Move over NZ, we have our own extreme sport capital

I'm on a bicycle hurtling down a steep and winding hill in the middle of a rainforest, heart pumping and mouth dry as I narrowly avoid roaring Mack trucks and sudden cliff drops.

Ever the huge wuss, my hands linger on the brakes, but I'm going fast enough that the shadows of the tall trees flicker like strobe lights as I whiz past waterfalls, rock faces and thick bushland.

This is what a real adrenaline rush feels like and you don't have to cross the Tasman to the extreme sports capital of Queenstown to experience it.

With beaches, rivers and rainforests the NSW Coffs Coast is Australia's own place to get plenty of action and adventure.

I'm doing the Dorrigo Free Fall bike ride which winds down Waterfall Way in Dorrigo National Park, near Bellingen, from 746 metres above sea level.

It takes less than half an hour to reach just five metres above sea level, but about two hours for my heart rate to return to normal.

This downhill mountain bike ride was created by Gary Eagles, who was inspired by a similar bike tour he discovered while travelling in Maui, Hawaii.

Gary, a burly and enthusiastic man who has lived and travelled in Antarctica, Asia, Europe and in the outback, humbly describes his thrillseeker level as "slight".

But I'm not sure I believe him as he leads the ride, barely touching the brakes.

His swift headstart doesn't mean other riders have to rush though, with Gary encouraging me and my travel companions to ride at our own pace - and to avoid looking at the steep ledges on the left.

A ute follows the pack of bicycles down the hill to ensure cars stay well away, allowing for thrills without any spills.

Expo to focus on sustainable products

Ararat - Head along to the Grampians House and Garden Expo on Sunday September 11 and find out about the latest sustainable products on the market.

The Expo will focus on the latest innovations for creating more sustainable houses and gardens, with stalls from companies highlighting what is new in the world of retro-fitting to the latest trends in gardens.

The aim of the Expo is to create comfortable homes, while saving you money at the same time. Stalls will include what's new in LED lighting to solar PV and hot water, the latest heating and insulation products on the market, and how to grow your own vegetables.

Exhibitors from across the region will be on hand to provide you with up to the minute information on the latest in sustainable houses and gardens. Come and chat to the exhibitors who will be more than happy to talk through their latest innovations with you.

There will also be a range of guest presenters on hand covering a wide range of topics including building sustainable communities, to up to the minute news on solar products and tips on saving your energy and money. Experts within each field will be on hand to answer your questions.

It promises to be a great day for anyone with an interest in moving to a more sustainable future.

The Expo will be held at the Ararat College from 10am to 3pm, with the house tour leaving at 12.15pm and returning at 3.30pm. Bookings are required for the tour. Phone 5355 0200.

The Expo is being offered by the Refit n' Save Program in conjunction with Ararat Rural City Council, Central Victoria Solar City and Ararat Greenhouse Action Group.

Outages, closed roads mark day after Irene in NC

The aftermath of Hurricane Irene's weekend grind along eastern North Carolina came into focus Sunday as residents of Hatteras Island lost their highway tether to the mainland, residents cleaned homes scoured by floodwaters and power for some of the half-million once in the dark flickered back to life.

Officials blamed the storm for six deaths. While the numbers were decreasing, hundreds remained in shelters and more than 360,000 still had no electricity with warnings it could take crews days to get all the Diving lamp back on. Authorities up and down the coast said schools would stay closed Monday.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said residents were asking for food, water, generators and help with debris removal as she hopscotched to some of the most heavily damaged areas via helicopter. More than 1,700 people remained in 23 shelters around the state.

Still, the governor said the state fared better than she thought it would given early forecasts of the storm hitting with higher-speed winds.

"Overall, the destruction is not as severe as I was worried it might be, but there is still lots and lots of destruction and people's lives are turned upside down," Perdue said in Kill Devil Hills.

