An autogyro (that's a helicopter where the rotor is not powered, instead using a prop or jet or so for forward propulsion) would get really close. Especially if you add an engine to spin up the rotors for extra lift at take-off, and even (near) vertical landing is feasible. Forward speeds of such vehicles are low for an aircraft, so a more regular car body shape could be aerodynamic enough.

Do they fly (well) with only three engines?

Of course, however, like the average multi purpose tools, you need to carry around only one instead of two. That's a great advantage in itself. So even though it doesn't drive as easily as a car and it doesn't fly as well as an aeroplane, it still beats having to lug an aircraft around on a trailer behind your car.

It's not so much my definition - it's more my interpretation of marketing-speak.

That it is "production-ready" doesn't necessarily mean it's being produced.

The linked video shows that while it looks more plane than car, it has much more car-properties than plane-properties.

It flies, but it doesn't look very stable when in the air, and it is only shown flying low above a runway. As this is a promo video, this means to me that this is the best they can do, and that they're not able to fly it above more interesting landscapes - be it due to licensing, or capabilities, or other reasons.

"Simple earth science stuff"? I don't think so. If it were that simple grade-school-level stuff (it was not taught to me in grade school, though maybe nowadays they do), why would there be so much discussion in the scientific world?

BTW you don't provide any actual answer to my question. Just more hypotheses. Of course I know heat is a form of energy, and there's this law of conservation of energy - that's why my question. What happens to that energy, where does it go? Does it all stay in the water? Mostly stay there? Is only the top layer affected and is the heat released before it affects lower layers as well? The answers to those questions tell how serious the ocean warming effect is and how it influences the rest of the climate and ecosystems. It's complex matter, not simple at all, and any attempt to simplify it so far has failed.

Even in Perl the original source is usually understood by the programmer. This means that, given enough effort, another human programmer can figure out what it does.

As I understand it, it's the compiler output which is obfuscated. Not the source code itself. After all, the original source code must be understood by a human programmer in order to be written in the first place.

With such temperature changes measured in the tenth of degrees, I don't expect to suddenly have a sea warm enough to swim in during winter time :)

I wonder what happens to all the heat that's being taken up by the oceans. Is any of it released - and if so, how? Evaporation and heat needed to melt polar ice come to mind as possibilities. Or is it going to stay there, forever warming the oceans, and the oceans increasing in temperature forever.

The next thing is of course the question of how it affects the deeper oceans. Are those layers also warmed up - for example thanks to ocean currents mixing the water of the world's oceans?

And I always thought that PERL had been invented just for this purpose. That language has obfuscation built in!

Currently there are hybrid diesel/electrical double decker buses on trial in Hong Kong. Lots of stop and go traffic of course, which is what the trial routes have been selected for as there the most savings can be made. No more idling engines for starters!

How these would work for long-distance travel like trucks tend to do, I don't know. Savings will be far less there.

Indeed. CY is a proxy. Having him step down would indeed mean a massive loss of face for the Chinese government, it'd be the second CE that has to resign as a result of mass protests (Tung Chee-Hwa officially resigned for health reasons iirc, but it's widely believed the real reason was the mass protest earlier that year). That, plus the inevitable retraction of the reform package that'd follow.

Interesting times ahead!

This "saving face" is not just politics - it's culture. It doesn't account just for the mainland government, also for the HK government, and even (to a lesser extent) the opposition politicians. For individuals and companies not having to lose face is just as important as it is for politicians. For the central government there's even more at stake, as president Xi has been working hard to cement his power in the mainland, and if he gives in to Hong Kong protests, that could give reason to mainlanders to start protests as well - if the government gives in once, it may happen again.

Many HK people will also not question the legitimacy of the Beijing government directly, certainly not as much as the legitimacy of the HK government is questioned. The mainland government I believe is mostly accepted as a fact, something we have to live with and we're not going to change. It's also seen as a government that should stay out of Hong Kong's internal affairs - let them take care of the foreign and defence policies, leave everything else to Hong Kong. Some may respect that government, others not so much, it's not something the Hongkongers can do anything about.

CY already called the protests of being "out of control". The local daily South China Morning Post correctly added that he probably meant that it was out of his control.

How the officials managed to reach Golden Bauhinia Square this morning for their ceremony, I really don't know. Many roads in the vicinity were occupied, so getting their in their oversized limos would have been an issue. The ceremony has been short, the fireworks tonight were cancelled. No matter what, the HK government lost quite a bit of face here.

Anyway, there are indeed not that many people in Hong Kong that care too much about the central or HK government losing face. Not many will be out to deliberately make them lose face which again is against Chinese culture, however in this case Hong Kong's interests come first, helping them not losing face is a distant second.