1529), leaving him the bare minimum 6 weeks and 2 days to grow it.
• Count four days backwards to the sledding party (Feb 7, 2006)
• Note that the Gina Riversmith concert was on a Saturday (dialogue evidence: strip 1320). Can't fit in to Sat, Feb 4, so place it at Sat, Jan 28.
• Count back one or two days to Cosette asking Marten out (strip 1322, Jan 26, 2006). She's checking out books for the upcoming semester, and this is either the Thursday or Friday before classes start, so that fits.

The only events I haven't placed yet are the talk about Dora moving in with Marten and Faye (two days, spanning strips 1558-1586) and moving day itself (another two days, spanning 1587-1596). Is there any evidence to pin these down?

[Gladstone]

Looks great, but you seem to have added an extra day in September between the 1st and the 3rd.

[AprilArcus]

Thanks! Fixed.

[Gladstone]

Oh, right, I forgot that August has 31 days.  Glad that didn't require any major revisions.

[A Duck]

Did you also do this for the first 1600 comics? I wasnt able to find anything like that.

[AprilArcus]

Did you also do this for the first 1600 comics? I wasnt able to find anything like that.

I have not made such a thing for the 1-1310 period, but others have done substantial work toward this already:

marsman57 made some notes upthread ([1], [2]) and on the wikia ([3], [4]), and there was considerable work done on this period in 2007-2008 ([5], [6]). Also, bhtooefr made a great thread gathering data for character birthdays.

Here are some rough mileposts:

• somewhere between 1947 and 1949: Henry Reed is born ("in his late 50s")
• 1950: Veronica Vance is born (56 in strip 2385)
• June 1950: John Ellicott-Chatham is born (56th birthday in strip 2129 / ~27 June 2006)
• July 1965: Jim is born (41st birthday coming up in July in strip 1954)
• 1970: Amir is born (35 in strip 1180 / late spring 2005)
• 1978: Sven is born (a year older than Dora, strip 337. 28 in strip 1782 / April 2006)
• 1979: Dora is born (26 in strip 144 / January 2005)
• 1981: Steve is born (24 in strip 224 / January 2005)
• 1982: Marten is born (if he was 22 when he graduated college "last year" (strip 162). Faye is born (backdating from 507). Claire is born (24 in strip 2281 / July 2006)
• 1983: Tai is born (assuming she is 22 when she graduates in 2005)
• Spring 1983: Hannelore is born (22nd birthday in strip 1069)
• 1985: Clinton is born (21 in strip 2281 / July 2006)
• January 1988: Ellen is born (18 minus one week in strip 231)
• 1992: Henry comes out and divorces Veronica ("imagine being a ten year old boy", strip 433)
• 1993: Sam is born (13 in strip 1958 / May 2006)
• 2000-2001: Claire starts hormone therapy during her freshman year (strip 2324)
• Summer 2002: the summer between Faye's Sophomore and Junior year of college. Faye's psychotic break & car accident (507: "two years [ago], give or take").
• Autumn 2002: Faye moves out of the psych ward and back in with her mother, where she stays for the next two(?) years. "It took a LONG time to get to the point where I wasn't having constant panic attacks or dissociative episodes." (507)
• Summer (?) 2003: Dora opens Coffee of Doom ("I've only been running this place for a couple of years", strip 1217)
• March 2004: Marten starts dating Vicky during his last semester at college. The "first two months were awesome" (254)
• May 2004: Marten and Vicky graduate, move to Northampton, and break up.
• Autumn 2004: Faye moves to Northampton (458: "just a few months ago, once I got over that whole nervous-breakdown-hospital thing")

• 1-48 cover five consecutive days prior to Thanksgiving 2004
• 100-350 cover nine consecutive days in January 2005. Amanda is on break in 164; Emily is back in class by 247. By 288, Faye has been living with Marten for "months".
• There may be gap between 350-351, but not a large one. By 398 it is still the case that Faye has been sleeping on Marten's couch for "the last couple of months".
• 563: a brisk evening in late winter or early spring
• 1079: Faye and Sven hook up.
• 1131: Tai is still in her final semester. April/May 2005, at the latest.
• 1191: Faye and Sven begin their tryst in earnest
• 1220: Short-shorts weather. Late summer?
• 1267: Scarf weather. Early autumn?
• 1302: Dora starts growing out her roots. August or September 2005.
• 1305-1309: One day in Autumn 2005.

