explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

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2021-12-02T23:08:22Z

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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

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Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

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Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
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|Lorem ipsum{{Citation needed}},
|Lorem ipsum,<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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2021-12-02T23:03:21Z

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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

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Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
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|Lorem ipsum{{Citation needed}},
|Lorem ipsum,<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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2021-12-02T23:01:14Z

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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

See [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#Is_the_Citation_needed_template_here_similar_to_the_analog_at_Wikipedia.3F|usage]].

Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
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|Lorem ipsum{{Citation needed}},
|Lorem ipsum,<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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|Lorem ipsum.<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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|(Lorem ipsum)<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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User:Omega/sig

2021-12-02T22:59:32Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><span title="PS: I can kill you with my brain." style="font-family:impact,arial black,sans serif;text-shadow:0 0 0.2em#59F1FF,0 0 0.2em#59F1FF">[[User:Omega|<span style="font-size:14pt;color:#1D4F54">Omega</span>]] <sup>[[User talk:Omega|<span style="font-size:10pt;color:#1D4F54">Talk</span>]] • [[Special:Contributions/Omega|<span style="font-size:10pt;color:#1D4F54">Contribs</span>]]</sup></span>

User:Grep/signature

2021-12-02T22:59:25Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><span style="font-size: 0.6em; border-top-left-radius: 10px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; background-color: #333; padding: 5px 5px 5px 10px;">[[User:Grep|<span style="color: #9df; text-decoration: none;">grep</span>]]</span><span style="font-size: 0.6em; background-color: #333; padding: 5px 5px 5px 7px;">[[User_talk:Grep|<span style="color: #9df; text-decoration: none;">talk</span>]]</span><span style="font-size: 0.6em; border-top-right-radius: 10px; border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; background-color: #333; color: #9df; padding: 5px 10px 5px 5px;">{{{1}}} (UTC)</span>

Category:Comics

2021-12-02T22:58:31Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div>Here, you can navigate the category tree of all xkcd comics.

For the complete list of all comics on one page, go to the [[List of all comics]].

To see special comic categories, visit [[:Category:Distinctive comics|Distinctive comics]].

[[Category:xkcd]]

File:edge cake.png

2021-12-02T22:58:25Z

Quackquackquack:

2549: Edge Cake

2021-12-02T22:58:18Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div>{{comic
| number = 2549
| date = December 1, 2021
| title = Edge Cake
| image = edge_cake.png
| titletext = Every time IERS adds or removes a leap second, they send me a birthday cake out of superstition.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by FRINGE FRUITCAKE – Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Megan]] (possibly an IERS agent) wishes Emily, represented as [[Hairbun]], Happy Birthday. This prompts a confused [[Cueball]] to ask if her birthday was sometime last month. Emily explains that she was born over the North Pole in a plane, meaning that she was born in every timezone at once. Technically though this is false, as there are some timezones (such as {{w|Nepal Standard Time|UTC+5:45}}) that are not represented at the north pole. Except for the one hour before it's midnight at the International Date Line, the date in eastern time zones is one day ahead of western time zones. She also says that it was February 29th (presumably it was also February 28 or March 1 in some time zones). February 29th only happens at most once every four years in the Gregorian calendar, adding to the confusion - people born on February 29th often celebrate their non-leap-year birthdays on arbitrary days (or {{w|The_Pirates_of_Penzance#Synopsis|not at all}}). Normally {{w|Birth aboard aircraft and ships|one could simply use the time in the airline company's native country}}, but the airline company was changing ownership from one country to another at the time, so this option has apparently been ruled out.

The punchline is that rather than try to identify the correct birthday for Emily, the {{w|BIPM}} has decided to let her have birthdays whenever she wants.

Both the comic title and Cueball's final line are puns on "{{w|edge case}}", an engineering term referring to situations or conditions that are unusual in a way likely to cause problems unless specifically accounted for. Edge pieces are generally only important with sheet goods (brownies sheet cakes, etc), which are typically cut into pieces creating a difference between pieces originating on the edge and pieces originating from the center. Since the sides of a cake are often frosted, an edge piece has two faces covered in frosting and a corner piece has three, while a center piece only has one. Depending upon your relative preferences between the surface (often icing over marzipan) and core body of the cake (which can be fruitcake, or some variety of spongecake, etc, but not actually obvious which until the cake is cut), it being an edge-faced slice can be considered a bonus. Cueball certainly seems to appreciate this.

