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What's so special about the Ides of March? On March 15, 44 BCE, Roman dictator Julius Caesar was stabbed in the Senate house by followers of Cassius and Brutus. Before William Shakespeare wrote his play, Julius Caesar, about the assassination, the Ides of March was just another day. In the earliest Roman calendar, the month was organized around three days: kalends (the first day of the month), nones (the 7th day in March, May, July and October and the 5th day in the other months) and ides (the 15th day in March, May, July and October and the 13th day in the rest). The other dates were identified by counting backwards from those three. Kalends comes from the Latin word for account book, kalendrium; it eventually evolved into the word calendar.

There’s Only One Thomas in Our Neck of the Woods

Throughout history there have been many noble, quirky and otherwise downright awesome Thomases. For example, take Thomas Jefferson. The third President of the United States, Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and served during the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition. He was also a horticulturist, archaeologist and inventor. Other...