2008 is the UN’s International Year of Planet Earth (actually, the “year” is supposed to run from 2007-2009, making it even more flexible than the UC Davis Centennial).

The Geology department has a handy calendar to keep you up-dated on your planetary knowledge. For example:

• March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park proclaimed
• Feb. 19, 1473: Copernicus born
• May 14, 1804: Lewis & Clark set out for the Pacific coast
• May 1, 196o: TV pilot of “the Flintstones” introduces “a generation of kids to a scientifically inaccurate Stone Age world of car-driving cavemen and domesticated dinosaurs.”

So far the dates only run up to May 18. Let’s hope that whoever is putting this together can keep it going…if you have suggestions, send them in.