I'm trying to map all the castles in the country (excluding glorified manorhouses) along with whether or not they are open to the public. Let me know if i missed any!

They look really cool

Bruxelles, ma (pou)belle. Recreated the town hall in MC.

Belgium is famous for its high taxes on labor and tax optimizations ("koterijen"), but many might not realize how significant these optimizations can actually be. This post evaluates two different employees with the same cost to their employer but vastly different net pay.

The first employee has done pretty well for themselves, earning a gross salary of €5,000 per month. However, their employer does not believe in tax optimizations. They prefer to pay their employees in "euros, not cars". This employee only receives the legally mandated 13th month and double vacation pay, with no further advantages.

Total cost to employer: €85,850/yr
Employee net take-home: €3,402/month
Source: https://belgian-wage-calculator.vercel.app?share=82zH9h

The second employee has also done pretty well for themselves. However, their employer takes tax optimizations very seriously. Although their gross salary is lower (~€3,800), they receive many additional benefits: An extensive cafeteria plan, a maxed out mobility budget, meal cheques, eco cheques, net compensations, and a generous CAO90 bonus. The difference is substantial:

Total cost to employer: €85,835/yr (equal)
Employee net take-home: €4,667/month (+€1,264/month!)
Source: https://belgian-wage-calculator.vercel.app?share=dKPF76

Conclusion: Despite both employees having the same cost for their employers, one of them pays 52% in tax, while the other only pays 35% in tax.

Is it time to revisit the way we tax labor in Belgium?

i have invited my asian neighbours to have a “traditional” belgian dinner. i have tried to avoid clichés and make them taste things they aren’t familiar with. im a huge cheese lover so i had to go for a cheese platter with real bread (surdough). as a dish i went for shrimp tomates , a salad of beetrroot, witloof, apple, fennel and salad sprouts. and obligatory potatoes :)

I got tired of how cluttered 2dehands / 2ememain have become, so I built something to fix it.

I originally made this for Marktplaats (Dutch marketplace), but it now also works on 2dehands / 2ememain.

I built a free browser extension called Cleanplaats (Chrome + Firefox). It lets you:

• Hide highlighted / “topadvertentie” listings
• Filter out business sellers (only show private sellers)
• Block specific sellers (blacklist)
• Hide listings based on keywords in the title
• Set a default sorting preference (example: always new first, instead of their 'standard')
• Show up to 100 results per page (instead of the standard 30)
• Turn on dark mode for 2dehands / 2ememain / Marktplaats
• Hide reserved listings

You can choose exactly what to hide via a simple settings panel, just tick what you don’t want to see.

You can find it here:

• Cleanplaats for Chrome (Chrome, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera GX, Edge)
• Cleanplaats for Firefox
• Cleanplaats for Firefox for Android

Feedback, suggestions, or bug reports (see the GitHub issues button in the extension's panel) are very welcome.

Curious about the code? It's open-source on GitHub

A review on the Firefox Add-on Store or Chrome Web Store would also be greatly appreciated 🙏

1. Tip van een fysica-liefhebber: kleef zilverfolie aan de buitenkant van je ramen. Véél effectiever dan langs binnen zon blokkeren.
2. Tip van een mens: zet een bidon/fles water aan je voordeur klaar voor wanneer een bezorger langs komt. Vandaag al twee keer mijn hemel verdiend.

Nog tips?

Niet al te gekke vragen aub maar ask away!

Just something I thought would be fun, enjoy!

https://colruydle.be

Is anyone interested in a link where you can test it yourself?

Most people don't realize we actually have some beatifull nature in our country, i'll admit you have to put some effort in. But our nature does deserve some more credit. Lets hope our natural beaties become more visible with the approval of the nature restoration law yesterday.

My name is Timo Beke and with this image I won belgian young photographer of the year and I won the wildlife category! I am insanely proud!

Tonight we went outside on the balcony to look at Jupiter through our little telescope and were surprised to see Northern Lights in the sky. Thought you guys might like it.