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Brvtvs

Brvtvs

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Submitted 201 days ago...

Goldentouch

Goldentouch

Brain (4,380)

Can you tell the time without looking at your watch?

Some people can do this by looking at the sky. Even Paul Hogan can tell the time in his Crocodile Dundee movie.

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Answer 1 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

Animal_World

Animal_World

Brain (8,208)

No, I must admit I cannot tell time without looking at a watch, although I do know how to predict how long until the sun will set, which gives a person a good idea of when to head home to adoid being caught in the dark. You hold your hand sideways (not flat) and every hand width = 1 hour of daylight.

Now, I must tell you that I have a donkey who is amazingly accurate with telling the time. She is right on within 5 minutes, and demonstrates her power if I happen to be a bit slow on getting out to give them breakfast.
In the winter this is an amazing skill because some times in the middle of winter the sun is not up until after 8am, and yet she lets me know when it is 7:30am. As spring comes around the sun is up earlier, even up before 7:30, and still she knows when it is 7:30. I have often wondered if somebody drives by our house at that time on the way to work and gives her secret ability an edge, or if her stomach is really well tuned! I dont know how she does it, but that donkey is good - she brays loud if I am not outside and feeding breakfast on time.

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Answer 2 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

CarolMcK

CarolMcK

Brain (5,544)

I'm usually pretty accurate, especially if I've been outside most of the day and have kept track of the sun.

My son and I used to guess the time and whoever was closer got to be the first to take a break, if we were working outside. He's actually better than I am.

Since neither of us can wear a watch so someone had to go to the house to look, so neither of us could really cheat.

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Answer 3 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

mikejhca

mikejhca

Professor (1,970)

Yes. It just takes practice. When I was camping I stuck a stick in the ground and used the shadow cast by the stick to tell the time. The shadow moves like the hand of a clock as the position of the sun changes. If you want to practice look at the sun and then look at a watch.

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Answer 4 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

Reader

Reader

Brain (7,976)

Paul Hogan's character cheated and read Wally's watch.

Trying to read the sun's position isn't terribly accurate at the best of times, and when it's cloudy, you might as well give up.

I have a pretty decent sense of elapsed time -- the amount of time that has passed since I last looked at a timepiece. This sense isn't reliable when there's sleep in between.

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Answer 5 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

Silver-Lady

Silver-Lady

Brain (3,088)

Tell the time without looking at my watch? Better than that - I can tell the time in my sleep!

I guess many people can identify with this: - Set your alarm for, say, 7am and notice that you will wake up and look at your clock at 6.59! ....just before the alarm is due to go off! .

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Answer 6 / 14 - Submitted 201 days ago...

Miladykather

Miladykather

Brain (2,949)

I don't need a watch to tell time - I look at my cellphone. It has not failed me yet.

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Answer 7 / 14 - Submitted 176 days ago...

eugbug

eugbug

Brain (2,859)

Yes I am quite good at this and am able to judge time with an accuracy of about 15 minutes.
I always wear a watch though.
Some people never wear a watch. This is fine for them but it usually means that they never worry about about scheduling or appointments and never turn up to meet you when they say they will.

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Answer 8 / 14 - Submitted 176 days ago...

Brvtvs

Brvtvs

Authority (489)

Clock time as measured by watches, clocks, and electronic devices down to the minute, second, micro- and nanosecond are relatively recent inventions in the history of mankind and a thoroughly arbitrary one. Time as we experience it is more properly in relation to tasks performed in the course of the day and ebbs and flows accordingly. So to ask whether one can tell the time without a watch or timekeeper reveals an understanding of time framed primarily as scientific measurement.

Sure, I can keep appointments, judge driving time, and respect others' time by not making them wait for me, but to know time solely or primarily in terms of the clock is a narrow understanding of human experience.

The Crocodile Dundee joke suggested that a better, more natural way of conceptualizing and contextualizing time might still be possible, where time is measured by things like time to get up, time for chores, lunchtime, dinnertime, playtime, etc. Those are as much qualitative as quantitative and place human experience within a living context as opposed to enslaved by dead, meaningless, contextless measurement. A similar movie of that era, The Gods Must Be Crazy, offered another tribal or aboriginal concept of time: the eternal present. That was why the main character sat and stared out the window once imprisoned. He had no real concept of the future.


This answer was edited by Brvtvs 113 days ago.

Reason: typo

 
Answer 9 / 14 - Submitted 176 days ago...

Brett_tesol

Brett_tesol

Brain (2,430)

Yes I can, but only because of two reasons:

1) I have only recently arrived at work, so it is a little after 9am.

2) There is a big clock on the wall in-front of me and a small clock in the corner of my computer screen, so I don't need to look at my watch at all lol.

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Answer 10 / 14 - Submitted 176 days ago...

gabgirl12

gabgirl12

Authority (430)

Yes, but Daylight Savings Time sometimes will throw me off for a few days. It's pretty easy as when the sun is directly above, you know it is noon. I know where 9, 12, and 3 o'clock are and I'm pretty lucky at guessing at the hour in between.

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