The Quantum Sparrow

(Just pretend that there's some deep, terribly clever, and mysterious meaning behind that blog title, okay?) Johnlocker, happy Tinhatter, Freebatch, Marvel, and Good Omens fan, with a tremendous love of smut, fanfic, and fan art.

[whoreapologist]

i love abortion and i love divorce

[red-twist]

i pop some pills and i ride my horse

[tuckerrule]

i log onto tumblr and i start discourse

[faggybutch161]

eyyyy macarena

[fangcore]

this has the strongest 2014 tumblr vibe i’ve seen in a while, can’t believe this post is 5 days old

[adorablecake]

THIS POST IS FIVE DAYS OLD???? I THOUGHT IT WAS AT LEAST 2 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!

[whoreapologist]

happy 9 day anniversary to this post 💖

[heritage-post]

date of origin: April 18, 2021

[gayteensupreme]

#it even has a deactivated blog

Look at that subtle off-kilter humour… the tasteful length of the reblog chain… oh my god, it even has a deactivated blog

[hotshoeagain]

well, I would save this post for its toddler birthday on April 18 2023 but who am I fooling – I don’t know how to queue and I wouldn’t remember by then, so –

here’s hoping y'all queue this one up for Apr 18 and it rolls up to my dash again. Please?

[quantum-sparrow]

Hi Newbies! How to Lurk: a step-by-step guide for those new to Tumblr

Everybody does Tumblr differently, and a lot of people like to lurk. Some people do it when they're new just to get the feel of things, other people do it all the time. Others go back and forth depending on community and/or mood. You interact at the level you feel comfortable with - it's all good. No one's going to judge you for it. That said, lurking here is a bit different to other places as we HATE bots with a passion, and haven't had to deal with them much until Twitter started imploding. Therefore, we ask you do a bare minimum when setting up your account so when you follow someone, you don't just look like a bot account and get blocked, which we will do readily. We'd love to have the follow, even if you never say anything, but we ban the hell out of bots, so please, for everyone's sake, take the time to do the following.

Pick a name that doesn't look computer generated, and isn't a jumble of letters or a name followed by a string of numbers. No one here for fandom is going to believe that the account sexymamabooblicker6969, jessie8475729923, or hffhw18fhk is anything but a bot. Whatever topic you're here for, choose a username that reflects that interest, if possible.

Actually take the time to set up your page. This means choosing your picture and your header background. Don't leave it on the default. Bots usually choose either a random shot of someone off the web or some sultry lady for the profile pic and leave the header as the default. Some very bad ones don't even bother with the profile pic. At least make it look like a human took two minutes to pick something. There are a bunch of already-made layouts available. You only need to click one of them to have everything set up, then just choose an icon you want for your profile pic.

Make one post - this is the only post you ever have to make. It can be really short. All it has to say is "Hi! I'm human. I just like to lurk."

Yeah, lurking here takes a couple more steps than elsewhere, but it's worth it, I swear. I lurked for a long time before I felt comfortable interacting, and even if you never say anything, the people you follow do know you're there, think of you as one of the quiet ones, and enjoy you just as much.

[quantum-sparrow]

ð or Eth

Just a little note on ð As I’ve recently gotten more into the MCU and am seeing more fics relating to the Norse side of things, I see more and more people using the ð symbol in their words. I’ve seen it used correctly, in older versions of Oðinn, or seiðr, but I also see it thrown in randomly to make a word look a bit more… Asgardian, I suppose? The problem here is that ð is not just a fancy d. It’s its own letter called eth, and the sound it makes is a ‘th’ like you’d hear in ‘this’ or ‘other’. So when you like the fancy look of, for example, Äsgarð (why umlauts also get thrown in randomly, I don’t know either, but it’s rampant), what you’re really saying is Osgarth (Ahs-garth or Oz-garth), and that’s how a good number of people read it. That’s just one example - lots of other words get this ‘fancy d’ treatment with the same outcome. If you’re sticking in a ‘th’ sound where there should be a ‘d’, you’re essentially giving your characters a lisp. So yeah, it looks fancy, but it also looks like you have no idea what you’re actually writing. I’d suggest trying a different font, rather than using letters that just resemble other letters, and maybe skip the umlauts unless you really want to change the sound of the letter entirely. The Marvel comic books do this really nicely with their own font for Asgardians, and if you want something that looks less runic and more flowy, there are always more elven types of fonts to look at as well. If you like random, decorative circles above your letters, check out the fonts from The Hobbit or LOTR. And, of course, if you don’t feel like doing all that futzing about with fonts, you can just write it normally. Trust me, no one will think less of your work for the lack of excess eths.

