Mozilla is testing a new Firefox Nightly feature called Mini Window that lets users pop an entire webpage into a small, always-on-top window stripped of most browser controls. "The idea behind the Firefox Mini Window feature is simple: allow users to move a currently open tab (or a section of a tab) into a separate mini window," writes ZDNet's Jack Wallen. "Think of it as moving a tab from one window to what appears like a web app." From the report: At first blush, there's no address bar, controls, scroll bar, or anything else that would normally be associated with Firefox. The Mini Window appears to be a web app, without having to actually create it. However, when I hover my cursor inside the Mini Window, I do see the address bar, the back/forward/reload buttons, and the window close button -- and that's it. The browser gets out of your way, so the only thing I see is the content.

On top of that (pun intended), the Mini Window stays on top of other Firefox windows, so I can have that popped-out content always in focus while I work on other things. This feature comes in handy when I'm working with limited display space (say, on a laptop) and need to reference a page while working on another. For multitasking, it comes in very handy. [...] Let's say I'm writing a paper on Linux and need to read a particular article for background information. I could have my document open in the main window, and then open the article in question in a Mini Window. I could then reference the article without having to click back and forth between them -- even when working on a smaller display.

Here's another use case I've found: When using MacOS's Stage Manager feature, I only have one window available at a time. The Mini Window bypasses that limitation, so I can have my main browser window focused as well as the page open in the Mini Window. Another handy way I like to use Mini Window is to open a favorite search engine, move it to a Mini Window, and then I have an always-ready search tool at my fingertips. I could also open my favorite AI service and use it in the same way.

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During a video celebrating Bethesda's 40th anniversary, the studio officially confirmed that The Elder Scrolls VI will be titled The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel. "Thank you for 40 years of shared memories," wrote Bethesda in a separate tweet. "We can't wait to make even more together with The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel. Development continues, and while it'll be some time before we're ready to share more, it feels great to finally reveal the name and location with you." Video Games Chronicle reports: "You know, as we're here in the 40th anniversary, we think about all of the games we've made," Bethesda's executive producer Todd Howard said in the video, walking past a display case. "And you know, every day when I walk by this case, obviously I look at the games and think about them, but more so I think about the teams that made them, and the time and the passion that everybody put into the games. And then what they meant to all of you, and hearing from you, and the time that you spent in them, how meaningful that was to you, and to let you know when we hear that, how meaningful that is to us.

And so even though yes, we're looking back, we're also looking forward to all we're doing, particularly with the Fallout franchise and obviously The Elder Scrolls. You know, everybody's always asking about Elder Scrolls 6. And we thought, hey, given the the moment, what a perfect time to tell you what The Elder Scrolls 6 is actually called." The video then showed the logo for the game.

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BertvB posted a photo:

A peaceful and evocative sunset silhouette photograph captured in the nature reserves surrounding Arcen, Limburg. Shot at 40mm with f/11 and 1/1250s shutter speed, a flock of wild geese flies in formation across a glowing amber sky as the setting sun dips behind a dark treeline, capturing the true spirit of early autumn migration.

WASHINGTON (ANP) - De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump volgt de midterms op televisie. Hij schreef op sociale media dat hij Fox News keek, zonder verder in detail te treden over het verloop van de verkiezingen.

Wel klaagde hij over de "onuitstaanbare" stem van een van de vrouwen in de uitzending. "Ik moet ergens anders heen tot die LOSER van de buis is - ik ben straks weer terug!"

CNN schrijft dat Trump de uitslagen gaat bekijken met een groepje bondgenoten en kabinetsleden in de East Room van het Witte Huis. Zijn Republikeinen riskeren bij deze verkiezingen hun nipte meerderheden in het Congres te verliezen.

Trump heeft achter gesloten deuren toegegeven dat zijn partij mogelijk afstevent op het slechtst mogelijke scenario, zeggen bronnen tegen de nieuwszender. Hij leek soms te hopen dat de peilingen ernaast blijken te zitten.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - De overheid is de afgelopen jaren onbetrouwbaar geweest voor boeren, concludeert de Nationale ombudsman na een onderzoek onder de beroepsgroep. Plannen werden steeds aangepast, ingetrokken of uitgesteld, en belangrijke besluiten bleven lang onzeker. "Deze onbetrouwbaarheid heeft de afgelopen jaren geleid tot stilstand en gebrek aan toekomstperspectief voor boeren."

In zijn rapport citeert ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen boeren die in de knel kwamen door toedoen van overheden. "Wij weten al sinds 2019 niet waar we aan toe zijn", zegt een van hen, verwijzend naar het jaar dat de rechter het stikstofbeleid van tafel veegde. "Het is niet betrouwbaar als elk kabinet weer zijn eigen ijkpuntjes gaat zetten zonder consistent beleid."

Overheidsorganisaties moeten volgens de ombudsman zo veel mogelijk als één overheid handelen, maar ook aan die 'regierol' ontbrak het volgens de ombudsman. Bovendien zijn de regels voor veel boeren onduidelijk.

