Vindication
Isn't it nice when you go out on your own to make an assertion, and then some time later someone backs it up? Maybe it's a case of throwing enough shit that at least some of it sticks, but I'll take two recent events as vindication to enjoy anyway.
Back in early 2008 I mused about the folly I saw in emphasising the memorisation of timestables as a critical part of mathematics education. My point was that there is so much "depth, application and beauty" available in mathematics, that spending time on mechanics that will develop naturally anyway is flawed. The few responses I received generally refuted the argument as fantasy. It was uplifting then, to read Paul Lockhart's "A Mathematician's Lament" (a worthwhile foreword to the essay is here), in which Paul passionately argues that the concept of beauty in mathematics is completely obscured by the robotic rote learning of traditional mathematics education. Paul's manner is rather extreme but his thoughts are based only on frustration gained through years of experience. At least it's nice to know I'm not the only one with the fantasy.
Later in 2008 I ranted about the painful NSW road toll fiasco. I followed it up with a link to a Sydney Morning Herald article that added a facts-and-figures backed addendum to my raving. A couple of months after writing the article I finally caved and signed up for an E-Toll account in anticipation of a Sydney trip. I racked up $5.20 during that trip, it was deducted from my $10 minimum deposit and the magic toll beeper has sat in my bedside drawer ever since. Six months later the RTA themselves vindicated my rant by showing just how hostile they could make their toll system. In June I was sent a delightful email by the RTA informing me that my account had been "Blacklisted" and I may be issued a Toll Notice if I travel on a Toll Road, since the account had reached the minimum required balance of $0. Confident that my bedside drawer had not taken any trips to Sydney in the last six months, I logged on to find I'd been charged not for using toll roads, but for having the account. $1.25 a month of "account management fees" had quickly reduced my balance to zero and prompted the ominous "blacklist" email. Fine I thought, I'm on the blacklist, I get it, I promise I'll stay away from Sydney. That was not enough it seems, as another email arrived a couple of days ago with my latest statement (for my "blacklist" account). The monthly "account management fees" have not been blacklisted in the slightest, and combined with a unexplained "toll facilities" charge of $6.65, I'm now $9.60 in the red. That'll teach me for trying to pay my tolls.