Don't you just love the way people like to declare that this is the 'International Year of X', where X might be almost anything? Walking in the Jardin des Plantes yesterday I came across this:

2008 is the International Year of Planet Earth, apparently. That's no doubt been a constant reminder for those of you who have been tempted to spend too much of the last 12 months thinking about Jupiter. And it should have made anybody on Jupiter sit up and take notice, too. Though, of course, they would have different years... Anyway, I'm glad I heard about it on Dec 29th or I could have missed out altogether! This concern led me to do some research, and discover that 2008 is also The International Year Of

• Sanitation
• Languages
• The Potato

And that's just from the UN. I kid you not. Other organisations have declared 2008 to be The International Year Of

• The Organ
• The Reef
• The Frog

...to name a few. And those are just the international ones. I'm looking for an imaginative way to combine all of these in the next two days. There must be something fun you can do by combining Frogs, Potatoes and Organ pipes... Cynique? Moi? Not at all! And to prove it, I am hearby making an important announcement, which Status-Q readers are privileged to know before anybody else... Yes, this coming year is the time when we can celebrate all of those other International Years, and, finally, give due recognition to those that nobody else noticed at the time. I think this could be big...