Ides of March Trumpeted From All Corners of the Web

(March. 15) -- "Beware the Ides of March," Julius Caesar is said to have been warned on this day 2,054 years ago, before being betrayed and brutally stabbed to death by his friend Marcus Brutus and other members of the Roman Senate.

Originally the "ides" was the Roman term designating the midway point of any month, a date traditionally marked by public celebration, according to multiple sources. Ever since the 1500s, however, after William Shakespeare famously depicted Caesar's assassination in his play about the Roman emperor, the term and the date it describes have become inexorably associated with a sense of impending doom.

Of course, the historical and symbolic significance of the date haven't gone unrecognized around the Web, with many writers using the occasion to frame their positions on all variety of subjects, at least a few of which are decidedly less tragic than the fate that befell Caesar. Here is a sampling of 2010's "Ides of March via the Internet," grouped by topic:

History

The Guardian reports that a golden coin commissioned over 2,000 years ago to celebrate Caesar's assassination goes on display today at the British Museum. The U.K. newspaper notes the coin had a hole, suggesting it was probably worn by a supporter of the assassination, or "conceivably, by one of the conspirators."

The Christian Science Monitor takes a long view of "The Ides of March" throughout history, beginning with Caesar's death in 44 B.C. Other notable "Ides" include March 15, 1493, when Christopher Columbus returned to Spain following his first voyage to the New World, and March 15, 1938, when the Nazis took control of Czechoslovakia, causing many European powers to abandon the pretext that Hitler could be peaceably appeased.

The Huffington Post has at least two separate articles by different authors about the "Ides of March": First up is an anonymous post briefly describing the historical background of the date as well as some other overlapping occasions, such as "International Day Against Police Brutality."

Sports

As any basketball fan will attest, the Ides of March may also be an apt phrase to describe the impending onset of "March Madness," the annual NCAA tournament that begins Thursday. The phrase "March Madness" itself comes from a 1942 poem by coach Henry V. Porter titled "The Basketball Ides of March." Written at the beginning of World War II, the poem commemorates the Illinois High School Association tournament. More information about it and the NCAA's history can be found at the March Madness organization Web site.

Environmental activist Kaid Benfield confesses that while he is a "rabid fan" who gets "insane" around this time of year, he isn't sure whom to root for in games not involving his two favorite teams. To help him decide, he mapped out the location of the home games for the top 16 seeds and mapped their "walkability" scores, coming up with Georgetown as the champ.

Another Web site titled "The Ides of March Madness" hosts a public pool for those looking to bet on the tournament. There is a $20 entrance fee.

Politics

Conservative blogs have taken the "Ides" as yet another occasion to condemn the actions and ideologies of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress.

National Review Online takes the opportunity to highlight a short e-mail from a reader that states: "Perhaps the Ides of March is a good time to remind wavering House Democrats not to trust the Senate?"

Townhall's Rich Galen foretells doom for congressional Democrats come the midterm elections in November, advising that should the Republicans secure a majority in the House, they "would be wise to remember the warning of Cassius in the same Act and the same Scene of the same play:

'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
They will be underlings again, if they don't learn the lesson that, in the end, it costs more to take it all, than it does to give a little to the other side.'"

Chicago Sun-Times writer Carol Marin localizes the "Ides of March" to the tumultuous battlefield of Illinois politics, predicting that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will run for his sixth uninterrupted term, that Republicans will sweep state political offices, including the governorship, and that Democratic Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will be forced from office.

Business and Economics

At the American Thinker, Monty Pelerin lays it out in the first line of his post: "By the end of March, Barack Obama's administration will face its destiny, its Brutus a pawn of the fates." His assessment is predicated on national budget forecasts that indicate "the deficit will be larger, and foreign funding will be smaller. ... That means $2.8 trillion of debt has to be refinanced." As such, he predicts that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, "quite unintentionally and through no fault of his own, will be Obama's Brutus, regardless of his decision" on how to handle the defect.

The Financial Times connects the infamous date to the European Central Bank's recent decisions regarding the Greek financial crisis, suggesting that it is too early to tell whether a new "call for the bank to consider accepting lower rated bonds as security for loans if a higher risk margin is charged" is a dubious move at best.

At The Miami Herald, small-business writer Jack Hardy advises owners to have a "positive vision" when considering their marketing plans at the end of the first quarter.

Technology

The tech blog Geekosystem commemorates the 25th anniversary "of the oldest-registered .com domain, Symbolics.com," named after the Cambridge computer company that helped animate "Free Willy," but which has since gone bankrupt and been sold to another company.

Spirituality and Superstition

Jazz Shaw, an editor of the centrist blog The Moderate Voice, recalls how the date was but one of many superstitions he grew up with:

My father was always a very superstitious man, and it wasn't just about March 15. He would, as much as possible, avoid leaving the house on any Friday the 13th. He informed me, as a child, that if a black bird landed on the window sill and looked in at you then you very well might die, become ill, or have something else horrible befall you. We lived out in the country where there were a ton of crows and starlings, so you can imagine the trauma I felt walking past windows most days.

Another Huffington Post article about "the Ides" is written by "Omnifaith spiritual expert" Dr. Susan Corso. She makes connections among Mardi Gras, the first business quarter of the calendar year, the spring equinox and various other new-age beliefs. She also observes, "March is the only month of the year that's a verb, and perhaps that's all [that's] required of us."

In other spiritual news, the Web site BeliefNet hosts a blog called the "Inspiration Report," today's post defiantly suggesting readers "Beware NOT the Ides of March -- Focus on Spring Inspiration."

Culture

MTV offers a pop-cultural "tribute to the controversial but important leader" by posting the music video of AC/DC's "Hail Caesar."

Memphis Daily News writer Jonathan Devin reports on the spirited role-reversal experiment being undertaken by the Tennessee Shakespeare Company, which will host an all-female production of "Julius Caesar." As she notes, in Shakespeare's time, all drama was performed exclusively by males, with women outlawed from the stage.

Education

At the Web site News Record, educator Rachel Wright posts a lengthy recollection of some of her favorite moments teaching Shakespeare's play to students over the past two decades. One of the more humorous includes a classic but understandable mistake that she's encountered more than once: "The soothsayer in the play warns, 'Beware the Ides of March' to foreshadow Caesar's death. But the kids never quite got that Ides thing. In several papers, students wrote about the Eyes of March. Here's looking at you!"

San Diego News Network's education editor Marsha Sutton also localizes the date's significance, showing how it applies to California's current problems with education funding: "Two thousand years later," she writes, "the 15th of March has similar connotations for modern-day teachers who dread the day for its association with layoff notices, a death of sorts -- an annual exercise that saps enthusiasm, kills motivation and inspires dread and gloom."