World Pictures/Videos of the Day

In my young days, I read about it, watched on tv about it, but never believed a big one could happen in my lifetime. There was one prior that happened in Japan, but it was a small one. And when this one hit, it did not happen in Japan, Hawaii or Alaska, where I learned tsunamis used to happen, but closer to home, and in a biblical way. It was probably the first time the crashing of the tsunami waves was captured in plain sight and in broad daylight.

The CEO of a telecom company happened to be scuba diving under those waves. That was unbelievable. But the most crushing to me was a mother who had to let go of one her two children clinging on to her because she was too weak.

British tourist Dabriella Quayle rides the waves while celebrating Christmas Day at Bondi Beach in Sydney
Picture: AP Photo/Rick Rycroft



A participant wearing a Santa Clause costume jumps into the water during the105th edition of the Copa Nadal (Christmas Cup) in Barcelona's Port Vell
Picture: AFP/Getty Images



People walk past a giant and illuminated Christmas tree bauble in central Minsk
Picture: SERGEI GAPON/AFP/Getty Images



The glow of the aurora borealis with Bamburgh lighthouse in Northumberland in the foreground
Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA



People enjoy Christmas Day in Byron Bay, one of the most popular beaches in Australia
Picture: Andrea Falletta/NurPhoto/Corbis



The mountain of Badacsony emerges from a sea of fog hovering above Lake Balaton, as seen from Fonyod, 148 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary
Picture: EPA



Cars are stuck in a congested traffic on a bank of the Moskva River outside the Kremlin, background, during a heavy snowfall in downtown Moscow
Picture: AP



People in fancy dress to take part in the annual White Christmas Dip at Boscombe Pier, Bournemouth to raise money for Macmillan Caring Locally
Picture: Steve Parsons/PA



Visitors take photos in front of an inflatable snow man and Santa Claus on Bondi Beach on Christmas Day
Picture: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

Miragedriver said:

...

The mountain of Badacsony emerges from a sea of fog hovering above Lake Balaton, as seen from Fonyod, 148 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary
Picture: EPA

...

Click to expand...

that's very interesting for me since, it's embarrassing but ... I was unaware of any Hungarian mountains outside Western Carpathians (which, by the way, you'd see from a spectacular Danube river gorge if coming by train from Slovakia going to Budapest -- or back of course
it's partly because I've never been to Lake Balaton, anyway:

A snowy owl comes in to land in a field on the outskirts of Canada's capital city, Ottawa
Picture: Megan Lorenz/HotSpot Media



US supermaxi yacht Comanche leads the Sydney to Hobart yacht race just after the start in Sydney harbour. Newcomer Comanche was first out of the Sydney Heads in Australia's 70th annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race in good conditions on December, but forecasters have warned of tricky weather ahead.
Picture: PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images



A boy slides from the top of a heap of snow in Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral seen in the background, in central Moscow
Picture: REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin



Groggy doggy: A seven-month old dog was left requiring emergency veterinary treatment after drinking a litre bottle of Christmas advocaat. German shepherd Bella was found struggling to walk and bumping into walls after she managed to find the alcohol on a table at her home. She managed to knock over the 17.2 per cent alcohol proof bottle then lapped the contents from the floor.
Picture: JAMES LINSELL-CLARK/SWNS.com



Elephants lock horns at the elephant shelter before the Elephant Festival at Sauraha in Chitwan, south of Kathmandu, Nepal. Elephants and mahouts from Chitwan will participate in the elephant festival, which involves elephant races, elephants playing an exhibition soccer match and taking part in various other sporting activities. The event will start from 26 December and will end on 30 December, 2014.
Picture: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar



Buddhist monks arrive for a Dana (alms giving) ceremony in remembrance of the lives lost in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, at Parliya Padumagabbarama Vihara in Galle, Sri Lanka. An estimated 1,400 people died when an early morning office train was swamped by the tsunami ten years ago. The death toll island-wide was estimated at 40,000 with the highest single incident being in the office train at Peraliya near Galle.
Picture: EPA/M.A.PUSHPA KUMARA



