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Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Times
Should I crash my son's gap year?
An empty nest hits some parents harder than expected and Michelle Obama recently admitted to having therapy to deal with hers. I'm the same age as Mrs O, a 'nan-aged' empty-nester who had two sons in my late thirties and early forties. However, after the sudden accidental death of my elder son, Jackson, in September 2023, at the age of just 21, it's fair to say my nest is even emptier than the former first lady's. Emptier, indeed, than I ever imagined it could be. I haven't had therapy and found other ways to get through. Yet towards the end of 2024 I'd all but exhausted my coping strategies when my partner was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and rushed into surgery. To deal with yet more extreme stress I chose to retreat; to batten down the hatches to get through what promised to be another tough winter, at the end of the cruellest year of my life. If this wasn't tough enough, while navigating profound personal loss and illness I lost friendships too. Inevitably, as so many testing, unanticipated chapters of my life unfolded, not everybody in it was able to stay on the same page. Still, while in this peculiar holding pattern I had sufficient wherewithal to suggest to my 18-year-old son, Rider, that after the worst year of his life — coinciding with his A-levels — he should probably embark on his richly deserved gap year even sooner than he had planned. With my partner about to start three months of postoperative preventive chemotherapy and Rider's friends scattered to uni or on travels of their own, there was little to look forward to at home, in the House of Absolutely No Fun Whatsoever. The Bank of Mum and Dad — albeit separated and repartnered for many years — ensured Rider boarded a flight to Brisbane on December 5 last year. At the other end he was met by my Aussie half-brother, Jonny, sister-in-law, Felicity, and two of my three nephews, Dominic, 10, and Memphis, 14 months, whom I'd never even met myself. It had been 16 years since I'd last visited Australia (along with a six-year-old Jackson) and 12 years since my Australian family had visited me; the latest addition to their family was born exactly a month to the day after Jackson had died. Given that my Aussie-born, UK-based father died in 2019 and my Aussie mother (who returned to Australia 45 years ago) died in 2020, during Covid, what remained of my diminished gene pool was quite suddenly all on the other side of the world. While I was born in the UK and have lived the whole of my adult life here I felt an umbilical tug. The thing is, my earliest memories are of the year I spent in Oz, aged three, when my mother had a trial separation from my father and took me 'home' — she was a country girl, having grown up on an 80,000-acre sheep station on the New South Wales/Victoria border. My parents eventually reconciled (for a few years) and I returned from my free-range year roaming the Australian bush to the suburbs of London. Accessorised by a tan and a broad Aussie accent, I defaulted to 'steereo' for stereo (a word used more often in the 1960s/1970s than today!) for years. After his arrival I gave Rider long enough to get over the jet lag and used to the high-summer heat before I started begging for pictures and updates via WhatsApp … Poor kid! Previously he and his brother had navigated the usual blended family's revolving doors ('Make sure you phone Mum on Mother's Day … I'll buy the card for Father's Day …'). They had each other's backs; now, tragically, Rider faced a future navigating the demands of his separated-but-equally-bereaved parents all by himself. His father and I inevitably both want big pieces of him while recognising he needs a new space for himself, free from our neediness; inevitably a tough balancing act for all. In the meantime, however, thank God for WhatsApp. 'What do you think of Australia so far?!' 'Amazing. I love it!' 'Good to hear! Show me the view!' Rider turned his phone around, waving a 'tinny' at a sunset over the gum trees with a twinkling Southern Cross emerging in the early evening sky. I sighed. 'That looks fantastic. Have the best time. Love you loads …' It really was a visceral tug. Yet I knew it was for the best that Rider remained a long way away from home during yet another emotionally bleak winter. Shortly before he died Jackson said that 2023 had been 'the perfect summer'. And now, if only by default in the light of his death, 2023 had become my 'perfect summer' too. Yet, once again, summer — the metaphorical and the real one ahead — seemed very far away, while future 'perfect summers' felt impossibly out of reach. Meantime I battened down the hatches once more. As my partner embarked on three months of chemotherapy I wanted to be there for him. However, (if all went well) afterwards I also wanted to reclaim space for myself. • 35 of the best things to do in Australia As Rider celebrated Aussie Christmas in Queensland — barbecue, swimming, cricket, hitting Surfers Paradise bars and clubs with his eldest cousin, Jordan — I hatched a plan. By the time he'd travelled to Sydney for New Year before arriving in Melbourne, I knew what I needed to do. Though how would my son feel if I crashed his gap year? Have you ever joined your child on their gap year? Let us know in the comments below
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Time of India
Out of ICU, man gets 20-yr RI for minor's sexual abuse