We still need to count out the day-by-day for the 1000-1310 period before we can chart it up. I find myself confused by how quickly summer 2005 seems to blow by, but perhaps it will make sense on further examination. Also, astonishingly but inescapably, Faye and Sven's relationship seems to have lasted for nine months.

[Method of Madness]

So Marten and Dora lasted about a year, then? I guess that makes sense.

[AprilArcus]

Some word of god on the chronology of the early strips:

Jeph: "I've never sat down and exactly tabulated, but I'd say right now [January 13, 2006] it's been no more than six months [since the strip started]."

This corresponds to strip 534, which is two days after The Talk, a day after Hanners' first appearance, and a day before Dora makes a move on Marten. If strip 1 is in November 2005, then 534 can't be before May 2006 (not that we imagined it was... from the weather in 563 it can't be later than early spring.) So yeah, rough guess: Marten and Dora probably dated from Feb/March 2005 to April 2006.

[Method of Madness]

Yes, but you have sat down and exactly tabulated

Honestly, after all the work you've put in, I'd be disappointed if you let a non-comic source of information count.

[AprilArcus]

Well, Jeph has better things to do.

Hey, new find! Marten is 24 years old, since he was still in college "last year" (#162 / January 2005). So he and Faye are the same age as Claire. Weird.

[Method of Madness]

He could be 25, if he graduated at 22. Still weird that Marten and Faye are younger than me (I was 19 when I started reading).

[jwhouk]

One problem: The strip started in 2003.

[osaka]

Jeph specifically said that it was at any given time the current time and 2006. I think we can live with comic time starting in 2005 even if he started drawing in 2003.

[AprilArcus]

I'm using the 2006 calendar because it's helpful to have specific dates for the purposes of e.g. classes start, classes end, three-day weekends, but you could probably pick this up and put it down on any year's academic calendar without needing to rework too much. "2004", "2005" and "2006" don't necessarily mean those literal calendar dates, I just find them more convenient to talk about than algebraic variables like "last week of January, Starting Year + 1"

To take my pedantry to a ridiculous extreme, I think we can plausibly extend Jeph's remark to take Year 1 as being a quantum superposition of 2004 and 2003-2004; Year 2 as a quantum superposition of 2005 and 2004-2009, and Year 3 as a quantum superposition of 2006 and 2009-present

[AprilArcus]

Consolidating Darkbluerabbit and LeeZion's research on consecutive blocks from the older thread. Unbroken blocks of bullet points indicate known-consecutive days:

• 100-118
• 119-139
• 140-163
• 164-185 (164: Amanda is on winter break)
• 186-213 (203: Marten gets a haircut)
• 214-236
• 237-269 (247: Emily is in spring semester)
• 270-309 (288: Faye has been living with Marten for "months")
• 310-350 (315: "You should be able to start moving stuff in next week"; 329: Sven's first appearance, with chin-length hair; 338: "I will try not to be such a heinous bitch in the future")

To account for the dialogue in 315, 310-350 might be on a Friday with 384-395 on a Monday, meaning a one-day gap here. Maybe longer but not much, since Faye's dialogue in 364 references the recent resolution from 338. Hat tip to Darkbluerabbit and Blackcat Moebius for this analysis.

• 351-383 (364: "I'm making an effort to be less of an awful bitch from now on"; 366: First appearance: Amir; 380: "packing up")
• 384-395 Moving day

Maybe a gap here, but I doubt it. In 397, Dora asks "how's the new apartment?", which is a day-after-moving sort of question.

• 396-417 (398: Faye has been sleeping on Marten's couch for "the last couple of months")
• 418-430
• 431-463 (432: Monday? Veronica calls Marten in sick for the rest of the week)
• 464-509 (458: Faye moved to northhampton a few months ago)
• 510-534 (515: First Appearance: Hannelore)
• 535-569
• 570-580
• 581-604 (584: Faye arrives in Savannah)
• 605-622
• 623-647 (624: Monday? Marten goes back to work, gets laid off.)
• 648-686 (651: Long lines at Coffee of Doom following good press in Local Alternative Rag. 658: Nat recommends Marten for the library job she was just fired from. 663: Hanners cuts her hair. 664: Band practice)
• 687-722 (691: Tai hires Marten. 713: Ellen dumps Steve. 726: Bailey makes out with Jenna and Tai's whole social network comes down with mono)
• 723-750 (725: Penelope starts work at Coffee of Doom)

LeeZion's notes on consecutivity end here; I will pick up from here in the next post.

