An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: A Reddit post making the rounds this week claims the U.S. has experienced at least one major power outage every month of 2026 -- but is it true? I dug into several outages, the extreme weather behind them, and what we can do to help keep the lights on. [...] The claim that hundreds of thousands of Americans were without power over extended periods at least once per month, every month of 2026 surprised be in two ways. First, because I had no idea if it was true -- and, second, because it felt true. We try to do better than writing about things that feel true around here, however, so I did a bit of research (translation: I Googled power outages by month) and came up with the following examples in about sixty seconds

January: More than 296,000 customers still without power as winter storm freezes much of the US
February: More than 380,000 customers without power as winter storm hits US Northeast
March: Storms Cut Power to Over 1 Million Customers in U.S. Midwest, Mid-Atlantic; Ohio Hardest Hit
April: At least 29 tornadoes touched down in Central Illinois on April 17th
May: Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Order to Deploy Backup Generation in the Mid-Atlantic Amid Heatwave
June: More than 373,000 U.S. customers without power due to extreme weather
... and that list is far from comprehensive, and how you feel about it might depend on what you consider a "major" outage, of course -- but consider that there are tens of thousands of Americans without power right now, and that's not making the news. [...] The lesson here is that weather-related grid outages -- whether they're caused by wildfires, mudslides, derechos, tornadoes, ice storms, hurricanes, heat waves, or some other disaster I'm lucky enough to have forgotten about -- read like statistics when they're happening over there, but get personal real quick when they're happening to you.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Op de A16 door Rotterdam is donderdagochtend een ongeluk gebeurd met een motorrijder. Dat gebeurde net voor de Rottemerentunnel, richting Den Haag. Het ongeluk zorgt voor flinke problemen op de snelweg, die als omleidingsroute wordt gebruikt voor de afgesloten A20. De vertraging liep al op tot ruim een uur.

Een merkwaardig tafereel woensdagavond in Rotterdam-Charlois. Terwijl de politie een deur openbreekt voor onderzoek naar een woningoverval, klinkt even verderop een harde knal. Een man is, afgeleid door de politiewagens in de straat, met zijn auto op z'n kant terechtgekomen. Hij is meteen aan de beurt voor een blaastest.

Weer voor Rotterdam ☁️ - 16-07-2026 07:15 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 20.9°C · Bewolkt ☁️ | Min 20.6°C / Max 28.4°C | Kans op neerslag 1%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 20.6°C, Max 28.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1017.6 hPa ↘️ -2.2 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 19.4 km/u (5.4 m/s), richting: ↙ 42°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 08:00: 21.7°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, 🧭 1019.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ↙ 38°
• 09:00: 22.7°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.7 km/u (2.7 m/s), richting: ↙ 30°
• 10:00: 23.8°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌤️, 🧭 1019.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ↙ 24°
• 11:00: 24.8°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, 🧭 1019.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.0 km/u (2.5 m/s), richting: ↙ 33°
• 12:00: 26.1°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1019.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 8.3 km/u (2.3 m/s), richting: ↙ 51°
• 13:00: 26.8°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌤️, 🧭 1018.7 hPa ↘️ -0.6 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 9.4 km/u (2.6 m/s), richting: ↙ 64°
• 14:00: 27.5°C (Zonnig) ☀️, 🧭 1018.3 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 11.2 km/u (3.1 m/s), richting: ↙ 57°
• 15:00: 28.3°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 2%, 🧭 1017.8 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.0 km/u (3.6 m/s), richting: ↙ 57°
• 16:00: 28.4°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 5%, 🧭 1017.3 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 15.5 km/u (4.3 m/s), richting: ↙ 53°
• 17:00: 27.6°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 6%, 🧭 1016.8 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 19.4 km/u (5.4 m/s), richting: ↙ 48°
• 18:00: 26.7°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 5%, 🧭 1016.3 hPa ↘️ -0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 19.4 km/u (5.4 m/s), richting: ↙ 37°
• 19:00: 26.6°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1015.9 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 18.4 km/u (5.1 m/s), richting: ↙ 42°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• vrijdag 17 juli: Min 19.0°C, Max 25.4°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 4%, 🧭 1014.5 hPa ↘️ -3.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 20.9 km/u (5.8 m/s), richting: ↘ 330°
• zaterdag 18 juli: Min 16.1°C, Max 21.0°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 1%, 🧭 1016.3 hPa ↗️ +1.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 18.4 km/u (5.1 m/s), richting: ↘ 319°
• zondag 19 juli: Min 15.3°C, Max 19.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 6%, 🧭 1019.2 hPa ↗️ +2.9 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 20.1 km/u (5.6 m/s), richting: ↘ 330°
• maandag 20 juli: Min 15.0°C, Max 20.7°C (Gedeeltelijk bewolkt) ⛅, Kans op neerslag 9%, 🧭 1023.0 hPa ↗️ +3.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.3 km/u (4.5 m/s), richting: ↘ 334°
• dinsdag 21 juli: Min 15.2°C, Max 20.6°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 10%, 🧭 1024.1 hPa ↗️ +1.1 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.1 km/u (4.2 m/s), richting: ↘ 322°
• woensdag 22 juli: Min 16.0°C, Max 21.2°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 22%, 🧭 1021.7 hPa ↘️ -2.4 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↘ 318°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 07:15): 20.9°C (Bewolkt)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 21.7°C (+0.8°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 11.5 km/u (3.2 m/s), richting: ↙ 36°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 23.0 km/h (6.4 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 63%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1019.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 23.3 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.8
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 05:42 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 21:54