Noida: A special Pocso court on Wednesday sentenced an 80-year-old painter to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting and threatening a minor for seven years. Additional sessions judge/special judge (Pocso) Vikas Nagar pronounced the sentence as the convict, Moris Rider, was brought to the court on a stretcher from a hospital, where he was admitted to an ICU for age-related ailments. Special public prosecutor Jai Prakash Bhati told TOI on Thursday that the court did not take a lenient view of sentencing the octogenarian because the convict was in a position of power and the minor was under his care for studies. Bhati said Rider belonged to Shimla but lived in Noida's Sector 46. The minor's family, also from Shimla, knew the accused. "Rider had studios in Shimla and Noida. He offered the girl's father to take her to Noida for proper education," the prosecutor said. When the girl was 9 years old, her family took up Rider's offer and sent her to Noida to live with him in Oct 2013. According to the complaint, Rider started sexually abusing the minor from July 2015. He would force her to watch pornographic videos and sexually assault her. The girl, after she turned 18, confided about the sexual assault and abuse to Manisha Shah, a business partner of the painter, in 2022. Shah, who lived in the same accommodation as Rider and the girl, approached Noida police and filed a complaint at the Sector 39 station in May that year. She said in the complaint that the girl was physically and sexually assaulted for 7 years. The minor told her she was beaten up and tortured frequently, and Rider would threaten to harm her younger sister and father. Police registered an FIR against Rider and filed a charge sheet in July. During the hearings, the defence counsel argued that the FIR was delayed, and there were no details of exact date/time of commissioning the crime. Rider's counsel also told the court that he is an elderly man who is incapable of sexual intercourse. Additionally, medical examination does not confirm the accusations against Rider, the defence counsel had said. The judge concluded, "On the basis of produced evidence, these facts seem to have proved beyond reasonable doubt as against the accused -- Moris Rider -- that between 2015 and 2022, on different occasions at the house in Sector 46, Noida, the accused not only voluntarily caused hurt to the victim and threatened her but also committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault and rape upon the body of the victim." Rider was awarded 20 years' RI and fined Rs 50,000 for conviction under Section 6 (penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The judge also sentenced him to one year of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) and six months of simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC. All sentences will run concurrently, and 80% of the fines will be given to the girl as compensation and for her rehabilitation, the judge ruled.
Ottawa Citizen
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Roughriders training camp: Green and White Day set for Saskatoon
Call it ' pre-' pre-season preparation for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Article content The Riders will get to show their stuff once again in a controlled scrimmage setting, when the annual Green and White Day takes place Saturday afternoon at Saskatoon's SMF Field as the team prepares for its upcoming pre-season games. Article content For Rider fans, it's a chance to get a glimpse of the Green and White squad ahead of its first pre-season match, May 24, against the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. Article content Article content 'If they haven't had a chance to come out and catch practice, there's been a lot of big plays happening out this way. It's a chance for our fan base to get closer to the team, see them in live action and see how we're going.' Article content Gates at SMF Field will open at 1 p.m., with the scrimmage set to begin at 3 p.m., followed by an autograph session. Article content Prior to the game, Rider play-by-play announcer Dave Thomas will host a panel discussion, starting at 1:45 p.m., in the Gordie Howe Sports Complex main hall with Mace, president and CEO Craig Reynolds and vice-president of football operations/general manager Jeremy O'Day. Article content Off-field activities include performances from the Rider cheer team, the Rider Pep Band and Gainer the Gopher, along with face-painting, inflatables, music and games. Article content The Riders will hold the event after six days of main camp in Saskatoon, where wild-fire smoke rolled into town Thursday morning. Article content Article content A year ago, the Riders proceeded with their Green and White Day despite smoke in the air, although they kept the scrimmage short and sweet. Article content Article content While the team also cut their practice short Thursday, Mace has been happy with all facets as camp has progressed. Article content 'I'm really excited about how our offence is moving the ball and the run game,' said Mace, who enters his second season as head coach. 'All of our quarterbacks are seeing it real nice and our receivers are running great routes. Defensively, (while) throwing a little more on their plate and how they're handling that, it looks really good. The standard we have for causing and creating turnovers, those are still there.' Article content 'I can say anything I want (but) he's got a standard for himself,' Mace says of Milligan. 'It's crazy or not, but he's not complacent with what he's done last year. He identified a few things he wanted to work on this off-season, and you've seen it translate already in camp. So for Ro, the sky's the limit, man.
