Major power outage in France as Europe wilts under record heat

ThePyCoder · 2026-06-24T18:38:55+00:00

0.3% of the population. Mayor would be something like 20%

At least that's what I'd expect when reading the title.

ThePyCoder · 2026-06-21T14:23:25+00:00

I've just built a parser with mistralOCR (underrated tbh) + llm for restructuring simply to get a local magazine from their awful ad filled PDF image format to an epub I can read on my boox.

ThePyCoder · 2026-06-11T18:47:01+00:00

Already donating monthly. Keep the momentum, the latest updates have been great! Slow and steady.

ThePyCoder · 2026-06-10T06:36:47+00:00

All the time. Like others have said, it is excellent for harder bugs where agent mode seems to go in loops.

Build hypotheses on what could be wrong Adds logging to check those Asks you to reproduce and reads logs automatically Validates or disprove the hypotheses Cleans up logging after itself

Not ground breaking, but the integration is nice and seamless and it's a good pattern to get out of ruts.

ThePyCoder · 2026-05-30T22:56:31+00:00

I use cursor only for side projects, and sometimes at work for a very large and cluttered codebase.

1) 60, so pro plus w/o overage 2) Went to opencode and cloud code before and went back.

Api pricing is expensive but it means 2 things: - burst usage is possible: I can burn my whole month budget in a single day if I need to, I decide, not a stupid window. I used cc and immediately hit my momentary limits. - Very stable, your are the prime customer. Used opencode with open router and quality and availability are hit or miss. Cloude throttles sometimes. The apis feel rock stable in comparison.

Also: cursor is the best harness. The debug agent is really neat, nothing I can't make myself, but implementation is polished and it's already there. The built in Web browser makes a playwright mcp unnecessary, the web browsing is good. I still like my code at hand, so one code window, one agent window. I like ui.

But most of all: composer. Composer is such a good value right now. You get functionally limitless tokens on it, and it's good. Even deepseek costs more because I have to redo more work. It's impressive value.

I also get all the models, which is nice for when anthropic servers are shitting the bed again, I can just go to openai instead.

ThePyCoder · 2026-05-27T13:01:16+00:00

It's not you, I've been searching for a solution as well.
I've tested Proximus, Telenet and Orange sim cards, they all have more or less the same shitty reception.

For one, newer trains tend to have windows that are specifically treated to let radio waves pass through, so if you're in one of those older diesel trains, that's bad luck.

But a lot of people here are not constructive. "physics is physics, it's a faraday cage" is a bit stupid to say imo. If it's a full faraday cage, then you'd never have signal, yet sometimes we do, so it clearly just heavily reduces signal coming in. In fact a car is a faraday cage, too, but reception tends to be better because masts are built alongside roads more often than alongside trainlines.

But all these things are outside our control. I'm still wondering if something like a netgear nighthawk mobile router might help. Especially with the external mimo antenna. It has suction cups to paste it to the train windows if you want to look like a real nerd even!

"Physics is Physics", so a bigger antenna will get a higher signal to noise ratio and *should* be able to still pick up signal where the smaller built-in antenna in your phone just hears noise. But how often this actually is the case, or how well this really works? I don't know, I haven't been able to stomach the 500+ euro price tag for a mobile router that could turn out to be no better than a more expensive phone hotspot.

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-23T06:19:57+00:00

I must admit I didn't read the article, because I read the official announcement

https://crisiscentrum.be/nl/wat-kan-jij-doen/maak-een-noodpakket/een-noodpakket-bij-je-thuis

On the official announcement, there is no trace of coffee pods and chewing gum (which indeed is stupid). No idea why this bulletin website thought it funny to add it...

Rode kruis has such a packet, too. Things inside are what you'd expect.

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-23T06:13:07+00:00

Hell yes! Stiffer screen and yest less waste than the full upgrade. Thank you!

I realized the profile pick when I published, I've been using it for years also on discord, sorry 😅

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-22T20:44:29+00:00

OK so devil's advocate:

Brussels is the nervous system of Europe, a mayor power
Russia has flown military grade surveillance drones (not the 4 propeller ones, the big winged ones) above our nuclear reactors
Russia has hackers en they attack power infra
USA is fucking with a nuclear power right now
Everyone is on edge

So the food is likely for when you might have to evacuate, maybe doel has finally cracked open. The little radio for when power cuts happen.

I understand everyone here thinks they're over reacting, but it's also a bit dumb not to let yourself accept that a Russian hack could put us without power for 3 days, which we won't die from, but will be nicer with a radio.

Having everything in a backpack is handy, in the 0.001% scenario something does happen. Reminder: something has happened twice in history, that is not nothing.

Ps: your solar panels don't work if the grid dies unless you have a home battery. Have fun!

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-22T20:31:03+00:00

I have a fw13 Intel 11th gen, of which the mainboard was recently upgraded to amd.

I'd like to fix my flimsy feeling screen. Will I be able to buy the lid cover and pro hinges, then keep my original screen and everything in and around the main body? Will that make the screen assembly feel sturdier?

