A common belief among Europeans is that Americans know very little of Europe and its countries, and what they know is probably wrong. As the popular Dutch weblog GeenStijl put it, Americans think that the Netherlands is a part of Sweden, inhabited by wooden-shoes-wearing, German-talking, French-fries-eating Danes. Europeans, on the other hand, know everything about the US. They know all the former presidents (in chronological order) and can list the names and capitals of the fifty states.

Right? Ehm… nope.

GeenStijl linked to a website where you get ten minutes to name all fifty US states. I got 27 of them, not because I ran out of time, but because I couldn’t remember the other 23. (Even though I had seen the full list a few months ago.)

Of course, we can do the same for European countries. There are fifty-two of them, so I’ll give you an extra 24 seconds. Good luck! (And be sure to put your score for both games in the comments below.)

A girl on a cell phone: “No, I’m already in Leiden. I’m right at this bridge.” Well, there are only a hundred or so bridges in Leiden, so I’m sure that’s a helpful comment.

On another topic, what happened to all the canned mandarin oranges? I need a can for a witloof (a.k.a. Belgian endive or chicon) salad I’m making tomorrow, but both of the nearby supermarkets were sold out.

There was a huge flock of birds over my house as I got home from work… and they lingered around just long enough for me to grab my camera and shoot two pictures.

I’m not sure what they were doing. If birds come by in these numbers, it’s typically because they are migrating. Given the time of year, that would mean they were on their way back home from the south. The thing is, though, they took off towards the south.

Just taking advantage of a video my brother found…

Police were chasing a suspect vehicle in the town of Kaatsheuvel early Saturday morning. When they were unable to catch up, the two officers decided to take a break and visit some strangers for a midnight cup of coffee. Fortunately, they didn’t get hurt while parking their car in the living room. The inhabitants of the house were asleep upstairs and suffered only the scare of a lifetime. (Sources: BN/DeStem, Geenstijl.nl)

What’s the matter today? Are the planets misaligned? Or is everyone overcome by yesterday’s few centimetres of snow? Whatever it is, it’s apparently resulting in accidents and near misses.

I almost got hit by a bus while cycling to the university this morning. I had right of way, but the bus driver didn’t see me in time so he just turned onto the road. We missed each other by less than a metre.

Someone else (probably a pedestrian) most likely did get hit by a bus. At least, there was a bus pulled over on the side of the road, with a police car and an ambulance behind it. There’s really only one reason for those three to be standing there like that. I didn’t see a victim, so either they were hidden from my view by the bus, or their injuries were light enough that they had already left under their own power.

An office mate of mine got hit by a car, but so far it looks like she only sustained a bruised arm. The laptop she was carrying in her backpack is still in one piece. The guilty driver shall probably remain unknown, since they drove right on and my friend couldn’t see their license plate. That’s a criminal offence: hit and run.

So, that’s three of these incidents in a short timespan. No more, okay?

I had one of these in my living room the other day, hiding underneath a backpack I had put on the ground. It appeared as I picked up the bag to put my agenda back in, startling me for a moment before I realized that it had probably more reason to be scared of me than the other way around. The little creature actually looked kind of paralyzed, because rather than skittering off, it just remained where it was. Or perhaps it was simply lost and looking for the way out, which it allowed me to provide. Using the old glass-and-a-piece-of-paper trick, I gently lifted the creature up and brought it outside. I hope it will be happier there; I know I am happier now. As harmless as these small centipedes are, I don’t really want them in my home. The thought of one getting into a shoe or into my bed makes me shiver.

Hilarious in a gross sort of way: Suicidal Squirrels.

“Suicidal Squirrels” is the story of 100 adorable little squirrels that have decided they want to die. 100 squirrels – 100 episodes. Witness all the squirrels kill themselves one by one in a series of most ingenious suicides – always with a smile on their tiny little faces…

The first two episodes are currently available on the SuiSquirrels homepage and on YouTube: one and two.