[HN Gopher] VA Tech scientists are building a better fog harp
___________________________________________________________________
VA Tech scientists are building a better fog harp
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 49 points
Date : 2025-06-24 00:33 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
| mkesper wrote:
| It's interesting because you can turn this into meter-ware (like
| moskito nets) and it does not need fancy materials or coating
| processes, just clever use of geometry.
| timlod wrote:
| It's not virtual analog tech scientists building a better musical
| instruments :)
|
| I had no clue what a fog harp is, turns out it's used for
| harvesting water - interesting tech!
| schiffern wrote:
| Nice, very practical engineering.
|
| I wonder if arranging the stabilizing wires at an angle (instead
| of directly horizontal) might reduce their tendency to cling
| water, or could the acute angle actually make it worse? Maybe the
| best would be a zig-zag pattern, but that's more complex to
| manufacture and might be worse at holding the strings apart.
| vtbassmatt wrote:
| As a Hokie, it drives me crazy that journalists (and ESPN)
| continue to use the non-name "VA Tech". It's VT, Virginia Tech,
| or the full name, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State
| University. https://brand.vt.edu/licensing/university-
| trademarks.html#tr...
| itsmartapuntocm wrote:
| As a fellow Hokie I'm just happy they aren't calling us
| Virginia Tech University.
| patwolf wrote:
| I occasionally hear people pronounce it out loud as "vah tech".
| But seeing it written "VA Tech" is even more bizarre.
| scroot wrote:
| Yeah I hear that on TV a lot also, but no one who has spent
| any time in the Harvard of the Blue Ridge would say it that
| way
| anton-c wrote:
| I don't even know that much about the school but I read the
| headline as "Virginia based tech sector scientists"
|
| VA tech does not have the most agreeable ring compared to the
| others you listed tho that's for sure.
| eitally wrote:
| If it makes you feel any better, California Polytechnic State
| University San Luis Obispo is most commonly just known as SLO.
| There are two other Cal Polys, one of which is known as CPP
| (Cal Poly Pomona) and the other mostly just referred to as
| Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt). Moreover, unless you knew this
| already, if you Google "cal poly" it'll only return results
| about SLO, further muddying the waters.
|
| As a Wahoo, I don't have the "VA Tech" issue, but I assume
| journos write it that way because their style guides tell them
| abbreviating states is acceptable, and they don't care that
| they're doing it to a trademark that doesn't support
| abbreviation.
| MengerSponge wrote:
| Context is key. "Cal" refers to "The University of
| California, Berkeley", even though Davis, Los Angeles,
| Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego, etc etc
|
| "Cal Poly" is shorthand for the SLO campus. It's the
| original, and the most established one.
| https://www.espn.com/mens-college-
| basketball/team/_/id/13/ca...
|
| Cal Poly Humboldt was only renamed three years ago. It's
| going to take a few generations to get the same cache as SLO.
|
| Funny thing: I met a German physician who works in California
| now. His degree is from Humboldt University, an old and
| incredibly prestigious university in Berlin. He found it
| "funny" (provincial) that people so often register "Humboldt
| University" as "Humboldt State". One of these things is not
| like the other!
| pimlottc wrote:
| *cachet
| MengerSponge wrote:
| Apparently SLO is L1, Pomona is L2, and Humboldt is L3
| alexjplant wrote:
| Every discerning musician knows that SLO stands for Super
| Lead Overdrive, the front half of the name of the finest
| guitar amplifier conceived in the modern era - the Soldano
| SLO100. Interestingly enough it hails from Seattle, not
| anywhere near central CA.
| loudmax wrote:
| Fellow Virginia Tech alumnus here. "VA Tech" is perfectly
| legible and unambiguous. "VT scientists" is straightforward to
| Americans, but not everyone in the world will know what "VT" is
| in this context. It could be Vermont scientists, or who knows
| what else.
|
| Incidentally, the author is the wife of physicist Sean Carroll.
| She certainly knows how to abbreviate Virginia Tech, but Ars
| Technica's editors will want to influence the title to appeal
| to a global audience.
|
| "VA Tech" is a reasonable balance between writing something
| unambiguous for a global audience, but short enough to be
| interesting. Nobody's going to be interested in an article
| titled "Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
| scientists build a better fog harp."
|
| Of course, you still need to read the article itself to find
| out what the heck is a "fog harp," and why we need a better
| one.
| glumbum wrote:
| VA Tech is part of the Victoria & Albert Museum, right?
|
| But seriously, I'm so glad to hear that Violent Assault Tech
| scientists have made the Fog Harp more efficient. Finally I
| can reliably surprise my victims! This truly is Value Added
| Tech, and in such high quality Vinyl Acetate that I'll never
| worry about Vaginal Atrophy again!
| btreecat wrote:
| Go Hokies!
| fhdkweig wrote:
| Georgia Tech is pronounced 'gah tech' and its domain name is
| gatech.edu. That may be the origin of VT's abbreviation.
| fvrghl wrote:
| Never heard it pronounced that way in my life. Either "Tech"
| or "GT".
| pimlottc wrote:
| For a moment I thought it was about the VA, like maybe this was
| a musical therapy tool for veterans or something.
| analog31 wrote:
| One of my friends who graduated from there a few decades ago
| calls it Vippy Soo.
| gowld wrote:
| Since the article is about VT scientists, not the school
| itself, the correct term is "Wahoos"
| schiffern wrote:
| It's just Headlinese, an evolution of earlier telegram style.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_style
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headline#Headlinese
|
| Per the convention, "Virginia" is shortened to its acronym VA.
| So although it's written "VA Tech" it's meant to be read aloud
| (or in your head) as "Virginia Tech."
| mycall wrote:
| Instead of a 2D matrix, why not go in depth and have many layers
| similar to a bee hive box?
| skybrian wrote:
| I imagine the first layer would harvest most of the water?
| seethishat wrote:
| It's like Ga Tech (Georgia Tech). The domain names are different
| (gatech.edu versus vt.edu) as are the program rankings... VT
| should be honored to be pronounced in a similar way as they are
| ranked way lower than Ga Tech ;)
|
| I have degrees from both. Ga Tech is a much better school for
| Computer Science and Engineering.
|
| Sorry Hokies. Mike Vick also pronounced it "Va Tech" during
| interviews. So to most people, you are "Va Tech" and should be
| happy when a dad asks his kid... hey do you want to go visit Ga
| Tech or Va Tech? As if they are the same.
| pfdietz wrote:
| The electrostatic version seems like an excellent idea.
| reactordev wrote:
| Moisture Farmers rejoice, SkyWalker Ranch will soon double the
| output during harvest season - That boy might just make the
| Academy this year.
|
| In all seriousness, harvesting water from fog and putting it
| through purification will be needed in great abundance in the
| future.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-06-27 23:01 UTC)