Saturday, March 15, 2008

 

Spotlight: Before William Shakespeare wrote his play about Julius Caesar and his 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.

Quote: "Caesar said to the soothsayer, 'The ides of March are come;' who answered him calmly, 'Yes, they are come, but they are not past.'" — Plutarch

Question of the Day: What is a lunisolar calendar?
The dates in a lunisolar calendar relate to both the phases of the moon and the season of the solar year. There are 12 months in the year, with each month beginning with the new moon. However, in order to remain in sync with the tropical year, an extra month is typically intercalated every two or three years. More

Word of the day: matrikin
n. One related on the mother's side. (© eSpindle Learning)

Today's History:

Maine's Acadia National Park

• Ides of March: Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by stabbing in the Senate house (44 BCE)
• Pine Tree State: Maine, home of the first English colony and America's most famous horror writer, became the 23rd US state (1820)
• My Fair Lady: Lerner and Loewe musical debuted on Broadway, starring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews (1956)
• Sedna: the press announced discovery of the "tenth planet" (2004)

Today's Birthdays:

Eva Longoria

• Andrew Jackson (1767-1845): 7th US president, nicknamed "Old Hickory"
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg (75): US Supreme Court justice who was Columbia University's first tenured female professor
• will.i.am (33): rapper with the Black Eyed Peas; other rockers who share this birthday include Phil Lesh (68), Mike Love (67), Sly Stone (65), Joe Hahn (31) and Young Buck (27)
• Eva Longoria (33): Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives; among other actors born on this date are Judd Hirsch (73), Kim Raver (39) and Sean Biggerstaff (25)