The role of professional societies and the future of SAE Australasia

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Penna and Z, sorry to hear that you don't think the Society has your best interests at heart

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Sorry geoff what i said previously probably came out a bit wrong and a bit short sighted. FSAE-A is a great competition which we all love, just the small things like rules addendum may leave a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, which may lead to us forgetting all the other great things SAE have done for us. Also totally agree rule changes are a good thing, just thought it might affect international teams coming to FSAE-A.

Onto a new topic, I think publishing the old design reports with judges comments would be a great. Maybe just limit it to the more wacky/ horrible ideas that would be to hard do or horrible. This should limit the ctrl+c ctrl+v factor

Sorry Penna, my post came across a bit whiney and smug and that was not intended either. I shouldn't post late at night...

As I said, I'm embarrassed about the RA, especially after all the consultation with everyone at last year's event. I've learnt this year that there is a cubic shipload of stuff to do in running a company, and while I've been learning the ropes there have been some things that got overlooked. I just assumed it was being attended to, and I should have checked.

Anyway, I'm hearing there is a new clarification for the wheel pods / bodywork issue, so that is good. As for design reviews, Kev has already been on the job, and some stuff is coming through already. The idea is growing and we are plotting a bit of a community magazine, so we will be looking for content - interviews with team members and alumni, "where are they now" pieces, stories about home projects / restorations, some SAE news, FSAE historical stuff, and if we get some good writers on board maybe some good tech articles - tyre theory, design stuff, aerodynamics,etc. By FSAE junkies, for FSAE junkies http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Could be good fun. I'll be putting out there to all teams to trawl through your alumni networks to find people and material. I've got to justify my position to the Board next Tuesday, so anyone out there who has something interesting on the go (preferably something with wheels), have a go at being a journalist and send something through. It will do us all a favour if I can throw a pile of written pieces on the table and show we are building a bit of a community.

I'm getting all expansive again. Sorry. No wonder my mind ain't been where it should be. I've got new addendums to dream up. Addenda?

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Originally posted by Big Bird:
... a full democracy? Really? That would be what - 400 delegates from around the globe? Called together any time someone had an idea?
Wow. When you consider the screams of injustice claimed over a late rules addendum, it is a leap of faith to see universal harmony in rules subject to change daily...

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Geoff (and Tobias),

Ah, yes. The universal cry from those who have the power, as to why real democracies can never work.

"What the...!!! You want "the great unwashed" to have a say in running things? Geez, I mean, they're... they're... they're...
UNWASHED!!!!!".

Firstly, given that SAE-Australia makes up its own Rules, I suggested that this experiment could first start just in Oz. That's only about 20 odd teams.

Secondly, history shows that REAL democracies (NOT systems of government by "elected representatives") tend to have many fewer Rules changes (legislation, etc.) than other systems. This is for the simple reason that most of the players don't like all the extra, and often unnecessary, work. For example, the abovementioned "clarification" would most likely have been withdrawn before any formal vote due to feedback after its initial posting. I reckon if there had been real democratic input for the past 20+ years, then the Rules document would be far slimmer than it is now. Possibly even slimmer than the original version (because easiest simply to delete, or "streamline", contentious sections...).

Thirdly, history shows that REAL democracies work very, very, well. However, they are totally unnatural to Homo Sapiens, who are monkeys genetically programmed to live in heirarchical societies. Hence this quite understandable resistance. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
~~~o0o~~~

"Last December here in Oz, 150 people volunteered their weekend...
Most people I spoke to thought it was a brilliant event, the sponsors loved it, and the unis rave about..."

So my question is, how many teams can pass scrutineering, and then LATER be threatened with expulsion, before it is not such a brilliant event? Five teams? Ten? Twenty? Even as the Titanic was sinking, the band played on...

Forget about Nicole Scherzinger (who?) and her pimple. Maybe you can think about it like this (to continue the cooking metaphor).

New management have just taken over the restaurant, and held a Grand Opening Night. Everyone thought it was brilliant! Well, err..., except the customer who ordered rump steak, but was served a dog-turd on a plate. Yes, yes, I know. The entree was delicious. The dessert sublime. And it was only a small turd. But, err..., umm..., I don't think I want to dine there.

Geoff, fortunately you are the chef of the only restaurant in town! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
~~~o0o~~~

"You know what? I reckon if we really did have open rules - every car would be identical. Too much choice, too scary - lets just copy what the winner did...."

