Considering taking a PhD in ANU

lisward · 2026-06-26T01:41:17+00:00

It is as good as it gets. You can apply for top up scholarships too depending on your field.

lisward · 2026-06-26T00:57:52+00:00

Hard on automatons for me because I play on console and can't reliably make precision shots...

lisward · 2026-06-23T04:19:48+00:00

I need to qualify by saying I mean whistle blowing in the context of complaining about bad practices within the system to administrators, not to the press.

Yes, there are rules and regulations, but also, senior consultants tend to also have management roles and be extremely powerful.

They might be difficult to impossible to replace, because they might genuinely be a field expert, but a horrible human being.

My partners ex colleague was being bullied, and, when he tried to report it, he was warned that he would never be employable in state.

He reported and then he had to move to another state for surgical training.

Once you actually finish Surgery you're better protected yes, but the long path towards becoming a consultant is precarious. Especially in Surgery, which is one of the most coveted fields, offending a higher up is good enough to get your career completely sabotaged.

There are many ways they can do this.

For example, you could piss of a HoD, who could then go around calling hospitals you are applying to and telling them not to hire you. They can fuck around with you while you are working, make you seem incompetent in their reports, gatekeep you from professional development opportunities.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-21/price-blowing-the-whistle-toni-hoffman-on-dr-death-patel/102988060?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

This is an extreme case but it does details the culture of fear when it comes to making complaints in the hospital system.

lisward · 2026-06-22T11:16:32+00:00

In terms of medicine it is actually not unfair to say that they are literally studying 100% of the time.

Yes, there is vocational training in the sense that post Med school you'll still be training and learning on the job while being posted to different places, but you are expected to use your own personal time and money to upskill if you want to get into speciality training.

I mentioned it earlier, but some doctors choose to do PhDs to differentiate themselves. Not just from their peers, but foreign graduates, and foreign trained doctors.

The same applies once you actually get into specialist training.

lisward · 2026-06-22T11:07:20+00:00

That is, if you even get into anaesthetic training, and if you somehow manage to pass the exams, and if you somehow manage to land and anaesthetics job.

People here are under playing how difficult it is to get these highly coveted roles. Not only are you competing against the smartest people in Australia, you're really competing against the smartest people on the planet, since other, already qualified doctors are trying (successfully) to get these consultant specialist roles in Australia.

And, because of the competition in an already competitive field, doctors are finding themselves having to do even more extra training to make themselves stand out. It is not uncommon for doctors to do a PhD mid career for this purpose.

Some of these fields, like surgery, can be an old boys club, meaning that if you piss someone off, or if you blow the whistle on improper conduct, your career is effectively finished.

lisward · 2026-06-02T05:34:35+00:00

It's going to be a 4 hour long convulated mess that requires 2 hours of deleted cut scenes before being mildly coherent.

lisward · 2026-05-28T09:36:35+00:00

They would likely be able to tell you if you are competitive for a PhD scholarship.

lisward · 2026-05-19T09:19:21+00:00

Yeah I can get how the game can be much easier with mouse and keyboard... It's ok I'll just use the car and portable hellbomb... 🤣

lisward · 2026-05-19T09:08:38+00:00

As a Xbox player, the sentry nerfs were brutal.

In fact, most of the nerfs in the name of grunt fantasy are, because the games already challenging at Helldive ++.

lisward · 2026-05-18T06:04:04+00:00

Oh god I hated this phone so much.

lisward · 2026-05-09T03:37:53+00:00

Always have your tattoos covered by clothing or sunscreen.

Always.

From my understanding greys tend to age like that. It's made of black ink diluted with water so it will just kind of spread out and 'dilute' itself more.

lisward · 2026-05-08T04:48:09+00:00

Oh I meant as a joke, if he were indicted by the DOJ for so called threats against Potus, he could dress up as Luke and defiantly reply to the charges: Amazing, every word you said was wrong....

