Those who are serious about learning logic design for custom integrated circuits and gate arrays should learn Verilog, or better yet SystemVerilog. Python is great and all but the logic tools are built around Verilog and VHDL and require static typing. Once one knows Verilog and VHDL, then Python, Perl, etc. can be used to dynamically abstract and stamp out repetitive stuff better than the native HDL languages.

Let's hope the Asian carp doesn't take hold in Lake Huron.

I recall having to learn Scheme and Fortran in first year CS after already knowing Basic & Pascal. Scheme was good for some theory on functional programming and recursion but not very practical for side projects (like web-apps and such). Today I think Python or Java would be a good first language and I think new programmers should be brought up to speed on OOA/OOD/OOP ASAP. PHP might be another good option, which would tie in with HTML. I think young people should be taught a pragmatic language that allows them to get whatever pet project they can dream up off the ground. More and more these pet project would likely be a web-based app.

Optical networking in free space for data transfer is nothing new. A company called fSONA offers fiber-like connectivity up to 7km and 2.5Gbps. Looks like they target military, federal service providers and enterprise customers. "point-to-point laser signal is extremely difficult to intercept, and therefore secure" -- http://www.fsona.com/solutions.php