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Cosmic Curiosities

"If the dinosaurs had had a space program, they would not b

In Woodland Indian rituals, ceremonies, and religious observances, tobacco is the unifying thread of communication between humans and the spiritual powers.

The manidog (spirits) are said to be extremely fond of tobacco and that the only way they could get it was from the Indians, either by smoke from a pipe or by offerings of dry tobacco. According to tradition, the Indians received tobacco as a gift from Wenebojo who had taken it from a mountain giant and then given the seed to his brothers.

Cosmic Curiosities

“We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon... We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
-  John F. Kennedy, American President

Cosmic Curiosities

“There wouldn’t be a sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same

Cosmic Curiosities

“I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work.”
~ Maria Mitchell, 19th century American Astronomer

Sun and Moon Size -- A Coincidence?

To the Maya of the modern Lake Amatitlán communities, the lake has a longstanding tradition as a sacred place. During Pre-Columbian times, according to legend (see Borhegyi 1959:237-38, Suzanne de Borhegyi 1961), a carved stone figure known as Jefe Dios occupied a hilltop on the north shore of the lake. One night in the 17th century, during a violent hailstorm and earthquake, the figure disappeared. In the morning, the small, painted wooden statue of the Santo Niño, the Christ Child, stood at the water's edge at the base of the cliff.

One of the food staples particularly enjoyed by the Ojibwe and Menominee was wild rice. 

Wild rice is not a true rice, but rather a cereal grass -- Zizania aquatica -- which grows in shallow lakes and streams. It ripens in late summer, usually from the middle of August to early September. Native people in the Great Lakes boiled rice and ate it with corn, beans, or squash. Meat, a small amount of grease, or maple sugar was often added for seasoning. As a treat, it was occasionally parched like popcorn.

The Potawatomi are an Algonkian-speaking tribe which has lived in the Great Lakes region for at least four centuries.

Oral traditions of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Ottawa assert that at one time all three tribes were one people who lived at the Straits of Mackinac. From there, they split off into three separate groups, and the Potawatomi were "Keepers of the Sacred Fire." As such, they were the leading tribe of the alliance the three Indian nations formed after separating from one another.

Cosmic Curiosities

“The Harvest Moon glows round and bold, in pumpkin shades outlined in gold.”
~ Richelle Goodrich, American Author

Harvest Moon Effect

Imagine there was a full moon every night. A starry night sky would not be as spectacular, unfortunately, but there would be less need for streetlights. We’d probably have more songs and poems about the moon.