A not-at-all comprehensive list of fascinating things that have happened on March 15 throughout the centuries

March 15--one of the few days of the year with its own name. Who termed it the Ides of March? Not sure, but it's clearly a bad day for dudes with bangs. (If you've ever met me, you'd know I'm pretty staunchly anti-bangs on dudes.)

Closest we're going to get to a photograph of Julius Caesar----->

We all know today's the day that Julius Caesar bit the dust--it's not just Shakespearean apocrypha! Those Romans were meticulous note-takers, so you can reliably win bar bets by holding your ground that he died on March 15th. Twenty three times they stabbed him. Twenty three! That's sort of a lot of daylight on your spleen.

Mixed bag of news for the day, looking back through history. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated his throne, which clearly didn't work out all that well for him or his family. The Nazis stomped on Czechoslovakia pretty hard, and South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth of Nations. But! "My Fair Lady" premiered on Broadway! (Yeah, I don't actually find that especially interesting either.) Mikhail Gorbachev was elected President of the Soviet Union! And in 1952, the island of Reunion got 73 inches of rain. SEVENTY THREE. That's not rain, that's being underwater.

Birthdays! Yep, those too. David Cronenberg (meh), Jimmy Swaggart (booooooo) and Phil Lesh (big thumbs up! Dude's STILL truckin'!) Sly Stone and Ry Cooder, too. A bunch of worthy musicians! Curveball music choice:



French guy? Late 80s? This was a pretty good album. Um...cassette. Showing my age, probably. Anyway!

The weather's great and the stores are hoppin', poppin', and lockin'. I'm hearing rumors about mangoes, and it's DEFINITELY time for gelato with Guinness. March is a wave. Catch it!