How did people measure time before we got our calendar?
914259
Some used used a sun dial. Others used small pebbles to count days or sun ups and sun downs.
488633
What is time? We tend to measure everything by our learned standards.  Can you even try to imagine the Big Bang?  We as a race (human) know so little.
1185970
Okay, I just have to wonder, seriously, what's the difference now?  Calendars are simply tools for humans to measure our man-made construct of time.  In reality, there is no time.
304614
time.nist.gov is a great website to find out the exact time in  any part of the USA.
538345
Determine if it is past noon depending on the relative time you've been awake, then by the position of the sun deterim the diresction, and wothout the aid of a sun dial you can make an estimate to the time.
480279
because it relies to the events which can't be measured metrically anyway. Weeks follow the approximate lunar circle, there's 365 days in a year etc.\n\nalso, imagine we would divide a day into 100 hours. 1 hour would last only 14 minutes, which would be way too few and confusing. \nIf we divided a day into 10 hours, an hour would last 2 hours and 64 minutes. this would probably be too long, and we wouldn't have enough hours to properly determine a time of day...\n\nAn hour was determined as 1/4 of the time when the shadow of a pole travels a 60 degree angle or something... i THINK. I might be wrong on this, high school phisics is a LONG time ago. \nAnyway, it was old Sumerians or Babilonians who determined it like that and ever since it wasn't changed. We're too used to these units now, we can't just change them without causing a massive MESS :D
275833
n 1577, Jost Burgi invented the minute hand. Burgi's invention was part of a clock made for Tycho Brahe, an astronomer who needed an accurate clock for his stargazing.\n\nPendulum\nIn 1656, the pendulum was invented by Christian Huygens, making clocks more accurate.\n\nWrist Watch\nIn 1504, the first portable (but not very accurate) timepiece was invented in Nuremberg, Germany by Peter Henlein.The first reported person to actually wear a watch on the wrist was the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). With a piece of string, he attached his pocket watch to his wrist.\n\nQuartz\nAccording to the Smithsonian "In 1927, Canadian-born Warren Marrison, a telecommunications engineer, was searching for reliable frequency standards at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Building on earlier work in piezoelectricity, he developed a very large, highly accurate clock based on the regular vibrations of a quartz crystal in an electrical circuit" - the first quartz clock.\n\nOrigins of "Clock"\nThe word 'clock' comes from the French word "cloche" meaning bell. The Latin for bell is glocio, the Saxon is clugga and the German is glocke.\n\nStandard Time\nSir Sanford Fleming invented standard time in 1878.\nAlarm Clocks\nAn early prototype of the alarm clock was invented by the Greeks around 250 BC. The Greeks built a water clock where the raising waters would both keep time and eventually hit a mechanical bird that triggered an alarming whistle.\n\nThe first mechanical alarm clock was invented by Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. However, the ringing bell alarm on his clock could ring only at 4 am. On October 24, 1876 a mechanical wind-up alarm clock that could be set for any time was patented (#183,725) by Seth E Thomas.\n\nSelf-winding Watch\nSwiss John Harwood invented the self-winding watch in 1923.\n\nClock Companies\nIn 1908, the Westclox Clock Company is issued a patent for the Big Ben alarm clock. The outstanding feature on this clock is the bell-back, which completely envelops the inner case back and is an integral part of the case. The bell-back provides a loud alarm.\n\nThe Warren Clock Company was formed in 1912 by Mr. Henry Warren as President. The company started by producing a new type of clock run by batteries, prior to that, clocks were either wound or run by weights.
24142
Daylight savings time was invented by Benjamin Franklin as a way for people to have more productive days. In the summer we "borrow" an hour from the morning and stick it onto the end of the day so that the long summer days are even longer.
44535
mankind didn't "invent" the system of time, but just rather makes use of it. time is something that we "notice" as the laws of thermodynamics occur in the universe. everything is cooling down and so time progresses... sort of. thats another subject (time doesnt really exist)...\n"standard time" on the other hand is something that we began to use to - believe it or not - to keep up with train schedules. it is merely standardized for many regions to use and not confuse anyone. first thought of by Dr. William Wollaston (1766-1828) is was adopted by the The Great Western Railway in November 1840 - GMT London time was born! standard time was instituted in the US by the railroads on Nov. 18, 1883 (about the same time as the electric safety elevator)\nthe idea of daylight savings time - used to make better use of the daylight - was conceived by Benjamin Franklin while he was in Paris in 1784. \nUTC is Coordinated Universal Time and helps keep everyone on schedule.\nas for waaaaay back in history, we just kept noticing people getting older and dying and stories getting handed down the line. many different calendars were made by the watching stars farther back than most "written" records go, but the modern calendar is gregorian and centers around the birth of Christ - but is about 4 to 6 years off (on the late end).