[quantum-sparrow]

*cries for alphabet abuse*

Ó, Á and ð

Just started reading a new Loki story. It's really nice to have a new one. The story itself is good, but it's riddled with these and my brain gets snagged and refuses to let my eyeballs go past it so I can keep reading.

I know it might seem petty, but these aren't just pretty, decorative versions of similar-looking English letters. It's the reading equivalent of walking along, enjoying a nice day only to have someone push you down a flight of stairs.

New Ásgarð - I already talked about spelling Asgard with an eth, above, so I'll refer you to that for more there. But where the hell did the A acquire the acute marking from? As close as we can get is the Icelandic alphabet, where the sound this makes is "ow". Ok, well anyway I guess we're in New Owsgarth.

Thor Óðinsson - A+ work on the eth (ð) in Odin. That's just fine, it's an old and alternative spelling, see pronunciation in first post; however why are we butchering it with the acute O? It's never been spelled with it. Why not just turn that last n into an eñe for funsies? I mean, it'd look cool. Certainly couldn't change anything, right? It's just a tilde, after all.

Góð of Mischief - "Go"th of Mischief? Not Goth: "Go"-th. Really?

The Góð - The "Go"th goeths forth. (Say that three times fast.)

Heimðall - Poor Heimthall.

[quantum-sparrow]

Season 5 & March 8

Sooo… I would just like to say for my fellow tinhatters and hopefuls, that March 8 (of the infamous billboard) is on a Sunday (the day Sherlock usually airs) in 2020 - also coincidentally one year after the copyright on three more of the Sherlock stories ends, including The Three Garridebs.  

That would definitely make the gap they talk about being longer than normal true - 3 years instead of 2.  It would also be conveniently after the work for Dracula is wrapped up: Gatiss stating that they started writing in January 2018 and that the project would take about 2 years (x). 

And all remaining Sherlock Holmes stories will be public domain by 2022, which makes coming back in 2020  very feasible for the continuation of the series without copyright impediments.

(from BBC Sherlock, s04e02, The Lying Detective)

(Forbes Magazine, The Strange Case of ‘Mr. Holmes’ Vs. U.S. Copyright Law; & archived version)

POSNER, Circuit Judge. 

Arthur Conan Doyle published his first Sherlock Holmes story in 1887 and his last in 1927. There were 56 stories in all, plus 4 novels. The final 10 stories were published between 1923 and 1927. As a result of statutory extensions of copyright protection culminating in the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, the American copyrights on those final stories (copyrights owned by Doyle’s estate, the appellant) will not expire until 95 years after the Case: 14-1128 Document: 29 Filed: 06/16/2014 Pages: 15 2 No. 14-1128 date of original publication—between 2018 to 2022, depending on the original publication date of each story. 

(United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, copyright case: Leslie Klinger vs Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd; & archived version)

(Publication Order of Sherlock Holmes Stories by A. Conan Doyle [last 10 shown]; & archived version)

The aforementioned copyright judgement was issued in 2014

The Problem of Thor Bridge became public domain in 2017

The Adventure of the Creeping Man enters public domain in 2018

Sussex Vampire, Three Garridebs, and Illustrious Client become public domain in 2019 (just in time for shooting for a 2020 release date)

Three Gables, Blanched Soldier, Lions Mane, and Retired Colourman in 2021

And the final two: Veiled Lodger and Shoscombe Old Place come into the public domain in 2022.

After that, anyone is free to do whatever the hell they like with those stories without worrying about copyright issues.

Considering all of the above, and Moffat’s absolute love of The Three Garridebs, 2020 is a good bet, I think, for s5.  And if a standard 2 year hiatus comes between s5 and any seasons, episodes, or one-offs that might follow it, all the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories will then be available for use.

[otter-von-bismarck]

I’m not feeling extremely hopeful for anything anymore, but as it is now March 8, 2020, I’m popping this back up - for nostalgia’s sake as much as anything else.

[quantum-sparrow]

Same as above, but y'know, March 8 is right around the corner, and everything has just come out of copyright. I actually don't expect a big announcement this year. It'd still be cool if we get one, but I don't expect one. This March 8 lands on a Wednesday. The next March 8 that actually would land us on a Sunday, their traditional broadcast day, comes in 2026. Do I think they planned to do more with it? Yes.

Do I think they'll actually do more with it? ... maybe?

Do I think they've waited too long? Definitely. Anyway, Happy early March 8! We might as well celebrate it as a random day - We've got a billboard and everything!

