I think that the energy (and mass of fuel) required to launch from L2 is a lot less than L1 since l2 is on a gravitational "tether" of about 450,000 km (more or less). launching at a particular spot in the orbit means it has a considerable initial velocity.

I've been programming on ond off since 1975 and I came to realize that it was the problem solving that I liked. I think some one stated explicitly that programming was problem solving in the blog "Coding Horror" recently. Of course to be good at problem solving takes practice. After a while one remembers a similar problem that one solved. (That's a lot like math.) Perhaps some version of that technique might be suitable or one realizes that the first technique could have been better and the improvement could be used for the current problem. An inquisitive mindset and the ability to reduce the problem to its essentials helps, too.

It helps to know one's tools well, too. I've heard a musician say that they could finally make good music when their instrument no longer came between them and their music and I think it's the same for programming. When use of the languages and IDE are second nature one can concentrate on the problem solving. I've never worked in a shop where someone handing me detailed design, though. My work assignments have been some thing like: "This is the input and we need these features". Or "this is the output we need (to feed to some other software) design the input and data gathering protocol". So perhaps my "world view" is a bit insular.

So the answer to the question, IMHO, is "no".

A mathematician, Chris, needed to boil some water and found that the kettle was on the table. After some thought Chris took the kettle to the sink, filled it with water, placed the filled kettle the stove burner, turned on the burner, and waited for the water to boil. The next time the kettle was on the counter. Chris thought about this new situation, placed the kettle on the table, and proceeded as before.

Why would one want all kids to know programming? We don't require all kids to know automotive design or repair, nor manufacturing techniques for flat panel displays, nor cellphone antenna design, etc.

Programming uses math? Well some arithmetic, surely, but usually not much else.

Perhaps some sort of a fun introductory course might be good as it might spark interest in programming for some students, though.

My first thought was that FDE which is required on all notebooks at the agency where I work has now made the startup time go from (a long) very few minutes to an excruciating 15 minutes, more or less. For instance it takes that long for the systems calculations of mouse cursor postion to agree with where it appears to be to me and I can't really do any work on the computer until it settles. The passwords are awful, too. I keep mine in an encrypted file on my smartphone - if I remember. Gotta put the username/password in twice, too; once for FDE and once again for Windows (but it used to be three times so that's progress of a sort.)

No way! I don't know if Stormy Weather is alive but if she is she must be in her 70s. Bump, grind, BUMP - there goes another server off line! More bumps, grinds, etc and whoops there goes her top. What a rack! STACK OVERFLOW.

"Putting the "converting water into hydrogen" into headline is misleading reporting."

Yes, but it's great misleading reporting since it implies the fission of oxygen and the fission products all the way down to hydrogen. That's a somewhat endothermic process (cough, cough). Who needs to read the article with that great title?

Don't hold Ford SYNC up as a model. My version, about 6 months old, fails on nearly a daily basis. It's by Microsoft and I wish they had included a version of the three fingered salute.

I'd like a token gift so I'd love to for my hacker to show me how to download some free cool wallpaper.

It can go from NY to London in an hour? Wow, it must have a big fuel tank and be really efficient.

" How will Twitter distinguish between positive Tweets coming from voters or news outlets and those from spam bots designed to drive the conversation surrounding a candidate one way or the other? "

Follow the money.

I didn't notice a definition of intelligence and wonder how they define it. ("Well we know it when we see it.")

I think potential intelligence is the ability to provide high quality genes (in the adaptive sense) to the next generation. Realized intelligence then would mean one has already done so but I suspect that only a much later generation would be able to apply the classification with any accuracy.

If I understand it correctly what the "amateurs only" rule really meant was that only Gentlemen could participate. The working class couldn't afford the time to train and participate nor the expenses and that kept the Gentlemen from having to associate with their inferiors as equals.

CMIIW

One cannot drive at any reasonable speed that will guarantee that all obstacles will be seen in time, but conservative speeds can be chosen to set the risk at a low level. For instance at night a pedestrian dressed all in black can suddenly appear too at a distance too close for the driver to be able to stop. If the system is detecting problems before they are seen a prudent driver might decide to slow down to slow down.

Some drivers will probably think that the system (like anti skid brakes) will provide protection and drive faster than they should, somewhat analogous to teens becoming sexually promiscuous after taking courses which inform them of the details of contraception.

"He's dead, Jim."

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html, has apparently been down all day; wonder if this is the cause.

Anyone heard from the Space Lab today?