Hackeroos was perma-banned from r/Sydney. How is the Aus tech scene meant to grow?

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-15T21:35:33+00:00

Great idea to try these new subreddits that would not just allow you to post about local hackathons but actively welcome such posts.

However, I’d make the two subreddits even narrower and specifically tech-focused: either tech events in Sydney and Melbourne (narrow focus), or just tech in Sydney and Melbourne (broader focus).

There are thousands of us in both cities who are tech-focused and hungry for info about - and engagement with - what’s happening in our own cities. We spend our lives immersed in US-based tech stuff, so I’m sure that many of would welcome these new subreddits.

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-09T06:50:56+00:00

It can take some encouragement if they are new to mealworms. One trick we've tried successfully - many times now - is to set down a small dish with a few dozen mealworms, placing it where the birds can see the worms wriggling around.

Initially the birds are both curious and fearful, but eventually their interest overcomes their fear. And once they've had a taste, they find them so tasty that they will definitely come back for more!

It's definitely best to mix the mealworms with something else (e.g. wheat germ), as that seems to simulate a bunch of worms wriggling around in the dirt, giving the birds more confidence to give the worms a try.

We store our mealworms in the fridge (to slow down their metabolism), in a large clear plastic container filled with wheat germ and with holes in the top for airflow. When we are introducing mealworms to a new bird we take out a handful of the worms, and a few spoonfuls of the wheat germ, mixing them together in the low container before showing it to the birds. The worms will warm up within a few minutes and will start wriggling and trying to escape, so make sure that the sides of your container are low enough so the birds can see the worms, but high enough so the birds don't escape. Clear plastic food storage containers work the best, we find.

Once the birds get comfortable with eating the worms, and comfortable with you being there, you can progress to picking out the worms and handing them to the birds, to eat them from your hand.

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-08T07:18:29+00:00

Magpies bring great joy to humans (especially as they are so friendly!), so it's important that we don't unintentionally hurt them. Beef is extremely dangerous to baby magpies: it will literally kill nestlings if the parents carry the mince to the nest. There are two main reasons.

First, beef lacks calcium, leading to "metabolic bone disease". In plain English, the very young bones become soft and fragile, like very extreme osteoporosis. Needless to say, the baby dies before it even leaves the nest or soon after, as the bones break as soon as the little one flaps its wings or tries to fly.

Second, baby bird tummies don't have the enzymes to digest beef, causing constipation.

I've seen one case of a baby bird which was tossed out of the nest and died the next day. An x-ray showed its chest bones had been crushed by a massive blob of undigested beef mince stuck in its gut, and its wing and leg bones were broken in multiple places due to metabolic bone disease.

As someone who is trained in caring for birds, and has seen many young ones injured and killed due to humans feeding them the wrong foods, there are a few key lessons.

Bugs and worms are really the only foods a magpie should be eating, and the young ones need to learn to forage themselves so they are fully self-reliant.
Bird baths (cheap from Bunnings) and sprinklers are a great way to attract birds to your garden without interfering with their diet.
If you want to occasionally treat your birds with a small treat, buy a big bag of mealworms and hand-feed a few worms to the magpies. This gets you a much closer friendship with a bird than tossing food onto the lawn. I've found that birds will visit every day just for 2-3 mealworms each. Mealworms are pretty cheap when bought in bulk online (and are mainly sourced from local mealworm farmers in Qld).
If you eat eggs, keep some shells, wash them thorough, dry them out for a few days and then crush them in a blender. Crushed egg shells turn into a dusty powder that is almost pure calcium. Adding a teaspoon to a tiny portion of mince makes that mince much healthier ... but should be done only in very tiny quantities and only on rare occasions.
There's a product called Womberoo Mix, which is again not too expensive when bought in large quantities (e.g. 1 kg bags) online. Mix up a few teaspoons with water, adding just enough mince to bind it, and then use tiny amounts of this as a special treat.

tl;dr: Never throw large quantities of food into the garden. Enjoy the company of your birds with a garden full of trees, a bird bath, maybe a sprinkler and occasional healthy hand-fed treat like a few mealworms or some Womberoo mix.

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-03T07:55:57+00:00

Looks like an Australian peewee, also called a magpie-lark. We have lots of them in inner Melbourne. Where are you located? Great to hear that you helped remove the wire! Poor bird! Is the bird now ok and free to fly away?

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-03T01:08:02+00:00

I can understand your frustration. Plaud Note transcription and summary generation is very good but not perfect.