Despite the damage, Perdue said she didn't expect Irene to seriously dent the lucrative Labor Day weekend, when tens of thousands of visitors swarm the Outer Banks for a last summer holiday. All the state's beaches except those in Dare County were open Sunday, and Perdue said she expected Dare beaches would soon reopen.

In some places, relief will take a while. Ferries loaded with truckloads of food, supplies and emergency workers were being sent to Dare County to help residents stranded on Hatteras Island after four breaches chewed through Highway 12. The highway is the only road connecting the mainland to the island comprised of seven villages. State officials warned it may be days before the ferries could start taking people to and from the Outer Banks and gave no estimate on when the road might be fixed. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 chewed a new inlet in the island that took two months to repair.

"We're doing everything we can to help them. That's our focus," said Warren Judge, chairman of the Dare County commissioners.

These large databases are very hard to pull out reliable data from

"There is a very important story to be told about unnecessary carotid surgery and stenting in the U.S.," Dr. David Spence, a stroke prevention researcher at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, told Reuters Health last week.

According to his research, 90 percent of symptom-free patients who get surgery would be better off without it, he said in an email.

Dr. Stanley L. Barnwell, the medical director of intervention neuroradiology at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, said he's less convinced by the results of the new study than by earlier research showing stenting is just as safe as surgery.

In an earlier experiment called the CREST trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive either of the procedures to clear up the plaque in their arteries.

This type of project set out in advance to control for differences between the patients and to carefully monitor their outcomes, whereas the current study is a look back on medical records from patients who were not necessarily part of a study.

"These large databases are very hard to pull out reliable data from," Barnwell, who was not involved in either study, told Reuters Health.

Kallmes said the studies complement each other -- his study had more numbers and reflected real world practice, while the earlier trial was carefully controlled but limited in the number of patients involved.

"Maybe they give us bookends of the real rate of hemorrhage [after these procedures], and the truth lies somewhere in between," Kallmes said.

In his study, published in the journal Stroke, Kallmes and his colleagues call for more research to explain why they saw such a big difference between the two procedures.

Forced to strip at OR Tambo

A South African woman was left traumatised and humiliated when she was forced to strip down to her jeans after airline staff incorrectly accused her of carrying a bomb.

Alta Klein is still reeling from the incident, which she said occurred for "no proper reason" and without explanation. The girlfriend of a prominent South African soccer player, Klein was shocked by the strip search and is considering legal action against El Al Israel Airlines, who hired the security staff who allegedly degraded her.

Klein was checking into her El Al flight to Tel Aviv, departing from OR Tambo International Airport last Thursday when her handbag set off the scanners alarm.

El Al Airlines general manager Roz Bukris said the airline would not give a statement on its security, but would be conducting an investigation into the incident. "We have yet to receive an official complaint," she added.

Klein claims she was kept waiting for an hour while airline staff searched and scanned her handbag, camera and cellphone thoroughly before she was led into an office with a small dressing room.

She said she noticed her handbag in an X-ray machine and was told to take a seat. Two women, who emerged from a back room, told her to take her shoes and jacket off, which she did.

"Straight after that they came back out and told me that they needed to do a strip search to check my clothes and body. I asked what it was for. I had asked the same question throughout my waiting and they always had the same answer: 'We have detected a bomb'," she recalled.

State Controller to audit Hercules' books

Hercules is the target of an audit by the State Controller, becoming the third California city to garner that dubious distinction since the Bell financial scandal broke last year.

The state office audited Bell, a Los Angeles suburb, last year. An audit of nearby Montebello, announced in April, is ongoing. Hercules' latest financial reports raise significant concerns, Controller John Chiang said in a letter to Hercules interim City Manager Liz Warmerdam last week announcing his decision to investigate.

Montebello is the city where former Hercules City Manager Nelson Oliva worked before he became a consultant to Hercules in 2003. He was appointed Hercules city manager in April 2007 and stepped down in January 2011.

Oliva is widely blamed for Hercules' current financial crisis, although he has said that elected and administrative city officials during his tenure were privy to everything he did.

