At one extreme master planned 'communities' can be soulless,sterile suburbs. The danger at the other extreme is social engineering. The question I have is can a city with character and soul be created without community input?

I went down to the Caloundra South display centre yesterday and spent a few hours with a friend discussing the possiblities and problems.  More >>

How far is it to the edge?  At some point business and community is going to clash if one keeps pushing the other. More >>

I've learned three things today:
> Fraudsters have developed rather sophisticated strategies and natural disasters leave the door wide open for them.
> Do not give out ANY personal details over the phone to callers whose identity you are not 100% sure of.
> Our police stations aren't connected to the internet.  More >>

Australian's of the Year, our leading lights for 2011, are right up our ally.  Simon McKeon, a social entrepreneur, equal rights campaigner Professor Ron McCallum and round the world sailer Jessica Watson.  Local Hero of the Year is Donald Ritchie who lives near The Gap in Sydney, a notorious location for people intent on ending their lives by jumping off the cliff. Three men concerned with social issues and a young lady from Queensland. More >>

Where does the balance lie for material and psychological need in times of natural disaster?  More >>

 "An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and are often part of the alternative society. They typically also share responsibilities and resources. Intentional communities include cohousing communities, ecovillages, communes, survivalist retreats, kibbutzim, ashrams and some housing cooperatives. Typically, new members of an intentional community are selected by the community's existing membership, rather than by real-estate agents or land owners (if the land is not owned collectively by the community)."(wikipedia) More >>

People with disabilities should be able to join in mainstream society, have fun and enjoy cultural activities like anyone else. More >>

What's the glue that sticks communities together?  Do we have some of it?  You bet!   More >>

When Bettina suggested we construct a labyrinth it immediately sent my neurons firing off in all directions ( read ' I thought it was a good idea')!
It was the art project that finally surfaced from all that activity up there in my head.  But that was only the start of it (and may well be the end of me)  – imagine a 6m x 6m canvas!  More >>

My inner voices are never silent. I am not good at meditating. I know it's so good against stress and hence such a healthy activity. Unfortunately I'm so tightly wound my inner voices never shut up - even in the lotus position. Labyrinth's unlike mazes have no dead ends. Walking it is a 'no-brainer' - one path to the centre and out again. As you walk a labyrinth turning 180 degrees each time you enter a different circuit your brain starts to relax and you feel increasingly calm and centred.  More >>