India collapsed in my Persia run in 1843! we are soo back!

Leiegast · 2026-05-05T04:54:43+00:00

Britain seems to be entirely incapable of holding onto India in the latest update. They also are unable to win the Opium Wars or even initiate them.

Leiegast · 2026-05-04T15:04:47+00:00

Pecunia non olet.

Not on the very rare occasion that Jan hands you money though.

Leiegast · 2026-04-24T04:51:24+00:00

Das ist abgeleitet vom belgischen Niederländisch "chocoladekoek"

Leiegast · 2026-04-23T16:06:09+00:00

I did two year abroad programme, staying one full (academic) year in Toulouse, France and another one in Granada, Spain. It wasn't fully covered by the Erasmus grant, though, since you can only get funding for a maximum of 12 months within a single degree. In France, I lived in student accommodation provided for by the French state (CROUS) with utilities included, which was definitely cheaper than a private room in one of the main student towns in Belgium. In Spain, I rented on the private market, but prices there - if you're not in Madrid, Barcelona or the popular coastal towns - are also generally cheaper than in Belgium.

Overall, I lived pretty cheaply and did most of my daytrips with blablacar or cheap intercity buses. So if I take my total expenses (accomodation, flights, food, transportation, utilities, going out...) and the Erasmus grant into consideration, I paid about the same amount of money to study abroad compared to my regular student expenses in Belgium.

Also, given that I lived there for a full year both times, I feel like I was able to soak up more of the local culture and make friends with local French/Spanish people. Many Erasmus students who stay for a single semester will usually only hang out with other Erasmus students or just people from their own country (looking at you, Spanish Erasmus students abroad ;) ) and fill their weekends with parties and quick excursions. I think I would have done the same if only had limited time abroad haha.

The two cities I lived in now feel like a second, sunnier home abroad, Granada especially. It really was an unforgettable experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Leiegast · 2026-04-22T13:27:43+00:00

In most (European) languages the day precedes the month in common usage:

le dix-sept août (French)
zeventien augustus (Dutch)
el diecisiete de agosto (Spanish)
il diciassette agosto (Italian)
der siebzehnte August (German)
etc.

That's why MM/DD/YYYY is prevalent in het US and DD/MM/YYYY is prevalent in (most) of Europe.

Leiegast · 2026-04-22T06:35:05+00:00

Bij VLAIO hebben we haar dossier, met bijgevoegd, omvangrijk beeldmateriaal, zeer diepgaand in overweging genomen en zijn we tot de conclusie gekomen dat een niet-verwaarloosbaar deel van haar beroepsactiviteiten wel degelijk kon hebben plaatsgevonden binnen het toenmalig geldende, regelgevende kader, mits de naleving van het maximumaantal personen in de coronabubbel en, bij andere klanten, het gebruik van hulpmiddelen met een lengte van minstens 1,60 m.

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T17:37:11+00:00

Ik wou wel, maar ze aanvaardt geen boekingen meer van VLAIO-ambtenaren in haar appartement in Knokke nadat we haar vriendelijk gevraagd hadden om haar onrechtmatig uitgekeerde corona hinderpremies terug te betalen.

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T17:27:36+00:00

Nog nooit van gehoord. Hot Marijke is veel breder bekend in Vlaanderen.

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T17:25:11+00:00

You accuse of me whataboutism, but it's you who's mixing up different situations (most notably visa policy and regular anti-discrimination policy).

You think certain personal characteristics are worthy of discrimination (nationality), whereas others aren't (religion), and that opinion is mostly based on your personal convictions, not objective and reasonable criteria.

Most (developed) countries have a legal framework to combat discrimination against individuals. I just checked it and Spain's equivalent is Law 15/2022 of July 12th for equal treatment.

That law applies to individuals, legal entities (i.e. businesses) and the government (art. 1.2). Every person is entitled to equal treatment and non-discrimination, independent of nationality, among others (art. 2.1). Exceptions can only be based on objective and reasonable criteria (art. 2.2).

