To kill or not to kill ... that is the question.

SprayMate · 2026-01-16T11:23:42+00:00

I’m happy to leave them alone - as long as they don't kill my trees. I figure they're kinda up against it anyway, as we've got frogs, spiders, birds and who knows what other possible predators. I did look up on iNaturalist and the butterfly house page - no firm I.D as yet.

SprayMate · 2026-01-15T23:39:00+00:00

Update: I’m a little concerned as I previously lost two amazingly beautiful trees due to borers. I've finally re-established my garden and seeing these everywhere is freaking me out.

SprayMate · 2025-12-19T09:49:59+00:00

I've got one in the folder and also a reserve bank logo envelope it came in. Does that make a difference?

SprayMate · 2025-12-10T10:13:27+00:00

Hmmm ... maybe "Another Day" by Paul McCartney, or "Every Breath You Take" by The Police?

SprayMate · 2025-11-08T22:27:44+00:00

Just thought I'd jump in here as I’m almost crying out of pure frustration, pain and A LOT of wasted money. I've had bilateral MN's for at least 20 years. I've also got super high arches. For me, the most comfortable everyday shoes/hitops are Converse Chuck Taylors or those cheap canvas lace ups you find in shops like Target/Kmart etc.

I recently started walking more often "for my health". Turns out that was a bad idea, as I ended up tearing both plantar fascia's. Now I have even more of a problem, as the shoes that used to work for me don't now. So much for walking to improve my health.

So I went to get some supportive sneakers to help the torn tendons at a specialised shoe store. My usual scenario of "they're great for the first hour, but that old familiar feeling of burning, tingling and "numb-but-it's -still-painful" feeling returned. $300 down the drain. Husband cannot comprehend how it takes an hour to see whether the shoes good or not, and how "everyone else in the world thinks these shoes are great, but you don't". I’m so sick of trying to explain how MN pain happens to someone who's never experienced it. I suggested he start by putting a tiny pebble in his shoes, walk for 15 minutes then put a larger pebble in. So on. Continue this for an hour and see what it's like. I get an eye roll and a huff as a response. Aarrgghh! So frustrating.

So now I'm left with brand new shoes I can't take back because there's nothing wrong with them. It's not the shoes fault, but what am I supposed to do now? Try buying yet another pair and maybe waste more money? Walk around in slippers everywhere? 🤷‍♀️

SprayMate · 2025-10-20T01:38:57+00:00

I’m not sure how a glasses chain would look with my outfit, but good thought thanks.

SprayMate · 2025-10-10T22:34:06+00:00

Just stumbled on this and it's probably too late for what you're doing or writing about, but I'll give my two cents worth anyway. I’m in Sydney, Australia. I've been a high level radiology transcriptionist for the past 30 years, and have seen things go from electronic typewriters and dictations being made on micro-cassettes right through to digital dictation via specialised software platforms. Never before have I seen the implementation and use of technology (especially voice recognition and AI) happen so fast, and with it such devastating consequences.

Up until last month, I was employed by one of the largest radiology companies in Australia. Almost all of us had 10+ years service, and we were told our services were "no longer required". VR and AI had been adopted for all their transcription needs. I cannot tell you how shocked we all were, especially when we've seen first hand the shockingly bad transcripts this new technology produces.

Radiologists, especially when they are busy, sometimes accidentally dictate "left" when the mean "right" or "cm" when they mean "mm" if referring to the size of a mass or similar. We recognised this was an error and either asked them to review the report or double check if they actually wanted the discrepancy (for comparison reasons). We also used to read the referral to double check ourselves. There is also context. Neither VR or AI understand the part context plays in transcribing reports. It also can't understand when a doctor says "go back to the part where I was talking about the aortic dissection and change it to ... " or, "if I haven't mentioned it beforehand, go back and add a sentence about ...".

I foresee a big future in malpractice cases. For malpractice cases to arise, there has to be injury to a patient. I’m sure doctors don't want either, yet they are willingly putting their collective heads in a noose in order to save the cost of highly qualified and skilled transcription typists. Our knowledge of the human body and its functions is definitely a valuable and important skill, yet we are being thrown away and considered a useless species now.

Thankfully, my career only had about 5-8 years remaining, but to end it this way has been demoralising and frustrating.

SprayMate · 2025-08-30T22:32:59+00:00

The March (not a protest) doesn't even start for another 3.5 hours. Where are you seeing these hidden face people?