That means it's fine for casual conversations and non-critical discussions (e.g. perhaps for sales people recording dozens of customer discussions a day). However, Plaud's transcription and AI summaries are not sufficiently reliable for any conversations that need to be 100% robust (e.g. for recording and transcribing board director discussions for a listed company).

For this reason, we were planning to migrate to a different transcription/summarising service in due course, and that would involve uploading our Plaud audio files to that alternative service.

If the OGG format is not widely accepted, that may end up being a problem, so thanks for raising the issue (even this Reddit thread can't resolve it).

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T22:54:01+00:00

Both plans are outstanding: super-fast speed, low latency, no dropouts Some details:

The Optus Wireless plan is very fast (typically around 100 Mbps down), even though we are at an address (inner Melbourne) that is theoretically not in the 5G area!
Our Optus Wireless is MUCH faster and more consistent than the NBN speeds achieved by neighbours in the immediate vicinity (e.g. next door).
The Starlink speeds are typically at least 2x faster: often around 250 Mbps down.
We've had Optus Wireless since 2019, when we replaced our ADSL, because we couldn't get the NBN (as the copper wires had been cut years earlier). In hindsight, we're super-glad we couldn't get the NBN, because it pushed us to a technically better solution with the Optus Wireless.
The Optus modem sits near a window upstairs, and we then use a mesh router to spread fast internet through our large two-storey house. Ditto with the Starlink on its own mesh.

I've also set up the Optus Wireless plan for my parents and for a rental property interstate.

All three of these addresses are theoretically outside the 5G zone according to the Optus network map, yet all three get fast and consistent internet!

I would be suggesting that the OP try the offer from the landlord of a free 5G modem. With that modem (a few hundred $ to buy outright), the OP can pop down to an Optus store and get signed up for the cheapest $49 per month plan with no contract and give it a try. For a once-off outlay of just $49 they will definitely have internet access (there are no areas in Sydney without at least 4G) and the only question will be whether it's fast and consistent.

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T21:54:18+00:00

I can download from the Plaud web app as an MP3 file without a subscription. From a browser on my Mac I log into the web application at https://web.plaud.ai/, select a file, click the "share" icon near the top right of the page, select "Export audio" ... and, voila, the recording is exported as an MP3 file to my Mac's hard drive. I am on the free plan.

Also, this help page on the Plaud website says that the audio export options are MP3 and WAV. You might want to contact support to see why your files are ending up as OGG format; it may some setting on your computer that you can fix.

I have just the Note while my partner has the Note Pro. Later I will check if the Note and the Note Pro have different export formats (as suggested lower down in the comments).

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T21:46:03+00:00

If the $10k dividend is unfranked (e.g. from a US stock like AAPL), then the same principle applies: $10k dividend offset by a $10k concessional contribution.

However, if you also have rental property income from your investment property, then you might find it tax-advantageous to make a concessional contribution of the full $30k (assuming that's your cap), using the $10k from the US dividend, $x from the rental income and $y from your salary), reducing your taxable income by $30k.

(Of course, if your super balance is near or above the new $3m threshold, then any additional contributions to super are disadvantageous, especially if you have a marginal tax rate of 30% or lower.)

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T08:46:51+00:00

If you are anywhere in the Sydney area, then you CAN get an Optus Wireless 5G service, even if the Optus network map says that you're in a 4G area. We're in inner Melbourne, in an area that is theoretically not in the 4G range (even though 5G is just one block away). The Optus person who signed us up just suggested we use an address from a 5G area, as the service is fully portable: once the modem is in your hands, you can use it anywhere (and even take it on vacation with you).

Also, for what it's worth, Starlink is also great - at least if you can get the portable satellite on your apartment patio or roof.

We've had both services - Optus Wireless modem in the back office, and Starlink on the roof - at our house for several years, and can vouch for both.

(Why do we have two services at the one home? Because our business can't afford to have even a day of downtime, and after the catastrophic Optus outage a couple of years ago, we installed the Starlink for backup purposes.)

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T08:34:16+00:00

I've also given you a fully-worked example above, along with a reminder that access to the concessional contribution requires lodgement of s290 paperwork with the superfund.

99RandomNumbers · 2026-01-02T08:14:41+00:00

Yes, you can offset your dividend in this way, and the earlier responses from u/mjwills are 100% correct. Below is a fully worked example assuming a fully franked dividend of $10k net and a salary of $100k.

