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| Stargazing 5 |
 Title text: The sun and the moon appear the same size in the sky, even though in real life the sun is more than twice as big. Some call this lucky alignment coincidence; others say it's proof that sometimes things can be the same size. |
Explanation
This is the fifth comic in the Stargazing series, following 3072: Stargazing 4, which came out one year and five months before.
The comic continues the series with Megan as the host of a stargazing tour, giving a mix of accurate astronomical information and information that is either nonsensical or trivial.
In the first panel, the host explains that her efforts to share "cool space facts" have been covered up by other astronomers (she also referred to her often inaccurate information this way in Stargazing 4). In this case it turns out she has been trapped under a tarp, literally being “covered up”. She escaped the tarp by chewing through it. It is unclear if or why this was the most practical method of escape. The impracticality of her method of escape—which falls short of impossible but is also far from ideal—is an apt parallel to the truth value of her cool facts and other statements.
In the second panel, she suggests that the viewers "spy on some stars". While this choice of words is uncommon in astronomy circles, it is partly due to her belief that stars are birds of the sky. This is inaccurate in many ways: stars are larger than birds, they are further away, and they are not animate.[citation needed] More pertinently, though, birds already occupy the sky, so they are already 'the birds of the sky'. She also suggests taking binoculars from bird-watchers if one doesn't have a set, which may anger the bird-watcher, as well as being a criminal offence.
She then talks about rippling colours in the sky, referring to aurorae, comparing them to screensavers and requesting people not to move their mouse and cause the screensaver to disappear. This is only possible if the sky was a computer screen in a simulation. Screensavers are usually simple computer generated animations (such as changing colours or slowly moving images) that play when a computer is inactive and are considered nice to look at. They were originally to prevent screen burn-in, which is not an issue that would affect the sky. Megan's comment about moving the mouse refers to moving the cursor to reawaken the computer. This is impossible to do in the sky.[citation needed] The idea of the sky as a screen has been referenced before in 395: Morning.
In the last panel, she refers to historical beliefs that the appearance of a comet was a sign that major events, often very bad, were about to happen. By contrast, she styles herself as someone who signals the coming of good things, in the shape of astronomy and "cool facts".
In the title text, the Sun and Moon are compared. The Sun is actually about 400 times larger than the Moon (in diameter; about 64 000 000 times in volume), which means that the statement that it is over twice as large is true, but massively understates the comparison. The Sun and Moon appear to be the same size, however, due to the Sun being about 400 times farther away. Some religious apologists (example) argue that this coincidence is evidence for the existence of God; the title text appears to be setting up a reference to this, only to instead make another understatement, that some people argue it's proof things can be the same size, which unlike the existence of God is a trivially true statement.
Transcript
- [Megan is standing in the foreground with her arms raised. Behind her on the left are Cueball and Ponytail, on the right are White Hat and Hairbun. They appear to be looking at her. The background is black.]
- Megan: Welcome to Stargazing!
- Megan: I'm back, despite efforts by astronomers who hate cool space facts to cover me up so I can't see the sky anymore!
- Megan: Nice try, losers! Next time buy a tarp that's harder to chew through!
- [The view closes on Megan, so only Ponytail and White Hat are visible behind her. She's now holding a pair of binoculars.]
- Megan: Now, let's spy on some stars!
- Megan: Does everyone have binoculars? If you don't, find someone looking at birds and try to grab theirs.
- Megan: Stars are the birds of the sky.
- [Close-up of Megan's head. The background is white now.]
- Megan: But stars aren't the only weird lights.
- Megan: Sometimes the sky fills with rippling colors. That's the sky's screensaver.
- Megan: It's very pretty, so don't move your mouse and ruin it.
- [The view pulls back so everyone is visible again. Megan is no longer holding the binoculars. She has her left hand raised, pointing to the sky, while those in the background are looking in the direction she is pointing. The background is black again.]
- Megan: That blob is a comet. People used to think they were harbingers of doom. We now know they're boring, so we have to find new reasons to use the word "harbinger."
- Megan: I'm a harbinger of astronomy!
- Megan: Cool facts are nigh!
This Week's Explanation for Improvement
As part of the Explanation Improvement Project, each week the community selects one older, stagnant, or otherwise neglected explanation to expand and polish together. This week's pick is comic 1066: Laundry, you can help us by editing its explanation!
To get involved with the project, you can also nominate an explanation that you think should be improved, or vote on current nominations!
| Laundry |
 Title text: During the second semester, the path is briefly routed through the dishwasher. |
Explanation
|
Welcome to This Week's Explanation for Improvement! Anyone is encouraged to help explain comic 1066: Laundry; click here to get started! If you are new to wiki editing, you can read our editing FAQ for guidance. Here are some suggestions for improving this explanation: .svg){kind=icon} We could go way deeper into washing clothes and adjacent habits
.svg){kind=icon} Divide the explanations into sections or a bullet-point list to better explain each stage.
|
In the United States of America, college is the usual form of education following secondary education (e.g. high school). College life is very different from that in high school; the student has much more freedom in what they can do, especially if they live in a dormitory. This comic is about how the laundry habits of such independent college students degrade over the course of time.
In the first week, the student undertakes a proper laundry routine, using the clothes, putting them in a hamper, washing and drying them, folding them, and then putting them in the dresser. However, due to increasing laziness/workload, by the second week they have abandoned folding their clothes, and by the third week no longer bother hanging them in the closet. By the second month dirty clothes are no longer stored in a laundry hamper and are just dumped on the floor, and by the end of the semester clothes are not washed at all — instead rotating between the floor and the student's body.
Not represented in the comic is the possibility that, when they can’t be bothered, they can even skip the “floor” step for extended periods of time. It may be noteworthy that a common trend was not mentioned: students saving all of their dirty laundry until they visit their parents.
The title text seems to indicate that the student has a brainwave, some time later, to wash their clothes in the dishwasher along with the dishes, presumably as a timesaver. The experiment was brief because dishwashers aren't actually any good at washing clothes: they wouldn't move the clothes about in order to effectively free the dirt. Unsubstantiated life hacks do recommend putting certain pieces of clothing (baseball caps in particular) in the dishwasher.
Transcript
- College Laundry Habits
- [Panel labeled "First Week". 5 ovals arranged in a rough circle, with a clockwise path connecting them: "Dresser & Closet", "On Body", "Hamper", "Washer & Dryer", "Folding Area" (and back to the first). The area outside the ovals is labeled "Floor."]
- [Panel labeled "Second Week". The path has been modified so that it does not go through "Folding Area" - only through the other 4 ovals.]
- [Panel labeled "Third Week". The path has been modified so that it does not go through "Dresser & Closet". Only "On Body", "Hamper", and "Washer & Dryer" remain.]
- [Panel labeled "Second Month". The path no longer passes through "Hamper" - only "On Body" and "Washer & Dryer".]
- [Panel labeled "End of Semester". The path no longer goes to "Washer & Dryer", instead just looping back around from "On Body" to "On Body" again after passing through the "Floor."]
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