Elise Hansen knowablemagazine.org When the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, it was a watershed moment in US school shooting cases. It was also a key moment in parental culpability law, governing cases in which parents can be held legally responsible for the
Former Shortland Street star Will Alexander has gone on hunger strike in protest over the Israel Gaza war. In a video posted online on Sunday, Alexander, who appeared in 36 episodes of the New Zealand soap, said his move had come as he didn’t “know how to live in
The word for today is… allege (verb): 1: to assert without proof or before proving 2: to bring forward as a reason or excuse 3 archaic : to adduce or bring forward as a source or authority Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : These days, someone alleges something before presenting evidence to prove
Every driver knows that too many of those road cones set out on our highways aren’t actually connected to any active roadworks. This leaves drivers to decide if that 30kph sign and those cones represent a reason to slow down or not, so we all carry on as if
The word for today is… tawdry (adjective, noun): adjective 1: cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality 2: morally sordid, base, or distasteful Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position in order to become a nun. She
It seems that wherever you look, folks are using Temu to buy extremely low-priced products covering almost every style, type, and category. Temu promises exclusive discounts and ultra-low prices, but at what cost? Useless products? Cheap-knockoffs? Packages that never arrive? […] When shopping online, there’s always a risk of purchasing
Last week I gave a rebuttal of the advice from the financial advisors Sean Plunket has on his radio station. Since then several folks have asked me to clarify some points I made. What particularly doesn’t seem to compute (perhaps due to a lifetime of exposure to buzzwords from
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters promises he is pursuing “all options” to get New Zealand nationals back here quickly and safely. Noumea descended into chaos on Monday, with armed clashes between indigenous Kanak pro-independence protesters and security forces. They were sparked by anger at a proposed new law that
The word for today is… blarney (noun): 1: skillful flattery : blandishment 2: nonsense, humbug Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The village of Blarney in County Cork, Ireland, is home to Blarney Castle, and in the southern wall of that edifice lies the famous Blarney Stone. Legend has it that anyone who
Popstar Avril Lavigne has been the subject of many online conspiracies over the years, but one dominating theory is that she died in 2003. The theory spun by theorists and internet sleuths, gained traction in the early 2000s and claimed the Sk8r Boi singer had been replaced by a doppelganger
The word for today is… querulous (adjective): 1: habitually complaining 2: fretful, whining Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : English speakers have called fretful whiners querulous since late medieval times. The Middle English form of the word, querelose, was an adaptation of the Latin adjective, querulus, which in turn evolved from the
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove a portrait of her from an exhibition by Archibald Prize-winning Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira. The billionaire mining mogul directly approached NGA director Nick Mitzevich and NGA chair Ryan Stokes in April to press for the portrait’
The word for today is… emulate (verb): 1a: to strive to equal or excel b: imitate – especially : to imitate by means of an emulator 2: to equal or approach equality with Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but we’ll posit that
Northland iwi Ngati Kahu has finished drafting a letter to King Charles III calling on him to stop what they say is a violent attack on Te Tiriti O Waitangi, a Maori academic and iwi chairperson says. Makere Mutu presented her evidence on the second day of the urgent Waitangi
The word for today is… cacophony (noun): 1: harsh or jarring sound : dissonance 2: an incongruous or chaotic mixture : a striking combination Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’re hooked on phonetics, you may know that the Greek word phone has made a great deal of noise in English. Cacophony
Author JK Rowling has been accused of cruelty for mocking the world’s first openly transgender football manager, comparing her to a ‘straight, white, middle-aged bloke’. The Harry Potter novelist replied to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from LGBTQ+ charity Pride, championing Lucy Clark. The transgender referee is the