Oliva's stint in Montebello did not factor in the Controller's selection of Hercules as his next audit, said agency spokesman Garin Casaleggio.

"Since the city of Bell, the controller has received more than 100 requests to audit local agencies," Casaleggio said. The requests came from the general public, community groups and public officials, he said. With limited resources, the office could take on only one more city, Hercules, at this time, he said.

Hercules, with a population just shy of 25,000, faced a $6 million deficit in its general fund at the beginning of the current fiscal year that it pared down to about $800,000 while laying off more than 30 percent of its workforce, and a $1.9 million gap in the redevelopment agency budget that it hopes to make up this year with the sale of surplus property and by drawing on a special reserve that will be down to less than $1 million by the end of the fiscal year.

LED Luminaires replace fluorescent lighting fixtures.

Building on the success of the company's Edge-Lit LED Panels, MaxLite(TM) launches high performance, energy efficient Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels that are designed to replace fluorescent lighting fixtures.

The Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels are suitable for offices, schools, libraries, hospitals, medical facilities and other commercial and institutional applications. MaxLite is a leading, global manufacturer and marketer of energy efficient luminaires and lamps.

The Direct-Lit LED Flat Panels are designed for installation into T-bar grid ("drop") ceilings. Fully dimmable and compatible with building controls, motion sensors, timers and daylight harvesting systems, the luminaires produce an even, consistent shadow-free illumination with minimal glare.

The energy efficient LED Panels deliver high lumen output and excellent color rendering (Color Rendering Index of 85) while minimizing maintenance time and costs.

Uniformed color consistency is ensured by proprietary LED binning. The panels are offered in a warm white 3500K model and the cool white 5000K.

With a power factor of over 98 percent, the panels operate on 120v-277v systems, are produced without mercury or other hazardous materials, and offer a long potential life of 50,000 hours. All are backed by a five-year warranty.

"Our Direct-Lit Flat Panel LEDs use up to 35 percent less energy than our popular Edge-Lit LED Panels," explains MaxLite's National Product Marketing Manager Pat Treadway. "These new luminaires provide optimal direct lighting replacements for fluorescent fixtures in a broad range of commercial and institutional task lighting applications."

The housings and LED back panels are constructed of aluminum that provides heat sink and thermal control capabilities. The translucent lens is crafted of white polycarbonate and the fixture's compact profile is just three inches long, including the control box. Modular construction enables easy replacement.

Best breakfasts in Sydney

If you're riding a bike to a quaint breakfast cafe after a stroll in the vintage markets, Clipper Cafe in Sydney’s inner west village is down your alley.

What started as a random idea of mounting a bicycle on the wall, has led to a full-fledged collection of two-wheeled, three-dimensional wallpaper.

Pot plants hang in this green shed on Glebe Point Road, but arguments usually rage over who sits under the bicycle. But everyone gets free WiFi.

The toasted muesli ($9) packs serious taste: pistachio, bran flakes, dried pineapple and honey-coated oats provide a contrast of gooey, crisp, flaky textures. It's served with yogurt and mixed berries.

For a bit of dizziness to a balanced breakfast, order the Tunisian date syrup on the side. It's perfumed rosewater scent balances the sweet bowl.

Kings Cross doesn’t have the best reputation going for itself when it comes to sober dining.

If you steer away from the Diving lamp and clubs, however, and pass on the greasy deluge of cheeseburgers and kebabs, good taste is only a few blocks away.

At this gentleman’s club-inspired café, sipping on a Manhattan can seem more fitting than coffee. But it’s the earthy aroma of Brazilian coffee beans that brings queues of customers.

The soft and fluffy ricotta pancakes ($14.50) with sour essence of grainy rhubarb and a thin layer of light vanilla cream, then topped with maple syrup, is an absolute hangover cure after a night out in the infamous Cross.

If you don’t mind huddling around a communal table whilst being surrounded with fresh produce, bright flowers and wagging dogs, then the Earth Food Cafe could be the end of your hippie trek.