Excuses, Geoff, excuses. "Know Thyself". See comment above about monkeys.

(Tobias, I will address your excuses on the Oz Addendum thread tonight. They ARE excuses... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif)

Z

Sorry Geoff and to all the other rules commitee members and event organizers, but I cannot stand the pressure any more that Z puts on us.

I admit that all the FS/FSAE officials are part of a worldwide conspiracy. We all are progeny of Freemasons and we recognize each other by a secret handshake that only people of our kind know.
We meet once a week in a secret base inside an extinct volcano in the Caribbean which is financed by event fees of the teams.
In the recent years most of our meetings had only one topic: How to circumvent the hand-made-tin-foil helmet that Z is wearing to prevent us from controlling his mind with our mind control rays emitted from our mind control ray cannon installed on the Moon. (BTW: The ray emitter was installed during the first Moon landing, which according to Z did never happen. Checkmate!).

So far we have not succeeded in taking over his mind and I am getting quite frustrated about that. So I do now admit that we all only invest most of our freetime in organizing these events, to be able to frustrate students and suppress every upcoming free thought in order to maintain our control over the students. We do this to make sure that we control the future society as well(even if they start to wear hand-made-tin-foil helmets) by implanting our way of thinking deep into their minds forcing them to spread it as well. This will hopefully make sure that we maintain our tight grasp around the neck of the current society. Well except for Z and that is probably why he always feels to be surrounded by idiots and ignorants, because he actually is surrounded by them and we make sure that it stays this way.

I wonder what this "Add Z to my ignore list"-button does, I will give it a try..."click".

Hail to the Freemasons!

Sad to see a positive post side-tracked. I have been in contact with Geoff quite a lot in the last couple of days. I am convinced that the SAE-A is starting to move in a very good direction under his leadership. Pretty happy to be sending off my application for membership some 7 years after I stopped my SAE membership, which I had only kept up to compete in FSAE.

The organisation has been collecting a lot of feedback in the last couple of months and there are plenty ideas of where to go in the future, including some exciting long term prospects. Personally I'm looking forward to reading some SAE-A publications that aren't as dreary as the Auto Engineer.

Those of us who see a future in the automotive industry in Australia will need to adapt. Old models of manufacture, and information delivery are quickly becoming obsolete, if they aren't already. SAE-A have been involved heavily with the future engineers in this country. With their support of FSAE-A they have been active in helping this adaption. I did most of my undergraduate education without FSAE-A existing. It might not be a perfect competition, but we are definitely better off that it exists.

Kev

Interesting but good read Geoff!

I would certainly support having the SAE presence outside of Victoria. As a current student in Adelaide, getting to Vic for any of the presentations or events that are held is somewhat difficult (the normal 'insert I am a poor university bum' here reasons).

I also support Kevin's suggestion and was glad to see something had already started rolling when mentioned a few posts later.

As a new SAE addict, I would be happy to support the turnaround that you are proposing for SAE Australasia.

It all has to start somewhere.


Madeleine Tonkin
University of Adelaide FSAE '11, '12

Definetly moving in the right direction Geoff, the latest read of AutoEngineer was great, so much linking FSAE into everything, I found it great to see where other teams students end up and to hear stories about them. This sort of publication also is great on the uni side of things, these articles will do great in helping academics around the uni appreciate the competition for what it actually is (disappointing to those who think it is a burnout contest..). Also maybe a suggestion for the Autoengineer to have a FSAE tech section for the teams to show off their latest innovations...