The Ides of March

Shakespeare tells us (well, Julius Caesar, really, but aren't we all little Roman dictators, to some degree?) to beware this day. "Why, oh Bard, why?" we ask bemusedly. "Why should we fear when spring is nigh, offering respite from the long and chilling winter?"

It's not because the Ides of March 2006 have granted Minnesota its second snowstorm this week, nor is it due to a certain, shall we say, madness (heh!) for sport that sweeps the nation around this time each year. No, the Ides of March are to be dreaded since they signify the anniversary of the birth of JASON!... and that - friends, Romans, countrypeople, dictators - is an event of awesome significance that should indeed be feared.