The title text states that the {{w|IERS}} sends Emily a cake every time they add or remove a leap second, out of superstition (perhaps Megan is delivering that cake). The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is in charge of global time standards. It occasionally adds one leap-second to {{w|Coordinated Universal Time}} to adjust for changes in the rotation speed of the Earth.

==Trivia==
Hairbun was last named "Emily" in [[788: The Carriage]]. It is important to note that this Emily is a real, historical person who had no such issues regarding her birthday.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is walking towards Cueball and Emily (who resembles Hairbun), holding a cake.]
:Megan: Happy birthday, Emily!
:Cueball: Wait, wasn't that last month? When's your birthday, anyways?
:Emily: It's complicated.

:[A diagram of a flight path over the North Pole, with meridian lines radiating out from the center. Emily's dialogue appears above the diagram, but she herself does not appear in this panel.]
:Emily: My mom went into labor on an arctic international flight that diverted directly over the North Pole.
:Emily: I was born in every time zone at once.

:[With Megan standing behind her, Emily holds out a plate of cake to Cueball.]
:Emily: It was also February 29th, and the airline was just changing ownership between countries.
:Emily: The International Bureau of Weights and Measures finally issued a declaration that it's my birthday whenever I want.
:Emily: Cake?
:Cueball: Nice, it's all edge pieces.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Time]]

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2021-12-02T22:58:06Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>Generates the rows in the [[List of all comics]] page.

{| class="wikitable no-xkcd-favicon"
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|-
| align="right" data-sort-type"number" data-sort-value="{{{1|1}}}"| [http://xkcd.com/{{{1|1}}} xkcd.com/{{{1|1}}}]
| [[{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}]]<span class="create"> ([{{fullurl:{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|action=edit&preload=Template:create}} create])</span>
| [[Talk:{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|talk]]
| {{#if:{{{4|notblank}}}|[[:File:{{{4|{{lc:{{urlencode:{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|WIKI}}}}.png}}}|{{{4|{{lc:{{urlencode:{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|WIKI}}}}.png}}}]]|''No file''}}
| data-sort-type="isoDate"| {{{2|2005-09-30}}}

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2021-12-02T22:57:58Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

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Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
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2021-12-02T22:57:47Z

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File:edge cake.png

2021-12-02T22:57:03Z

Quackquackquack: Quackquackquack uploaded a new version of File:edge cake.png

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Template:Community portal/cell

2021-12-02T22:16:49Z

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| width="20%" |[[File:{{{image|Internet-group-chat.svg}}}|link=Explain XKCD:Community portal/{{{1|Miscellaneous}}}|80px]]<br>
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2021-12-02T22:16:27Z

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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><span class="outdent-template" style="display:block; margin-top:-0.5em; color:#AAA;"><span style="display:inline-block; overflow:hidden;">┌</span><span style="display:inline-block; overflow:hidden; width:{{{{{|safesubst:}}}#switch:{{{1|}}}
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|#default={{#expr:{{{1|10}}}*1.6-0.8}}}}em;">────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────</span><span style="display:inline-block; overflow:hidden;">┘</span></span><span>{{{{{|safesubst:}}}#if:{{{2|}}}|([[Wikipedia:Indentation#Outdenting|outdent]]) }}</span><noinclude>
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2021-12-02T22:15:09Z

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<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><includeonly>{| style="border:thin solid lightsteelblue; border-style:solid none; width:100%; text-align:center; margin-bottom:.5em;"
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User:Omega/sig

2021-12-02T22:14:35Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><span title="PS: I can kill you with my brain." style="font-family:impact,arial black,sans serif;text-shadow:0 0 0.2em#59F1FF,0 0 0.2em#59F1FF">[[User:Omega|<span style="font-size:14pt;color:#1D4F54">Omega</span>]] <sup>[[User talk:Omega|<span style="font-size:10pt;color:#1D4F54">Talk</span>]] • [[Special:Contributions/Omega|<span style="font-size:10pt;color:#1D4F54">Contribs</span>]]</sup></span>

User:Grep/signature

2021-12-02T22:14:28Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><span style="font-size: 0.6em; border-top-left-radius: 10px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; background-color: #333; padding: 5px 5px 5px 10px;">[[User:Grep|<span style="color: #9df; text-decoration: none;">grep</span>]]</span><span style="font-size: 0.6em; background-color: #333; padding: 5px 5px 5px 7px;">[[User_talk:Grep|<span style="color: #9df; text-decoration: none;">talk</span>]]</span><span style="font-size: 0.6em; border-top-right-radius: 10px; border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; background-color: #333; color: #9df; padding: 5px 10px 5px 5px;">{{{1}}} (UTC)</span>

Category:Comics

2021-12-02T22:12:18Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div>Here, you can navigate the category tree of all xkcd comics.

