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Marvel Universe Cards Series I 106: Spider-Man vs. Venom

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“Abandon hopelessness, all ye who enter here.”

— G.K. Chesterton

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Mars and the Pleiades

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Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool--though that father is acting in Christian faith--my dear fellow, you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling, not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith.

Martin Luther, The Christian In Society Vol. II

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“Then again, maybe suffering is evidence for the existence of God. Not pain—that requires only neurons. But suffering seems to imply values and oughts—because it lives in the gap between how things are and how they ought to be. And values and oughts create a possible space for God. Something that transcends. (I hear the materialists screaming.) Genuine values, that is. Real oughts, real shoulds and shouldn’ts. Not just pragmatism (‘things will operate more efficiently if’), not just power (‘we will punish you if’), not just arbitrariness (‘the big end of the egg is good, and the small end of the egg is evil’). No, I want real right and wrong and real should and shouldn’t or I won’t play this game anymore.”

— Do We Not Bleed?

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“The Crawford Silver Dragon”

A hand made silver Dragon made in solid sterling 925 silver. The head is detatchable to reveal the reservoir for the lamp fuel. The wick is formed as the Dragon’s tongue. The Dragon will burn for hours -source-

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Source

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Fireflies (蛍).

Kagoshima, Japan.

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you had to kill him. the boy cries you a sweater of tears and you kill him. how are you gonna live with yourself?

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 Caldwell 49, Rosette

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Incredible Hulk #112 - "The Brute Battles On!" (1969)

written by Stan Lee art by Herb Trimpe & Dan Adkins

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Those "modern fairy tales where the princess saves herself" types of books not only misrepresent the gender roles in fairy tales (there are tons of stories where girls get to save the day), but they fundamentally misunderstand the entire genre.

Fairy tales aren't about saving yourself.

These aren't epic myths or heroic legends about the great warriors who slay every monster in their path because they're so awesome. Fairy tales are almost always about ordinary, even incompetent, people who get thrown into strange situations where they only succeed because of the help of others.

It's not a gendered thing. The boy who goes off to seek his fortune is usually the dim-witted third son whose older brothers are the strong, smart ones. The third son succeeds because he is kind to the magical helpers who then complete the tasks for him--and the exact same thing happens when a girl is the main character.

The characters in a fairy tale rarely succeed because they embrace their own strength and take their own path. Much more often, they are told step-by-step what to do, and they succeed because they obey--respecting the wisdom of others.

The core virtue of a fairy tale is not pride, but humility. It's not a story about the strong, but those who are weak, small, helpless. The people who can't do it all on their own, but can recognize the worth and wisdom of others.

Turning this story into a "girl power" (or even a "boy power") story warps it into something that is fundamentally the opposite of a fairy tale, and it has nothing to do with the gender of the main character.

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Crescent Moon and Venus

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Loid, Yor, Anya & Bond Forger [Spy x Family] by TsuyaNoUchi

https://tsuyanouchi.etsy.com

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Amazing Spider-Man #1 - "Death to the Tyrant" (2025)

written by Joe Kelly art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, & Marcio Menyz