[marginalia_nu]

The closer you are to the equator, the taller the stick needs to be. If you're really close, the height requirements diverge, and the stick is at this point technically more of a space elevator[1] than a stick.

But don't lose hope, just tell Bezos that Musk wants to fund your space elevator, and vice versa, to goad one of them into funding your $10tn near-equatorial sundial boondoggle.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

[eru]

A space elevator is not aligned with the axis of earth's rotation. It sounds like what you are describing is a different device?

[marginalia_nu]

Why would a sun dial need to point in the north/south direction? It just needs to point up along the normal axis of the ground (assuming flat ground).

[eru]

From the original comment I replied to:

> Jam a stick in the ground aligned with the earth's axis and take your bearing from the shadow's direction.

[marginalia_nu]

Ah, that comment would be incorrect.