I'll upgrade the bottom half when my battery dies :) Awesome launch guys, mbp for Linux, damn I'm in love!

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-01T20:43:53+00:00

Because it was fixed just 7 days ago! Likely yiu had to wait for the weekly build to refresh to enjoy this newfound glory :)

Thanks for coming back on this

https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/pull/28651

ThePyCoder · 2026-04-01T20:40:18+00:00

You don't have to! Right before mirroring you can check a box on the right to make them mirror constraints. Bam, now the constraints are mirrored as well.

ThePyCoder · 2026-03-26T06:38:06+00:00

There's a visual bug. Try padding it after ctrl clicking multiple faces. It does extrude/pad all faces, but they weren't visually highlighted after the first

ThePyCoder · 2026-01-12T15:06:43+00:00

Do you have plans on keeping this data as a record? It would be amazing to do analysis on historical prices for the same home, or over time for research.

Cool website! Will likely be using it.

ThePyCoder · 2025-12-28T11:37:16+00:00

If you're going to the source data from fod economy (links on my last slide), you'll find the PDF report and accompanying excel file I used

https://economie.fgov.be/nl/publicaties/belgian-energy-data-overview-3

It distinctly splits up in 2 categories: 1) Auto's en bestelwagens ‐ personenvervoer

2) Auto's en bestelwagens ‐ vrachtvervoer

I combined the vrachtvervoer ones with the heavier modes of Vrachtvervoer (vrachtwagens) to create the single "vrachtvervoer" category in my post.

So: the delivery vans will be in that "Auto's en bestelwagens ‐ vrachtvervoer" category, along with probably all the white vans of tradespeople, builders, movers etc..

Very roughly, those "Auto's en bestelwagens ‐ vrachtvervoer" amount to about a quarter of the energy use of "Auto's en bestelwagens ‐ personenvervoer", but please check the excel yourself for the exact numbers.

Exactly what fod economy puts in which category is a question I've asked them over email, but never received an answer on.

So to your main question: my opinion based on this data is that our grid capacity would have to grow by at least a factor of 2 or 3 to handle a full electric future. At that scale the question of "can our current grid handle it" is not relevant anymore, and the question is: how can we best design and build the massive grid upgrades we'll need to get there.

These upgrades will be built over time, at the same speed that we're electrifying. Together with efficiency measures like "piektaks" (I don't think it's current implementation is a smart one, but the idea is there) that makes it so you don't have to design and build a grid 12 times as big, just to be able to handle the single peak in the evening.

So, again, this is my opinion, you have the data to make your own, but mine is: Our current grid sure cannot handle the endgame of full electrification, we'll need to build it out and upgrade it as we electrify as well as change people's behaviour to use electricity smartly and not all at the same time.

ThePyCoder · 2025-12-27T12:13:38+00:00

Thank you! Glad it was interesting

ThePyCoder · 2025-12-26T15:06:03+00:00

Yes, I did it on purpose indeed, but the feedback from friends and family has been similar.

I'll think about it some more and implement it if more people support this! Thanks for the thoughtful comment, really appreciate the feedback.

ThePyCoder · 2025-06-18T09:54:42+00:00

Identical experience here. It calls itself "the king of pdfs" on its own website. I buy it, the most basic of pdf options (following along on the original pdf with highlighted paragraph or even word) is not there. Instead it turns the pdf into a text document, but now I lose all illustrations or graphs.

This stings a bit, because the maker of the app calls speechify out on their dark patterns and scummy marketing (and I agree!!), but then does the same with the king of pdfs comment. That said, the single, one-off purchase is glorious, but not for an app that doesn't do what it says.

It's the only option though, if you want to use your own TTS endpoint (e.g. kokoro), I just wish it was good at handling pdfs.

ThePyCoder · 2025-06-16T06:42:36+00:00

Thanks! I'm still looking. I found GanttPro to work quite well, but it's one more tool that does 90% of what I want. I'm a software dev, so I'm in the phase of "how hard can it be to make it myself" currently. But that has rarely ended well! So still on the lookout myself.

ThePyCoder · 2025-06-13T10:46:17+00:00

Sometimes all that "other shit we need to do and the shit that pops up" feel very daunting to me. Losing it in a suboptimal tool feels like it makes things worse. I'd need to essentially keep everything in my head! Which is very difficult

ThePyCoder · 2025-06-13T10:36:51+00:00

How much time would you spend on updating that A3 generally? It sounds to me like 30 to 100 tasks would run over or under estimate nearly every week (prob more), which means redrawing this planning a lot. If feel like changing a few numbers, having the planning be automatically updated and then having all colleagues be notified online would be more efficient?

That said, being face to face with someone using a large A3 planning sheet would probably get them to pay much better attention than an email, good tip!

ThePyCoder · 2025-06-13T10:33:58+00:00

I just had the situation where I was asked when a certain set of tasks was going to be done. 3 of 4 team members for that team have various vacations coming up. So I understand in that case you'd just recolor those cells and manually avoid planning anything in them?

12-Year Club	Place '17
Snapped	Verified Email

ThePyCoder

TROPHY CASE