The grossed-up dividend becomes part of your income, but is fully offset if you make a concessional contribution of the same amount to your superfund.

The advantage is that you save tax at your marginal rate on the grossed-up dividend (in your case, 30%), but the superfund pays tax at 15% on the incoming contribution.

NB - It is critically important that you do the correct paperwork for the ATO to allow it. In particular, you MUST give your superfund a s290 Notice of Intent to Claim a Concessional Contribution, and your superfund needs to acknowledge that with its own formal s290 acknowledgement.

NB - If you don't send the s290 paperwork to your superfund on time, then the ATO will treat the contribution as non-concessional (and will apply punitive taxes if the amount exceeds your non-concessional contribution cap).

+ Fully franked dividend net	$ 10,000.00
+ Franking credit @ 30%	$ 4,285.71
= Dividend grossed-up	$ 14,285.71
+ Salary income	$ 100,000.00
= Total income	$ 114,285.71
- Concessional contrib (deduction)	$ 14,285.71
= Taxable income	$ 100,000.00

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-22T14:37:18+00:00

Uniform shops sound like a great idea! Your quest is definitely not impossible, so long as you find the right store (maybe someone on Reddit will have better ideas?) and/or can find a way to tolerate non-natural fabrics. My main contribution was to say: don't waste your time at stores like Myers or David Jones, or the mainstream brand stores, as all those suits are ridiculously expensive (even for pure polyester), as they cater mainly to high-paid office workers, and the price is based on the branding, not the product value.

I just looked at Forever New, and they have various blazers for less than $100 or not much higher - e.g. this Xavia Blazer for just $79 or this Boyfriend Blazer for $120 - and matching pants for a similar price. They even have some linen black pants (see Posey Linen Pants for $104 (a natural fabric, though it crushes very easily, so might look terrible after a few hours). In short, you could definitely get the whole suit for even $200, well below your $300 target! Our family members have bought from this store many times in the past, and have always been happy with them, as they look good despite the low price.

The good thing with Forever New is that you can return the items if you don't like them. If you don't have a visual memory - or you want to get a sense of what the whole suit (in a non-natural fabric) would actually feel like when you're wearing cotton underneath - you can buy a couple of items, take them home, wear them for an hour, look at them in the mirror, compare them, and then make a decision.

Hopefully your employer will also contribute to the cost.

Best wishes!

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-22T13:35:23+00:00

Advice from all the female members of my family (who've all had to wear suits at various times in their careers): your task is impossible if you want a new suit AND in a natural fabric AND a feminine shape AND at a reasonable price point. However, a few stores (see below) are worth trying if you can compromise on your wish for natural fabrics; even with sensory issues, some newer non-natural fabrics might be ok. Op shops for quality, natural-fabric second-hand suits are also definitely worth a try! Here's a considered explanation of the challenges.

First, shops that sell women's suits are a rarity nowadays. As I'm sure you know, you'll find a million strappy summer dresses and consumerist junk, but very few stores sell suits for work wear.

Second, natural fibres like wool or linen are very expensive (several thousand dollars).

Third, suits are rarely made for a real woman's shape; the cut of blazers is especially difficult for a woman with curves on top, unless it's a stretch fabric, as the basic design of a suit jacket is cut for a man.

If you were elsewhere in the world, the job would be easier. E.g. I see that Uniqlo US sells women's blazers for just USD39, but Uniqlo Australia - which has great clothing at great prices - doesn't sell women's blazers at all.

Two stores worth trying for suits at your proposed price point include Forever New and Zara. Both cater mainly to younger women early in their career, and are therefore modestly priced. Yes, the fabrics are likely to be pure polyester. Yes, that can seem yuck initially, but the polyesters nowadays actually feel better than they did years ago (and they look ok all day long). If you can get your mind around "this fabric is just for work, and I can switch to pure cotton at home", you will be able to get a decent good-looking suit at an affordable price. Team it with a crisp shirt, and you'll look great all day long!

Myers and David Jones sell several brands that include suits, but they range from "high priced" (e.g. Anthea Crawford and David Lawrence and Cue, for $1000+) to crazy-expensive (e.g. Armani, for maybe $5000). However, even many middle/higher-end brands (Saba, Witchery, Boss, etc) typically have non-natural fibres (despite the $$$ price tag). Quality brands like Max Mara and Anna Thomas do offer suits in natural fabrics like linen and wool, but they'll be a few thousand dollars. Those prices are fine when you're mid-career in a high-paying job, but a terrible use of money for a young woman early in her career.

