It's articles such as this that scare developers away from C. You honestly do not have to mind meld with the C compiler to be a safe and productive C developer. If you're not sure what's going to happen if you don't initialize a variable then that's OK, because most developers realize that being explicit is better than allowing the implicit case to occur in every language.
Sure, but I don't think this slideshow was targeted towards the developer who does not already know C. Instead, it seems to be targeted towards the semi-experienced C developer who lacks a deep understanding of the standard. Whether or not that kind of understanding is necessary for everyday coding is a different topic altogether, but the main point of the article is sound: take every opportunity to learn.
