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| Voyager Instruments |
 Title text: Convincing him to turn off the stupid laser show and useless sound system was such a huge ordeal that no one has wanted to do it again. |
Explanation
Voyager 1 is a space probe launched out of the solar system in 1977, almost 50 years before this comic. It, like other interstellar probes, use radioisotope thermoelectric generators. These generators are powered by radioactive materials which emit heat as they decay, which is then used to generate electricity. These generators can provide continuous power for decades with no maintenance, no moving parts, and no access to sunlight, making them ideal for space missions. The main disadvantages of such generators are the high cost and the presence of very hazardous materials, both of which are of comparatively minor importance in a groundbreaking unmanned space mission such as Voyager. Randall has previously referred to these generators, calling them "unrealistic" because they're so useful.
While such generators are long-lived, the gradual decay of the nuclear fuel means that their power output declines over time. Half a century into the mission, Voyager 1's available power has fallen considerably. In order to maximize the value of the mission, scientists at NASA have turned off more and more of Voyager's scientific instruments, so that the remaining instruments can still have power. This requires making a decision as to which instruments provide the most scientific value, in relation to the amount of power they require.
In this strip, they debate whether to turn off the Plasma Wave Subsystem (an instrument that measures electron density in interstellar space) or the magnetometer (an instrument that measures magnetic field strength). As of the date of this comic posting (September 2026), this is correct: these are the only two scientific instruments currently active on Voyager 1.
In this comic's reality, it's revealed there is something else drawing power: Greg has apparently installed "LED underlighting" on Voyager 1. Underlighting, or underglow, is a decorative system used on the underside of automobiles. It has little practical function, and is entirely for appearance. Such a system would be a ridiculous waste of weight and power on a space probe, since a) the probe exists for scientific purposes, not aesthetics [citation needed], and b) there's no one around to see the probe in any case.
Greg refuses to turn off the underlighting, claiming that it would make humans "look uncool in front of aliens". This argument isn't quite as ridiculous as it would initially appear. Voyager probes do, in fact, carry the Voyager Golden Record, which was designed to convey the basics of human culture, language and science, meaning that the possibility of the probe being discovered by aliens in the future was given actual consideration. However, even if the probe were discovered, it's highly unlikely that the lighting would still be active, and also unlikely that the aliens would be impressed by the lighting, even if it was. The lights might make the probe easier to spot in space, but it's unclear how useful that would be, and Greg is clearly only interested in the aesthetic value.
The title text mentions that Greg has in fact added even more car-like "upgrade" features to Voyager 1, including a "stupid laser show" (lasers in space do not scatter due to the absence of particles in a vacuum, making an Earth-style laser show very difficult to view in space) and a "useless sound system" (sound does not travel in space), which were turned off only after a "huge ordeal" which nobody wants to repeat. The suggestion is that, while Greg's ideas are pointless and wasteful, he's so adamant about them that the others don't care to have a repeat of the argument.
Transcript
- [Megan is standing in front of a chart, with a diagram of Voyager 1 and a line graph going downward. She is holding a pointer towards the plot while addressing a panel in front of her to the right. The panel is seated behind a desk and is composed of Ponytail, Cueball and Hairy (who is identified in the dialogue as Greg). Cueball is resting his hands on the desk.]
- Megan: As the radioactive power source on Voyager 1 weakens, we've been turning instruments off to conserve power.
- [Megan is holding the pointer at her side. Cueball is no longer resting his hands on the desk.]
- Megan: Only two instruments remain. Do we want to lose the plasma wave subsystem or the magnetometer?
- [Ponytail has her hand raised. Greg is standing up with his hands on the desk.]
- Ponytail: You know, if we just turned off Greg's LED underlighting–
- Greg: Absolutely not.
- Cueball: Dammit, Greg.
- Greg: I will not allow us to look uncool in front of aliens.
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 (or university) is the usual form of education following secondary education (e.g. high school). College life typically offers the student much more freedom in their habits, especially if they live in a dormitory. For many college students, this represents the first time they have had to do their own laundry, or at least the first time a parent isn't there to nag them into doing it properly. This comic is about how the laundry habits of such independent college students degrade over the course of time. In each panel, circles represent certain locations for clothes, while directed paths connect the locations, representing the movement of clothes. As such, each panel is a kind of graph. The black paths appear to represent the regular or usual movement of clothes, while the grey paths show the change from the previous graph and may represent the occasional/less frequent movement of (some) clothes.
| Time
(relative to semester start) |
Graph | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| First week | A black circular path connecting body, hamper, washer & dryer, folding area, dresser & closet, back to body. The floor is not part of the path. | 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 in a designated folding area, and then putting them in the dresser. |
| Second week | A grey path has been added, connecting washer & dryer via dresser & closet to body. The main black path now connects body, hamper, and washer & dryer, back to body. | By the second week, due to increasing laziness or workload, they have largely abandoned folding their clothes and shove them straight in the dresser & closet. This is a common practice to save time, though it will make the clothes take up more space and may leave them wrinkled. |
| Third week | The grey path connects washer & dryer via dresser & closet to body. The main black path connects body, hamper, and washer & dryer in a loop. | By the third week, they no longer bother with hanging them in the closet, and simply leave clean clothes on the floor before they are worn. This is not good practice, as clothes left on the floor are very likely to get dirty before they are even worn, as well as taking up floor space. Another common practice is to leave clean clothes on a table or chair, or in the container used to transfer them from the laundry to the student's room. |
| Second month | The grey path now connects body via hamper to washer & dryer. The main black path connects body and washer & dryer in a loop, with the floor also part of the return path from washer & dryer to body. | After the first month, dirty clothes are no longer stored in a laundry hamper and are just dumped on the floor. This takes up floor space, makes the clothes dirtier, and may create an unpleasant stench in the room. In addition, if both dirty and clean clothing is stored the same way, then it would be possible to confuse which clothing is clean. |
| End of semester | The black path connects body to itself via the floor. The grey path connects body and washer & dryer in a loop. | By the end of the semester, clothes are not washed at all — instead rotating between the floor and the student's body. This may stain or otherwise ruin the clothes over time, typically gives the student a bad odour, and may be a health hazard: however, it cuts out all the effort of laundering clothes. |
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, where they deal with either washing the garments or getting a lecture from their parents.
The title text seems to indicate that the student has a brainwave during the start of the second semester 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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