u/badoopidoo

A colleague has resigned. We are all signing a card for her. For some reason this is a massive secret, even though she knows she will get a card. We know she will get a card. Everyone gets a card when they leave.

What's with the cloak and dagger?

EDIT: She knows she's getting a card as she is the person we have to expense things with. I had to expense the receipt for her card and gift with her yesterday. For some reason we still have to keep signing the card a secret from her. Maybe my workplace is just uniquely rubbish and understaffed for making her process the expense receipt for her own card and gift?

My understanding was that we were now allowed to get two boxes of regular medication when lodging a script. At my usual pharmacy, I've done this without a problem.

This is regular medication, it's not restricted or S8 etc.

Today I went to Chemist Warehouse Town Hall, and the pharmacist said they don't give out two boxes but he'll check with the main pharmacist.

The main pharmacist gave me my medication. One box. I said I'd asked for two and she explained they don't do that, sorry.

I then said I'm going overseas, I need an extra. She still wouldn't give me an extra box until I told her my travel dates.

Have I somehow misunderstood that gettingt two boxes of meds is allowed now? I'm not sure why it's never been a problem at my usual pharmacy.

I have comically oily skin despite a variety of dermatological interventions. Part of my management of this was using Shiseido Oil-Control Blotting Paper. It was fantastic!

Unfortunately it has been discontinued. If I knew, I'd have stocked up.

Does anyone have recommendations for an alternative blotting paper that isn't terrible? I bought one off Amazon but it was shiny and just didn't soak in the oil well.

I am 43kg and 150cm/4’11”. I need compression socks because my legs retain a lot of fluid (this has been checked out, it’s not a medical concern). They tell me to wear high grade compression socks, but my legs are too skinny for normal adult compression socks. I ask them what to do and they just say to ”look for smaller ones”. I’ve tried to find brands for children but without success.

I live in Australia. Does anyone have reccs for high grade compression socks for petite people? Maybe an Asian brand I can order?

The Qantas website says the Darwin lounge is open "one hour before the first Qantas flight and until the last departure".

Given my flight departs at 0130, does this mean I can stay the entire time at the Qantas lounge?

I've not flown this route before, and I am accustomed to Qantas lounges at other airports closing in the evenings.

I work for a charity and I am trying to save them money on booking accommodation for me. The alternative flight route would require a full overnight stay in Darwin and flying out in the afternoon the next day. I don't mind hanging at the airport for 8 hours if I can be in the lounge the entire time.

Thank you for your help, everyone!

I dated a man about a decade ago. It lasted a few months. After getting to know him, I felt he had some gay vibes, and I suspected that, with time, that's where he'd land. I ended the relationship (I didn't say why), because I felt we were both wasting time. He needed to find his own way and that wouldn't happen while dating women, and I was looking for something long term.

I found out recently that he did, indeed, come out as gay a few years ago. I was glad he finally sorted it out, although I was interested to know the story of how it happened (no-one knew, this was all second-hand information).

Has anyone here dated a man who later came out as gay or trans? Did you suspect anything at the time?

I catch the Explorer between Sydney and Canberra. I usually go economy but I quickly walked through first class today to see if it was any different. It honestly looked the same.

What's the difference between the classes?

Thanks!

Back in the olden days when I was a spritely young grad, business hours were very obviously 9:00am to 5:00pm.

This is the time that most non-senior staff arrived at work and left the office.

This is the time that customers expected us to be in the office if they needed to contact us.

Sometime between then and now, office hours at many corporations seems to have changed from 9:00am to 8:30am, and from 5:00pm to 5:30pm.

As a result, when someone external says they need something by COB, do they mean 5:00pm or 5:30pm?

I travel to parts of the world for work with air quality that varies from moderate to quite poor. I stay between a couple of days to two weeks.

I only have moderate OSA (AHI19). Not great but also not remotely terrible.

I am a bit worried that the poor air quality in some of the cities I visit will somehow ruin my CPAP machine. I only say this because once there was a bushfire in my home city, and it took weeks for the smoke smell to get out of the machine.

