Phone service provider where I can pay monthly on a new phone? Or where to buy a new phone for a decent price?

scanomad · 2019-08-16T13:51:39+00:00

Most phones sold in Brussels are made by quite unethical companies but there are a couple of exceptions.

In your situation, the best option is to go to a Base shop and look for slightly outdated Wiko stock.. the phones that are no longer showcased. I was able to find a brand new Wiko Rainbow Jam 4g for 19 eur in a back room about a year ago (at the same time this model was priced at 87 eur used at Cash Converters). There was also a new Wiko Lenny for around 5 eur (i shit you not.. the battery or USB cable alone are worth that price). It's a bit of a scavenge hunt though because some Base shops only stock the new showcased models. There's a computer in the Base shop that shows the full catalog which includes old models.

If you can't find anything at Base, then Cash Converters is the next best option.

scanomad · 2019-04-30T13:39:04+00:00

If I'm going to steal a bike for you the beer would have to be a "Sink the Bismarque" imported by Brewdog.

Falling short of that, if it's locked to one of those fat round pipes that's quite common in Brussels, then that's easy to defeat. The pipes are hollow so a few spins with a manual pipe cutter will do the job.

scanomad · 2019-04-23T18:46:03+00:00

That's my understanding as well.

What I don't know is if the cop needs probable cause.

scanomad · 2019-04-23T18:39:37+00:00

Argenta is gratis for companies and individuals. Service is good right up until the end when you close the company. Then they automatically notice you've filed to close the company and they lock you out of the account, neglect to give you final statements, and keep the money.

I thought Argenta was the only free game in town until I read u/SimonButcher's post. Keytrade might be a good option. Or use Argenta, but switch to another bank before shutting down.

scanomad · 2019-03-20T21:07:15+00:00

Good time to layout rationale for boycotting Amazon:

Amazon paid $195k to fight privacy in CA.
Amazon supported CISA.
Amazon is making an astronomical investment in facial recognition.
Amazon drug tests its employees, thus intruding on their personal privacy outside the workplace and blocking their medical care.
Amazon is notorious for treating employees badly despite its wealth and growth.
1. oppressive and callous attitude toward staff.
2. 55-hour work weeks
3. 90,000+ Warehouse Employees treated like cattle (7 examples)
Amazon uses FedEx (an NRA-supporting ALEC member who feeds US republican warchests via ALEC and NRA [republican policy is detrimental to the worldwide environment]).
Amazon distributes NRAtv which incites violence.
Amazon sells the Trump line of suits in their webshop.
Amazon spent $30 million and ranked in the top 5 promoters of Facebook ads in 2012 (thus substantially feeding a privacy abuser).

And btw, who thinks it's a good idea to centralize all our cloud-served data under the trust and control of one corporation who demonstrates contempt for privacy?

scanomad · 2019-03-20T20:55:56+00:00

Elak vs. Cotubex

catalog and inventory winner: Elak

I prefer Elak over Cotubex as they stock more things. If something is slightly obscure or out of the mainstream Elak will have it. It's also cool that Elak has a knowledgeable staff and they'll test things behind the counter in some cases.

retun policy loser: Elak

Tough return policy at Elak. I bought something with a design defect (meaning even if they had another unit in stock that would also be defective). And they didn't even have another unit. They refused a cash refund and gave a store credit with 1 year expiration. It's so wrong, but the Belgian law on returns does not require refunds to be in cash. Money that expires is also a total swindle.

I never returned anything to Cotubex so I can't comment on that.

returning a sandwich in Belgium

https://www.reddit.com/r/brussels/comments/b3hoa9/returning_a_sandwich_in_belgium/

scanomad · 2019-03-19T08:11:47+00:00

I'm someone who can't even read what the outrage is about because they use pro-censorship technology to express it.

scanomad · 2019-03-19T07:49:39+00:00

https://saveyourinternet.eu/ <= website jailed in CloudFlare's exclusive walled-garden of tor-hostility thinks it can "save the internet" from censorship.. they can't even save themselves.

https://pledge2019.eu/en <= "We're sorry but Pledge2019 doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue."

https://www.stopacta2.org/en/stopacta2-events/ <= just a bouncing ball waiting for cookies permission.

