Timeline for I'm stranded on an alien planet. How do I measure an earth year without a clock?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 28, 2015 at 19:05 | comment | added | Matthew Najmon | @chaslyfromUK "What if you land in an advanced civilization?" Well, for a start, if their psychology is even vaguely similar to human psych, then you'll likely be executed on sight, and if it's not, then communicating with such alien minds is problematic, even if you can get a common language going, which is highly doubtful, as per my elaboration in my comment on your answer. | |
| Sep 25, 2015 at 7:08 | comment | added | Taemyr | @Avernium I fail to see the distinction between the most accurate way to measure time and the method that minimizes time at the gate. | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 14:14 | comment | added | Avernium | @Taemyr The question was not interested in minimizing time at the gate. It's looking for the most accurate way to measure time. There are certainly many strategies of estimation that give you a few months to safely be away from the gate. The point of my reference was that even being off by as little as thirty minutes a day will have enormous consequences over a year - with any of the methods in here you're going to be off by far more than thirty minutes (and it will vary widely per day). | |
| Sep 24, 2015 at 12:57 | comment | added | Taemyr | The problem with this answer is this: "Even if your timekeeping was only off by thirty minutes a day, your estimation of when the gate reopens would be off by more than a week." - This is easily resolvable, arrive at the gate 2 weeks early, making sure you have supplies to survive without leaving the gate for 4 weeks. Worst case would mean that you where tied to the gate for 21 earth days. This is far better than being tied to the gate for a full year. | |
| Sep 23, 2015 at 17:38 | comment | added | chasly - supports Monica | @Matthew Najmon - That is not true. What if you land in an advanced civilization? I'm about to write an answer on that. | |
| Sep 22, 2015 at 16:13 | comment | added | Spacemonkey | @Avernium touché ; ) | |
| Sep 22, 2015 at 8:32 | comment | added | Matthew Najmon | @spacemonkey That's because "you can't" is all the answer this question legitimately has. The question as stated simply doesn't allow for access to anything capable of calibrating to earth societies' arbitrary temporal unit designations. | |
| Sep 21, 2015 at 21:13 | comment | added | zfrisch | I agree with this. There are so many variables that it's literally impossible to tell when an Earth year has passed. The only consistent, surefire way to know when a year is up is that apparently there will be a portal, at which point you'll know. | |
| Sep 21, 2015 at 20:44 | comment | added | Avernium | @Spacemonkey Yes, that's more or less true. Though you could argue that the option of sitting at the gate is itself an answer to the question: the only accurate way to measure time is in one year increments, specifically determined by the reopening of the gate. | |
| Sep 21, 2015 at 20:40 | comment | added | Spacemonkey | This is all great reasoning (and honestly I wouldnt leave that base camp the moment I got everything I needed to it.) But it really doesn't answer the question other than saying : 'you can't' | |
| Sep 21, 2015 at 20:39 | history | edited | Avernium | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 12 characters in body
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| Sep 21, 2015 at 20:34 | history | answered | Avernium | CC BY-SA 3.0 |