42 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

In folklore, the raven has two widely divergent meanings.

Europeans saw the raven as a malevolent herald of death. Think of Poe's The Raven. 

Native Americans saw the raven as a bringer of light and it is in their origin stories.

Pacific Coast Indigenous People had many different origin stories, and some believed Raven was also the creator. One consistent theme was that Raven was a prankster.

39 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

They are likely the most intelligent birds, with an intellect equivalent to dolphins and chimpanzees. 

They are also social, use tools and are monogamous.

1 hour ago, drpaladin said:

As a verb, it  means to devour greedily.

I prefer to think of this trait positively like greed to devour all the wonderful things in life.

20 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

@raven1 we're talking about your namesake.

Living most of my life in the PNW, I learned to love and respect the raven.  That's why I chose this as my personal internet nickname.