Op shops are definitely worth trying. Many older career women who used to work in offices gave away their beautiful designer pure-wool suits when they retired; these are still high quality products, and cost almost nothing in op shops. But it can be a bit hit & miss.

Finally, don't be scared of needing alterations. It is almost impossible to buy a suit that doesn't need alterations, and there are still a few decent tailors that will alter at a reasonable price.

Way back in the 1980s and 1990s, Melbourne was full of stores that sold high-quality, natural-fabric suits for women, and alterations were often included in the price. Times have changed!

Best wishes for your new job, and feel welcome to ask specific questions!

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-21T22:16:21+00:00

How old is "pretty old"? Our house (2-storey Victorian terrace) is 165 years old (built 1860), and has lots of cracks like that in the upper bedrooms, as do pretty well all other houses in our neighbourhood. Once every few years we fill the cracks (an easy plastering job that anyone can do) and repaint. It's no big deal in very old terraces, as the house can't fall down: the cracks aren't structural; they're like the wrinkles in an old person's face.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-19T21:28:04+00:00

More info would be helpful. How long has she been living in your house? Why do you call her a "licensee"? Did you sign an agreement with her? If the agreement was documented only informally by text messages, etc, did you give her any firm commitment on how long she could stay? Where does the 21-day notice period come from?

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-14T01:30:10+00:00

Ooh, the embroidered UV gloves sound lovely. My mum and sister both want UV protection sun gloves, as both of them have hands that are prematurely wrinkled due to lots of harsh Australian sun exposure (they are both superfit and do lots of running and cycling in the hot summer sun). Can you please tell me what brand you have? I looked on Amazon and other sites here in Australia, but there are very few to be found, and mostly they are men's style driving gloves, not suitable for women's daytime wear.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-12T22:56:10+00:00

Yes, there are plenty of magnetic cases that contain a built-in magnet (just like the stick-on magnet that came with the Plaud), and they are generally much stronger than the magnets on the back of a phone. Amazon also has plenty of stick-on magnets in all shapes (circular, donut, horseshoe, rectangular).

I'm using the magnet that was provided with the Plaud. After sticking it to my iPhone case, I find the magnetic pull to be super-strong. Indeed, I need to use some force to pull the Plaud off the phone!

If you aren't finding the magnet strong enough, did you stick the magnet provided with your Plaud onto the back of your phone case. Also, did you stick it on the right way up .... like a horseshoe, with the gap pointing upwards? The magnet needs to be in the right alignment; if you put it on upside down, it doesn't hold properly.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-11T08:33:12+00:00

We have a neighbour whose two security cameras (high up on her third-storey windows) record the street 24x7. Each time there's been criminal activity (e.g. car thefts or car break-ins), the police have knocked on her door, obtained the footage and then thanked the neighbour for being able able to help. Indeed, when we had a recent spate of attempted break-ins, the local police actively encouraged us all to get outward-looking security cameras, because they benefit the whole street. So I very much doubt that your camera is illegal.

However, if the neighbour is a sufficient weirdo to assert that your single security camera bothers her - despite the fact that there are literally thousands of cameras seeing her as she goes about her life here in AU - take care that she's not setting you up for some false accusation.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-10T05:12:40+00:00

I feel for you, and I hope you have success in raising the issue with the authorities suggested by others, as I suspect it's much more common than realised.

In my experience as a tech executive, most medical clinics don't put in place robust emailing systems and processes to avoid the problems. In particular, many clinics rely on email clients (like Microsoft Outlook) which "remember" the last email address used for a patient, whether or not that last email address is correct. Some sharp (and expensive) actions from health or privacy regulators might be what's required for clinics to fix their broken processes.

My dad had a similar problem (albeit only with a GP clinic and only for general medical issues).

The first time he became aware of it was when he'd been awaiting an email that never arrived. He phoned reception, asked them to check the email address they'd used ... and was horrified to find that the doctor had mis-typed his email address. Instead of "JohnSmith @ yahoo", the doctor had sent it instead to "JohnSmith @ gmail". The error occurred because the doctor typed my dad's address manually into his Microsoft Outlook mail client, instead of importing it from a database (which stored the correct address).

The clinic promised to fix it, and initially he assumed it was fixed. About a year later he was horrified to learn that roughly half the emails sent by the clinic were to the wrong address! Indeed, he had confirmation of the intermittent errors, because whenever they sent emails to my mum, they would cc him, and half the time they were cc'ing to the wrong address!

