The journey begins...

I haven't been posting much recently because it's crunch time. So many things to do in such a short space of time. I've forgotten heaps and i'll probably find out that i've forgotten more when i'm no longer in the country. I leave tomorrow at Midday. As I write this entry there are still several things that have not yet been completed - some of which include packing, arranging accomodation in some places and figuring out what to do when I touch down. As you can see, this is a well planned holiday :).

Well - what do you expect anyway, i'm a guy. Haha. You should be worried if everything was immaculately planned, right? So anyway - what am I doing and where am I going? That's a good question. I'll be headed to America, England, and Western Europe - so there should be lots to write about whilst i'm away. Obviously, i'll endeavour to post on this blog as soon as i'm near an internet cafe/kiosk.

For those of you in the know how i'll post up where i'll be and when (Jeff and James, you can read this as opposed to senging me msn messages all of the time asking me where and when i'll be on location). However, some of the locations may change.

22/11 - Los Angeles (USA)
25/11 - New York City (USA)
26/11 - Philadelphia (USA)
27/11 - Washington DC (USA)
29/11 - New York City (USA)
03/12 - London (UK)
04/12 - Salisbury (UK)
05/12 - Liverpool (UK)
06/12 - Oxford (UK)
07/12 - London (UK)
08/12 - Amsterdam (Holland)
10/12 - Rhine Valley (Germany)
11/12 - Mt.Pilatus/Lucerne (Switzerland)
13/12 - Innsbruck (Austria)
14/12 - Venice (Italy)
15/12 - Rome (Italy)
17/12 - Florence (Italy)
18/12 - Nice (France)
20/12 - Lyon (France)
21 /12 - Paris (France)
23/12 - London (UK)
24/12 - St.Anton (Austria)
31/12 - Vienna (Austria)
02/01 - Salzburg (Austria)
03/01 - Munich (Germany)
04/01 - Stuttgart (Germany)
05/01 - Munich (Germany)
06/01 - Hong Kong (China)
09/01 - Sydney (Australia)

So if any of you have any suggestions on what I should go and see at these places, feel free to post them up.

Now obviously this pseudo-world tour isn't very cheap. You'd be right. I'm expecting this trip to be in the vicinity of $9k (AUD). So i'll be working that off for some time to come. Damn, that's alot of money that i'm borrowing - lol!

Now, next item on the agenda. Postcards. If anyone wants a postcard from any of these places (excluding Sydney, of course) then drop me an email: marky.on.tour@gmail.com . I'll obviously be checking my standard email addresses, but i'm sure they'll be clogged up with a whole bunch of stuff - so I may miss a couple of emails. Feel free to just send over an email asking me how things are, etc.

Now - as i'm going to be away for a while i'll just make a few comments on some issues that i've read about in the papers recently. So if u read further down - there's no more travel stuff :).

First of all - Internet governance. Currently ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) maintains and holds the "internet telephone book". These are the dudes that make sure that internet addresses like markyhomez.blogspot.com are linked to the correct numerical address (as the 203.123.123.123 kinds of addresses are somewhat harder to remember). ICANN is based in America - somewhere in California from memory.

Anyways, the United Nations and the European Union are somewhat jealous that an American company has control and have been pushing for more "international co-operation". Some critics proclaim that "no single nation should maintain control over the top level domain or country names". Sounds good in principle, but who else would be in charge of the "internet directory". The UN? the EU?. I certainly hope not.

Lets see. The UN takes total control of internet governance. Countries like China, Iran, and Zimbabwe would be able to influence how the Internet works and is managed. Zimbabwe will be able to tell everyone in the world how to manage their e-businesses - fantastic! considering their economy is in the toilet and that they've chased away all the white farmers in the country. China will be able to ensure freedom of information on the internet - excellent! All of my news needs will be provided by the Xinhua news service. Hopefully, ICANN will keep control for the time being.

Issue Number 2 - WorkChoices. I'll be the first person to admit that I haven't read the entire bill - but I doubt that many people have... it's 700 pages long. What I may say could be disregarded as someone who is not "in the know", but so would many others - including high profile unionists. Obviously this is a big issue and there are probably several things that can be fixed and or amended in the bill, but IR reform is necessary.

Why this is a good thing? Well, in my opinion the best thing one can do for his or her future is to get a job. Enabling more people to move into work does two things - makes people more self-sufficient and lowers the welfare burden on government so that front-line services can be better funded. These two things in combination will ensure future prosperity for Australians.

How will the WorkChoices legislation enable more people to gain employment - well one national Industrial Relations system will be introduced across Australia (rather than 6+ as it is now). Meaning less confusion and probably less compliance costs as there would only be the one system - as opposed to the various state systems and the commonwealth system on top of that. Unfair Dismissal laws would be removed for businesses less than 100 employees. Shit workers should be sacked, it's as simple as that. Forcing small businesses to keep bludgers is a travesty. By allowing bludgers to be sacked rather than retained will undoubtedly help small businesses take on more employees.

Obviously there will be questions raised, and questions have indeed been raised. Won't the big bad company sack me for no reason? There is another set of laws that is still in place - illegal dismissal laws. It will still be unlawful to sack you based on age, race, religion, and all of that. Plus, if you work hard - why would your boss sack you? Plus, it seems as though companies are big bad meanies all the time (if you watched the union ads). Companies depend on their people to succeed - so it is in their best interest to keep their staff happy and content. Obviously, not all the companies are the same - but the most successful companies are the ones that keep thier workforce happy.

Anyways, that's enough from me. This is a mega blog, and I should stop here and start packing. Haha. The next post will come from overseas, w00t. In closing i'd like to say a big thank you to my Cousins Jason and Kara for helping me plan my holiday.