Hat tip to plasticshovel and bicostp for suggesting the use of hair-cuts as a timekeeping mechanism. (Marten's second haircut is in 857, so it must be about six weeks after 203. Sven rarely cuts his hair, so tracking its length will let us guess about the passage of time if all else fails.)

[Omega Entity]

April, I don't know if anyone's made this observation or not, but I find it extremely fitting that you have Hanners as you avatar. Seriously, there has to be some level of OCD to pick up on all this stuff, and also to organize it so well 

[osaka]

I think that she put a pic of herself showing the uncanny physical resemblance somewhere.

It was frightening to some degree.

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

Frightening to some, fascinating and explanatory to others.

[Zebediah]

The frightening part is that April is Evil Hannelore. All she has to do is say "Release the virus" and we're all doomed.

 

[osaka]

Zeb got it right. I DON'T WANT TO BE SPARED!

[AprilArcus]

Continuing...

Maybe a gap between 723-750 and 751-763, but I doubt it: In 751 Dora says that Marten has "been coming in after the lunch-hour rush all week". Lunch-hour rush implies this is a weekday. Business picked up in 648-686, so if that was Tuesday, no gap means this is Friday of the same week, which fits the dialogue correctly.

• 751-763 (762: Marten: "I was gonna go over to Dora's and watch a movie")
  
• 764-786 (763: Dora: "Marten slept over last night"; 784: Angus gives Faye his number at the bar)
  
• 787-806 (790: Dora: "Argument Guy tracked Faye down at the bar last night"; 806: Marten: "Self-medicating with alcohol isn't healthy")
  
• 807-833 (807: Marten: "Mornin' Faye. Hung over?"; 819: Steve meets Meena; 832: Steve gives himself a buzz cut)
  
• 834-848 (834: Dora: "Hey kiddo, you missed some serious hijinks last night"; 843: Nat shows off her expensive guitar)
  
• 849-876 (No direct evidence that this is the next day, but see next entry. 865: Hanners buys a drum kit. 878: Faye sleeps over at Sven's)
  
• 879-897 (879: Dora: "Are you wearing the same clothes from yesterday? 881: Marten: "Hasn't it only been like a couple days [since Steve met Meena]?")
  

In 894, we have the first appearance of a calendar at Meena and Dave's house that will re-appear in 1025 and 1027. It depicts a 31-day month starting on a Monday (could be March 2004?). It will take some creative thinking to make all this line up. Maybe 164-185 is in early February, not late January? We know that Amanda failed her Fall semester and didn't go back for Spring semester, so those events don't necessarily need to be during her winter break.

There is room for a multi-day gap between 897/898, as we need time to justify Hanners and Nat's statements that they've been practicing their instruments in 908.

898-1024: Seven consecutive days in mid-March.

• 898-912 (908: Band practice; 910: Hanners: "My mother is coming to visit tomorrow")
  
• 913-927 (Beatrice visits Hannelore, trolls her and drinks her under the table)
  
• 928-951 (928: Hanners: "what happened last night?"; 949: Faye and Sven watch a movie)
  
• 952-969 (952: Faye: "I kind of ended up watching a movie over at Sven's place"; 969: Mieville scratches up Dora)
  
• 970-988 (970: Faye: "Mornin' Dora. What's with the band-aids?"; 972: Library Lightswitch Rave; 988: Faye: "I'm gonna talk to my therapist about it tomorrow")
  
• 989-1009 (989: Dora: "She's at her doctor's appointment", Sven: "She came over to my place last night"; 1009: Hanners: "Mom said she'd send some people by tomorrow morning to pick [those boxes] up"
  
• 1010-1024 (1010: Hanners: "Thanks for taking all those boxes." 1024: Tai surveys Marten for her Human Sexuality class)
  

gap here? Maybe late March on the basis of Meena's wall calendar.

