A formal request for a royal prerogative of mercy has been made to the Queen who has the power to grant a reprieve or pardon. The Queen has reportedly been asked that in addition to granting a reprieve for Lennox, he be allowed to be relocated to the United States to live out his life.
The Queen has been requested to issue a stay of execution for Lennox which would allow time for the request for clemency and mercy to be reviewed. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2012/07/08/lennox_mercy/
In a significant move, Peter Robinson, current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has indicated he has asked Michelle O’Neill, minister of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to review the Lennox case as a “matter of urgency”.
UPDATE: 10:45 am EDT—A Facebook poster wrote: I just heard back from George of the High Court in Ireland. He did call Belfast City Council. Basically, he was able to tell them that they have no power at this point and that they have the power to present another application. He also mentioned that he knows that there are several rehoming options. The outcome of his conversation with Belfast Council was that they now have the same message to give callers: 1) That there are no current open ended court proceedings in place for Lennox, 2) That they can offer another application to the court for other options to be considered for Lennox.
“ I had the feeling that George was encouraging us to continue our attempts because public opinion can be effective. I told him about the story of Prada in Tennessee where public presence is what saved Prada absolutely. So, ” continue to make calls to Belfast Council and ask them to present another application to the High Court so that Lennox can be rehomed. That is what I think is the most likely scenario that might come to fruition. Please expect a miracle. “
Based on my intuition, I learned long ago that to-do lists don’t work. Instead of to-do lists, I use a calendar-based approach to managing my tasks. Based on the research that I’ve done, to-do lists simply don’t work.
Why?
As we increase the number of choices we have, we also increase our negative emotions. Research has shown that our brains can only handle about seven options before we’re overwhelmed. It’s easier for us to make decisions and act when there are fewer choices from which to choose.
When your list contains some tasks that are shorter and some that are longer, you’ll naturally focus on the shorter one. That means some of those tasks will wait for a long, long time.
When your list comprises items of varying priorities, you tend to take care of the “A” priorities and let the “C” priorities lie fallow…until it becomes an “A” priority itself.
To-do lists don’t capture or display the vital bits of information you need: how long will each task take? And the corollary: how much time do you have available? If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t intelligently decide what you should be working on.
To-do lists don’t prevent you from choosing the most pleasant tasks over the most important (and often most difficult).
The best alternative to the To-do list is the calendar. Estimate how much time each task will consume, and enter them into your calendar. Leave time to process your email. Leave some empty space — one to two hours — each day to deal with the inevitable crises that will crop up.
Putting your work in the calendar enables you to better determine whether or not you can (or should) say yes to a new project. If you do say yes, you can better determine when you realistically might be able to get it done.
So, my hobby in electronics is now becoming more of a serious academic discipline, as I’ve enrolled myself in MIT’s first undergraduate electronics course – 6.002x (https://6002x.mitx.mit.edu/).
My wife might kill me when she finds out that the course runs from March 5 through June 8. This could be a problem because we have planned a family vacation to visit the part of her family that still lives in Portugal. The dates for this is June 2-15. Yes, the the course overlaps with the first week of our vacation. I’m hoping this would be the exam week and that I won’t have to spend most of the days studying for the course. We’ll see how that goes, and we’ll see how it goes with breaking the news to my wife.
On the bright side, it feels good to get back into the academic side of my interests. I’ve been planning an ‘academic comeback’, which involves enrolling in York’s Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering and working towards a degree in Computer Engineering. I’ll be discussing this in a future post.
Two simple lists you should keep and look at every morning:
- List 1: Your Focus List (the road ahead)
- List 2: Your Ignore List (the distractions)
In the last post, I listed Five things you should stop doing in 2012, as part of a list of New Year’s resolutions that I would like to stick to and that I think will motivate me in being more productive in 2012. In this post, I will discuss a list based on the article 7 Things Highly Productive People Do | Inc.com. The last post forms part of my Don’t Do list, while this post forms part of my Do list for 2012. Read more…
As one of my resolutions for 2012, I’ve decided to follow the advise of HBR Blogger Dorie Clark. She recommends a list of 5 things to stop doing in an effort to be more productive. Her original blog article can be found here Five Things You Should Stop Doing in 2012 – Dorie Clark – Harvard Business Review. Here’s my version of the list. It’s specific to my needs – productivity in software development projects. Read more…
I feel like in 2011 that I’ve failed to meet my goals. I had a lot of ambitions, but not much of them were realized. So, I’m resolved to improve myself on a number of fronts. Read more…
