Well, after a hiatus of a few months, the blog is back. I need some way to avoid the loneliness and boredom that would otherwise descend on my weekends. Also, I had a crazy idea this morning.
Wind power is a clean, renewable energy source, but often generates a lot of local opposition. People object to the appearance of the windmills, and say they spoil the landscape. I think that part of the problem is the form of modern electricity generating windmills: they usually have three long blades.
A three-pronged spiky object just brings up some negative associations in our culture: the nuclear and biohazard warning signs all have threefold rotational symmetry (as does one of the world's great radio telescopes). Not to mention that trigonometry is one of the last mathematical concepts encountered by the majority of people before they drop maths entirely. That three-pronged shape has a bit of an association with technology, and that's not always positive. A four-bladed windmill would appeal more: it would remind onlookers of pretty, 17th century Dutch windmills, and even the Christian cross.
Now I realise that the opposition to windmills has a firm basis. They're big man-made structures that have to be placed in prominent locations, where they dominate the visual environment. Still, I think people would be a little better disposed to them if the shape was modified, so that the subliminal association was "traditional and sacred," rather than "artificial and high-tech."
