The art of dating: How to avoid confusion

2006, a new year; and for those who believe in new year resolutions, an attempt to adopt new habits.
Here is a suggestion for a habit that is both easy and useful to adopt.
In a world where communication frequently traverses borders and continents, there is also conventions to deal with even if the exchange is conducted in the English language. One area where conventions differ to the point of confusion is calendar dates. Why not use a date format that minimises the potential for confusion?
Today's date (in the Gregorian Calendar) can be written numerically 4/1/2006, 1/4/2006, 1/4/06, 2006-01-04 and probably a few more ways. Different conventions for the position of the month-of-the-year and the day-of-the-month make numerically written dates ambiguous a whopping 132 days of the year (11 days each month).
Eliminate the confusion by typing out the month (or abbreviate it) and use all four digits to indicate the year. Today is 4 Jan 2006. Happy new year.