Has anyone had any experience using their CPAP machine in cities with particularly bad air?

Given my OSA is not terrible, I am unsure if I should just sleep a little propped up, and leave my CPAP at home.

Most people have left for the day already, but there is one guy still here who's sweating heavily while ransacking a kitchen cupboard for cleaning supplies. Not sure what's going on there.

An open letter to all Australians from Professor Richard A Scolyer AO

December 16, 1966 – June 7, 2026

My fellow Australians, I pen this letter as a final goodbye to all those I have had the immense privilege of loving, sharing life’s adventures with, working alongside and meeting during what can only be described as a life filled with happiness, optimism, opportunity and passion.

My intention is for this letter to be published upon my passing – as my final farewell. I’ve spent the last three years being open and honest about my journey with glioblastoma (brain cancer), in part to be transparent about what cancer patients and their families go through, and in part to provide hope and inspiration that we can and should continue to push boundaries to propel the cancer field forward.

Having dedicated my 35-year working life to patient care, cancer research and improving lives, I wanted to keep contributing, even in my darkest hour.

I am extremely proud of my impact – from my lifelong career as a world-leading melanoma pathologist and cancer researcher, to being the first patient to receive experimental brain cancer treatment based on melanoma science I helped develop, followed by participation in development of a brain cancer clinical trial and advocacy for greater investment in brain cancer research.

I sincerely hope the scientific data and awareness I have generated will provide a platform for others to build upon to ultimately make a difference for future cancer patients.

I am perhaps lucky that the physical and cognitive impacts of the final stages of brain cancer mean that I am unlikely to have been aware of my own decline over these final weeks.

I write this knowing that my wonderful family would have been by my side every minute, as they have been throughout my cancer journey. Like all families living with cancer, the impacts have been far wider than just on me. Since my diagnosis in May 2023, our family has been thrown challenges that we didn’t plan or want. But those same challenges have also drawn us closer and reinforced that family is everything. I cannot thank my beautiful wife Katie and my adored children Emily, Matthew and Lucy enough for their love, their support, their strength, and their compassion. They are shining examples of the best of humanity and make me extremely proud.

Much love also to my elderly Mum and Dad in Tasmania, my brother Mark and many friends for their strength and support, particularly during these recent years. My childhood was full of adventures built on “how”, not “if”, which set me on a path to being inquisitive and truly believing nothing is impossible.

If you will allow me one final indulgence, composing this letter encouraged me to reflect proudly on my role in generating new evidence ultimately leading to life-saving advances in melanoma diagnosis and treatment. I helped start what is now the world’s largest melanoma biobank, became the world’s most published melanoma pathologist authoring over 1000 research publications, and lectured hundreds of times at conferences across the globe. I am also proud to have held leadership roles at the American Joint Committee on Cancer and the World Health Organisation and many other international organisations.

In addition to my roles in the development of breakthroughs in melanoma treatment, including immunotherapy, and the subsequent soaring of advanced melanoma survival rates, my mentoring of the next generation of clinical doctors (including pathologists) and cancer researchers has perhaps been the greatest reward to come from my life work. I have always been driven by the belief that we all have a responsibility to try to change the future for others and leave the world a better place. From mentoring PhD students in the translational research lab and early career clinicians in hospitals, to taking on the undeniably risky experimental treatment for brain cancer and undergoing swathes of voluntary medical tests purely to advance scientific knowledge of brain cancer – I have lived that ethos to the fullest.

I was incredibly humbled when the federal government recently named the Chair in Brain Cancer Research at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in my honour. Such public accolades have never sat entirely comfortably with me, but I am delighted that much-needed brain cancer research will continue to be funded long after I have gone.

To my research and clinical colleagues, I implore you to stay inquisitive and brave and keep striving to break new ground. To all cancer patients, I encourage you to consider enrolling in research and clinical trials, if on offer. And to government and the wider community, please keep funding science and medical research. This is the most impactful way that you, too, can make a difference.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to come from these last three years is that cancer does not define us. It may be the current road we are travelling, but it is not our entire journey. A terminal cancer diagnosis does however provide clarity as to what truly matters. It shines a spotlight on the importance of relationships, on true friendship and on selflessness.

