tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 04 19:08:56 1999

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Re: Pure Speculation: Measurements on a Klingon "Compass Rose"

>Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 14:32:25 -0500
>From: joslyn63 <[email protected]>
>
>Having no better way to spend my time, I did the math. Assuming an orbital
>period of approximately 1.25 Terran solar years and a daily rotation
>period of approximately 20 standard Terran hours, the Klingon year <DIS>
>works out to about 546 local days <jajmey>. This neatly divides into 3
>"seasons" of 182 days or 6 "seasons" of 91 days each. 

A little TOO neat..

>=========
>Hmm...and those "seasons" of 91 days are each divisible into 13 "weeks" of 
>seven days, or seven "weeks" of 13 days. I wonder...
>
>540 seems a round enough number to use in circular measurement (our own year 
>is fairly close to 360 days--about one degree/day), and I seem to recall the 
>Cardassians use this number in circular measure, as well. If the "compass 
>rose" were to be divided equally (it is not, see below), from {chan} to 
>{tIng}, from {tIng} to {'ev}, and from {'ev} to {tIng} would all be 180 
>"units" apart. As Okrand stated, though the directions {tIng} and {'ev} are 
>not 120 degrees away form {chan}. Rather {'ev} and {tIng} are roughly 130 
>degrees from {chan} and roughly 100 degrees way from each other.

Interesting, but really reaching.  Okrand might like it for all I know,
though.  Our use of 360 degrees/circle is, so far as I know, completely
unrelated to the length of our year (the Babylonians happened to like sixes
and sixties, the latter perhaps because they have so many divisors.  And
360=6x60).  The Cardassians probably use it because the writers of Star
Trek are human (or for a more primary-world explanation, the Universal
Translator does unit conversions for us too.  So we can hear them using
metric units as well.  For some unexplained reason (namely the writers),
the UT has a tendency to fail with Klingons, hence the snippets of spoken
tlhIngan Hol we hear).

>As to how the direction {'ev} and {tIng} came about, I don't know, though I 
>have a theory: If Qo'noS has an axial tilt of c. 45+ degrees (Terran), then 
>{'ev} and {tIng} are the directions of a noontime shadow on the summer and 
>winter solstices, respectively.

Or it could be mountain ranges from veng wa'DIch... The point is you can't
deduce with any certainty from three lousy directions.

I suppose it's fun to speculate though.

~mark

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