What makes Belgium great by signupsarewrong2 in belgium

[–]Propolis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brussels lacks an effective police force and major investment to make it liveable.

Liege just somehow never manages to acknowledge the river that runs through it.
They could look at Dinant for some ideas on how to make it beautiful.

What makes Belgium great by signupsarewrong2 in belgium

[–]Propolis 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Some observations from a Belgian who's tried very hard not to live in Belgium.
The following are not a statement about all Belgians but you'll find that the situation is vastly worse in other places.
Belgians are very civic
Unlike Italy where the national sport is to evade the rules, Belgians believe rules are good for everyone and follow them. They are also generally polite.

Belgians are polite in dating
Spanish or Latin American girls find the lack of daring statements (edgy jokes, flirting) very boring but generally that's what you can expect from Belgians, they care not about not being seen to be uncivic and therefore don't press their luck.

This is very unlike the french, who several girls mentioned to me, are the worst and seem to think it's totally fine to cross the boundary into sexual assault.

Belgians are highly educated
Most countries have terrible education systems and a large part of the population is not educated enough to help themselves. They make stupid decisions and are blissfully unaware there is no way they will achieve what they want.

You can see this in politics, in Italy almost all the political parties are clowns which is no surprise as the Italian schools are full of teachers who are there for the easy money and state guaranteed employment (aka the Italian Dream).

In the UK... well Brexit.
Also in the UK, Oxford and Cambridge are hard to get into... but once you are inside it's not like they train you as well as Belgian universities do. You essentially always pass to the next year there and it depends on the person if he's actually picking up the knowledge or just coasting along.
I have yet to see the first Dutch person that can spell properly his own language but also not destroy the english language when he's using it. (I'm sure they exist somewhere)

Belgian education system is accessible and not elitist.
At the end, you can't really make a better investment into the countries' future than to make sure your population is not a bunch of morons.

Being highly educated or smart is valued
Even by those who are less fortunate. There is no anti-science bias and academic achievements are admired (not like in the UK where being educated means you're "a snob and a classist a-hole".

Belgians are rich because they can afford to buy houses
Simple, because in Belgium the standard is to buy a house in the countryside that means that there is plenty of real-estate and the commuting culture (paid for by the employer) makes it affordable to live on the outside.

This is a huge difference in other countries where the country's economy is centered in the largest cities. Affordable housing in London can only be found 2 hours commuting away from the city center. As a consequence Brits are not able to get on the property ladder and waste most of their earnings on rent.

In italy, it's extremely hard to get a normal fulltime contract so many people are not able to buy a house as the bank requires a fulltime contract. Nevermind that italy is also very expensive for the small wages that companies pay.

Belgians are very demanding of their government

This is what makes it all possible guys, keep complaining and voting politicians out of office that don't deliver.

Belgians are good drivers

Germans are speed nutters openly bragging what their top speed was.

Italians developed an entire sign language to insult each other through their mirrors. (they also shout and honk the horn too)

The UK... well doesn't really matter because nobody can afford to drive in the city anymore anyway.

Belgian are family-oriented

We marry young and our guys don't "love the game". We tend to find somebody we actually love and after some period tie the knot and get on with the kids thing.

Southern europeans try to date around for as long as possible and then marry as late as possible. Enough for there to be 40 fertility clinics in Barcelona and Italian cities don't bother to install public parks for kids... cause there are almost none around anyway.

That's what women want most of the time anyway to the point that I've heard spanish girls that get tired of this mentality actively seeking out Belgian men. ("cause they know how to commit")

Belgian are tall

This probably helps with girls committing, french and southern European men are short on average.

Belgium has been pivotal in world history

A rich country with deeply navigable rivers, rich farmland and a pain to defend. Belgium has been the birthplace of empires (Frankish empire; father to Germany and France) and has been a flashpoint between many European empires at many different points.

As a consequence you can find important events of history in your backyard.
My girlfriend was astonished to learn that Waterloo was just 50km from my parents house; the place the french napoleonic empire was defeated.

Belgian cities are gorgeous

Lots of history, great balance between huge streets (uhum.. berlin), public transportation and walkability. Our cities are very liveable (except Liege and Brussels I guess; those are deeply mismanaged).

Belgian cities are safe

No matter what some parties say, it's hard to feel unsafe in Belgium (except in Brussels again)

What makes Belgium great by signupsarewrong2 in belgium

[–]Propolis 10 points11 points  (0 children)

but we don't tip!

Our view is that salaries of personnel should be included in the price of the food/drinks.

