For a while in college I was unable to use my right hand. I brought a laptop to take notes but found I got more out of the classes by paying attention and not taking any notes in the lectures and being an active participant in seminars. Of course everyone's learning style is different so YMMV. Also, the freebee laptop I was using was so old that there was limited opportunity for distraction (I took notes in DOS EDIT as win 3.11 ran too slow on it).

Relatively safe unless there are components in your fuel delivery system that are vulnerable to polar solvents, like the fuel pump seals in my car.

Last year I did a bit of a survey of what's out there in the small aircraft space as I have a dream of one day building my own basic ultralight (similar rules here to what is called a Light Sport Aircraft in the US).

Most of the aircraft engines out there are based on either the VW bug engine or 1970's snowmobile engines. From what I've read it looks like it's mainly fear of liability that keeps newer designs out of the air. Just about any engine would be reliable if it's rebuilt every 300 hours, so long as it has a dry sump and intake preheat. The Yamaha Genesis series of snowmobile engines look like just the ticket... They have dry sump and preheat, but they also have much higher efficiency and lower emissions. Furthermore they have power density (130HP model is

In the STOL wingplan arena there's been a few experiments comparing full-length leading edge slots to wings with vortex generators. Vortex generators seem to provide almost as much lift at high angles/low speeds, but produce a whole lot less drag in cruise.

There's a few designs out there for propellers for small STOL aircraft that are quiet and efficient. The "Windspoon" by Duc Helices is an example.

Electric would be much lower emissions (especially where I live where almost all comes from hydroelectric or wind), but Lithium Polymer batteries are crazy expensive. A strictly airport-to-airport planned and schedulled service could do well with electric. I want to take my plane camping. Maybe by the time I can afford to build a plane the cost and energy density of batteries will make this possible.

Hmmm... AMD 1090T $279.98 CDN, ... Intel i7 960 $651.98 CDN, .... The $372 difference can buy a whopping GPU, Stack of RAM, or SSD (or contribute to all 3), which will probably make a bigger difference anyways, depending on workload. (Prices from NCIX.com, I am not affiliated with them)

You seem to be confusing corola with a small car. Perhaps you are used to the behemoths the american car market has. The Toyota that's for the use you describe is the Yaris. Other manufacturers (including Ford europe) also have basic, light, low wind resistance transportation, but I don't remember them all off the top of my head.

Look at the pictures. This version is NOTHING like the old version. The old version was a small jeep; this is a small station wagon.

Slinky down from space!