The unpretentiousness of this organic cafe serving gluten-free food in the middle of Bondi Beach’s fashion strip is refreshing.

The simple boiled eggs ($11) are made just the way you’d cook a good breakfast at home.

They're served on 100 percent rye toast and topped with (chemical-free, of course) avacado, tomato and goat’s cheese -- you can taste every ingredient.

Hundreds of locals support ‘hope’

Dozens of walkers — many of them cancer survivors — participated Friday and Saturday in Relay for Life, the annual Sequim event that raises money for cancer research and for the support of cancer patients.

Tracy Radford, community relationships manager for the American Cancer Society, said the event raised $22,500, which she said was an increase of “about $7,000” from the 2010 event. Radford also said the number of participating teams had “almost doubled.”

Event Chairman Susie VanAusdle said the new teams, including Office Depot and PUD, brought energy and money-raising prowess to the event.

Fundraising is just one portion of the event, which ran for 21 hours straight, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12 and ending at noon Saturday. The overnight schedule is intended to remind participants that “cancer never sleeps,” VanAusdle said.

The Relay officially kicked off with a “Survivors Lap,” which organizers call “an inspirational time when survivors are invited to circle the track together and help everyone celebrate the victories we’ve achieved over cancer.”

At 10 p.m. hundreds of luminaria were lit to recall those touched by cancer. This year participants also released “wish lanterns,” small hot-air balloons fueled by fire that floated glowing into the night sky.

The event also provides an opportunity for cancer’s many victims to gather.

Lori Schneider, whose husband Kurt died just two months ago, was on hand to “walk in his memory.” She participated with several Sequim Realtors, saying “These people were my husband’s friends and his professional associates.”

Those who weren’t able to participate in the event have one more opportunity: This Saturday the American Cancer Society will host a final Relay for Life event, this one in Pioneer Memorial Park on Washington Street.

The event, which will run from 4-11 p.m., will include an opportunity for fun dining with “build your own” tacos and nachos. There also will be a silent auction.

Mary Ruby, who is organizing the event, said there also will be an opportunity to sing karaoke.

A little lamp lights the way for Pixar's success

"With computer animation, we could make things look like they were certain objects, but it's the movement that truly makes you believe what it is," he explains. "And the movement comes not from the computer, but from the principles of animation I learned from Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Eric Larson."

At the premiere of "Luxo," computer graphics pioneer Jim Blinn came up to Lasseter with a question. Expecting something highly technical, Lasseter was surprised to hear him ask, "Was the parent lamp the mother or the father?"

"I knew by Jim's question that we had entertained audiences because of the story and the characters, not because it was made by a computer," Lasseter says.

"The answer was it's actually a father, but it's based on my mother," he continues. "When we got into a kind of iffy situation, instead of grabbing at us, she would say, 'You got yourself up there, you get yourself down.' I figured that was what the father lamp did: The little lamp hopped on the ball, and the father is thinking, 'You're going to break your light bulb!' But he lets him pop the ball: 'That's what you what get for jumping on your ball!'"

The success of "Luxo, Jr." was followed by a series of shorts ("Red's Dream," "Tin Toy," "Knick Knack") in which the Pixar artists explored and developed their medium, much as Disney had used the "Silly Symphonies" as stepping stones to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

"We were a hardware company; we didn't actually have any business doing animation, because there was no money in it," Catmull says. "We were struggling as a company, but Steve knew that in our hearts, we wanted to do animation, and if there's one thing Steve understands, it's passion."

Diving Play Helps End Uggla’s Hit Streak

“That’s more games than I thought I would ever have,” he said after going 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly.

Uggla’s streak was the longest in the major leagues since 2006, when Philadelphia’s Chase Utley had a 35-game streak. The Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game streak that began in 2005 and carried into 2006.

Uggla’s best chance to extend the streak came in the fifth inning. Second baseman Darwin Barney made a diving catch of Uggla’s fly ball in shallow right field. Barney was fully extended when he made the catch in front of right fielder Tyler Colvin.