Whilst cancer may not define us, our ability to empathise with and have compassion towards others does. That is true in all facets of life, and I am confident those traits will continue to guide Australians towards acceptance and support for all.

My final message to all Australians is to say thank you for your outpouring of love and support for me and my family. Those of you I met during my travels as joint 2024 Australian of the Year, my amazing online community which spans many countries, and of course my hometown Tasmanians – you’ve laughed with me, cried with me, and provided encouragement and support to keep going just when I needed it most. I haven’t sugar-coated my journey and I sincerely thank you for allowing me the space and opportunity to share it with you, warts and all. I hope I have in some small way made the road ahead easier and smoother for others.

If my legacy was to continue beyond these words, I would be delighted and humbled to be remembered as a proud everyday Aussie who “gave it a crack”, and in doing so, inspired others to pursue their dreams and passions with humility, love and compassion.

With much love and gratitude, Richard.

Justice Graeme Hill adjourned the case on Friday after a three-week trial, saying the two sides should resolve the matter "without me having to say the things I need to say in a judgement".

In the book, astrophage is indigenous life to Adrian, and it travelled between Adrian and Tau Ceti to breed. The number of astrophages on Adrian & Tau Ceti were kept in check by their natural predator, tauomeba. Then suddenly, astrophage starts spreading outside the Tau Ceti system completely unchecked and without predators, like cane toads in Australia (iirc I think this is the example Ryland uses in the book).

Why did astrophage suddenly start spreading outside the Tau Ceti system and infecting other stars? Cane toads were intentionally introduced into Australia and then exploded out of control. What's the story with astrophage?

If I missed this - I'll have to go back and read that chapter again.

The Supreme Court of NSW has been dragged into the quagmire of an extraordinary and protracted leadership crisis at one of Australia’s most powerful medical colleges.

Warring factions of the Australasian College of Physicians – responsible for the training and accreditation of more than 33,000 doctors across 33 specialties in Australia and New Zealand – appeared before Justice Francois Kunc on Wednesday as the organisation attempts to delay an annual general meeting set for Friday. Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) immediate past president Professor Jennifer Martin (left), with RACP suspended president-elect Dr Sharmila Chandran.

Fiona Roughley, SC, representing the college, argued that the organisation had serious concerns that, if Friday’s meeting were to proceed, it would descend into chaos, given the ongoing conflict, which culminated in police being called to an extraordinary board meeting in April.

The RACP’s bitter constitutional deadlock centres on two factions claiming leadership; one supporting the College’s President Jennifer Martin, and the other, the now-suspended president-elect, Dr Sharmila Chandran. ADVERTISEMENT CONTENT RESUMES ON SCROLL Advertisement

“I’m not going to be able to fix all the problems in this organisation,” Kunc said during Wednesday’s hearing.

Kunc said he wanted to avoid turning the matter into a royal commission inquiry, to “put it diplomatically… a problematic period for the organisation”.

The dispute has led to months of dysfunction and infighting between college directors and college executives.

Kunc said he had refrained from delving into the backstory for a dispute that has dragged on for almost a year, deeming it “completely irrelevant”.

Martin has wanted to bring the organisation’s constitution in line with other colleges that separate the roles of president and board chair. Chandran and her supporters fiercely oppose the move.

The trouble kicked off in mid-2025 when the college board passed a vote of no confidence in Chandran. Six of the board’s 10 directors subsequently resigned.

Chandran has seen off three extraordinary general meeting votes that would have prevented her from assuming the dual roles of president and board chair.

Australia’s charities regulator issued a directive to suspend Chandran, preventing her from assuming the presidency until September 20.

In March, the college asked the charities watchdog to urgently dissolve its board hours before a vote to unseat Martin.

The college has held five EGMs over a six-month period, reportedly costing members more than $1 million.