For the complete list of all comics on one page, go to the [[List of all comics]].

To see special comic categories, visit [[:Category:Distinctive comics|Distinctive comics]].

[[Category:xkcd]]

File:edge cake.png

2021-12-02T22:11:44Z

Quackquackquack:

Large size can be found at https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/edge_cake_2x.png
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Talk:2549: Edge Cake

2021-12-02T22:11:16Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div>

The cake being all edges is a reference to everything about her birth being an edge case.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.227|172.70.110.227]] 03:41, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
: It seems likely that the title of the comic is a related pun: her birthday is an edge case, and so she has an edge cake.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.221|162.158.106.221]] 04:22, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
So is Hairbun officially named Emily now, sort of like how all instances of Megan are Megan even though she's only called that once? I know all the names here are just placeholders of convenience, but even then I've never know what the rules for naming are. [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 06:11, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Edge pieces on cake are often sought after because they hold more frosting, for cakes which are frosted while out of the pan. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.23|172.70.134.23]] 06:37, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
: I have an impression that Cueball is delighted by having only edge pieces, however some cakes edge pieces may be either sought for or avoided, depending on one's tastes. E.g. tarts have more crispy base cake content and less filling at the edges. One person may go for the filling, another for the crispy base. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.11|162.158.102.11]] 09:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

So it seems the events in the comic happened on Apr 1., as the "last month" birthday could be either Feb 28. or 29. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.11|162.158.102.11]] 09:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
:Not necessarily. Remember, Emily can have her birthday ''whenever she wants'', so the date this comic is set as is entirely arbitrary. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.51|172.70.178.51]] 12:26, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Are there any particular existing arctic international flights that could have been the one Emily was born on? -- [[Special:Contributions/256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] 15:51, 2 December 2021 (UTC)
:There are a few possibities (at least pre-COVID, and obviously we'd be looking historically in this case anyway) as [https://interestingengineering.com/polar-routes-flights-that-go-over-earths-poles might be shown here]. There's two possible (but neither definite) International Datelines on the comic diagram, in case they help orient which from/to directions might have been diverted further in or out of their own kinks in the flightpath to coincide with 90°N. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 16:21, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

2549: Edge Cake

2021-12-02T22:10:32Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div>{{comic
| number = 2549
| date = December 1, 2021
| title = Edge Cake
| image = edge_cake.png
| titletext = Every time IERS adds or removes a leap second, they send me a birthday cake out of superstition.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by FRINGE FRUITCAKE – Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Megan]] (possibly an IERS agent) wishes Emily, represented as [[Hairbun]], Happy Birthday. This prompts a confused [[Cueball]] to ask if her birthday was sometime last month. Emily explains that she was born over the North Pole in a plane, meaning that she was born in every timezone at once. Technically though this is false, as there are some timezones (such as {{w|Nepal Standard Time|UTC+5:45}}) that are not represented at the north pole. Except for the one hour before it's midnight at the International Date Line, the date in eastern time zones is one day ahead of western time zones. She also says that it was February 29th (presumably it was also February 28 or March 1 in some time zones). February 29th only happens at most once every four years in the Gregorian calendar, adding to the confusion - people born on February 29th often celebrate their non-leap-year birthdays on arbitrary days (or {{w|The_Pirates_of_Penzance#Synopsis|not at all}}). Normally {{w|Birth aboard aircraft and ships|one could simply use the time in the airline company's native country}}, but the airline company was changing ownership from one country to another at the time, so this option has apparently been ruled out.

The punchline is that rather than try to identify the correct birthday for Emily, the {{w|BIPM}} has decided to let her have birthdays whenever she wants.

