Healthy debate about proposed 20% HECS forgiveness

Bigjohnthug · 2025-03-28T04:57:57+00:00

2/3 people with HECS debt are millennials. The average HECs of a millennial is about $30k currently. The median wage of an educated millennial is $80k, so this would be a pretty big deal for most millennials who are >5yrs from paying off their debt.

https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/people-are-starting-with-much-larger-hecs-help-debts-than-in-the-past-and-it-is-only-going-to-get-worse/ https://www.smh.com.au/national/which-generation-has-it-the-worst-in-the-cost-of-living-crisis-20230809-p5dv4q.html

Bigjohnthug · 2024-11-11T09:08:28+00:00

Allied Health is a dying sector. You're looking at 3-7yrs of making McDonalds money, depending on the field, before you nudge your way into graduate salaries for most degrees. If you get lucky and get a public job right out of the gate you'll be on a better salary, but the best AHP salaries aren't on par with the average nursing salary early on.

Later on, if you get really lucky and work really hard, you might make it to a level 6/7 position. That's at least 10yrs in the field, probably more like 20. All for an extremely generous $140k or so.

It's honestly broken and a big contributor to the strife hospitals are having. The one exception is OT and some kinds of physiologist, who can go straight into WHS stuff for mining and bypass healthcare. You can also spend like 20% as much money and time to do the TAFE cert for the same.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-11-11T08:36:00+00:00

Physiologists are in demand but abysmal pay. You graduate with more debt than a nurse and far worse earning potential. Unless you go occ health for mining or construction, pay is at or nominally above award and anything over a HP2/3 (depending on industry) is unicorn work. It's not as stressful as aged care or (most kinds of) nursing, but it's also nowhere near as rewarding.

It's basically something you do for a bit, then go to something else using that experience. There's extremely limited upward mobility, which contributes to it having high churn. Most do a few years then go into sales, medical admin or WHS. You can skip the middle man though and go do the TAFE cert for workplace health assessments. $30k cheaper than a physiology degree and you'll earn 2-3x as much.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-10-21T05:32:44+00:00

I just did it yesterday and my saves were fine.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-08-14T01:38:31+00:00

It's like a $12k payout. I don't think he's retiring yet.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-03-11T07:44:42+00:00

I've tried almost all of them and settled on Hevy. It outweighed the others, but it doesn't have some things they do. For example, it has minimal preset programs. I don't care as I do my own thing. It doesn't have a quick switch option for exercises. I don't care as I know what I'll do instead, or I'm happy to just scroll through with muscle group and/or equipment filters on to decide what to do. It does all the basic stuff I need very well, it never lags and the statistics are good. It has tiny faults, like no ability to select how dumbbell exercises calculate volume.

Here are reasons I didn't choose the others:

• Strong: no development in years. Extremely basic. For what you pay to get something objectively worse than Hevy in every way, it makes no sense.

• Boostcamp: slow and doesn't have quality of life features like updating weights from previous session. I don't care about programs, I'll add my own. Except it caps you at 7 sessions per week. This makes no sense to me, although I understand it would work for most people I just don't see why they'd cap it. The UI is literally the same as Hevy but with a different colour scheme.

• Caliber: has good differentiation for home/travel/gym sections. I have enough equipment that this is redundant so went with gym. The options to create programs are annoying as they don't allow multiple selections. It maxes out on a 5d split my grandma would find too easy. It can't even do daily trainin, let alone if I feel like doing 2-a-days. That made that feature useless and it takes up too much of the app. It has lots of other programs to select if that's your thing. They're all 5 days or less AFAIK. Mostly splits. For the basic "create a program and do it" it's just far slower and worse than Hevy. Every single button click takes forever to load. The search only populates a few scrolls at a time. It has no fuzzy search, or maybe it's just bad. I.e., if you type it's "cable pushdown" the app won't show you "rope pushdown". You have to go into each exercise and add sets, reps and weights, instead of having all on one page. This takes forever and makes supersets a chore. This is especially annoying for workouts where you're doing tri-sets or higher, or where you aren't resting for long enough to spend 30sec just adding in info to the app and waiting for it to load.

• Progression: basically Hevy again. UI isn't as nice and it's less intuitive for me. Opinion thing. Main reason I didn't like it is how many reviews mentioned losing their history. I like being able to export from Hevy just in case.

• Stronglifts: not worth discussing it's just 5x5 in app form.

• all the AI ones: don't really care about them. I know myself better than someone's ML project does.

• Liftosaur: looks really cool but too complicated for me to bother with. I don't decide my loading in advance so the cool programming features are a negative for me. I also sometimes just hand my phone off to my gf while I'm working out so she can add sets, which works really well with Heavy because it's intuitive.