Onderzoekers spraken namens de ombudsman met 32 boeren en met andere betrokkenen zoals brancheorganisatie LTO, de Rabobank en natuurorganisaties. Zelf ging Van Zutphen ook langs bij boeren. Ze hebben vooral behoefte aan toekomstperspectief, concludeert hij. Boeren willen duidelijke regels, met de ruimte om zelfstandig in te vullen hoe ze hun doelen kunnen bereiken.

Volgens de ombudsman moet de overheid doelen voor de lange termijn stevig in de wet vastleggen. "Tegelijkertijd is het belangrijk om te erkennen dat er altijd partijen teleurgesteld zullen zijn in de uitkomst."

Landbouwminister Jaimi van Essen (D66) is bezig om nieuwe regels uit te werken die Nederland uit de stikstofcrisis moeten helpen. Die regels vragen ook veel van boeren, merkte het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving al op. Op sommige plekken is het mogelijk niet realistisch dat boerenbedrijven kunnen blijven bestaan.

De landbouw zal hoe dan ook veranderen, schrijft Van Zutphen. Sommige boeren zullen hun bedrijf aanpassen, minder dieren houden of zelfs stoppen. "Dat raakt aan hun boerenidentiteit. Meer erkenning hiervoor van de overheid helpt om de overgang naar een toekomstbestendig landbouwsysteem te maken."

De jaarlijkse vergelijking van vijftig gemeenten voor de Atlas voor gemeenten wijst onder meer uit dat Maastricht klimt op meerdere ranglijsten. En ook: „Bereikbaar aanbod van banen over de grens, is niet automatisch toegankelijk aanbod.”

‘It’s the disregard for the rule of law. It just seems like they’re thumbing their nose at it’

In the battleground state of Maine, Todd Cox, 63, has supported the state’s incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins not once, but twice, in previous elections. Not this time.

On Tuesday, Cox, a technology professional, cast his vote for Collins’ Democratic challenger Troy Jackson – driven not by pressing local issues, but broader concern “for the direction the country is going in”, he said.

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“This stadium brings back bad memories but I hope to be able to replace them with good ones,” Harry Kane had said on Monday night, and 24 hours later this was a start. A small step, perhaps, towards coming back on 5 June and having a second go at winning the Champions League in the arena where he lost the 2019 final. On his first European outing since winning the Ballon d’Or, the England captain was unable to score but he and his Bayern Munich team defeated Atlético Madrid, fellow semi-finalists from last season. They did so in a way that suggests that their candidacy this season is serious.

It may not have been sparkling but they had been superior almost from the start, dominant in physique and football. This is a team with few weaknesses, intense and impressive throughout. All Atlético could do was resist and it never truly felt like they would be able to do that for ninety minutes; ultimately, they lasted 54. That was when Lennart Karl scored the first. The superb Konrad Laimer then added the second on a night when they racked up nineteen shots. It had been heavy going for a while, and they had been made to wait, but in the end Bayern were just that bit too good.

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In a recent video, Kurzgesagt explores what we know about the first human civilizations that formed some 12,000 years ago and how they led to the first cities and the invention of writing.

What we know about human history is only a fraction of the full story. Much of the rest is like dark matter, invisible to us. We can’t see it, and we can only see the effects of its presence. But thanks to new techniques for DNA sequencing, dating ancient detritus, mathematical models, and aerial and lidar archaeology, we are now able to get a faint idea of what this world might have looked and felt like.

One thing I really appreciate about Kurzgesagt is how each of their videos is accompanied by an extensive list of sources. For instance, I’m not sure I’d heard about the massive Lake Agassiz draining into the world’s oceans and disrupting the entire planet’s climate some 8200 years ago — and there are several primary sources listed for further reading. Here’s how Kurzgesagt tells it:

Around the year 3800 of the human era a sudden catastrophe happened in North America. The receding glaciers of the last ice age had created one of the largest lakes in Earth’s history, larger than the Caspian Sea today. It was held back by super massive ice sheets, which formed a gigantic dam.

Surprising no one, the dam melted and suddenly failed – the whole lake suddenly drained into the ocean. Global sea levels rose by 1-2 meters and the great conveyor belt that carried warm water northwards slowed down. Across the North Atlantic and Europe, and into the Near East, the climate turned colder and drier – in some regions by several degrees. Rain patterns shifted, summers grew longer and harsher, and a drought lasting well over a century parched the land.

And:

We know that during this time all over the world migration towards rivers and lakes sped up — bringing agriculture and technology with them. Some of the most consequential journeys led into the Nile Valley, where farming villages took root and slowly laid the ground for the rich civilization that would one day rise there.

From Wikipedia:

Lake Agassiz’s major drainage reorganization events were of such magnitudes that they significantly impacted climate, sea level, and possibly early human civilization. The lake’s enormous freshwater release into the Arctic Ocean has been postulated to have disrupted oceanic circulation and caused temporary cooling. The draining of 13,000 years ago may be the cause of the Younger Dryas stadial. Although disputed, the draining at 9,900–10,000 years ago may be the cause of the 8,200 yr climate event. A study by Turney and Brown links the 8,500-years-ago drainage to the expansion of agriculture from east to west across Europe; they suggest that this drainage may also account for various flood myths of ancient cultures, including the Biblical flood narrative.

Fascinating.

Tags: archaeology · kurzgesagt · science · video