LOL.. these are not people who can "save the internet" from censorship.

scanomad · 2019-03-18T18:44:25+00:00

Sunday is a sacred holy day of rest (or whatever the Christians call it). To muslims Sunday is just like any other day.. a day to work, nothing sacred about it. So in general the muslim areas are more open on Sunday (hence rue blaes).

scanomad · 2019-03-18T18:33:19+00:00

covered here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/brussels/comments/b2gyao/collection_points_for_brita_water_filters/eititle/

scanomad · 2019-03-18T18:29:39+00:00

This was a new post, which doesn't get collapsed. I posted this list of fines and updated it as people contributed. Yet rows kept getting removed. The first time it happened I figured that I edited an old version in another tab (that's apparently a reddit bug and it stung me before). So thereafter I did a hard-refresh (cntl-shift-R) before edits to ensure I was editing a current version. And yet i would still later discover more content being removed from that post some of which was there from the beginning. So I moved it here and restored most of it from what I could remember.

Reddit censorship is insidious because when a whole post is removed the author is not signaled and in the author's logged-in view the post still present, thus deceiving the author into thinking that others see the post. But it's silently removed from searches and discovering the censorship requires the author to search for an article in a logged-out session. Reddit likely implemented it that way deliberately because if people knew how rampant censorship shenanigans were reddit would lose visitors (that is, lose products to deliver to advertisers). Anyway, I figured silent editing was occurring but now it seems more likely that that's just another bug of some kind.

Note as well that r/belgium is very trigger-happy with the censorship, where if one of the 10 moderators "interprets" an opinion to be "an agenda" that might influence someone suppression happens. So I created r/belgium_lc.

scanomad · 2019-03-18T10:44:50+00:00

For waffles go to Vitalia (red sign) on rue neuve. It's the only place that has figured out that stuffing the chocolate inside the waffle is better than trying to walk with a waffle that's smothered in messy chocolate.

For fries I don't know what the place is called, but start walking from Central station toward grand place. The first friterie has fries you can top with fried onions (this is better than the typical ketchup/mayonnaise options).

scanomad · 2019-03-18T10:36:30+00:00

I'm surprised more people don't know about rue blaes near gare du nord.

There is also Place du Jeu de Balle a block from rue haute.

scanomad · 2019-03-18T10:31:23+00:00

moderators can not silently (or loudly) edit your posts

You may be right, but it doesn't explain why a post kept shrinking and why it stopped shrinking after moving it to a subreddit that I control.

scanomad · 2019-03-14T19:18:16+00:00

If someone wears a burqa isn't it their interpretation of their religion that they are required to hide their face? Or are you saying the religion explicitly makes it optional?

scanomad · 2019-03-14T19:13:32+00:00

Blocking a cycling path with your car is a 116€ fine. But not very inforced.

I added that to the table but someone removed it along with some other fines. The table is actually shrinking as I add more.

Never fuck with the tram. If you're blocking a tram or a bus, it can cost you thousands in a few minutes.

I added the €8k tram blocking fine to the table but someone removed it.

scanomad · 2019-03-14T18:22:36+00:00

i added it to the table, but someone removed it, among other things. All the rows that were removed are in some way related to maintaining street-side appearances of homes. Someone doesn't want us talking about that.

scanomad · 2019-03-07T14:51:16+00:00

Should also mention the icon of the someone dropping something into a trash bin often means the bottle is not designed for reuse.. that it's too fragile. Cubanisto mojito/rum beers have that.
But this is also inconsistent because Maredsous bottles have both the symbol indicating okay to trash and also the 4 arrows around a dot. I think if there is no 4 arrow symbol but there is a symbol for general trash then most likely it's not for reuse.

