Happy New Year!!!

It is customary to say "Happy New Year" to everyone on 1st January, so now it's done (it was quick!), I can go on with my usual silly things I found.

Let's have a look at what will happen this year:

2008 is a leap year. It basically means that it has an extra day, namely on 29 February (on a Friday this time).

More interestingly, 2008 is the International Year of the Potato. That's good news for me, since I love eating them, especially as chips and crisps. (Yes, I'm a perfectly healthy person, though!) But while reading the relevant Wikipedia entry, I discovered that the UN goal was:

affirming the need to focus world attention on the role that the potato can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty.^[1]

All right, then. No International Year of the Belgian Chip.

There will be many interesting events during this year. Here are the ones I wanted to highlight:

• 14 February: "Bunker Philo" (I'll be there!), but also Saint Valentine's Day! I've gotta think about it… My first Valentine's Day. What a kerfuffle! But don't worry, I already have an idea for a present. But shhhhhh!
  
• 24 February: the 80th Academy Awards Ceremony: it's a shame they don't broadcast it anymore on BeTV, for I had been watching it between 3 and 6 am for many years…
• 2 March: Russian presidential elections. I can already assert that Dmitri Medvedev will win, because Vladimir "Combover" Putin endorsed him as his candidate to the function.
• 7 June to 29 June: the Euro 2008 championship tournament in Switzerland and Austria. Fortunately, the Belgian Red Devils didn't manage to be qualified, so that we won't be distracted by their matches during the exam period.
• 8 August to 24 August: the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. As we get less medals each time, perhaps we'll get only one this year (probably Justine Henin).
• 4 November: US presidential election. By the end of the year, G.W. Bush will eventually be gone! (Or kind of.) Perhaps the Americans will have a women as head of state?

Furthermore, the Iraq war will continue, as well as the War in Afghanistan, the Conflict in Darfur, and also the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And there's already a page for the deaths in 2008, with a large number of curious but interesting links…

We'll see in one year's time how the World has changed! Let's hope that all of us will still be there! (We never know…)

But still, have fun and enjoy 2008 !!!