932661
For contemporary Neo-Pagans, we "measure" time the same way as others--with standard chronometric terms.\n\nBut, as I think you mean, how do we describe and how do we conceptualize time--that's a different subject.\n\nHow Pagans describe time:\nWe describe years using, much as many non-Christians in the West do, the CE/BCE designations for years.  This is not 2006 Anno Domini (Our Lord)--for the Christian figure Jesus is not our Lord.  For us, as for Jews, it is the year 2006 Common Era, and similarly Hesiod wrote in the 8th century BCE (Before Common Era).  \n\nHow Pagans conceptualize time:\nTime is essentially cyclical, with some linear features.  The same basic processes repeat themselves endlessly in the Universe, but there is also change and a narrative progression (this latter process would be historical change, which we see as real but secondary to cosmological cyclicality).  \n\nThe most important units of cyclical time:\n(1)  The Wheel of the Year: too complex to discuss at this length, the Wheel of the Year is the basic time motif of Pagan thought.  It is the procession of the seasons, the lunar and solar year, and the eight Wiccan waypoints along the year.\n(2)  The Ages of the Person:  human life-cycles are also part of the unfolding of time.  Most Neo-Pagan traditions use the life-cycle of the human individual to talk about our individual lives in the larger flow of time.\n(3)  The Lunar Cycle:  The 28-day lunar cycle is, like the solar year, one of the two pillars of the Pagan liturgical calendar.  It maps the principle of cyclical flow, the hidden and mysterious qualities of Being.\n(4)  The Day:  Like the Year and the Ages of the Person, each Day corresponds to the Wiccan  magical circle (East/South/West/North), traveling from Dawn to Noon to Twilight to Midnight and back to Dawn.  The solar Day, the lunar Month, and the lunar-solar conjoined Year together with the individualized Life-Cycle describe our interdependent relationship with the Earth and Heavens around us, our inextricable place in the Great Web of Being.\n\nThere is much, much more to be said about this.  But Yahooo Answers lends itself to the terse version.
789208
the human brain judges time very well. you probably saw it somewhere and sub-consciencely look at the clock at those times.
725034
An interesting question, which requires thinking carefully about how our common measure of time is related to certain astronomical (solar) positional recurrences.  A lot of people (though not all) have answered you as though the year were exactly 365.25 days long on average, but it's more subtle than that.  \n\nThere are in fact two particular "years" of interest:\n\n1. The sidereal year (period of the Earth's revolution about the Sun with respect to the stars, i.e. operationally, the time for the Sun to apparently "return" to the same position against the stars, after a "year" [crudely 365+ days], as viewed from Earth):\n\n365.256366... days.\n\n2. The tropical year (time for the Sun to cross the celestial equator [the projection of the earth's equator in space] again [e.g. from south to north] after a "year" [crudely 365+ days]).  Alternatively, "the period of revolution of the Earth about the Sun with respect to the Vernal Equinox":\n\n365.242199... days.\n\n(Both figures are quoted to an accuracy sufficient for our present purposes.)\n\nThese two different "years" differ by just ~20.4 minutes, owing to the precession of the Earth.  (One full precession of the Earth's spin axis in space takes ~25781 years.  This long, latter number of years is in fact equal to 365.25 or so days divided by the (essentially observed) "motion of the Vernal Equinox along the celestial equator," at the rate of ~20.4 minutes per year as just mentioned --- check it out.  [Sorry about the technical language, but this is technical stuff.]) \n\nIt's actually the tropical year that determines the rate at which the observed seasons recur, and since we want them to be "at the same time of the year," our long-term timekeeping is geared to the tropical, not the sidereal year.\n\nNotice that at 365.242199 days, this "tropical year" is just a tad short of 365.25 days.  That's why, instead of the simplistic idea of a leap year occurring every 4 years (and having an extra day that accounts "exactly" for 4 x the extra 0.25 days), there will come a time when we've overcounted a bit.  \n\nFor example, after 100 years, we should have had 100 x 0.242199 "extra days," or 24.2199 days.  The "one more day every 4th year" rule would give us 25 extra days per century, ~ 0.78 days more than needed.  If we could drop just 1 day then, that would be better --- but then we'd be under by ~ 0.22 days --- aha! --- close to a quarter of a day!  That's why the revised rule comes in that complete century years are NOT leap years --- UNLESS they're divisible by 400!  (Figure out for yourself from the 365.242199 figure how well this works in the long run.  I think you'll find that the calendar, on average, doesn't get a full day out of step with these revised rules until something like 3,300 years have gone by!) \n\nO.K., so maybe this is much more than you wanted to know.  However, with the right understanding of what the length of the year we usually measure is, 365.242199... days, then 1 million days is 10^6 divided by this, or 2737.90926... years, or 2737 years and 332.10... days.***\n\n*** Remember, this is a mathematically average result, for essentially perfect intervening TROPICAL years (to the accuracy given).  If you want to know it in CALENDAR years and a specific whole number of days, the answer will vary slightly about the preceding result, according to when you start counting. This variability is not just because of the usual "every fourth year is a leap year"  pattern, but also because of the way that century years aren't all treated in the same manner.  It's awkward to give a general rule!  \n\nLive long and prosper.
737790
Usually that it's eleven minutes past eleven.\nBut some people (including myself) think that it's good luck when the clock shows straight ones, and if you make a wish it'll come true. (Like shooting stars, blowing on dandelions, blowing out candles, etc.)
17260
The hour was originally defined in ancient civilisations (including those of Egypt, Sumeria, India and China) as either one twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset or one twenty-fourth of a full day. In either case the division reflected the widespread use of a duodecimal numbering system (counting with each thumb the spaces between the joints of the other finger on the same hand, i.e. 3 x 4 = 12) and the equally widespread tendency to make analogies among sets of data (12 months, 12 zodiacal signs, 12 main compass points, 12 hours, a dozen).
862569
You can put a html page which has some sort of hjavascript code which generates it.\n\nYou can also have widgets that display the time.
687025
Get a fake clock with moveable hands (you can make one with cardboard). First show them time on the hour (1:00, 2:00, etc. ) Once they have grasped that concept, teach them 1:30, 2:30, etc. Then move on to 1:15 and 1:45. Obviously, do this with all hours. Then teach them to tell time to within 5 minutes. Once they know this really well, teach them to tell time within the minute. To help them grasp the concept of time, set a stopwatch for a minute and make them wait so they know how long a minute is. Any longer, and they won't stay still. Hope this helps.
171035
Tuesday\nyou can use your computer clock to find out by changing the year