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riddle

My parents have a garden ornament that contains a "vertical spiral thingy" that can freely[^] rotate. When wine blows, it sometimes rotates clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise. What gives? When it has rotated by 180 deg it should be in the same position as if the wind was blowing in the opposite direction (the cage around it nonwithstanding), so I'd expect it to always rotate in the same direction, or to oscillate.

Some videos: photos.app.goo.gl/CQWvBBggW4jX

[^] there might be some weird hysteresis there, because it's basically a wire that slips in a hole

@robryk but it's just a guess, i'm sure there are people with better knowledge about these things on here :)

@robryk i cant really draw it properly. imagone you look at it with one wing being to the left, one to the right and one in the back.

the top half of the shape will on one side point towards you and on the other side away from you, the reverse is true for the bottom half.

i think it's something which cleverly exploits chaos :)

@robryk if you turn one of the arms 180°, the other two are not at the same position but offset by 60° each. the S shape provides the same drag for the top and bottom, but in different directions. so wind from the same direction can push on either the top or bottom part.

@robryk i think what plays part is that it's three spiral thingies offset 120° and that the top and bottom of the spiral thingies are the same but pointing in opposite directions.

@Paulos_the_fog interesting, i wonder if this mechanism would be something to treat allergies with.

@niclas i think it's because party is female in german, but the feminine connotation is also not by accident, yes :)

@niclas he who keeps silent is just sufficiently oppressed :)

the "social contract" argument of the quoted post somehow reminds me of the first verse of the GDR unity party hymn:

> Sie hat uns alles gegeben.
Sonne und Wind und sie geizte nie.
Wo sie war, war das Leben.
Was wir sind, sind wir durch sie.
Sie hat uns niemals verlassen.
Fror auch die Welt, uns war warm.
Uns schützt die Mutter der Massen.
Uns trägt ihr mächtiger Arm.

translated:

> She gave us everything.
Sun and wind and she never stinted.
Where she was, there was life.
What we are, we are through her.
She never left us.
The world was freezing, we were warm.
The Mother of the masses protects us.
Her mighty arm carries us.

Finally! The superior keyboard! Let's see...

* Shift as a dim switch? Check!
* No numeric keys except with a mod? Check!
* Backspace on the left for total superiority? Check!
* Where the fuck is Enter key? I've no idea!

:comfygeek:
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