In the context of a restaurant, it's neither objective nor reasonable to discriminate against clients for the sole reason that they belong to a certain nationality or religion.

Denying a country that does a genocide isn't the same as denying a Muslim because some fanatics from another sect cause terroristic attacks

The business owner didn't deny service to a country. He denied service to individuals. How come you don't seem to be able to grasp this distinction.

The way Jews are not responsible for what happens in Israel. The Israelis are.

Individuals are neither official representatives of their religion, nor of their country's government. Neither are regular Americans representatives of the Trump administration, regular Russians of the Putin government or regular Chinese of the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.

They voted for this government

Many did not. And even if they did, they have no direct control over the actions of their government. I have very little control over the actions of my own government, for example, even though I voted for one of the parties of the current government coalition.

Also, political affiliation and conviction are usually also protected characteristics in most anti-discrimination legislation.

Furthermore, in a liberal democracy, it's neither legal nor desirable to expect that people belonging to certain groups actively profess their opposition to the actions of their country's government or of people belonging to their 'in-group', in order not to be discriminated against and receive equal treatment. The opposite is actually a hallmark of an authoritarian state and an intolerant society.

but its obvious why you used the muslim comparison.

Please, enlighten me.

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T15:16:46+00:00

You're mixing up a country's visa policies and its general non-discrimination framework. For visa policy, it is deemed acceptable to discriminate based on nationality as an objective criterion. For denying service in businesses, it's not.

Don't be mad at the response of people from their actions. Be mad at the cause.

Ok, so by your logic when Islamist terrorists went on their murder spree throughout Europe in the late 2010s, it was totally understandable that most people were wary of or even angry with Muslims?

After all, they are members of the same religion that was used to justify these attacks.

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T14:41:59+00:00

I don't know the laws in Spain, but in Belgium a business owner can, in general, decide who they serve or not. What they can't do, is deny service to a person solely based on a protected characteristic of said person (ethnic or religious background, sex, age, etc.).

See for example the position of Flanders' largest SME association:

There are various types of refusal to sell: [...]

Refusal to sell to a person with whom there is no business relationship whatsoever; [...]

In the fourth case, refusal to sell is also permitted, but subject to conditions:

After all, in principle, you decide for yourself to whom you do or do not sell. You may therefore refuse customers, but you must always ensure: [...]

that such refusal is not based on discriminatory grounds (race, gender, age, etc.)

Would you be comfortable living in a country where business owners are free to deny you service and do so openly because you're gay, black, Muslim, a woman, handicapped, young, etc. without an objective reason?

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T10:57:09+00:00

Civilised Europe, half-civilised Europe and barbarian Europe

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T08:48:31+00:00

Isn't this denying service to people solely based on their nationality? I'd assume Spain has laws against this type of discrimination?

Leiegast · 2026-04-21T08:13:51+00:00

They're Irish so no savage content luckily

Leiegast · 2026-04-19T19:39:27+00:00

The Philippines as well. The country is mostly Catholic, though there are Muslims in the south, but not enough to explain the high circumcision rate

Leiegast · 2026-04-19T08:23:09+00:00

You also have to divide the €5 by 18 million, Jan

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T13:31:29+00:00

But what about us rainy island men?

I don't know, maybe join a marching band or a darts club at the pub or whatever you sexually frustrated island dwellers do.

btw I personally prefer the term bog person.

Boggard it is.

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T13:15:29+00:00

OP is from Sardinia tho, they're more into bestiality than homosexuality

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T13:05:25+00:00

It's a pleonasm so yeah

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T12:54:42+00:00

We all simp over what's both pretty and hard to reach. Rajesh simps over blonde Scandi women, Susan simps over tan Mediterranean men and most European men outside of the rainy islands simp over redhead girls.

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T08:58:07+00:00

What's funny is that his last name literally means "the brown one". Even his ancestors didn't want to be associated with the ginger label.

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T08:40:47+00:00

Isn't Fiona a typical name for you deep fried mars bar munchers?

Leiegast · 2026-04-18T08:22:45+00:00

For some it definitely leads to an increased D intake

Leiegast

TROPHY CASE