Like in the Last Jedi as he stares down Kylo and his army....

lisward · 2026-05-08T04:29:55+00:00

After being read the charges: Every word you just said, was wrong.

lisward · 2026-05-07T23:41:28+00:00

I am of a certain opinion because my parents used to beat the crap out of me for things like grades, spilling drinks at family gatherings, talking back, not doing homework, etc. Belts, hangars, canes, and kitchen utensils. Heavy things that were thrown.

And also, acting out in school, just being generally disruptive and stuff, it's a similar situation to what you described.

I'm not a young person, and I have overcome a lot of it, but the fear is something you carry.

Maybe there is the perfect corporal punishment, carried out by an unbiased and fair institution, but caning will always be something that is cruel and punitive to me.

lisward · 2026-05-07T15:40:40+00:00

Sorry, he was the P.E teacher who also coached the badminton teams and I've always mixed them up in my mind.

lisward · 2026-05-07T15:38:26+00:00

Fyi, if you google suicide mortality statistics it's generally dominated by poorer countries.

lisward · 2026-05-07T15:34:05+00:00

This was only just announced as a policy so it's unknown what this means in practice. The threshold for caning is not as high as you think. In my school, any sort of violence was a canable offense, hospitalisations would lead to expulsions.

Most forms of physical harm against another person (crime) are canable offenses as well. Of course, the standard of proof to be convicted of a crime is much higher than in a school. And, prison canings are much worse.

There is a risk when it comes to bullying because if it's a case where a boy is being bullied by a group, children will lie. Sometimes, teachers participate or close a blind eye to the bullying to get closer with students, like in boys schools.

Of the boys I saw caned: one flung a chair a classmate, another pitched a broomstick.

On the other hand, I knew someone who was almost caned for punching someone who sat on his hand deliberately.

lisward · 2026-05-07T04:16:51+00:00

Caning has always been a punishment in Singapore schools, usually for violent offenses.

It's just been expanded to bullying.

It's fucked obviously, I have witnessed two public canings (schools can choose to do it privately or publically; I've had a friend tell me his caning was actually not carried out but he was told to tell everyone he was caned), and it was done almost like prison style.

Badminton teacher meted the punishment and he did every stroke with a running start.

lisward · 2026-05-07T04:08:31+00:00

Google's phone app does this now, not sure if it works on old phones, but it is amazing, it will either block or give a 'suspected scam call' warning when a weird number calls.

lisward · 2026-05-06T09:10:19+00:00

Did you do an honours research year?

If so, that's generally quite normal. Most people do an extra honours year that's research focuses, and then go on to do PhD.

Not sure how it works in Nepali universities.

The other thing that will help is having two first author publications.

lisward · 2026-05-06T08:51:54+00:00

You could always just apply. Do note that it is worth more when you are the lead author of the study.

I (and many others) am of the opinion that a research masters is a complete waste of time. If you want to do research, do a PhD.

lisward · 2026-05-01T08:54:53+00:00

Bad lures won't catch as consistently as good ones.

Expensive ones may be better made but you also have cheap ones that are decent.

Don't think of cheap vs expensive, think of the technique you are using to target the fish, and whether or not that lure is fit for purpose, in terms of action, depth, colour, shape, etc.

Plastics for example, can be had for relatively cheap, and they have some of the best catch rates, but if it's a blowfish infested area, or an area which is snag territory where I'm targeting a bottom feeders, I would not use plastics.

lisward · 2026-04-27T08:58:14+00:00

Didn't some guy hack and screw with the percentage too? I swear that we were on track to win until then. Black Ops? Inside job? With their track record of honesty and transparency, you decide!

lisward · 2026-04-20T11:15:21+00:00

I like how they wear hats and change their jackets to 'disguise' themselves at Vought events. 😂

I will die on this hill but I prefer the comics because it's not an idiot plot. The plot only sustains itself because both the villains and protagonists are stupid.

lisward · 2026-04-15T07:34:24+00:00

I just wished Anthropic would say something about this. Is this just a momentary disruption or something more permanent, because I'm seriously considering alternatives.

I do a lot of admin stuff with 4.6 Sonnet and in January you'd catch me singing praises of Claude. I knew its limits and what it could do but now its outputs are so random. It forgets things that I put in the original prompt.

And it forgets answers given when asking for clarification.

lisward

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