The Ides of March has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. Historians note that it is likely that a soothsayer named Spurinna had warned Caesar that danger would occur by the ides of March. William Shakespeare included the phrase Beware the ides of Marchβ in his play Julius Caesar.
The ides were the 15th days of four months (Martius, or March; Maius, or May; Quintilis, or July; and October) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in all other months (originally, Aprilis, or April; Iunius, or June; Sextilis, or August; September; November; and December. Ianuarius, or January, and Februarius, or February, were added later).
The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning βto divide.β The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the βhalfway pointβ of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri.β
Question of the Day
What do you call a baby rabbit?
A bunny, simply a bunny.
Advice of the Day
No one wants advice—only corroboration. —John Steinbeck
Home Hint of the Day
Red maple is easy to cut and split and relatively easy to dry. It doesn’t burn particularly hot, though.
Word of the Day
Sunrise/Sunset
The visible rising and setting of the Sunβs upper limb across the unobstructed horizon of an observer whose eyes are 15 feet above ground level.
Puzzle of the Day
What do we often return but never borrow?
Thanks
Born
Andrew Jackson(7th U.S. president)β
John Snow(physician)β
Liberty Hyde Bailey(botanist)β
Marjorie Merriweather Post(businesswoman)β
Harry James(trumpet player)β
Norm Van Brocklin(football player)β
Rita Joe(Mi’kmaq poet)β
Judd Hirsch(actor)β
Mike Love(singer)β
Phil Lesh(rock bass guitarist)β
Sly Stone(musician)β
Ry Cooder(guitarist & composer)β
Eva Longoria(actress)β
Kevin Youkilis(baseball player)β
Sean Biggerstaff(actor)β
Caitlin Wachs(actress)β
Died
Aristotle Onassis(shipping magnate)β
Dr. Benjamin Spock(pediatrician)β
Sylvester Pat" Weaver"(creator of NBCβs Today and Tonight shows)β
Ron Silver(actor)β
Eugene Parker(American astrophysicist; proposed the idea of solar wind in 1958
)β
Events
Sister St. Stanislas Hachard became the first Catholic nun ordained in Americaβ
Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd stateβ
Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, John McCloskey, was named the first American Cardinal by Pope Pius IXβ
The first escalator was patented by inventor Jesse W. Reno of New York Cityβ
Woodrow Wilson held the first presidential press conference after being in office for only 11 daysβ
U.S. troops entered Mexico in futile search for revolutionary bandit Pancho Villaβ
The American Legion founded by war veterans in Parisβ
The first motion picture, My Little Chickadee, featuring both Mae West and W.C. Fields, was releasedβ
The King Cole Trio led by Nat King Cole had the first #1 LP on the first Billboard magazine top-selling record album chartβ
Lerner and Loewe’s play My Fair Lady started what became a 2,717-performance run in New Yorkβ
Police in Orangeburg, SC, arrested more than 350 African Americans as sit-in demonstrations and sporadic racial violence spread throughout the Southβ
Basketball star Wilt Chamberlain scored his 4,000th point of the season, averaging 50.4 points per gameβ
Actress Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton (for the first time) on the 8th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Montrealβ
U.S. government eased restrictions on travel to China by U.S. citizensβ
The film The Godfather premiered in New York Cityβ
The family drama Eight is Enough premieredβ
Martin Buser captured his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in the record time of 10 days, 13 hours, 2 minutes and 39 secondsβ
Highway line painting apparatus patentedβ
Due to President Barack Obama’s presidential proclamation (issued on February 28, 2011), flags were flown at half mast on this day of the internment of Army Corporal Frank W. Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, and in remembrance of the generation of American veterans of World War Iβ
Weather
A tornado hit McPaul, Iowaβ
Blizzard in North Dakota and Minnesota, 71 killedβ
Dr. Wallace E. Howell was hired by N.Y.C. to make rainβ
Boston broke its record for snowiest winter on record when 2.9 inches fell on this day, bringing the winter total to 108.6 inchesβ