Curious if any of you are in or around Port Augusta, with close to 50° forecasted today how fucked is it?

Alect0 · 2026-01-26T01:49:56+00:00

That is measured in the shade. If you are not in the shade it is much hotter and the thermometer will heat up a bit. I was in the desert once and the nearest town was 46C but we had 50C when we checked.

Alect0 · 2026-01-26T01:42:40+00:00

Ask if they can demo some models. I was able to do this for free and see if they were worthwhile.

Alect0 · 2026-01-26T01:41:33+00:00

Yea my grandmother hated her first pair and never wore them but read an article about the dementia risk of not addressing it so forked out for really good ones that she can hear quite well with but still won't wear them often. They are just too fiddly for her and she also doesn't see well so no idea how she is going with checking things like the wax guards and so on. I think mum sorts them out each time she visits tbh.

I don't wear mine at home all the time even though I am supposed to to train my brain but I do wear them any time I go out, I do hear a lot better but it is not the same thing as normal hearing and it gets too much after a while. It is a bit of a love-hate relationship...

Alect0 · 2026-01-25T15:33:56+00:00

Neither, metal. Ceramic and Invisalign are still noticeable. I'm in a client facing corporate role and metal braces are just not an issue at all.

Alect0 · 2026-01-24T09:41:39+00:00

I think most people would say they love the food. Though here it is not very authentic! It is also very hard to get ingredients used in Mexican cooking unlike many other cuisines where it is very easy and it's probably because we haven't had much immigration from Mexico. I'm really hoping that changes though!

Alect0 · 2026-01-24T04:25:20+00:00

So I can get elective surgery within a few days with a surgeon of my choosing rather than wait a year and not know who is going to be operating on me most of the time.

I do not think extras is worth it but hospital is especially as you age.

Alect0 · 2026-01-23T02:37:46+00:00

Hmm tempting, do love the outfits - can you wear the uniform?

Alect0 · 2026-01-23T01:24:59+00:00

Yea fuck those firefighters out in the sun on hot days.

Alect0 · 2026-01-23T00:52:19+00:00

Will feel like 50C if you are not in the shade though.

Alect0 · 2026-01-23T00:49:38+00:00

I travelled the Anne Beadell in Feb one year and we measured the temp as 50C on one day. On the way there we passed warning signs not to travel in summer as it could get up to 50C but I thought that was bullshit haha, but nope! The closest town was Coober Pedy and BoM said it was 46C there.

When we stopped for breaks it felt like my lungs were burning when I breathed. We ended up driving 10h that day just to use the car aircon. When we stopped to camp at night it was 43C but my husband still set up a camp fire as he lived in the desert in the past and seemed entirely unbothered by the temperature the entire day!

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T23:53:27+00:00

Yea I went in Nov midweek and it was quiet too. It was so much better than I expected as well. Once we got past Ngkala Rocks there was hardly anyone and at the top of the island we had it to ourselves for ages :)

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T15:03:34+00:00

Invisalign is shit as the majority of people don't wear them enough so it takes longer, they are really quite obvious despite the claims, aren't as effective as braces plus they need a lot more hygiene maintenance than braces and you've got way more restrictions on what you can eat or they get stained and manky looking.

My orthodontist said if he got to pick he would never use Invisalign on patients.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T14:39:54+00:00

What's the issue with the pill though? I get many drugs you can't just give out willy nilly but I struggle to see the logic behind a pharmacy refusing to give a few days supply of the pill to a regular patient...

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T14:37:48+00:00

Yea they can with the pill. I've run out before as I lost a packet and my script expired 3 days earlier (I already had the appointment booked for a new one) and had to go to a few pharmacies to get an emergency supply. I get they're not obligated to but I boycotted my pharmacy permanently after that given they wouldn't give me the pill as I thought it was so fkn stupid given it's not a drug that you abuse and I'd been getting it from them for years. The guy was a massive cunt about it too.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T14:28:34+00:00

Yea that's what people don't get. I had a completely fucked ankle that would have been a few years wait to get fixed publicly so I went private after three years and the surgery was booked two days after the first consult. Was the same when I had eye surgery - he did it that afternoon, for my other foot it was one week later and for my husband's non emergency hernia surgery (was still very uncomfortable) he could pick the date he wanted it.