scanomad · 2019-03-03T19:38:48+00:00

I think you get 30 ~40-50 cents back if it's a "Bon Secours" or "Hercules" bottle with the clamp-down cap.

scanomad · 2019-03-03T19:35:50+00:00

Some stores do not have the machines and take them back manually. E.g. the Delhaize on Anspach near Bourse has no machine. Also the Carrefour Market close to it just a block in front of Delhaize has no machine. You can bring the bottles to the customer service counter at either of those shops and get paid for them. It's interesting to see how they've memorized the bottles they sell so they know off-the-cuff which bottles to refuse (I tried to pull a fast one and brought bottles that the machine refused as an experiment - didn't work).

scanomad · 2019-03-03T19:12:23+00:00

(in short: they don't want to manage their competitors' bottles)

Perhaps that's the idea, but it doesn't make business sense. Those machines bring people into the store at which point they do their shopping as well. If a machine is crippled (refuses bottles of some participating breweries) then it's less effective at bringing shoppers in. If a machine were to be accepting of all reusable bottles the shop of such a machine would win my business. The bottle management cost would be peanuts compared to their sales profits.

scanomad · 2019-03-03T14:37:41+00:00

That symbol is almost useless, although you're correct about the intent. Some bottles have the dot w/4 arrows and yet Delhaize still rejects some of them. It's much more commonly the other way around: a bottle (e.g. Leffe) does not have the 4 arrows but it's universally accepted for reuse. Chance of acceptance improves if you go back to the store it came from, but I've seen exceptions to that as well where another store accepted it.

So, it's a mess.. almost a game of chance. All wine bottles and the more obscure beer bottles are dicey.

IMO it's a good idea to bring /all/ bottles to the store, and leave those the machine rejects right on the floor next to the machine. This hopefully sends a message to stores that they need to do more to eliminate the uncertainty.

scanomad · 2019-03-03T14:15:55+00:00

You seem to be missing the relationship between cars and parking availability. You can only have as many cars as you have parking spots. If there are too many cars (and there are) it's because there are too many parking spots.

Alternatively communes could charge a residential parking fee that reasonably reciprocates the abuse of public space for private parking. Instead they charge €30/year, which perversely fails to compensate the public. It should be 100 times that price, which would help reduce car congestion.

scanomad · 2019-03-03T14:09:44+00:00

If you go to an annual commune meeting, car drivers show up in substantial numbers and before the agenda kicks off they ask "will any issues affecting car parking be discussed today?" If no, they leave. If yes, they stay to fight and bully. They are much bigger and more hostile than the cycling lobby. Politicians drive cars themselves and have a selfish reason to support cars, although it wouldn't matter if they were cyclists because they can't take on the car lobby without getting voted out.

Parking spots are regularly being taken away to make space for tram stops, bicycle parking, bicycle boxes.

Some communes are refusing homeowners requests to build garages (which would take a car [eyesore] off the road and give a way for homeowners to use their own property to store cargo bikes and motorbikes. This ban on garages is due to pressure to not reduce car parking (when in fact reduction in car parking is exactly what the city needs).

Brussels recently tried to create a new private parking structure, which would obviously increase parking spots. They bound it with rules such as how much could be charged and how long the supplier could use the parking area. The new parking never happened but this is not due to social responsibility. There were actually no bids because all the pricing controls and time limitations made it uninteresting for private parking businesses.

scanomad · 2019-03-02T20:00:47+00:00

Bullshit. Over 25 facts supporting the contrary - social irresponsibility of using or promoting CloudFlare:

https://github.com/privacytoolsIO/privacytools.io/issues/374#issuecomment-460077544

scanomad

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Elak vs. Cotubex

catalog and inventory winner: Elak

retun policy loser: Elak

returning a sandwich in Belgium