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How AI Reshapes Internships And Entry-Level Jobs
For students, internship experience is everything when it comes to their education and being ready for their careers. There's a lot of talk about AI taking jobs away from people, and before you say it's not happening, turns out it is. How widespread this becomes is still up for debate, but it's just a matter of how long it takes and what jobs are affected. To find out more, I wanted to talk to a good friend of mine. Dr. Eugene Kutcher III (I call him Gene) is the Dean of the Norm Brodsky College of Business at Rider University. Gene and I have been working on a project that touches on AI, internships, and jobs, so I wanted to sit down with him, ask a few questions, and see where it went. Joe: How do you see internships being valuable within an organization? Gene: I'm going to start with how internships are valuable for us on the education side of things. At Rider, we call it engaged learning. We have a requirement that every student, by the time they graduate, they engage in a number of what we call 'high-impact practices.' Things that evidence has told us connect students more with their learning, so it's a more personal experience for them. In a business school, front and center, and priority is internships because one of our key mandates is to get them jobs when they graduate and have them be comfortable, competent, and have some confidence when they go into those positions. For the students, it means everything when it comes to their education and being ready for their careers. Joe: Now that AI is doing more entry-level jobs, have you seen a change in the number of internships that are available or a shift in attitude about internships? Gene: I'm going to take a step back a little bit. Even through COVID-19, when everything went remote for students and they were suddenly getting internships that were completely virtual, we realized that things are going to be a little bit different from this point forward. Some of those internships have never really come back. And yes, a lot of those internships were remote, but some of them disappeared altogether. We know some of these opportunities were there before and are not there now, and that goes for internships for our current students, as well as entry-level jobs for our graduates. We have to work a little harder and prepare them a little bit more. But also, we have to figure out what critical thinking looks like for those positions that are requiring human beings to work with AI. It's refocusing a little bit about what those skills are. Joe: This is where the AI Accelerator program comes into play, right? Let's get companies that are already connected with Rider in some way more deeply engaged. We can create this place at Rider where an organization can say, 'I've got this idea how we might be able to apply AI in a brand new way, but we have no idea what to do about it." Rider has great students and faculty, and we have alumni that run an entire organization around doing this stuff with enterprise customers. They can mentor the students on the project that company is looking to accomplish. This isn't the standard internship at all now. It's literally a big four consulting company—a proof of concept whereby we can create an experiential learning experience the way you described. Rider is not only helping figure out this technology journey, but also allowing students to experience it. Gene: And it cuts right to the chase. Students would have the problem ready to go. A lot of times with internships, so much of it is about a program, and a lot of firms might not have anything ready for interns to do yet. We see that a lot—and that's always been the case, even when I was an intern back in the day. It's that, 'OK, now we have interns, now what do we do with them?' Where in this case, it's almost like, 'We've identified something we need, and now let's bring the students on board.' Joe: That's where traditional internships break down, is people say, 'We need an intern because we've always had an intern.' And then they get there and they say, 'I don't know what we do with these people.' Gene: Right. And it matches what they need. It's a win-win. Students realize they need to pick up some skills with AI and they're thirsting for a story to tell about what they've learned on the job. Because one thing that we try to instill in them is that today it's AI, but no matter what, you could pick them up out of today and drop them in a hundred years from now, and adaptability is going to have just to be the one thing that they always are ready for; to quickly learn on the spot with whatever it is that's needed right now. The idea that you need to be ready for something, you need not be comfortable with it. You have to just quickly figure out what's needed in the moment and figure out what your resources are, who's on your team that you're working with, who you can get mentoring from, what the problem is that needs a solution, and you don't have any time to waste. You have to figure it out as you go. If you want to hear more, check out the article on my website, A Deep Dive into the Rider AI Assistant Accelerator Program. Also, check out my new book, The AI Ecosystems Revolution, available right now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookseller.
News.com.au
11-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Crashes galore at chaotic French GP!
MotoGP: Johann Zarco has become the first French rider to win his home Grand Prix since 1954, in a dramatic and chaotic race.