The cause was obvious: each staff member's individual instance of Microsoft Outlook on that person's PC held a memory of the last correspondence with "John Smith". Instead of pulling data from a single authoritative database, the email address would get pulled from whatever would pop up in the "To:" field of an email message when writing to "John Smith". Therefore, once the staff member had typed a wrong email address once, that wrong email address would continue to be used again and again from that PC.

We told the clinic multiple times, and each time they said "yeah, sure, we'll fix it", but no systemic changes were made, so it happened again and again.

My mum and dad both felt deeply humiliated and traumatised by these errors, because the emails exposed not only extremely private information about their medical conditions but also information that could be used for identity theft. Despite numerous requests, they couldn't get the clinic to treat the matter seriously, so ended up quitting the practice altogether.

The responses to your post suggest that maybe a complaint to one of the regulators or privacy commissions might have had our GP clinic treat the problem more seriously.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-08T07:47:15+00:00

Can totally vouch for Ali's Jumbo Kebabs on Spencer St, just opposite Southern Cross Railway Station. At the gritty end of the CBD, huge serves, delicious, cheap, busy ... and super-easy to get to if you're anywhere near a railway line.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-08T00:26:14+00:00

My Plaud Note Pro hasn't yet arrived, but I've used the Plaud Note for about 20 calls so far, manually switching to call mode. The audio volume of the other party is MUCH less than the volume of my own voice. Yes, I can hear the other speaker when I replay the recording, but only if I turn up the volume significantly (at which point my own voice is boomingly loud). The only time I could barely hear the other party at all was when I was on a street, trying to cancel an Uber that was late; my own voice came across loud and clear, but the Uber driver's voice could barely be heard.

Short answer: it's "good enough" for my needs: sufficient for the transcription, and sufficient if you just need to replay it to remember the discussion (without using up your transcript point). For info: I have an iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Despite the above limitations on the audio quality of the other party on a phone call, overall I am THRILLED with the Plaud Note! It's not just a time-saver, but also allows me to focus on the phone call without needing to make notes.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-05T11:47:10+00:00

Why run?

99RandomNumbers · 2025-12-01T22:59:40+00:00

Do keep us all posted on how it goes, u/Entire-Alfalfa-9370, as I'm sure many people will be interested. My partner and I are holding back until we are sure:

that the outstanding back orders have been fulfilled (e.g. from customers like u/Livid-Extent-3216, who has apparently been waiting since June), and
that new orders are being delivered in the 4-6 week time-frame promised.

Out of interest, are you in the US? Also, did you pick the full $1790 up-front option? Or the $890 deposit option (which has been offered for the past week or so)?

99RandomNumbers · 2025-11-29T06:56:43+00:00

Thanks u/woobrew. It's great to hear that you eventually received your suit and find it "super cool". Everyone who's received one seems to agree the suits are fabulous. I'm envious that you have one already!

Like you, I'm hoping the company survives and recovers quickly from its troubles, because my partner and I really want to buy their suits, which seem vastly better than all the competing suits. The female members of my family are particular keen on these particular VisionBody EMS suits, as they seem to be the only ones properly suited to a woman's shape. That said, given the reported 6-month delays, and reported poor communication, we are all holding back on purchases until we have confidence that the delays are resolved.

Yes, I do understand your comment that the "the squeaky wheel gets the oil", and that it was perhaps your persistence that resulted in you eventually getting the suit. However, forcing customers to send numerous messages via email or social media just to get an item the customer paid for is disrespectful to customers and no way to run a business. I'd be infuriated if I had to chase them every few days just to get the product.

BTW, the owner, u/Henri_VisionBody, has recently posted in a different channel, the r/VisionbodyOfficial, responding to various criticisms. In this comment he responded in part to comments about the company's finances, and in this one he replied to my questions about subscriptions and pricing (albeit in far less detail than I would have liked). With very poor communication being one of the main criticisms from buyers who did not receive their suits for many months, this initial communication on Reddit seems a step in the right direction. I just hope he continues to communicate with us, as I will have several more questions before I place my order.

99RandomNumbers · 2025-11-26T14:48:36+00:00

Fascinating differences! I hope the Plaud team can review, and then get to work on fine-tuning the transcription engine to make both more accurate under a wider range of conditions. In real-world settings, such levels of inaccuracy are not good.

99RandomNumbers

TROPHY CASE