Animating xkcd #1335 with HTML5
The result: http://xkcd.reknet.ca
Idea
After seeing a nice HTML/JS version of xkcd #1340 and a comment wondering if the same was possible for the world clock in xkcd #1335 I decided to try my hand at it. The original is loaded from a set of static images, one for every 15 minutes, and refreshed via javascript. Let's see if I can do something similar dynamically.
Execution
After quickly pulling up the GIMP to cut the image into an inner and outer circle I put them into a simple HTML file and started to delve into the HTML5 canvas docs. It turns out they're quite simple, you just have to clear the canvas, centre and rotate it and redraw the image at the centre.
The big problem is, of course, that thing that was created to specifically screw with computers and the people who work with them: Daylight Savings Time. As with Randall's original, the image assumes DST doesn't exist. If you are in DST right now it will be an hour behind.
The source is included completely in the single HTML file since it wasn't very long. You can view it all, and the two halves of the image, just by right clicking.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Randall Munroe for the excellent comics and for releasing them as CC BY-NC 2.5 so I could do this.