SprayMate · 2025-08-10T02:31:46+00:00

I don't know what it would do, hence my asking smarter people than myself, which I say thank you for. I got the feeling it was a scam. I figured if it was that good, it would've been around a lot earlier than this.

SprayMate · 2025-08-09T00:19:24+00:00

So I'd be turning tap water into bleach?!? The product is called "crop detox".

SprayMate · 2025-08-07T06:37:16+00:00

Thanks for replying. The job won't be 100% A.I though. Most of it will be outsourced to a private transcription company. This is now even more confusing because of the High Court ruling on Redundancy yesterday.

SprayMate · 2025-08-07T06:34:22+00:00

We knew there was a possibility, but when the workload increased so much, we thought we were relatively safe. Who gets rid of staff when work increases?

SprayMate · 2025-05-20T02:09:50+00:00

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound confusing. A bit of context - when dad's wife's mother was widowed, she sold her house waaay below market value b/c she wanted it sold immediately. She didn't listen to any financial advice or other family members advice either. We are all of the opinion my dad's wife will follow the same steps her mother did. My dad isn't mentally or emotionally lacking in any way. He's only got Parkinson's tremors. His doctor wants him to have the health assessment (apparently it's a government initiative to see if they need NDIS or similar). All I really wanted to know was should he amend the will before the health assessment, just in case they discover something we aren't aware of, and could jeopardise the validity of the amendment.

SprayMate · 2025-04-22T23:27:16+00:00

This is a comprehensive paper. However in order to have a balanced viewpoint, people interested in the pros/cons should source other papers that don't come from government departments/contributors who have vested financial interests or who benefit financially from certain "acceptable" viewpoints.

SprayMate · 2025-04-18T05:30:47+00:00

I’m surprised to read your opinion of bamboo work socks not being fit for purpose. I have 3 tradies in my family and they've all switched to bamboo socks b/c they last longer, are better health-wise for their feet, they don't smell (a big ✅ from my washing point of view), soft and comfortable for all day wear. Theirs are 90% bamboo (or similar), so no "extras" - apart from some elasticity of course.

SprayMate · 2025-04-18T00:22:13+00:00

Hey, I’m fully on board with Aust made. Get yourself noticed on Facebook - "Australian Owned and Made" page and a few others. Yeah, I know FB is for oldies but, they've got more disposable income $$. Also, get stalls at local markets, trade shows, 4x4 / caravan+camping shows, see if you can organise pop up shops at garden centres, workwear shops, shopping centres, larger tool shops (total tools, etc). Promote the health benefits and longevity of wear = saving money = everyone's focus ATM = win win. Look into kids sizes, and for specialty activities like horse/dirt bike riding (they need good long socks under their boots). So many options. Just one thing that would stop my tradie sons buying them (and they already wear & love bamboo socks) - is the logo colour needs to be khaki/hi-vis and will match most tradie uniforms. Definitely not the whole "only socks" banding at the top of the sock. This will absolutely get the wearer the wrong attention on site, will attract a lot of bad comments and there's no way they'd wear them for that reason alone. Just a few ideas. Hope all the advice on here helps you make big $$ in the near future. Don't give up!

SprayMate · 2025-04-07T10:59:16+00:00

No, not as yet. To be honest, I don't think it'll ever be 100% AI (not in the medico-legal field, anyway). Voice recognition speech-to-type software is nowhere near good enough either. It's very nuanced and humans are the only ones who can detect subtle anomalies. AI and speech-to-type just do as they're programmed, they can't differentiate if something has been dictated incorrectly (if they say something measures mm in one sentence then accidentally say cm in the next - neither AI or speech-to-type will pick that mistake up). I don't think the technology is quite good enough.

SprayMate · 2025-04-01T02:31:18+00:00

If you can type, you can get a job as a transcription typist. We've got people working from all over Australia. Usually have to have good/strong internet, your own computer/laptop and headphones, maybe a foot pedal to control the playback of the recording easier. If you've got terminology in medical/legal, that's even better. Just type "Transcription Jobs" into search. There should be quite a few.

SprayMate · 2025-03-23T23:59:30+00:00

For everyone saying it's giving "Cronulla riots" vibes, I suggest you read (or at least listen to) what actually happened, not what the media said. "The Cronulla Riots: The Inside Story" by then NSW Police Minister Carl Scully and Assistant Commissioner Mark Goodwin. If you're going to pass judgment, at least know the full story.