“I wasn’t even looking at him,” Uggla said of Barney. “I was looking at Colvin and I was like, Oh, it’s going to drop in front of him. And the next thing you know, Barney comes flying through.”

During the streak, Uggla raised his batting average to .231 from .173 and had 15 homers and 32 runs batted in.

The Cubs rallied from a 4-0 deficit for their fourth straight series win despite striking out 18 times. Chicago has won 11 of 14 games.

Albert Pujols hit the longest home run at six-year-old Busch Stadium — estimated at 465 feet — in a four-run first inning, and St. Louis overcame an injury to starter Edwin Jackson with stellar bullpen work against Colorado.

Pujols’s home run was his National League-leading 29th. It bettered Lance Berkman’s 452-foot homer off the Reds’ Edinson Volquez on July 5.

Jackson grabbed the back of his right leg with one out in the sixth inning and left the game. The team said it was a cramp.

Kingston man dies in diving incident

An autopsy was performed Thursday in a New York state hospital to determine the cause of death of a Kingston scuba diver pulled from the St. Lawrence River.

Michael K. Roberts, 39, a guard at Kingston Penitentiary, was pronounced dead just after noon on Wednesday despite efforts by U.S. Coast Guard staff to resuscitate him.

Roberts had been diving lamp with two other men on the wreck of the Roy A. Jodrey off Wellesley Island near Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

Police had not released the autopsy results by press time.

"Something happened down there. They were not down a lot of time," said Sean Sulski, Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate in charge of the coast guard station at Alexandria Bay.

The other divers were Blair Mott, of Komoka, Ont., and Christopher Monk, of Aurora.

About halfway through the two-hour dive, Roberts got into some kind of trouble and Mott came to his assistance, according to an unidentified friend of Mott's quoted in the London Free Press.

Roberts was also local president of the guards' union at Kingston Penitentiary who worked closely with Jason Godin, regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

"I knew he was a diver. It was one of his passions," said Godin.

"He used to do a lot of diving on the Kingston wrecks. He certainly wasn't new to it."

The Jodrey is a 230-metre-long steel freighter that sank in 1972 after hitting a shoal near Alexandria Bay.

The wreck is only recommended for experienced divers with a high level of training.

The ship's bow is in 50 metres of water and the stern is down about 80 metres.

Two U.S. Coast Guard boats were returning from training exercises on the river just before noon when they received an emergency call from the charter dive boat Shaleka J., which operates out of the Rockport Dive Centre.

Crew on the first coast guard boat looked over to see a diver waving in distress about 30 metres from the station dock.

Awesome Death Star cake has a planet-gobbling LED light

Friend of the site Rachel Linhart combines two awesome interests: geekery and baking. The result? A stunning cake such as the Death Star you see above, complete with a blinking LED light for where you'd normally find a planet-destroying laser. Pretty much the entire thing is edible, from the ball to the base, as well as the Millennium Falcon, the prowling Star Destroyer and the Star Wars signage.

There's a sad end to this tale, however — but one fitting for the Empire's, erm, decidely combustible space station.

According to Rachel, the cake took her several days to put together, and all in all accounted for some 24 hours of work. We definitely believe it, given its complexity. She made it for a friend's child who was looking forward to a seventh birthday — one with the craziest cake ever en route — complete with Luke and Darth Vader action figures. Who wouldn't go bananas for this thing?

Well, cab drivers, for one. The Death Star, it turns out, isn't mightier than New York City's pedal-to-the-metal cabbies, and after two taxi rides the Empire's delicious pride and joy was left in ruin.

According to Rachel, the kids at the birthday party didn't mind at all: "the kids decided it was the Death Star after Luke destroyed it. Superfans!"

Check out Rachel's cake in more detail in the gallery below — as well as some of the other geeky baking creations she's been kind enough to share with us. When she's not serving up stellar cakes, Rachel likes to relax with TV shows such as Hollywood Treasure, V, Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Fringe, Red Dwarf, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and, as she puts it, "pretty much anything involving deadly viruses!"