Potentially the greatest All Black ever has given us the worst rugby autobiography of all time

As a Springbok supporter, I've always had mixed feelings for Richie McCaw. When he's at the top, nobody comes within a country mile of him. His ability to adapt to rule changes, dominate the opposition and such have earned him a reputation as one of the best All Blacks ever. If he's playing against a team you support, you really want him to have a bad day, which almost never happens. Secretly, he wishes to say that but people would take that as pride and arrogance. Hopefully one day it will come gushing out. The man has nothing left to prove on the field. Every piece of silverware has been won, every accolade snapped up. At the time of writing, McCaw is the only rugby player ever to have won 100 test matches.

So it amazes me that he can manage to produce such a diabolical memoir. "The Open Side," which was ghost written by Greg McGee simply stumbles at every single hurdle. Nobody has the slightest idea as to what McCaw hoped to inform us about. Most of the books contents, I already knew, the rest was clumsy prose. A big surprise was the coarse language throughout the book. You got carted from one jumbled paragraph to the next.

I've read the biography/autobiography's of numerous rugby players. None of them come close to the sheer awfulness of "The Open Side." It is a complete sell out of New Zealand's greatest player of the last decade. Readers cannot actually engage because McCaw seems uninterested in showing a more human side to him. Everything reads as if some robotic alien from some far off planet whipped it up. Is he holding large parts of himself back? Absolutely. There are no tour stories, no talks about enjoyable travel destinations, not a single mention of his private life (which was promised in the description) outside of gliding and the mention of ex girlfriend Hayley Holt (who he doesn't bother introducing).

A link will be provided for a more refined review. Do not waste a single cent on "The Open Side." Rather save up that $40 and go watch Richie do what he does best.

The moldy Apple

Apple has hit record share prices in the last year. Upon releasing its latest wave of technological gadgets, share prices ballooned. In simple economic terms, how sustainable are these margins? I cannot see Apple's honeymoon with Wall Street continuing on 20,30,40 years down the track.

Its rivals are already matching their technology with laptops, tablets and stupid smartphones. Quite soon, buying shares in companies such as Samsung, Google, or Acer will have a higher dividend yield? Maybe that could kick the moldy Apple off the tree and into action. With a profit of $137 billion in 2012, calling a low yield "a product of tough times" is neither feasible or reasonable.

Ruining cycling one law at a time

How can anybody think that wearing a fluoro vest will make any different to cyclists visibility on the roads? Cyclists are not hard to spot. Many are riding lightweight bicycles with Lycra pants and a clumsy helmet.

Drivers in New Zealand have hardened the hearts of cyclists. Nowadays many adopt an aggressive attitude to crossing roads, sometimes running through red lights to prove a point. It seems odd cyclists should get blamed for being un-noticeable when drivers work to make that the case. There is no point in having to wear a bright vest, in the same way helmets wouldn't be so necessary if drivers weren't so bad. If cyclists attempted to be easy riders too, such legislation would be shown up for what it truly is. Pointless and absurd.

I drove past Target Road primary school the other day to see a sign "Teachers not paid. Still working." My heart warmed. Teachers in New Zealand schools are unsung heroes. The bad manners of students they have to deal with on a daily basis is alarming and is becoming all too common. For any to be underpaid or not paid at all because Simon Joyce cannot admit to making an honest mistake is outrageous. I'm not alone in my sentiment that any SOE bonuses should go towards paying teachers survive, rather than helping the fat cat CEO's buy a new car.

It's too late for Drug Free Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme Steel to tell people steroids are taking off in gyms. He can stroll into any big name gym and find people openly talking about it. People in the military use steroids and top level athletes in New Zealand also use them. Of course, if a proper level of research is done, many natural herbal drinks, natural remedies among others will come out in urine samples. Don't expect anyone to tell you; apparently it's not in the nature of New Zealanders to think like that. I'd put that up on a Tui billboard. Not in their nature? Yeah right.

Whatever happened to a good old fashioned helicopter ride to see come glamorous scenery of cities and natural wonders? Middle Eastern countries have developed a strange infatuation for making buildings go up as high as possible. I doubt much thought has gone into whether the building is economically a good choice. The Kingdom Tower, to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia seems like an ostentatious marketing gimmick. When demand for oil begins to run out, this building will be a squalid, abandoned wreck, like the Ryungyong Hotel in North Korea.