On February 3^rd this year, Australian PM Kevin Rudd announced that the Government would be convening a summit called “Australia2020” in Canberra to help shape a long term strategy for Australia’s future. In the announcement, the Government said the summit would have these objectives:

· To harness the best ideas across the nation

· To apply those ideas to the 10 core challenges that the Government has identified for Australia – to secure our long-term future through to 2020

· To provide a forum for free and open public debate in which there are no predetermined right or wrong answers

· For each of the Summit’s 10 areas to produce following the Summit options for consideration by government

· For the Government to produce a public response to these options papers by the end of 2008 with a view to shaping the nation’s long-term direction from 2009 and beyond.

Almost 8000 Australians applied to join this summit, both at home and overseas. 1000 were selected and will convene on April 19-20^th.

For those who were not selected there is now an unofficial forum for them to discuss these issues online at http://www.australia2020.net and I encourage you to let any Aussie friends or family know about this as well.

As a relatively new Aussie (I’ve been a citizen for about 2 years and ironically now living abroad) I hope this initiative will help to produce a country that I want to go back to.

It's been a happy six weeks or so since we got married and everything is going great. Rhiannon still loves her camera (thanks to some inspiration at the reception) and I'm getting used to not looking around when people talk about my wife.

Update Dec 10: We now have the photos and they are amazing.

Update Feb 2007: Normally I wouldn't scrub an entry but in this case it's water under the bridge, so the content has been removed. It took a little longer than expected to get our photos but it was a case of mis-communicated expectations, poor communication and unforseen circumstances. The pictures are stunning (I even look quite handsome in some apparently) and out faith in Natalies abilities have been rewarded. We want to thank her for her suburb work and wish her all the best in the future. 

It's been a happy six weeks or so since we got married and everything is going great. Rhiannon still loves her camera (thanks to some inspiration at the reception) and I'm getting used to not looking around when people talk about my wife.

Update Dec 10: We now have the photos and they are amazing.

Update Feb 2007: Normally I wouldn't scrub an entry but in this case it's water under the bridge, so the content has been removed. It took a little longer than expected to get our photos but it was a case of mis-communicated expectations, poor communication and unforseen circumstances. The pictures are stunning (I even look quite handsome in some apparently) and out faith in Natalies abilities have been rewarded. We want to thank her for her suburb work and wish her all the best in the future. 

The world through a childs eyes

Sep 18, 2006 - 8 Photos

As you can imagine we watched with hearts in our mouths expecting some horror to ensue but luckily no damage occured - and the pictures were well framed and composed!

When we got back from the reception Rhiannon was still very excited about the idea of taking photos - but most dismissive of our 'normal' camera... she wanted one that looked "professional"!

So a very rapid shopping trip ensued to try and find a digital SLR look-alike that was light and easy enough for her to use (and in the right price bracket for me not to have kittens every time she took it out). The result was a Kodak z650 - 10x optical zoom, a shroud to protect the lens assembly, a bunch of pre-defined exposure modes in a case that, while bulkier than a lot of the digital camera offerings, met the requirements we'd had laid down for us!

So, how has she done? Well... while nothing to rival Jimmy Olsen just yet, it's probably only a matter of time (I speak as a doting father of course) but we just uploaded a random selection from the first hundred shots.

The world through a childs eyes

Sep 18, 2006 - 8 Photos

As you can imagine we watched with hearts in our mouths expecting some horror to ensue but luckily no damage occured - and the pictures were well framed and composed!

When we got back from the reception Rhiannon was still very excited about the idea of taking photos - but most dismissive of our 'normal' camera... she wanted one that looked "professional"!

So a very rapid shopping trip ensued to try and find a digital SLR look-alike that was light and easy enough for her to use (and in the right price bracket for me not to have kittens every time she took it out). The result was a Kodak z650 - 10x optical zoom, a shroud to protect the lens assembly, a bunch of pre-defined exposure modes in a case that, while bulkier than a lot of the digital camera offerings, met the requirements we'd had laid down for us!

So, how has she done? Well... while nothing to rival Jimmy Olsen just yet, it's probably only a matter of time (I speak as a doting father of course) but we just uploaded a random selection from the first hundred shots.

Well, after a bunch of very happy years (and a daughter to show for it) we finally got some nice rings (and an event to share them with all our friends)

For some reason I've not had much time on-line in the last week

[Currently listening to: Prince - South]

Well, after a bunch of very happy years (and a daughter to show for it) we finally got some nice rings (and an event to share them with all our friends)

For some reason I've not had much time on-line in the last week

[Currently listening to: Prince - South]

I'm terrible at remembering passwords. And if they change then I'm really in trouble! Luckily my life has been made much easier over the last few years thanks to the great guys at Ewise.

They provide automated, scripted login to just under 300 financial accounts (mostly US, UK and AU based but others from Hong Kong, South Africa and others) and they add others at a fairly regular rate.

The great thing about this service is that it's very secure. All the passwords are stored (heavily encrypted) either on your machine or an a 'portable profile' (can be a USB key, memory stick or even a floppy)

Once you've added an account to your profile getting the current balance (or logging on) is as simple as one click. And for all your accounts you only need to remember the one password for your user profile. When you visit the aggregator the last recorded balances are displayed so you can decide which accounts need refreshing, or with one click update them all. 

Because their service uses an ActiveX control for the encryption it's not yet available for platforms that don't support that technology... but I'm sure they'll find a way if they get enough interest!

What makes it especially good is because you're not tempted to click on a link in an email to access your bank records - because it's easier to use their aggregator login - it reduces the risk of phishing attacks. You're also less likely to write the password to your bank account on an easily lost bit of paper - again, because it's so easy.