How should the date be formatted (dd-mm-yyyy vs yyyy-mm-dd, etc)?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I always figured the reason months come first here is they have names while the days and years don't, and May 30, 2012 thus aesthetically puts the word first and looks better than 2011 May 30, or 30 May 2011 (though yeah as shua and dead0man have pointed this is the best all around option perhaps). Xahar's explanation makes sense too. The other reason is that when people refer to dates in every day use and not historical events, they rarely use the year, like I wouldn't ever say my high school reunion begins on July 13, 2012, just July 13, and the month is perhaps more important in this type of context as there's only one July in the year but 12 days of. So while it's quirky, it has its reasons.

But formally, better to just go with the year first, or using the month's abbreviation.