Reporters Without Borders recently published their Press Freedom Index for 2008. I saw a report the other day on al-Jazeera’s English news station. The results of the list — which I recall seeing several years ago with the same reaction — are surprising. Most notable is how low the US is on the list, with most of Europe coming in before it. The report on the Index’s website says:

Two aspects stand out in the index, which covers the 12 months to 1 September 2008. One is Europe’s preeminence. Aside from New Zealand and Canada, the first 20 positions are held by European countries. The other is the very respectable ranking achieved by certain Central American and Caribbean countries.

In addition to the above, I selected a few of the countries that I thought stood out.

• 1 Iceland
• 7 Belgium
• 13 Canada
• 20 Germany
• 25 United Kingdom
• 35 France
• 36 Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 41 United States of America
• 46 Israel (Israeli territory)
• 92 Congo
• 103 Turkey
• 119 United States of America (extra-territorial)
• 132 Malaysia
• 146 Egypt
• 151 Zimbabwe
• 156 Afghanistan
• 161 Saudi Arabia
• 166 Iran
• 172 North Korea

You can read how the statistics were compiled here. You can also get the full report here. What do yo think? Are you as surprised as I was?

Literally.

I was at a friend’s house working on the computer. My son was in the other room crying a bit. So I leaned over to see him… a bit more… a bit more…

POW! BAM!

Holy cow. I fell off the chair. (My wife would be keen to remind me at this point that cows aren’t holy!)

For the love of all things Holy. Gas prices here in Belgium would make any SUV owner in the US jump off a bridge. Or at least buy a bike.

I just filled my tank last night for the first time since moving to Belgium. 70 Euro.  S-e-v-e-n-t-y! In USD, we’re talking $110.00. Imagine the riots in LA. The extreme-commuters would disappear. People would be forced to take the bus! *gasp*

You might be wondering why last night was the first fill-up here in Belgium (I’ve been living here now since December 22, and my car has been here since February). The fact is, with the company car, I haven’t used the Rabbit so much. Just to get me to the train station (just a few km away) on rainy and super-cold days. So, after a few months of that, I finally needed to re-fuel.

As a matter of fact, the last time I filled my tank, it cost me about $30.00. And I did it back in December!

The moral is to keep using the company car and park the Rabbit. A lot.