The Grateful Dead does not mean a rock group.
It is a folktale in which a young man buries a corpse at great personal risk, then obtains a bride with the help of the grateful deceased.
A version of the tale appears in the apocryphal Old Testament book of Tobit.
In medieval times, the philosophers’ stone was the substance that alchemists claimed would turn base metals into gold. The great search for the stone laid the groundwork for the development of the science of chemistry.
Despite rumors that the slightest nibble on the Christmas flower poinsettias will result in death, poinsettias are not poisonous to humans. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission determined in 1975 that the toxicity of poinsettias is a myth, though the flower is a nonfood substance and, if eaten, could cause some discomfort.
Yin is female, dark, negative, earthly. Yang is male, bright, positive, heavenly. In Chinese mythology, both are ethers born in the division of the original cell of chaos, Ch’i.
The moon does occasionally appear blue because of dust conditions in the atmosphere. The most famous widely observed blue moon of recent times occurred on September 26, 1950, owing to dust raised by Canadian forest fires.
Yes, according to legend, Mother Goose was real. She was Elizabeth Goose, a New England widow who married Isaac Goose, adopting a family of 10, and later bore 6 children. In 1719, her book of rhymes, Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, was said to have been published by her son-in-law. No copy of the book…
The Egyptian pharaohs claim to be descended Ra, the sun-god. Ra is sometimes represented with the disk of the sun on his head and surrounded by Uraeus, the sacred flame-breathing asp.