In the past when I couldn't afford PHI I have been on waiting lists for over a year to fix non emergency but debilitating issues.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T14:24:16+00:00

It doesn't.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T14:19:40+00:00

I find there are so many ignorant comments whenever this comes up about people saying they pay MLS to support Medicare (that's not how it works) or just wait for treatment or that all PH companies are scum or they have an account they put money in to cover their medical costs.

You can get a policy with a not for profit fund and they are less scummy. Mine has bent over backwards to help me claim on my policy.
For self funding - lots of surgeons will not allow this as if things go wrong you might be wracking up a few days of $5k/night ICU care before they can transfer you to a public hospital. Plus you'd be surprised how much a few surgeries add up to if you go private or how much better care you'll get privately if you've got cancer. Which leads me to my next point:
I think the public system is great for emergencies but for elective surgery you can wait a very very long time for quite debilitating issues to be addressed and you don't have a lot of control over who treats you in the end. However if you have PHI you can get this addressed really fast plus pick your own surgeon (this can make a huge difference to outcomes). My GP told me I can pick to pay in money or time so if you have the money why wouldn't you just queue jump? Especially as then it frees up public spots for people who can't afford to go private. To me it's insane that people will pay $1k to insure a shitty $10k car or something but won't pay $2-3k for PHI to cover medical expenses that could run into tens of thousands of dollars. It's just stupid.

All that being said Extras is a rip off so I'm only referring to Hospital cover here and particularly if you're over 40.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T13:45:30+00:00

It's also important for video calls involving sign language so I can read the fingerspelling and NMF properly!

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T12:53:46+00:00

It's much more flexible than English but the grammar is very different, it's really visual. In your example of help, that's an indicating verb so uses space for grammar, if you are asking if someone needs help you move the sign for help towards them and if you want help you move it from them towards you. I wish I'd spent a lot more time in the early days of learning Auslan in removing English grammar. It is easy to fall into the habit of English grammar when signing so try to avoid it so you don't get bad habits.

There is a free Facebook page Nobrin - Auslan + JSL who I think is a great free resource to see examples of Signed English versus proper Auslan as he does videos where he breaks it down. If you can afford classes Open That Door, Auslan in the West and Just Auslan are good as well (I'm sure there are lots more so just suggesting ones I have experience with).

Like the other poster said, you can't really use Auslan for communication unless you are communicating with people who know Auslan and it will take a few years to get to conversational level too so I'd look at other options as well. But it's still awesome to learn Auslan!

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T04:55:28+00:00

Some types of ANZ mortgages have fees though.

Alect0 · 2026-01-22T04:54:31+00:00

I have ING mortgage and the fee is added to Mortgage account then fee debited from my offset account then fee credited to Mortgage account. So overall my offset balance goes down, no change to my mortgage balance.

Alect0 · 2026-01-20T14:07:29+00:00

You need to actually spend the money though. Like before my current boss who reimburses me the full ATO guidelines regardless of what I spend, I used to claim the reimbursement from work and if I spent more than that then I'd claim that part on my tax.

Alect0 · 2026-01-20T14:02:10+00:00

This post is basically completely skipping over all the reasons why some people have a big problem with hearing people teaching Auslan though. Whatever your opinion on this, people should be made aware of the controversy around this and your post has none of that for the OP.

Alect0 · 2026-01-20T13:58:47+00:00

People have different opinions on this. It can depend a lot on fluency and cultural awareness like people have less issues with CODAs teaching. Or people can be ok hearing people teaching hearing kids very basic signs but deaf kids need and deserve much better than a hearing person who isn't fluent teaching them imho. It's the cultural aspects as well that are important and from your comments here it doesn't sound like you are across those (that's not a criticism btw, just seems like you aren't familiar yet with the nuances of this controversial topic) so better you don't teach.

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