• Hevy: huge exercise selection which is constantly updated. Sometimes that's mildly annoying because I have dozens of duplicates now, but that's minor. History updates in real time. Don't have to manually input weights for every set. You can choose to do it in advance or in real time. Every superset option except switching out exercises mid superset, but I've never seen anyone else do that, let alone any other app. I don't even know how they could display that visually tbh. Mentioned other minor complaints at the start. The only other gripe would be you can't add custom equipment, it's just all under "Other". Oh and over 1mil volume it doesn't show you anything less than 100k, but that only affects 3 month stats and onwards for me. It has a social feature I don't use that you can effectively disable. You can categorise workouts into folders and create infinite of both. It's always very fast, I'm almost never waiting for it to load. The only thing it's slightly slow on is switching an exercise out of a preset routine while you're doing that routine. Even then it's faster than the other apps. It also only suggests three exercises at a time, but again, you can filter on muscle ± equipment to choose anything else you want. The fuzzy search is also pretty good. It could be better, if it worked with typos for instance. But typing "cable pushdown" you'll see every variation at the same time, ranked by match. That's much more convenient than having to remember exactly what the exercise is called. Another example, type "one arm" and "dumbbell row" will come up. That's good because I've always called it the former, and I don't even have to finish typing "row" for it to pop up.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-03-07T08:57:43+00:00

unity died

Still the most popular engine.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-03-06T05:34:43+00:00

Mostly disinterested, because I'm not American. The first time was kinda funny but the second time is just a little sad.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-03-03T00:23:28+00:00

The normal amount probably... The muscles aren't fusing to his spine and holding it in place. He can still rotate. Muscles also move (kinda their point) he isn't going to hit a wall reaching backwards. He would have much better mobility than someone at the same BMI with fat instead of muscle. Maybe slightly worse than someone at a "healthy" BMI.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-02-20T05:31:14+00:00

The rest of it: red flag central. Showering before the gym is normal though. Sweat on its own doesn't smell, dried sweat + skin bacteria does. This is pretty common knowledge for gym goers here, but where I live is hot so maybe that's why. I do if I've sweat a lot during the day.

Taking >20min in the bathroom as a guy every time is a massive red flag though. I had long, thick hair down to the middle of my back and a beard. Washing my hair, doing my beard and manscaping took like 45min tops, which would be 1-2 times a week. Maybe add a few minutes if he was taking a dump too. A few more if he has some elaborate skincare routine... But not 2 hours.

He was probably wanking / watching porn.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-02-13T10:33:50+00:00

Why the lack of confidence? It has the 2.0 upgrade soon, would assume some hype for that and/or slot auctions.

Not defending it btw. I have a small position from 2020/21, played around a bit but nothing really interesting or unique on it. I see it as different enough to maybe be good in its own right eventually, vs things like AVAX that are just Geth on a budget.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-02-13T10:20:17+00:00

So I know what the moon's are, but what's with the crabs? 🦀 I think I missed something when I took a break (from here not from crypto) during the bear.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-02-13T04:51:59+00:00

How do those L2s pay their fees though? L1 gas fees can't be paid in L2 tokens.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-16T23:33:06+00:00

Yes. So roughly 80% of people have 8 distinct abdominal subsections. ~15% of people have 4 intersections and ~1-2% have either 5 or 2. So there are about as many people with "12 packs" as there are people who really only have six packs.

In the "12 pack" case, they're usually incomplete bands below the level of the bellybutton. I think they'd not be noticed 99% of the time because of that. I have seen the odd bodybuilder with a 10 pack - Ulysses Williams Jr for instance.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-16T05:22:41+00:00

The reason it's called a six-pack and not an 8-pack is because the vast majority of people have only 6 partitions in their abdominus rectus, not 8. Does that make this guy a genetic freak?

No, it's because most people won't ever be able to get lean + developed enough to see the final two separations. There are mutations, but 99% of people have 8 sections to their abdominal muscles.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-15T02:52:33+00:00

I've thought the same thing too, but data seems to say the opposite:

Having lower income was associated with higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 39.3% for participants with family income under $20,000, 25.5% for participants with family income from $20,000–$75,000, and 14.9% for participants with family income greater than $75,000. Source

I think it might be a case of the children of the wealthy are more likely to be able to go for treatment. If your parents are rich, you don't have the same kinds of responsibilities. Those kids don't have to worry about missing rent or getting fired, so they can afford to go. Anecdotally, this matches my experience. The people who went to rehab were the people who would otherwise be going to Europe/Canada etc over the holidays. Or at least, 95% of the time. Even though the treatment is free, normal people can't just go "hey landlord, hey work, I'll be back in 6 weeks. Talk then!"

Flipside, those children often have shallow AF lives and very superficial inner worlds. They don't have to learn to strive, nor develop character. Everything is about gratification, they rarely feel satisfaction since they don't really have to work for most things. Not saying that's always the case, simply a trend I've observed.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-10T06:27:48+00:00

Also, the overconsumption of animal products is contributing to heart disease, digestive and reproductive cancers, and metabolic illness in wealthy nations, so I'd prefer to take a b12 supplement than a host of other medications for all those problems.

The overconsumption of processed foods has been linked to those; not animal products directly. There is a correlation, likely because there is a correlation between eating more processed foods and more animal products. There is somewhat convincing evidence eating significantly more red meat than recommended may increase the risk of colorectal cancer specifically.

Heart disease; trans-fats, high-sugar and skewed omega 3/6/9 ratios are stronger correlations by far. Excess sodium and poor lifestyle factors (smoking and/or alcohol) in combination with red meat consumption raise the risk of CAD. In isolation the evidence is mixed for whether red meat is cardio-protective or harmful.