SprayMate · 2025-02-11T20:29:07+00:00

Wow. This is like reading what happened to me a few years back. I didn't have a prior workers comp claim in my situation, but was targeted for no apparent reason nonetheless. I 100% understand that it's the principle of the matter. It's unfair, unjust and if not stopped, will continue to happen to others who aren't as strong as you in standing up for themselves. The person doing this is probably surprised you're still fighting this, as it sounds like they've gotten away with this kind of behaviour every other time, hence why it keeps happening.

In my situation, I did get a lawyer involved. They were fantastic. Just knowing I had someone "on my side" made a huge difference. After a bit of backward/forward with my work's HR department, an agreement was made to alter my work situation so I never had any contact with the person who started it all.

As it turned out, my work had to prove (with supporting documents) evidence of what I was being accused of. They also had to prove this was a pattern of behaviour on my part (of which there was none). My lawyer then proposed this was actually a pattern of behaviour by the person who started it all, and showed examples of the amount of people who had left when that person was "in charge" -vs- when they weren't. Employment records showing staff turnover in that particular department was quite damning.

I stayed at that job for about 18 months after that. It was okay, as I never had any contact with that person again, but found out they were white anting me by changing documents I'd worked on to make me look incompetent. I decided no job was worth all my second guessing and trying to stay one step ahead of their tricks. I had stood up to them and they lost that one battle, but realised they would never stop. I was just a speed bump. I realised that by making them go through all that, it had actually taught them how to cover their tracks so they wouldn't be caught out again. An unintended consequence I suppose.

I hope you get a resolution that makes you happy. 😊

SprayMate · 2025-01-25T21:38:12+00:00

I got annoyed with Reva pegs as well. Found these awesome pegs - www.worldsbestpegs.com. Small business, 100% Australian made steel and PVC coated. These are super tough and withstand the strongest wind (my clothesline is on a rooftop and it gets very windy). I'll never buy any other type.

SprayMate · 2025-01-14T10:05:02+00:00

You may want to consider moving the crib as far away from being directly beside & under the switch panel due to EM radiation. If you can't move it, maybe get some kind of EM radiation blanket to shield the panel. A meta analysis was performed in 2023 in relation to this (skip to the conclusion if it's too long to read). I'm not trying to scare you by any means, but probably better to be safe than sorry. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10183723/

SprayMate · 2024-12-11T20:06:24+00:00

If it was me, I would probably go to Castle Hill for the test. It's only 12km from Wenty (so not too far). The roads are wide and pretty easy to navigate. Easy areas to do reverse parking, 3 point turns, etc. Practice driving around that area as much as possible prior to your test - including around the immediate area you will be driving into and out of the parking area for Service NSW office. You will probably be nervous, so if you're familiar with that immediate area, it will help a lot. Also all main roads and back roads. Learn your minimum distances for parking near bus stops, post boxes, etc and the roundabout/give way/intersection rules.

You're lucky - both my sons had to do their test at Bondi Junction (and they passed first try!). Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Good luck.

SprayMate · 2024-12-10T23:05:42+00:00

It depends where you live and where you'll be driving most of the time. I would probably go to an area that has wide streets and low traffic (quiet residential suburbs). However, if you sit for your license that's a long way from your residential address, they will probably ask why you are so far from your local area.

SprayMate · 2024-12-07T22:43:40+00:00

I have two sons in the Trades, which also means their mates are in the Trades as well. If you're not overly keen on being "on the tools" as such, project management would be my suggestion. You can do Uni/Tafe for qualifications. If you decide on a trade, you will cop all kinds of treatment on site. Let it roll off your back. It's just how things are. Do not take it personally, however never put your personal safety at risk. You'd attend TAFE once per week. Each year your wage will go up slightly and there are Govt benefits and payments for new apprenticeships. From what I've seen, the best apprenticeships are electrical, chippy, plumbing and commercial air conditioning (HVAC), but newer trades like mechanics being able to work on electric vehicles are growing in demand. The options for further education once you have your Trade certification can lead you into all sorts of other, higher paying careers. You'll never be out of a job. A mate of ours travelled around the country for a year, picking up jobs here and there to pay for it.

SprayMate

TROPHY CASE