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... that this period of middle March has a number of significant things associated with it.

For example, we just passed the ides of March. Or you did, anyway. It’s still a week away as I write this. Did anything bad happen?

The basketball tournaments, state and national, either have come and gone, have started, or soon will. Did the weather act up, as it often does?

Major league baseball teams are halfway through spring training.

Folks are ordering seeds and plants or starting seeds at home in expectation of another gardening season.

DES MOINES – Iowa’s Legislative session has reached its midpoint. Tempers are rising. Anxiety has set in. Nerves are raw. Partisan rancor is spreading like the smell of burned microwave popcorn. It isn’t pretty. Not pretty at all.

So we’ve made an emergency call to our resident analyst of all things dysfunctional, Dr. Compassion, to see if he can set troubled minds at ease. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in political science, and Ted’s Appliance Ranch was willing to give him a few hours off.

Let’s open the mail bag.

Described as a joyous spontaneous and delightful artistic pageant celebrating our relationship with the natural world and each other, the event seeks to create a bridge between the arts, the environment, and the local community.

The Decorah Procession is one of several taking place around the country that owe their inspiration to a much larger, 10 year old event that takes place in Olympia, WA. Seven weeks of arts and environmental education events build knowledge and inspiration for the Procession of the Species Celebration, which draws thousands of visitors to the area.

Retrouvaille, a program for couples living with disappointment and pain in their marriages, makes a return visit to Dubuque April 15-17. Another program is scheduled in Marshalltown for Sept. 16-18.

The program consists of a weekend experience with six short post sessions over the following three months. The main emphasis is to help couples learn to communicate with each other, producing love, forgiveness, and trust. Following each session, couples are given time to discuss how it relates to them. There are no group dynamics.

April 3, 2005 marks the beginning of Daylight Saving Time for most of the United States at 2 a.m. Clocks are turned forward an hour, moving an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Time returns to standard time at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.

The day celebrates the religious feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and the anniversary of his death around 460 A.D. The Irish have observed the day as a religious holiday for thousands of years, traditionally attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds all around the world.

Here are some popular symbols, according to the History Channel's website, associated with the holiday and the history behind them.

Fortunately, there are signs that can help separate the true from the not-so-true. Here are some classic signs that may help you recognize an e-mail myth.

• "Pass this on." This phrase and others like it are often telltale signs of an e-mail hoax. From the blatant: "Send this to everyone you know," to the subtle: "Forward this important information to the people you care about," any e-mail that asks to be forwarded into the inboxes of your friends and family deserves your skepticism.

From ice cream and butterscotch that looks like mashed potatoes and gravy to phony tax letters, families are playing jokes on each other and getting lots of laughs this April Fools' Day and year-round.

"If it's important, you schedule it. That's what we do with dental checkups, pediatric visits, even cars under warranty. Since the water you drink is important, we encourage all well owners to mark a date on the calendar each year to call and schedule a well checkup," said Kevin McCray, National Ground Water Association executive director.

Protecting email from spam, viruses, hackers, and inappropriate content can affect the responsiveness of a company's system, the productivity of its employees and its financial and legal positions. To help, here is a look at the top five mistakes companies make when protecting their email:

1) Desktop software only protection-