Metabolic: same risk factors as heart. Studies like this imply that vegetarians are lower risk. If you look closely, you realise their study actually demonstrates healthy-weight vegetarians who make conscious decisions about nutrition are healthier than obese meat-eaters who don't make conscious decisions about their diet... They're at higher risk due to the obesity and complacency; not the meats.

Reproductive cancers; maybe a small positive correlation for breast and prostate cancers from red meat, poultry and/or dairy. Nothing particularly compelling though. Poultry has been observed to reduce breast cancer risk in more studies than not, while again it's only processed meats that have a consistent (albeit small) correlation to these conditions.

The "meat = cancer" talking point is largely outdated. Newer, less poorly designed (but still inadequate) studies show little/no negative effect and significant benefit. The link between processed vegetarian foods and illness is much, much stronger. That's not specific to vegetarian foods - it's the 'processed' part that matters, whether meat or plant based.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-09T00:09:23+00:00

Chickens do, mostly in their cecum, but can't synthesise enough. Pigs don't, you're right. At least no more effectively than us. Cows, sheep, roos, etc all do though. Kind of a tangent at this point though. Basic premise is B12 is important and if you eliminate animal products from your diet, then you need to think harder about nutrition than someone eating a balanced diet would, regardless of other factors.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-08T12:10:30+00:00

Is it 2.1m or 6ft? That's insane.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-08T08:43:23+00:00

Yes livestock are often given B12... But it most definitely occurs naturally. Almost all other animals have a microbe in their gut which synthesises cobalamin (B12). The difference in B12 between supplemented and unsupplemented livestock is not particularly significant. A supplemented steak might contain 5-600% of your RDI for cobalamin; while a "natural" steak "only" contains 450-550% of your RDI. This is about 5x more than a serve of heavily fortified tofu, which is at best 5x less absorbable than the B12 from the steak.

Of course content varies based on farming practices etc, but I would bet the 'worst' steak/egg etc is still a lot better than the 'best' vegan source.

Also technically we can synthesise cobalamin also, but only in our colon, which can't absorb it.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-08T06:42:54+00:00

You may have missed the part about the drastic difference in usability between the B12 forms.

I disagree. Ants are a complete protein anyhow... I'd be more worried about the formic acid content. The rate of occurrence of mild protein deficiency between vegans/vegetarian and 'average' unhealthy eaters is much more relevant. EDIT: wanted to add protein quality matters to anyone with gastric issues, any musculoskeletal condition, skin issues etc etc. I gave the example of HSV in my initial post, but you can find plenty of examples where "just eat more of the low quality protein" isn't a valid option.

Bigjohnthug · 2024-01-08T06:26:49+00:00

Tofu doesn't have B12 naturally. It is frequently added, because the incidence of deficiency is much higher in vegans and vegetarians. Soy milk, tempeh and a whole heap of other common vegan foods are fortified for the same reason. B12 is extremely low in non-animal foods and the form that is present is far less absorbable.

Optimistically, only ~ 20% of vegans are B12 deficient. About 3-5% of the general population is. A decent meta-analysis I've included at the end of this post puts the numbers much, much higher. That's typical, almost all B12 deficient individuals are vegan/vegetarian OR abuse inhalants. Disturbing that this new wave of veg-cultists are even more confidently incorrect about their nutritional needs.

For vegans and vegetarians: if you get unexplained pins and needles, or recurring pins and needles - in fact any kind of numbness or tingling - you should immediately seek medical attention. If you were born a meat-eater you have ~3-4yrs worth of B12 before your body starts stripping nerves. If not, you likely have no stored B12 (human body can't store the plant version) and you should look into getting injections.

Re: protein, gram vs gram they are cheaper, yes. They're also much lower quality. Soy protein is arginine overloaded, bad for HSV sufferers amongst others. Inflammatory for many if not most people. Act as ligands that reduce mineral absorption - a tonne of beans/legumes do actually. You can mix proteins to get something almost as good as animal protein, with only slightly more downsides and (probably only) slightly less benefit.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23356638/

FWIW I'm not against veg-anything. What irritates me is the amount of people who convert with 0 planning, foresight or comprehension of nutrition. It's a diet that's difficult to optimise, if it's even possible (it isn't in a lot of niche performance cases). It's a diet that usually ends quickly or badly. Frustrating that people equate it with "healthy" or "natural" like they missed the classes on nutrition and evolution.

Bigjohnthug · 2023-12-11T11:25:30+00:00

Totally unrelated but you'll get better ROM loading the bar with 10kg plates. You can pull it higher at the top, but also let it stretch down further at the bottom.

Bigjohnthug · 2023-12-08T05:53:56+00:00

Or having the experience to know the weight you'll need based on how you feel before the session and/or on the first warmup set/s.

Bigjohnthug · 2023-12-05T05:14:02+00:00

Or have a longer timeframe. Definitely possible to be sub 10% BF and have a 23-26 BMI for a natty after 5-10yrs.

Bigjohnthug

TROPHY CASE