MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCE FROM NSAA PRESIDENT

It is with deep regret that I announce that we have lost Victorian NSAA member Pat Naughtin, who passed away from bowel cancer on July 16th. Pat had been a member of NSAA for well over 12 years.

He has been a constant supporter of NSAA, and regularly made the trip up from Geelong to the meetings in Melbourne in his faithful VW (for which he had great passion). Pat’s speaking specialty was the Metric system and how Metrication Matters. It is interesting to note that VW have been using metric since the 1930s, and perhaps that is one of the reasons he loved them so much.

Pat spoke last year at TEDx Melbourne on how ‘Metric Saves Millions’. It was a very interesting and enlightening presentation http://tedxmelbourne.com/pat-naughtin-metrication/ He has spoken all over the world on this topic, and particularly in the USA (where they need it most!)

His materials were well-researched and based on scientific fact, but delivered with healthy Aussie humour. Have a read of his “Don’t use Metric Article” to see his style in action. Pat was a humble man who had a worldwide impact on the correct implementation of metric.

Pat was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer in March 2010, and since then has had chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and survived a large operation last year. Throughout he not only continued his correspondence and newsletters, he also gave talks to groups all over Victoria, some as large as 400 to 600 people, and some as small as 20, urging people to have a bowel scan.

Bowel cancer has one of the best survival rates if detected early. Pat’s Rotary club actively promoted scans and he helped in their promotion, but never had one himself. Pat’s widow Wendy has requested that in memory of Pat, to please have a bowel scan for your own health.

On behalf of all NSAA members, can I pass on our deepest condolences to Pat’s family, and also fully acknowledge the contribution that he gave to our organisation.
Thank you.

Tony Ryan
NSAA President

Earlier this year Fast Company listed the Top 50 most innovative companies in 2011. I thought I would talk through most of those and put some thoughts about their insights. Before I begin I felt I should define my version of innovation. This is the criteria we will be using to select our speakers at TEDxMelbourne in 2011.

Innovation: A radical change in design, implementation or thinking that gets the attention OUTSIDE of the industry, organisation or core group.

A really good example of my tech resistant father who doesn’t know how to switch on a computer and is relatively new to mobile phones. He saw my iPad and said “I might start looking at this email thing”. I didn’t see my iPad for some time after that.

Innovation is NOT:

• just a good idea (it needs to be more than that)
• something so radical it borders on being ahead of it’s time. It must function as a game changer

You can see the full Top 50 listing at http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2011/

#1 Apple

It is hardly a surprise that Apple is #1 on the list. Mac Book Air, iPads, new iPods and the huge success of iPhone. However I think the real unsung hero here is iTunes. The home of the App Store and iTunes store and the common experience everyone has as they upgrade, cross grade etc. It just works (mostly).

When they work, it’s great. When it doesn’t OMG its MASSIVELY annoying. I got rid of my iPhone for that reason. In fact, I got rid of all my Apple gear except my iPad and I’m not that impressed with it to be honest. It’s a big iPod touch with 3G.

I’m going do a few posts a week hopefully. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment.

Here is a list of the talks that stood out for me.
- A teacher who is teaching kids to solve world problems
- A scientist that “prints” human kidneys
- A wearable robot
- A car that blind people can drive without assistance
- A talk on emotions and decision making
- How to build a dinosaur

Below is a video about some of the things that happened at TED

http://www.facebook.com/tedactive

Adam is an Anti-Violence Evangelist for the non-profit organisation Step Back Think. For the past three years, Step Back Think has been using their youthful insight to put an end to street violence, in particular alcohol-fuelled violence. The organisation was founded after a close friend of the group was assaulted in Melbourne’s CBD and left with a permanent Acquired Brain Injury.

“Step Back Think believes that we can educate the community about violence through creating awareness. After all, the majority of society misunderstands the impacts violence can have; all it takes is one punch”, says Adam.

Adam is really excited about speaking at TEDxMelbourne: Community and Youth – check out his tweets. He’s grateful for the opportunity to tell his story, raise awareness and encourage action on this very important issue. He is also a huge TED fan and believes he has an idea well worth spreading.

From Chris Anderson, TED Curator:

“This day started off as an experimental idea, and in a few short weeks has blossomed into something much bigger than we’d imagined. Its been astonishing to see the level of passion with which people want to bring TED -like presentations to a younger audience. Quite where it leads, we’re not sure, but we could not be more excited.”

At TEDxMelbourne: Community and Youth, you’ll see presentations from some of Australia’s leaders of tomorrow – actually these young people are leaders of today – including:

• Lucinda Hartley: founder of [co]design studio and 2010 Youth Action Net Global Fellow
• Amanda McKenzie: National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition
• Adam Jaffrey: Anti-Violence Evangelist for the non-profit group Step Back Think
• Tania Major: 2007 Young Australian of the Year and spokesperson for GenerationOne
• Kumari Middleton: founder of Mayibuye community dance and life skills program

Make sure you (and your kids) tune in to our live online broadcast of TEDxMelbourne: Community and Youth tomorrow, Saturday 20 November, from 9am. It’s sure to be an amazing day. Register here (it’s free).

Mike Penrose is definitely one-of-a-kind. To many, including Simon Taylor, he’s something of a hero.

With a background in humanitarian aid, Mike has worked in most of the major humanitarian and conflict related crises since his first mission during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. This has included the management of response programmes in over 25 countries including Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Liberia, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Somalia. Mike also acts as a specialist trainer on hostage survival to several Governments and large corporations since being held hostage by Chechen Rebel Fighters during the 1996 conflict.

In his current role as Director for Emergency Programmes at Save The Children, Mike has led the way on disaster relief efforts for the recent floods in Pakistan and earthquakes in Indonesia as well as working to establish a Children’s Emergency Fund.

Although a relative new-comer to TED, we think Mike’s got all the right stuff for a pretty amazing TED Talk – his topic: Why poverty kills and how wealth creation can save lives in emergencies.