Wow, simply amazing, very well done to the author! I'm not sure where I could use this - to take the slightly cruel point of another commenter, if Geocities were in use today I think their users would be all over this - but it's a very neat effect, and I'm sure someone will find a snazzy user interface use for it!
The ads displayed in the home page http://css-tricks.com/ are not Google ads (or any other middle man, for that matter). Do you think this practice is on the rise?
Huh? It's an ad inserted via JS through BuySellAds; it's a network of niche blogs where you can buy ad space directly on a particular site, instead of the network matching your ad with content contextually, or doing a category run.
It's a very unsophisticated way to deliver ads, it requires more advertiser intervention, and it costs more. But the publisher has more control over asset display and it looks more legitimate.