[quantum-sparrow]

ð or Eth

Just a little note on ð As I’ve recently gotten more into the MCU and am seeing more fics relating to the Norse side of things, I see more and more people using the ð symbol in their words. I’ve seen it used correctly, in older versions of Oðinn, or seiðr, but I also see it thrown in randomly to make a word look a bit more... Asgardian, I suppose? The problem here is that ð is not just a fancy d. It’s its own letter called eth, and the sound it makes is a ‘th’ like you’d hear in ‘this’ or ‘other’. So when you like the fancy look of, for example, Äsgarð (why umlauts also get thrown in randomly, I don’t know either, but it’s rampant), what you’re really saying is Osgarth (Ahs-garth or Oz-garth), and that’s how a good number of people read it. That’s just one example - lots of other words get this ‘fancy d’ treatment with the same outcome. If you’re sticking in a ‘th’ sound where there should be a ‘d’, you’re essentially giving your characters a lisp. So yeah, it looks fancy, but it also looks like you have no idea what you’re actually writing. I’d suggest trying a different font, rather than using letters that just resemble other letters, and maybe skip the umlauts unless you really want to change the sound of the letter entirely. The Marvel comic books do this really nicely with their own font for Asgardians, and if you want something that looks less runic and more flowy, there are always more elven types of fonts to look at as well. If you like random, decorative circles above your letters, check out the fonts from The Hobbit or LOTR. And, of course, if you don’t feel like doing all that futzing about with fonts, you can just write it normally. Trust me, no one will think less of your work for the lack of excess eths.

[screenshotsofdespair]

[yourangelonline]

[riviere-libre]

This still fucking cracks me up

[atlinmerrick]

IMAGE ID: A tweet from Perry Sloan @SloanPerry which says “when you push a pull door and the person behind says ‘you need to pull’ aye cheers lad sure next plan was to start lifting from the bottom” END ID

[jennyanythot]

Y'all ever experience Depression™️ and glue an entire pack of googly eyes to your vacuum robot?

[jennyanythot]

That was not its final form, by the way

[error-404-fuck-not-found]

#biblically accurate roomba

[handdrawnfantasma]

#cleans everything everywhere all at once (via @kitelined)

[animentality]

It's so fucking unfair that Daniel Radcliffe, Elijah Wood, and Robert Pattinson have never been in a movie together where they all play the part of dirty little gremlin man that must go on a grand quest of some kind in which they spent the entire film arguing, lighting each other on fire, inexplicably dressing in drag to sneak into locations that welcome both men and women, and singing old sea shanties.

[animentality]

this fucking tag...you're so right.

[dankmemeuniversity]

[noandpickles]

We have Marisa Mell to thank for the most iconic scene in sapphic cinema history <3

[wakewithgiggli]

Right-Wing Groups Have Created Drag “Alert Systems” to Monitor Performances

They come after months of anti-drag rhetoric on the right.

The TLDR: violent bigots have created a site that anyone can use to report the location of a drag event.

Just to be clear: their form is at a page called Defend Texas Kids and any concerned citizens could click the report button and give the address of anywhere hosting a drag event. There doesn't appear to be any filtering, so in theory anyone could enter any location.

They really should have a way of validating the data people enter, to stop enterprising people entering fictitious events at, say, conservative sites. The site could easily be overloaded with erroneous data making their system unusable...

[dee-the-red-witch]

I would NEVER suggest someone fill in data from any kind of list that may already exist in the wild and just needs a search or two for the right addresses. That kind of thing would definitely prevent anyone from easily sorting junk data from the database.

[atlinmerrick]

I have not personally reported to the site. I have not done that. With the locations of churches where perhaps these concerned citizens might locate abusive priests. Nope. I didn't do that.

AND ALSO: report the Little Miss Texas Beauty Pageant, if you want to talk about 'sexual degeneracy' as grown-ups have children parade around in little bathing suits and adult makeup.

[memewhore]

[crap-userrname16]

[freetheshit-outofyou]

[actionbastard1]

[the-pen-pot]

⭐AO3 Bookmark Hack⭐

Nothing makes my heart sink worse than the blank "This has been deleted, sorry!" message in amongst my bookmarks. I'm left wondering which fic it was among my many saved that's now lost forever.

BUT if you copy and paste the fic title and author name into the bookmark notes, you'll never be left with a faceless bookmark again.

SuperPro Tip: If you also copy the URL in, there's a chance you can dig it out on the wayback archive (if it's a chaptered fic, make sure you select "entire work" before copy and pasting the URL)

And if you're an author, please consider orphaning your works rather than deleting them. It strips out your name and everything, but still leaves the fic there for readers to enjoy

Signal boost to save a reader's life!

[aletheyass]

local woman relieved and embarrassed to report that the task she had been postponing for two months ended up taking a grand total of 4 minutes to complete

[cyberdelph]

by 虎吠

[tributary]

guy who thinks

[argumate]

guy who is

[thefiresontheheight]

guy who isn’t

[netherworldpost]

guy who thinksn't