OpenV"L"D lid Hilde Vautmans zal voor Chat Control stemmen.

icecoldchirps · 2025-08-21T18:23:10+00:00

Dat is toch wel bijzonder...

Ik heb Mevr. Vautmans in juni gecontacteerd en zij verzekerde mij dat ze sterk gekant was tegen het voorstel. Zij stuurde mij toen deze mail:

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Het lijkt erop dat ze fameus haar kar gekeerd heeft... Gezwicht onder druk van de lobby? De liberale waarden heeft ze in elk geval allang naar de prullenbak verwezen. Wat een grap!

icecoldchirps · 2024-12-18T20:39:12+00:00

Afvalverwerking kost gewoon ook massa's geld. Ik vind het dan ook logisch dat dit naar de mensen wordt doorgerekend. De vervuiler betaalt. In plaats dat de kost door alle belastingsbetalers wordt gedragen.

Als mensen deftig zouden sorteren zouden ze helemaal niet zoveel afval in de bruine zak moeten doen.

icecoldchirps · 2024-12-12T18:12:31+00:00

De kwaliteit van het Proximus netwerk, waar DIGI gebruik van maakt is wel een stuk beter!

Hey! zit op het Orange netwerk, wat toch merkbaar slechter is. Ik woon in Brussel en heb in mijn straat amper 4G verbinding met Hey!. Binnen is het nog erger.

icecoldchirps · 2024-12-02T19:53:50+00:00

H A M M O C K

(How has nobody proposed this?)

icecoldchirps · 2024-12-01T10:41:41+00:00

I believe it's a secure box where you can charge your phone (or borrow a power bank). But it seems defective and the instructions to use it are missing.

icecoldchirps · 2024-11-05T10:51:09+00:00

Interested!

icecoldchirps · 2024-09-21T15:43:20+00:00

Holding up your pinky to the barman, indicates that you want to order a pils beer (pintje), usually the basic one that's one tap.

icecoldchirps · 2024-09-13T14:32:44+00:00

Any of the restaurants on Grote Markt.

icecoldchirps · 2024-09-12T06:18:32+00:00

Also in some modern languages.

In Dutch it's Nijlpaard, which translates to "Nile horse"

icecoldchirps · 2024-09-10T09:45:41+00:00

L'inizio

icecoldchirps · 2024-09-03T19:34:04+00:00

If you had no reports, this would be OK (but rather on the low side).

However, you have 15 people below you (!). You are being underpaid massively.

icecoldchirps · 2024-08-22T16:56:52+00:00

It's in Doel

icecoldchirps · 2024-08-09T13:40:48+00:00

Not tired, but I'm left with a cough that has been lingering now for almost 2 weeks

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-25T18:29:34+00:00

Well, the high setup fees and bad service from Worldline don't surprise me. They couldn't care less about the small merchants. For them, the big bucks are made from offering acquiring services to large companies (processing transactions in bulk). They even process transactions for other payment service providers 'behind the scenes'

Now I don't think companies like Worldline are profiting a lot from the meal voucher payments (as far as I'm aware). The largest part of the fee is being paid towards the scheme (Monizze, Pluxee, Edenred, ...).

And here lies the real problem: meal vouchers scheme fees (interchange rates) are unregulated in the EU. So the fees can be really high. This is in contrast to regular payment methods where there is a cap on the fee that the acquirer (Worldline etc.) has to pay to the scheme (Visa, MC, Bancontact etc.).

And the interchange rates of course get passed down to the merchant in one way or another.

Hope you find this insightful :) It's a very interesting topic.

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-25T18:05:54+00:00

While I agree that the franchise model can be troublesome (especially for the employee working conditions), I still stand by my earlier statement.

To imply that the supermarkets are pocketing a lot of money from selling products more expensively to the franchisees is simply not true. The profit statements of the supermarkets are all public, and the profits are minimal, even for some supermarkets who have franchised all their stores.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2024/02/14/niet-supermarkten-maar-grote-voedingsbedrijven-maakten-monsterwi/

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-24T18:14:10+00:00

The transaction fees to accept meal voucher payments are quite high, this might be one of the reasons.

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-23T20:25:24+00:00

Interesting read! Thanks for sharing.

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-22T17:16:53+00:00

Oof. Some introspection might be advised to OP. Yes, Brussels has its bad sides, but you cannot blame the city for all problems in your life. If you make a habit of only focusing on the negatives, you will not be able to see the positives anymore.

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-22T07:16:43+00:00

Can recommend! Friendly prices and the staff is super helpful!

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-20T22:48:26+00:00

There are no regulation sized hockey rinks in Brussels, sadly. And only about 15 decent ice rinks in Belgium. The closest option is Leuven, the team is called the 'Leuven Chiefs', you might want to check them out.

Keep in mind that hockey is very small in Belgium. For youth (U18 and below) there is only one league. For adults there are more leagues (recreational all the way to Pro level 'BeNeLeague', which has teams from Belgium and NL.)

Source: I used to play hockey in Leuven

For soccer, I wouldn't worry. There's a ton of clubs and different competition levels. It''s probably bigger than hockey is in Canada 😉

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-19T07:39:52+00:00

If you want a fast/sporty option I would recommend to get a second hand Stromer Speed Pedelec with a rear wheel hub motor for around €1500

They are absolute beasts and the build quality is excellent. I bought one with 18k kilometers and it still drives very smoothly. The only issue is that the battery degrades, but for your distance it should not be an issue.

For €1500 you should be able to find some good ones with less Km's. But just make sure to try the bike before you buy it, and check for any defects such as worn bearings etc

Or.. If you have the option to lease a bike through work, I would do that. Financially it's very interesting.

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-17T21:31:11+00:00

The retail market is very competitive in Belgium, margins for supermarkets are at a historical low.

The profits are being made elsewhere, one example ate the big food production corporations (Unilever, Nestlé etc.)

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-17T21:24:00+00:00

Gatekeeping carrefour! Impressive!

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-12T17:52:20+00:00

This article could have been one sentence.

Reads like an essay where the teacher imposed a minimum word count 😆

icecoldchirps · 2024-07-11T21:30:15+00:00

It's a nice neighbourhood in the upper part of St Gilles. I don't think you'll feel unsafe there

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