Where the big dollars are

All Blacks may top the list when it comes to winning but are away down the pecking order when I comes to the dollars paid. In fact the highest paid All Blacks are only fifteenth on Rugby’s high paid scale.

The world’s highest paid rugby player is Israel Folou, who on $ 2.2 million a year earns twice as much as New Zealand’s highest, Kieren Read, Beauden Barrett and Sonny Bill Williams who are only on $1 million a year. I wonder how they feel about that?

Japan is the place to head for if a player is looking for the really big money without too much effort. Currently Dan Cater is being paid $ 2.13 million by Kobe Steel and Matt Gitteau a similar amount by Suntory. Aaron Cruden is taking home $1.31 thanks to Montpelier, Ma’a Nonu $1.16 at Toulon and Nicholas Sanches $1.12  thanks to Staid Francais 

Pay rates I Europe are also pretty generous Bristol is paying Charles Pitau $1.9 million and  Steve Luatua 1.25 Million and Dan Bigger is earning $1.25 million at  Northampton

Michael Hooper is the highest paid player on the paddock when the Wallabies play the All Blacks just topping the New Zealanders with his pay of $1.1 Million a year. 

Brain facts

 How many brain cells do adults grow per day?

About 700. It used to be thought that you were born with all of the brain cells you would have for life but that is a myth. Brain cells can be lost and they can also grow. Certain habits, like exercising, can boost the number of brain cells you make. But many of these die within a week if they are not used. That’s why engaging your brain and learning new skills can keep your brain healthy and growing.

 What happens to the brain during sleep?

It’s busy. While your body is resting during sleep, your brain stays active controlling many of the functions of your body, like breathing. Your brain sorts through the day’s information and consolidates your learning into the long-term memory. The brain also clears out certain kinds of waste which researchers believe may lead to dementia over time.

Information from Brainfit® for life

Budget delivers largest funding cut since 2008 for Disability Support Services *

CCS Disability Action believes disabled people’s wellbeing will suffer as a result of Budget 2019. The Government plans to reduce spending on the Ministry of Health’s Disability Support Services by $7 million dollars, the largest planned funding cut in over a decade. This comes despite repeated appeals for additional funding to address the $150 million deficit in sector funding and a last-minute save to service cuts due to Ministry of Health over-spending in 2018.

In the previous financial year, the Government estimates that it spent just under $1,352 million on Disability Support Services. In the coming financial year, they plan to spend just under $1,345 million. This is $7 million less, * despite the current underfunding of Disability Support Services.

David Matthews, Chief Executive of CCS Disability Action, is dismayed that the needs of disabled New Zealanders and those that support them have not been addressed.

“The sector is underfunded as it is and there is a proven growing demand for Disability Support Services. It is likely to reduce the wellbeing of disabled people and their whānau. We cannot go on with the Government thinking it can keep a lid on demand for disability support services when the pot is already boiling over,” he says. … Continue Reading

We Are The Very Model Of A Modern University — The Back Story

BY JOHN ANSELL

The story starts when fans of Marx, who died in 1883,
in 1884 began the Fabian Society
in honour of the man who made the plan that toppled Hannibal
— he was the very model of a major Roman general!

Their coat of arms: The Big Bad Wolf in clothing of the woolly sheep.
They cloaked themselves in cuddly brands to keep the people fast asleep:
progressive, Labour, liberal and social-this and social-that
— like democratic socialist and Green and social democrat!

In time they found The Big Bad Wolf a much too apt analogy
and thought a fighting tortoise more in keeping with their strategy
to slowly, imperceptibly, with protocols and covenants
emasculate the nations and impose a global governance.

Fast-forward thirty years and there was trouble like you’d never seen
with European nations as conflicted as they’d ever been
— advancing the objective of the Fabian Society
to get the West to wreck itself and spare them the anxiety! … Continue Reading