• 1025-1048 (Steve & Meena talk about Dave. Dinner at the Bianchi's)

[AprilArcus]

Next chunk: 1049-1129. I believe this covers four consecutive days in early Spring, on the basis of hoodies-in-direct-sunlight weather (1049, 1054, 1064).

• 1049-1059 (1049: Penelope wakes Faye up and drags her to the gym; 1059: Dora: "We have GOT to get you laid.")
  
• 1060-1079 (1060: Dora: "I was serious last night. We really DO need to get you laid."; 1061: Benji visits Raven at Coffee of Doom; 1066/1067: Dora and Marten go to a movie and have a fight about his exes... 1068: Leaving Faye bored and lonely. She goes out with Hanners and Sven to celebrate Hanners' 22nd birthday... 1079: and they end up back at Sven's, where Hanners falls asleep on the couch and Faye hooks up with Sven.
  
• 1080-1110 (1080: Hanners wakes up at Sven's apartment. 1085: Wardrobe change. Faye: Pinstriped blouse, which she wears until Hanners makes her shower in 1108. Hanners: "Kittens vs. Bunnies" tee. 1089: Faye ditches work to see Dr. Corinne. 1093: Dora shows up late. Wardrobe change. Hanners: Pink "noooooo" tee. 1097: Marten and Dora have a fight. 1099: Wardrobe change. Hanners: Navy tee. 1100: Marten, Steve and Hanners go to the revelation. 1106: Wardrobe change. Dora: Gray tee. 1106: Marten goes back to Dora's and makes up with her. 1108: Hanners comes home and finds Faye drinking alone.)
  
• 1111-1129 (1112: Faye: "Look, about yesterday, I-". Hanners has a pregnancy scare. 1128: Wardrobe change. Sven: Dress shirt. First appearance: Wil. 1129: Raven has broken up with Benji)
  

This isn't the only time that Hanners goes through like four shirts in one day (c.f. 1360-1376). None of the other characters seem to do this, so I'd say it's deliberate and in-character.

[AprilArcus]

Argh, that inescapably March 2004 fridge calendar is gnawing on my brain Should I move the "current year" back to 2005? Real-life Smith's 2005 summer break was a week longer than its 2006 summer break; what about that? Maybe Quantum Chronology Year 2004 was followed immediately by Q.C. Year 2006? Maybe Meena and Dave never change their calendar?

It's just a comic strip shut up and relax. This project was never supposed to be day-and-date precise anyway. But it's so itchily, annoyingly close.

[cesium133]

I don't see a month displayed on the calendar.

edit -- unless you're going by the day of the week the calendar starts on, but some calendars do start on Monday instead of Sunday...

[Pilchard123]

Pretty sure that calendar has 32 days.

[Half Empty Coffee Cup]

And 32 days hath Septober... 

[Penquin47]

It's 31, the month started on a Monday so the Sunday box is blank.

[AprilArcus]

Now things get tricky.

1130-1225 are four consecutive days in late spring. It's been a little while since Sven and Faye have seen each other (1136: Sven: "So, uh, how've you been?") The weather is warmer: it's still hoodie weather for Marten in 1139, but Dora is in shirtsleeves. In 1171, Marten wears a tee-shirt and Dora wears spaghetti straps. In 1176, Faye wears a tee-shirt and Hanners wears a pencil skirt and tank top. In 1203, Hanners wears short shorts. However, Tai hasn't graduated yet by 1131.

• 1130-1149 (1142: Wil meets Penelope; 1146: Marten gets food poisoning)
  
• 1150-1166 (1150: Faye: "Hey Dora, is Marty doin' any better today?"; 1155: Faye gets concussed by a raccoon)
  
• 1168-1200 (1179: Sven drops by to check on Faye; 1191: Sven and Fay hook up again)
  
• 1201-1225 (1201: The next morning. 1205: Wil accidentally shows Pennelope his poetry. 1217: Dora worries about the shop's expenses. 1222: Pintsize sells Hanners a curated collection of sexy fireman pictures)
  

Short gap?

• 1226: Pintsize asks Hanners how she's enjoying the pornographs she recently acquired from him.

At this point, we must contrive to insert a very long gap, because the next chunk will take us into early autumn (scarf weather for Hanners in 1272). We can (kind of) get away with this because there is no direct evidence that 1227-1254 directly follows 1201-1225, but we must acknowledge that we're cheating the narrative by doing so: Dora is still as stressed out about expenses in 1227 as she was in 1217, and Wil is still freshly embarrassed in 1239 about having shown Penelope his erotic poems in 1205.

