March Madness...

...driving you mad? Then watch this.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a view of the Chicago River -- dyed green -- on Saturday morning.

Mike Porcaro, bass player...

... for the rock band Toto, died at age 59.

“Africa” was a No. 1 hit for the group in 1982.

Here's Buckingham Fountain...

...late yesterday afternoon. Even though it was mild, it's still March.

Ever since Intrade...

...went down, I've been looking for a prediction/betting website that I could rely on.

Intrade, you may recall, while not perfect, was pretty darn good. For example, it had President Obama consistently beating Mitt Romney for at least a year or so before the 2012 election actually took place. In fact, it had the results on election night, state by state, long before the TV networks did.

Every now and then, of course, Intrade got something wrong, like Hillary's famous upset of Obama in the New Hampshire primary in 2008. But, on balance, it was the most reliable political predictor out there.

So now I'm watching Paddy Power and PredictWise. And tomorrow will be my first big test for the latter. While Paddy Power doesn't have the Israeli election on its site (at least as far as I can tell), PredictWise does. And, despite what you may have read elsewhere, it has Benjamin Netanyahu heavily favored to continue on as Prime Minister.

If Bibi loses, I'll be doing my happy dance. But I'm not counting on it.

I almost forgot!

Beware the Ides of March:

In September 2010, the City of Berwyn, Illinois, dedicated Home Avenue between Riverside Drive and Cermak Road (the location of J. Sterling Morton High School West, the school most of the band members attended) to "Ides Of March Way" in tribute of the band.

Maureen Dowd pretty much...

...nailed it in her column this morning. The subtext, she writes, of Hillary Clinton's press conference Tuesday was:

“You can have the first woman president. You can get rid of those epically awful Republicans who have vandalized Congress, marginalized the president and jeopardized our Iran policy. You can get a more progressive American society. But, in return, you must accept our foibles and protect us.”

Now, frankly, I don't care if the next president is a woman, or black or gay, so long as (s)he's a Democrat. (Is Hillary my first choice? Not really, but she can win.)

I do hope for "a more progressive American society." And, at the same time, I'm deathly afraid some reactionary Republican will undo President Obama's legacy and plunge America back into darkness.

So, yeah, I'll accept the Clintons' foibles in return for that.

Oh, and by the way, I predict Hillary will be a lot more progressive than anyone thinks anyway -- certainly more than her husband was.