Both the comic title and Cueball's final line are puns on "{{w|edge case}}", an engineering term referring to situations or conditions that are unusual in a way likely to cause problems unless specifically accounted for. Edge pieces are generally only important with sheet goods (brownies sheet cakes, etc), which are typically cut into pieces creating a difference between pieces originating on the edge and pieces originating from the center. Since the sides of a cake are often frosted, an edge piece has two faces covered in frosting and a corner piece has three, while a center piece only has one. Depending upon your relative preferences between the surface (often icing over marzipan) and core body of the cake (which can be fruitcake, or some variety of spongecake, etc, but not actually obvious which until the cake is cut), it being an edge-faced slice can be considered a bonus. Cueball certainly seems to appreciate this.

The title text states that the {{w|IERS}} sends Emily a cake every time they add or remove a leap second, out of superstition (perhaps Megan is delivering that cake). The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is in charge of global time standards. It occasionally adds one leap-second to {{w|Coordinated Universal Time}} to adjust for changes in the rotation speed of the Earth.

==Trivia==
Hairbun was last named "Emily" in [[788: The Carriage]]. It is important to note that this Emily is a real, historical person who had no such issues regarding her birthday.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is walking towards Cueball and Emily (who resembles Hairbun), holding a cake.]
:Megan: Happy birthday, Emily!
:Cueball: Wait, wasn't that last month? When's your birthday, anyways?
:Emily: It's complicated.

:[A diagram of a flight path over the North Pole, with meridian lines radiating out from the center. Emily's dialogue appears above the diagram, but she herself does not appear in this panel.]
:Emily: My mom went into labor on an arctic international flight that diverted directly over the North Pole.
:Emily: I was born in every time zone at once.

:[With Megan standing behind her, Emily holds out a plate of cake to Cueball.]
:Emily: It was also February 29th, and the airline was just changing ownership between countries.
:Emily: The International Bureau of Weights and Measures finally issued a declaration that it's my birthday whenever I want.
:Emily: Cake?
:Cueball: Nice, it's all edge pieces.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Time]]

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2021-12-02T22:09:13Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>Generates the rows in the [[List of all comics]] page.

{| class="wikitable no-xkcd-favicon"
! xkcd !! Title !! Talk !! Image !! Date</noinclude>
|-
| align="right" data-sort-type"number" data-sort-value="{{{1|1}}}"| [http://xkcd.com/{{{1|1}}} xkcd.com/{{{1|1}}}]
| [[{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}]]<span class="create"> ([{{fullurl:{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|action=edit&preload=Template:create}} create])</span>
| [[Talk:{{{1|1}}}: {{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|talk]]
| {{#if:{{{4|notblank}}}|[[:File:{{{4|{{lc:{{urlencode:{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|WIKI}}}}.png}}}|{{{4|{{lc:{{urlencode:{{{3|Barrel - Part 1}}}|WIKI}}}}.png}}}]]|''No file''}}
| data-sort-type="isoDate"| {{{2|2005-09-30}}}

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2021-12-02T22:04:45Z

Quackquackquack: Quackquackquack uploaded a new version of File:Favicon.png

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File:16px-BlackHat head.png

2021-12-02T22:04:03Z

Quackquackquack: Quackquackquack uploaded a new version of File:16px-BlackHat head.png

Original is located [[:File:BlackHat head.png|here]].

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2021-12-02T22:02:02Z

Quackquackquack:

<div style="position: fixed; left: 0; top: 0; width: 100vw; height: 100vh; z-index: 999999; object-fit: fill">[[File:edge_cake.png|2000px|link=Special:Logout]]</div><noinclude>This template is to be used when a sentence requires a citation.</noinclude><sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup><noinclude>

See [[explain_xkcd:Editor_FAQ#Is_the_Citation_needed_template_here_similar_to_the_analog_at_Wikipedia.3F|usage]].

Given below is a helpful chart to show how to use this template properly.

{| class="wikitable"
!✘
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|-
|Lorem ipsum{{Citation needed}},
|Lorem ipsum,<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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|Lorem ipsum.<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
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|(Lorem ipsum)<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]]</sup>
|}

[[Category:Templates]]
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2021-12-02T22:01:01Z

Quackquackquack:

File:edge cake.png

2021-12-02T21:56:19Z

Quackquackquack: Quackquackquack uploaded a new version of File:edge cake.png

Large size can be found at https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/edge_cake_2x.png