Dear Readers,
Yesterday I was on deadline, so I didn't get a chance to blog. Big news day though, huh? I mean, Osama Bin Laden finally tracked down -- what a surprise!
Sunday night we actually went to bed early. We're perpetually going to bed at midnight, and we're zonked all week long (there's no real good reason for our late bedtime -- probably just a little too much time on the computer). On Sunday I shut it down in the 10:00 hour, and we had lights out around 11:00. Boy, did we sleep well!
This means I missed the initial "big news conference on late" Facebook posts -- the ones that evolved into something like "We got him!" No, I woke up to the top-of-the-hour announcement on NPR to have my mind properly blown [surprisingly, I didn't even have any NPR dreams about it either].
Sometimes it's like that -- you go to bed one night, and when you wake up in the morning, the entire world has changed. That happened for a lot of people on 9/11/01, when Bin Laden's minions launched their largest attack on the US at the start of the day in the East, but much earlier for most of the country. It kind of seems only fitting that this chapter of the story should end in a similar manner.
Bin Laden's capture and demise doesn't necessarily solve anything, but I hope it makes the future better. Hopefully this will deal a big enough blow to terrorist factions so that we, nor any country who's been struck by a terrorist attack, will never have to deal with such atrocities again.
Your pal,
Jill
Showing posts with label The World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The World. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Friday, September 24, 2010
Maximum Global Efficiency
Dear United Nations General Assembly,
Do you have problems checking everything off your "To Do" list?
Does it seem like your annual ministerial meetings take forever?
Do you think you have an image problem about getting stuff done?
Then don't let your guest speakers ramble on forever!
How do you kindly put the kabosh on long-winded addressees, much like U.S. President Obama, who yesterday spoke for 32 minutes, when he was only allotted 15?
Play them off!
Take a cue from awards shows---if they didn't set limits on how long it takes to say thank you, we'd still be watching the Academy Awards from this past March. They allot the winners 30 seconds, and when that time is up, you get the not-so-subtle hint that you're done. Please take your leave.
While you don't have an orchestra on hand to start playing some soaring music, surely you've got the ability to broadcast some music in the assembly hall. When the speaker's time is up, start playing the national anthem from the speaker's country. If you keep turning it up, they'll eventually get the hint.
The President, although he's a fine, intelligent speaker, really should know (or have someone on staff who knows) how long 15 minutes is by this stage in his career. He shouldn't have gone over twice the allotted time. A few bars from "The Star-Spangled Banner" at 15:30, when it was obvious that he wasn't going to wrap it up anytime soon, could have kept you on schedule.
Because really, you've got a world to run. You need to keep at it. In this case, say, "Diplomacy, shiplomacy," and show them who's in charge.
When you're accomplishing more in a shorter period of time, the world will thank you for it.
Your pal,
Jill
Do you have problems checking everything off your "To Do" list?
Does it seem like your annual ministerial meetings take forever?
Do you think you have an image problem about getting stuff done?
Then don't let your guest speakers ramble on forever!
How do you kindly put the kabosh on long-winded addressees, much like U.S. President Obama, who yesterday spoke for 32 minutes, when he was only allotted 15?
Play them off!
Take a cue from awards shows---if they didn't set limits on how long it takes to say thank you, we'd still be watching the Academy Awards from this past March. They allot the winners 30 seconds, and when that time is up, you get the not-so-subtle hint that you're done. Please take your leave.
While you don't have an orchestra on hand to start playing some soaring music, surely you've got the ability to broadcast some music in the assembly hall. When the speaker's time is up, start playing the national anthem from the speaker's country. If you keep turning it up, they'll eventually get the hint.
The President, although he's a fine, intelligent speaker, really should know (or have someone on staff who knows) how long 15 minutes is by this stage in his career. He shouldn't have gone over twice the allotted time. A few bars from "The Star-Spangled Banner" at 15:30, when it was obvious that he wasn't going to wrap it up anytime soon, could have kept you on schedule.
Because really, you've got a world to run. You need to keep at it. In this case, say, "Diplomacy, shiplomacy," and show them who's in charge.
When you're accomplishing more in a shorter period of time, the world will thank you for it.
Your pal,
Jill
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