It may be because I studied Latin in high school and read some of Julius Caesar’s works. Or maybe it was reading Shakespeare’s plays. Whichever, when March 15 comes around each year I take special care not to get stabbed.

It was March 15, the “ides of March” that saw Julius Caesar assassinated by rival politicians. William Shakespeare can be credited with moving that history into pop culture with his brilliant play.

The ides was just a day on the Roman calendar. Every month has one. It is the day marking the middle of the month. Supposedly Caesar was warned by a fortune teller to avoid the ides of March.

Political assassination and betrayal was nothing new back then, not even when it was done by friends. Not much has changed in the past two thousand years, except perhaps a decline in the use of knives. These days the victims are usually allowed to live.

So today some humor to commemorate the ides of March. on a day in which we remember how much backstabbing there is in the world, at least we can find something funny in it.