• 1226-1254 (1239: Wil asks Penelope out for dinner on Friday. 1248: Tai gets her hood pierced)
  

a few days, then

• 1255-1257 (1255: Penny: "It's Friday and I have a date")
  
• 1258-1264 (1258: Faye debriefs Penny about Wil's broken arm. The espresso machine explodes. 1262: Marten drops by with tickets to the horror film festival)
  

maybe a short gap, then

• 1268-1286 (1268: Marten tells Tai about the film festival; 1270: Faye: "Wow, we got a new Espresso machine already?"; 1273: Steve is binge drinking; 1275: Penny shows up for the afternoon shift; 1281: Faye's vee-neck morphs into a same-color crew neck, but I think this is an art error and it's all supposed to be one day; 1284: Wil asks Penny out for lunch; 1285: A bear eats their sandwiches.)
  
• 1287-1300 (1288: Dora: "So other than the bear encounter, how'd the lunch date go?" 1294: Raven gives two weeks notice; 1298: First appearance: Momo)
  

a gap, but less than two weeks, since Raven rescinds her notice. This brings us to the beginning of the time-skip (August or September):

• 1301-1302 (1301: Raven: "I'm not quitting after all"; 1302: Dora: "I think I'm gonna grow my hair out"; Marten teaches Tai how to tie a turtle harness)
  
• 1305-1309 (1305: Marten: "yesterday I had to show one of my friends how to do that Japanese rope-binding stuff you taught me"; 1307: Faye demands monogamy from Sven)
  

Finally, 1310, where Penny apologizes for giving Wil a hard time "the other day". Is this referring to 1285? Or is this happening later in autumn? Their relationship seems sufficiently well-established that she doesn't just write him off during his long walkabout.

[Omega Entity]

Is it possible that it's really mid-spring for this last stretch? After all, spring weather is really unpredictable. A few years back we nearly hit 80 in the middle of February here in Michigan, followed by a cold snap that brought snow. Last  spring wasn't quite as bizarre, but we did have some warmups followed by cold snaps all the way into May. So, realistically it could be mid-spring, and with all the volatile weather that goes with it. It would certainly make more sense, timeline event-wise.

As to Martin's hoodie- hasn't it been established that he doesn't retain heat well, being as scrawny as he is? I can certainly commiserate, as I'm perpetually cold outside the heat of summer.

[AprilArcus]

I guess so! Dora starts growing her hair out in 1302 and has roots down to her eyebrows / ears by 1311, which is something like 3-4 inches of hair, so 6-8 months of growth. If 1311 picks back up in late January, then 1302 could be as far back as May. It's really hard for me to imagine Sven managing to maintain a monogamous relationship with Faye for nine mostly off-panel months, but I guess this was retroactively justified by his subsequent complete inability to move on from her. Penny putting her love life on hold for nine months is even more of a stretch, since we know she was into Steve and that he was single while Wil was on walkabout.

[AprilArcus]

So: should I chart this out on a 2005 calendar or a 2004 calendar? Or a blank one with the vague suggestion of weekdays and months but no dates?

[Method of Madness]

Wait, why are we using real-life Smith? Maybe Smif is slightly different than Smith?

[Omega Entity]

Gotta love our weird spring weather in the north 

I'd say 2004, if only because there doesn't appear to be an early- or mid-spring month in 2005 that starts on a Monday. I didn't bother checking the 31-day aspect, once I saw that.

[AprilArcus]

Wait, why are we using real-life Smith? Maybe Smif is slightly different than Smith?

I mean we don't necessarily have to? But what else would we use instead? I find a little structure to be helpful.

[Method of Madness]

Just general seasons, it gives you more freedom.

[Omega Entity]

Wait, why are we using real-life Smith? Maybe Smif is slightly different than Smith?

I mean we don't necessarily have to? But what else would we use instead? I find a little structure to be helpful.

I'd also argue that a convincing story has enough elements that relate to real life to help the suspension of belief dealio. And since we know for a fact that the city they live in has a real-life counterpart, it'd make sense for little seemingly-insignificant bits to line up with the real world.