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 36 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 7.6 μg/m³
• PM10: 11.1 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined HP Inc. and some of its resellers, for what it calls “cartelisation” activities that inflated the cost of PCs and printers – and which it says HP used to head off threats from resellers to sell counterfeit ink cartridges. The ₹138.85 crores/$14.4 million fine won’t be a massive inconvenience to HP. The facts of the case may be, as the CCI found HP told its resellers what prices to charge when they bid for tenders posted to a government procurement site. The PC and printer giant also prohibited some of its resellers from bidding on tenders. In its order related to HP’s bids to sell printer supplies, the regulator reveals it accessed WhatsApp records that show HP staff and some of its resellers “were operating in a collusive arrangement and shows the practice of bid rigging including cover bidding, price fixation, and customer allocation, during 2017-2020.” Cover bidding is the practice of having one reseller make a ridiculously high bid that a vendor knows won’t win a deal, in the hope other resellers who offer more reasonable quotes will get the sale. The order also claims that HP would decide in advance which of its resellers would sell to which customer. The CCI found that one of HP’s motives was to ensure that it remained competitive with other PC and printer makers, rather than to favor a particular reseller. Another motive was to stop resellers from selling counterfeit ink and toner. “Due to constant downward pressure on pricing because of new resellers, Tier-2 resellers threatened a shift to low-cost counterfeit products to compete on price,” the order states. Some of those resellers formed an “understanding” about the prices they would charge, so they would not undercut each other’s bids. The order says HP “facilitated” development of that understanding to defend its printer supplies business. “HP India was commercially forced into a position where it had to support the collusive arrangement adopted by the Tier-2 resellers,” the order states. In a second order regarding the sale of PCs, the CCI found HP’s actions helped HP to navigate the reverse auction process used to determine the winner of some tenders. “HP India faced the risk if its resellers exited early due to unsustainable downward pricing pressure resulting in no sale for HP India,” the order states. “The coordination amongst HP India’s reseller was accordingly designed to ensure that at least one HP reseller remained present in the final round.” The orders compel HP, and the resellers it worked with, to cease all such activity. ®

Exclusive: More than 200 illegal holiday properties found in buildings at the highest level of seismic risk

Tourists in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, are staying in illegal accommodation listed on Airbnb and Booking.com in buildings considered so seismically vulnerable they could collapse in the event of a major earthquake, according to exclusive data shared with the Guardian.

Analysis of data collected by Re:Rise, a Romanian organisation working on seismic risk reduction, identified at least 207 illegal tourist rental properties advertised across the two platforms in Bucharest at the end of May, with a combined capacity to host more than 1,000 visitors each night.

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Phil Kingsbury - Thanks for 5.2 million views! has added a photo to the pool:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Olympus C730UZ
f/5.6 - 5.9 mm - 1/200 - ISO 64