Unfortunately last time I browsed without adblocker there are still those flashy animated gifs in use. Very distracting, very irritating, making it hard to read the text you want. That's why flashblock is not enough for me.

So true.

The problem is that Facebook et.al. are trying too hard, and the advertisers think that's the way to go. It's not.

It used to be much simpler. Tech ads go on Slashdot, motorcycle boot ads go on a motorcycling enthusiast site, hand bags go on a fashion accessories site. The mere fact that I'm reading Slashdot means I'm interested in tech. If I'd be reading a motorbike site, I'd likely be interested in motorbikes and related stuff. When visiting a baby site, guess what, good chance I'm expecting one or just got one, and would be interested in baby beds, baby clothes, baby toys and crap like that. What's so hard about that?

And then there are the rare moments that I'm actively looking at ads - those moments are typically when I'm searching Google in order to buy something, or to book a hotel somewhere, or something like that. As long as Google is smart and bases the ads on the keywords that I enter there and then, they often tend to be relevant to what I'm interested in. As a matter of fact I've used Google AdWords quite some time ago, and it did get me quite some business, it was money well spent. Nowadays in a different business the clicks are just too expensive to be worth it... (I have to offer USD 1.3-1.5 per click, even on what I thought are rather specific and uncommon search words).

I don't think there is really a need for advertisers to know my age, whether I'm married, or my current gender. My search terms, and the sites that I visit, should give plenty of clues about that. I know a few sites out there that actually have relevant ads (and where the ads are not blocked by the adblocker!) as they sell their ads themselves. Of course for most small sites that's not practical, so they buy wholesale from an ad network, and get crap. Luckily that's also the crap that's adblocked easiest.

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.