Operation AXIOM
Two thousand fifty-six years ago to the day, 15 March 44 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar, dictator in perpetuity (not, as is commonly misheld, "dictator for life") of the Roman Republic, was assassinated by conspirators lead by Marcus Junius Brutus, an Optimate of the old school & a rebel previously pardoned by Caesar. Far from restoring the republican nature of the Republic, the assassination renewed the civil strife Caesar had ended, sparking the wars that eventually saw Caesar's grandnephew & posthumously-adopted son, Octavian, seize power as the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. Would we remember the Ides of March were it not for Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar? We are lucky that we shall never have to find out, for we live in a world brightened by the Bard's mellifluous verse.

Project GLOWWORM
The unseasonably warm weather means that I've retrieved from storage my linen Trilby & straw Trilby much earlier that I'd have liked. I wore the straw Trilby yesterday as the afternoon temperature soared into the seventies Fahrenheit; I sported the linen Trilby today due to the threat of rain. This will be the second summer for the Mark III straw Trilby (yes, 'tis true, after the worst winter ever summer is upon us at the midpoint of March, to my earnest lament), with the too-tight Mk. II straw Trilby in reserve. I see no reason why the Mk. III might not continue for the whole summer & possibly even the next; 'tis sturdier than the Mk. I straw Trilby, which itself would have been able to continue had it not be inundated by a cloudburst in Fall '10.

This is normally one of my favorite times of year, the time when winter has lasted too long for most of those around me, that melancholy period when winter seems the darkest… just before the "dawn" of spring. Instead, my insulated flatcap has been put in an upstairs closet & yesterday I wore sandals & a straw Trilby to evening Mass. I have the hats for this tragedy, thought I wish fervently they were put away for yet a few more weeks. "Misery, misery, misery."

This Week in Motorsport
Formula Fun!
Because the inaugural round of the 2012 Formula One World Championships is the Australian Grand Prix, broadcast live from literally the other side of the world, Speed's first broadcast will be in just a few hours, 1:30 A.M., the middle of the night. Hoorah for Video Cassette Recorder technology!

By Endurance We Conquer
The 12 Hours of Sebring will be run on Saturday, serving as the first round of both the new World Endurance Championship (W.E.C., a joint effort of the F.I.A. & the A.C.O., replacing the A.C.O.'s solo Intercontinental Le Mans Cup) & the 2012 American Le Mans Series (A.L.M.S.). Endurance racing won't be quite as exciting this year, as Peugeot's sudden withdrawal from the sport leaves Audi without series competition in the top L.M.P. 1 category, but Le Mans remains Le Mans. As I've groused extensively previously, the A.L.M.S. sold its soul to the Entertainment & Sports Programming Network & so the 12 Hours of Sebring won't be seen on television on Saturday; only a two-hour synopsis/mutilation will be seen after the fact, on Sunday. Those race edits provide a worse sense of the race than would a five-minute highlight package. By Lucifer's beard, why won't those fools allow me to be a fan of endurance racing in the United States! At least the W.E.C. has to some degree rejected the A.L.M.S.: the season-ending Petit Le Mans will not be a part of the W.E.C.'s inaugural 2012 campaign.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Ballad of Candlepin Paul" from The Magic of Youth (T.L.A.M.)