Back in December 2005 the United Nations General Assembly declared that 2008 would be the International Year of the Potato. Well, it’s here! As part of the celebration, the U.N. is sponsoring a Meet the Spuds potato growing competition for kids in Ireland, a Gnocchi Gnight in Seattle, and a global conference to discuss Potato Science for the Poor (“It’s better than alms!”). So don’t be half-baked, chip in and be part of the festivities. After all, 2009 will be the International Year of (yawn) Astronomy. Go ahead, try and eat that!

The Vatican is launching a PR campaign to convince people that the Inquisition — during which the Roman Catholic Church not only burned and tortured witches, blasphemers, and members of other faiths, but executed thousands of people — really wasn’t as bad as it appeared to be. An exhibit at Rome’s Vittoriano Museum supposedly “exposes some myths” about the Church’s glory days during the Middle Ages. Okay, so there were racks and impaling tools used. It’s not like they were waterboarding or anything.