Using your name wisely

Des Walsh, the doyen of Australian Blogging, is now using his strongest brand: his name.

Your parents give you a name. Most people live with this name for the rest of their life. Unless you are Reginald Kenneth Dwight, now Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE. (Oh, there’s a whole Psychiatry conference in that name change alone!)

As alpha bloggers and all successful people know: all you really own is your name. This is the label to your reputation. Own it, defend it, market it.

Successful blogging is composed of authentic personal voice, from you underneath your name. Use it wisely.

… and a Zune 30…

Upon reflection, I should also note I have a Zune 30 in the house too.

Thanks to the smart guys in the Zune team, it sounds like it’s going to do some synching with Media Centre with a software update.

Jeffa, also a proud owner of a Zune, has some guidance on how to Pod-catch with current Zunes and software. Like Jeffa says, no word on when in Australia. Knowing it took Apple many years to get the iTunes Store into Australia – I can just imagine we’ll be waiting a little longer.

Thanks Laura and Cesar for the update.

(ps: happy that Paul Foster is happy with his new toy, the OQO)

Parents: where are your kids now?

Parents have this little internal GPS that sorta- kinda- knows where their children are in physical space.

Why should it be different with online?

The excuse that "computers are too hard" and "the kids are far ahead of me" just doesn’t wash anymore. This is like putting your kids on an unmarked bus to nowhere and hoping they return physically and mentally intact. You are abandoning your children.

Howard Rheingold, recently in Australia for educationau, and Heath at Catallaxy recenly commented on the wastage of taxpayer money on filters and a fear-mongering piece of dead-trees.

A well written explanation of what is online, and how to explore the world together would have been better. Education, not fear mongering. The mainstream media has overplayed the fear of the unknown and new. I’d like them to spend that time explaining Phishing and 419 scams.

Parents need to learn. In 10-20 years time, the best way of communicating to their grandkids will be online.

Learn with your kids, parents. Know where they are online.

Meet Mary Milne, my Great- Great- Great- Grandmother

Mary Milne

Why blog your family history? Because it helps others out, and you find out more. Others doing searches for common ancestors will stumble on your site, and send emails.

The above photo is of one Mary Milne. She married a Melville Hodge in 1853 whilst on her way to South Australia. Her first son was my great- great- grandfather.

In other words, she is my great- great- great- grandmother. A small part of her is in my genes. This photo was taken in March 1904, 103 years ago.

And speaking of genes, if you look at her eyes and mouth: they are not aligned. It’s not "an error" in posing. It’s probably Bell’s Palsy.

Thanks to Darryl, also a decendent of Mary Milne for sending the photo and a detailed history.