submitted 6 days ago by SatyrSack@quokk.au to c/stargate@sh.itjust.works

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Stargate SG-1 S5E3 "Ascension"
Stargate SG-1 S4E20 "Entity"

In "Ascension", Orlin gifts Sam a sizeable emerald, claiming it to be her birth stone, implying that her birth month is May. But in "Entity", we saw that her birth date is actually in December. While I assume this was just a production mistake, if I had to come up with an in-universe justification for what we see here, I would have to assume that Orlin was just mistaken. Maybe he saw someone else's birthdate marked somewhere and he assumed it was Sam's, or he read a chart wrong and thought December was emerald. Looking at various price charts for birth stones, I see that the December stone sometimes varies, but it is always on the cheaper side of birthstones. On the other hand, May is always emerald, which is one of the most expensive birth stones. Regardless of how Orlin had made the mistake, I figure that Sam was aware that May is always a more expensive stone than December and decided not to correct him at all and just cash in on the mistake. She needs a new microwave and toaster.

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[-] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 11 points 6 days ago

If she was conceived in May and born 3 weeks premature then she could have been born in December.

He might not have realized Earthicans concepts of birth/conception and given her the birthstone of her conception date.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

29/12/68 is a terrible way to write a date. No wonder he was confused.

The programmer should have used RFC 3339 instead.

[-] SatyrSack@quokk.au 6 points 6 days ago

That was how it was displayed in her USAF psychological profile. That is probably not what Orlin saw. But regardless, whatever date format you use, I don't think you can write that date in such a way that a reasonable person confuses it with May. If it was the fifth day of the month, sure, I can imagine making that mistake. But 29?

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world -4 points 6 days ago

When I see a date like that, I just give up, don’t read it, and make something up instead.

[-] Anafabula@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

This date has only one combination that isn't impossible and D/M/Y is the most common date format in the world (Even though Y-M-D is superior).

D = Day, M = Month, Y = Year

| 29 | 12 | 68 | Impossible | |

| ---------- | | D | M | Y | | | D | Y | M | M | | M | D | Y | M | | M | Y | D | M,D | | Y | D | M | M | | Y | M | D | D |

[-] SatyrSack@quokk.au 2 points 6 days ago

For this particular birth date, sure, there is no ambiguity as to what date format is being used. But what if Sam's birth date was actually 05/12/63? What if it pulled up the profile of a new recruit with a birth date of 06/08/02? Is that the year 2002 or 2006? Is that June or August? That is where the more logical date format standards come in. In a utopia where everybody used some variation of Y-M-D, there would be no ambiguity and everything would be sunshine and rainbows.

[-] Anafabula@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 days ago

Yea, I agree

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Well, I guess Orlin is just stupid then.

[-] moopet@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

If you read the date in DD/MM/YYYY format then it's the 29th month. Sure. But If you consider it from an alien perspective, that 29 must mean the number wraps round, right? So finding the stone is simply a matter of taking the remainder. 29 % 12 = 5. May. Emerald. Checkmate, false gods.

[-] LemmyUser0909@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

I go Aztec/Mayan

12.17.15.6.17

https://www.azteccalendar.com/

[-] SatyrSack@quokk.au 3 points 6 days ago

The programmer should have used RFC 3339 instead.

Looks like that standard was published over a year after that episode aired. Not to mention that in-universe, the psych profile system seen there was likely created long before that, even.

[-] Anafabula@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

ISO 8601 was first published in 1988 and is almost as good

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

oh, good catch

I kinda forget how computers were the Wild West way back before standards.

[-] FavouriteShapes@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

He already chose emerald and was lying about making it for her, because it means he can:

determine Her birthday if he doesn't already know (or forgot)
practice salesmanship skills, see if she's attached to the product already
test how willingly she lies/plays along with a lie; the implication is that she gets a free emerald if it is her birthstone, he wants to see if she's greedy enough to do that

Or maybe he's just teasing

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2026

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