I note that you have offered no rebuttals of the parent's points save "I know what I am talking about". I'm not sure you do. Would you please expand on how and why you think the parent is wrong? Note that if by "getting into an academic career" you mean "getting tenure", the I suggest you re-read the parent post carefully.

What does this even mean?

Actually, since we're on topic now, I have been looking for a good way to get into JavaScript that steers clear of the cargo cult mentality. Do you have any pointers for books, tutorials etc?

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3041.txt

People keep saying it, but not sourcing it. Care to?

We have two, one before and one after the security control :P