I don't understand your distinction between accountability and responsibility. As far as I can tell, each entails at least a certain acceptance of the consequences which are brought on by one's words or actions.
My personal belief is that anonymity impedes effective communication because it has no need to back up meanless dithering with any substance. This incompatibility is my reasoning for my rejection of any need for anonymity beyond that which pseudonyms and no personal encounters provide.
Organized, riot-like protests do not achieve that which you seem to be ascribing to them. Another post has offered the example of the French revolution, and the Russian revolution is a similar example, but anybody who has anything beyond a chronological understanding of history would know that each of these protests (or multiple protests) led to regimes even more oppressive than the ones at which they aimed their protests.
As for working conditions, organized protest is not the way progress is most often achieved. In countries where labour and labour conditions are most progressive, it has been done through legislation (see: 19th century Britain). Such legislation, negotiation and progression is what these WTO conferences are all about. Protesters really need to rethink their strategy - instead of standing in the way of the bus, they need to get in the bus so people can hear what they have to say.
Ironically, the avenue they are presently employing, while gaining the most attention, is the way they are least likely to have their voices heard by anyone of any importance.
If VB has one thing going for it, it is ease of use. Having hardly paid any attention in class for the last two years of my HS Computer Science class, I have been able to get by (with a 95% or so) mainly by reading the help files. Obviously, efficiency isn't a forte, but that doesn't seem to be important in North American culture (ie: SUVs, Windows, etc.)
As for Java, I can only speak for what I know, but it seems to be getting some attention at the university level. A local university teaches nothing but Java for 1st-year Computer Science students. Perhaps the exposure is gaining it popularity.
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I don't understand your distinction between accountability and responsibility. As far as I can tell, each entails at least a certain acceptance of the consequences which are brought on by one's words or actions.
My personal belief is that anonymity impedes effective communication because it has no need to back up meanless dithering with any substance. This incompatibility is my reasoning for my rejection of any need for anonymity beyond that which pseudonyms and no personal encounters provide.
Organized, riot-like protests do not achieve that which you seem to be ascribing to them. Another post has offered the example of the French revolution, and the Russian revolution is a similar example, but anybody who has anything beyond a chronological understanding of history would know that each of these protests (or multiple protests) led to regimes even more oppressive than the ones at which they aimed their protests.
As for working conditions, organized protest is not the way progress is most often achieved. In countries where labour and labour conditions are most progressive, it has been done through legislation (see: 19th century Britain). Such legislation, negotiation and progression is what these WTO conferences are all about. Protesters really need to rethink their strategy - instead of standing in the way of the bus, they need to get in the bus so people can hear what they have to say.
Ironically, the avenue they are presently employing, while gaining the most attention, is the way they are least likely to have their voices heard by anyone of any importance.
If VB has one thing going for it, it is ease of use. Having hardly paid any attention in class for the last two years of my HS Computer Science class, I have been able to get by (with a 95% or so) mainly by reading the help files. Obviously, efficiency isn't a forte, but that doesn't seem to be important in North American culture (ie: SUVs, Windows, etc.)
As for Java, I can only speak for what I know, but it seems to be getting some attention at the university level. A local university teaches nothing but Java for 1st-year Computer Science students. Perhaps the exposure is gaining it popularity.