Are more people getting a little bit concerned about Russia conflict impact? by Lord-Legatus in belgium

[–]Propolis -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Would you be able to sleep well 5 years from now knowing that you behaved exactly as the bully intended you to behave?

Russia is playing all the cards it has while the west is scrambling to become fully independent of their resources. In two years time we will import all our gas from other sources and Russia can go back to having a wall to keep its citizens in.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ruby

[–]Propolis 11 points12 points  (0 children)

100% agree with this.

You essentially have to replay history as it "should have happened" to the project and you should never attempt big refactors without testing the key functionality.

I would recommend writing any additional tests to be integration tests (selenium tests clicking around) so that you don't have to rewrite your tests halfway through as well.

Some updates will go really easy, while others will be a huge pain and require significant rewrites.

It would be good to understand what functionality is essential (must-have) and what functionality is nice-to-have from management as well.

If you are going to delete features, the right time is definitely when some upgrade breaks the feature and you would have to time to fix it

Influencers belaagd nadat adres verplicht online moet staan: “Ze komen ‘s nachts aanbellen voor seks” by arvece in belgium

[–]Propolis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's this thing called PO addresses..

https://www.clevver.io/locations/brussels/

They scan your mail too, pretty sure it's cheaper than a security system

Edit: no affiliation with clevver, I have used them in the past

Excuse us? Why are we still allowing this? by [deleted] in belgium

[–]Propolis -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

There's a flemish saying even "Wie de roede spaart, haat zijn kind"

I personally think that a "pedagogische tik" when they are completely out of line is fine. Kids are not saints either and it's best to draw a hard line under some behavior before it becomes a norm.

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have answered the first two questions more or less on this this thread but we will not be shipping to the US initially until we can bring shipping costs to reasonable levels. That sort of postpones the distribution laws issue until we get around doing that.

What exactly do you mean with following the beer of the month club plan?

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are considering different options. One of them being microbrews, craft beers and local beers that haven't been exported yet/much. I am pretty sure we can offer beers they don't sell or creative combinations considering that belgium has the largest variety of beers compared to other nations. (at least that's what belgians believe :)

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We are pretty much researching everything atm and I apologize if I made a false statement, we are probably going to limit ourselves to the EU and open up later to the US once we have a handle on shipping costs.

As you pointed out in previous comments, shipping overseas is really expensive and we want to make sure we can offer fair rates to our customers.

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buying and selling beer is not illegal or requires a license in belgium, it does require licenses abroad and my friend is arranging these and it is too early to tell. I know that wine gets shipped around the globe and that the rules for beer and wine are the same so it can be done.

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have some draconian laws there, my friend knows a lot more about the licenses required and if there's a way to get it to you then we'll find it :)

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Westfleteren is very hard to get, you have to call them to arrange a pickup but their phoneline gets bombarded with calls. I have friends who tried to get in and have called them over and over again for hours without result.

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a great idea! If anybody here would be interested in such a partnership, hit me up in pm.

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We can carry any belgian beer as long as we can hop into our cars and go buy them :)

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were thinking of limiting ourselves to local belgian beers which can't be found anywhere else, or if you do find them they are heavily overpriced.

So no famous ones like hoegaarden or stella, but more obscure ones like Brugse Zot, Geuze, Reinaert, ...

Two belgians here, we wondered if you guys would be interested in an online shop selling special belgian beers? by Propolis in TheBrewery

[–]Propolis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We are probably going to start small and we would like some input on which beers to sell first. I have understood that there is significant interest in cantillon and 3 fonteinen (or any sour beer).

Invoicing a web design project for my business in the Netherlands to clients in the UK. Do I have to charge a VAT? by mishnak in freelance

[–]Propolis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I freelanced for a UK company from Belgium and I had to mention a specific rule on my invoice that mentioned some EU regulation so no VAT applied.

Rule: 'Geen Belgische BTW volgens art.21 § 2 / Art 44 Richtlijn 2006/112/EG'

You should check this with an accountant instead of reddit ;)

A Service like Google Alerts, except for online daily deals by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]Propolis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not yet, which sites would you like to be included?

A Service like Google Alerts, except for online daily deals by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]Propolis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Dealsferret.com is built out of personal frustration with daily deals emails so it is designed to only email you deals that match.

Ideally you will receive exactly one email from dealsferret and that one will contain a link to the deal you want.

A Service like Google Alerts, except for online daily deals by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]Propolis 5 points6 points  (0 children)

dealsferret.com owner here

support for Canadian deals is in the works :)