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

Virgin Atlantic flight VS43 flying low over Woodingdean, East Sussex. The plane landed safely despite suffering from a landing gear malfunction.
Picture: Rex Features



170 Astrochelys radiata turtles were seized by French customs in Roissy airport, near Paris - a record seizure of the endangered species. The turtles were found hidden in the double base of six sea cucumbers boxes proceeding from Madagascar and going to Laos.
Picture: AFP PHOTO / DOUANES FRANCAISES



The Singapore-flagged cargo container ship Siprit of Piraeus, carrying 49 passengers evacuated from the ferry Norman Atlantic, arrives in the harbour of Bari as Italian advanced rescue vehicles wait on the quay. Rescuers battled in the dark to save hundreds of passengers still trapped on a burning ferry adrift off Albania.
Picture: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images



Thousands of beach goers pack Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With temperatures reaching over 104F (40C), Rio beaches were packed on the last weekend of the year.
Picture: AP Photo/Felipe Dana



Andy Lewis (upper) and JT Holmes come in to land following a jump from the tower known as Titan, during a Base jumping event at the Fisher Towers, Utah, US
Picture: Michael Clark/Red Bull/SIPA/REX



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

People gather and look up as the cast of Aladdin on Broadway and event organisers toss confetti from the New Amsterdam Theatre Marquee for the annual New Year's Eve confetti test in New York City. Over one million people are expected in Times Square to bring in the new year.
Picture: UPI /Landov / Barcroft Media



Firefighters work to put out the fire of a storage oil tank at the port of Es Sider in Ras Lanuf. Oil tanks at Es Sider have been on fire for days after a rocket hit one of them, destroying more than two days of Libyan production, officials said on Sunday. Libya has appealed to Italy, Germany and the United States to send firefighters.
Picture: REUTERS



An Australian ranger has captured the moment a python swallowed a wallaby at a national park in a giant feast that could keep it full for three months.Ranger Paul O'Neill was patrolling Nitmiluk National Park in the Northern Territory when he heard numerous birds making alarm calls and came across the feeding frenzy.'I saw at first a snake, an olive python, but then on closer inspection I realised it had just... killed a young joey and was just about to start to devour it,' O'Neill told AFP of his discovery Monday.He said the medium-build python, a constrictor, was between 8.2 to 9.8 feet long.'That would be the largest-size prey that a snake of that size could take,' O'Neill, who documented the digesting process in a series of photographs, said.
Picture: PAUL O'NEILL/Getty Images



A determined great blue heron holds on tightly to its prey as the furry gopher attempts to wriggle free. With all its tiny might, the rodent managed to pull its paw free from the clutch of the huge heron's beak. The moment was caught by professional photographer Daniel Dietrich, 44, in Point Reyes, California.
Picture: Daniel Dietrich/HotSpot Media



Spectators watch Colombian bullfighter Luis Bolivar performing a pass during a bullfighting festival at the Canaveralejo bullring in Cali.
Picture: REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga



Spanish bullfighter assistant Jhon Jairo Suaza is tossed by a bull during a bullfight as part of the Cali bullfighting fair in Colombia
Picture: EPA/Juan Carlos Quintero



Houses are submerged in floodwaters during heavy flooding brought by tropical storm Seniang in Misamis Oriental, on Mindanao island, southern Philippines. Local media reports said three people were killed...
Picture: REUTERS/Erwin Frames



An elephant runs to kick a ball while playing in a football match during an elephant festival event at Sauraha in Chitwan, about 106 miles (170km) south of Kathmandu. Elephants and 'mahouts,' or elephant riders participate in the festival, which involves elephant races and various other sporting activities.
Picture: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar



Shoppers walk through Tokyo's Ameya Yokocho shopping district. Japan's government approved a 3.5 trillion yen (£18.8 billion) fiscal stimulus package on December 27th to boost the economy after April's sales tax hike caused consumption to slump.
Picture: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg



People watch the penguin parade at Zürich's Zoo. During wintertime, when temperatures drop to below 50F (10C), King penguins are set off to go on their zoo tour to see the other animals.
Picture: Imago / Barcroft Media



Ice covers a bench on the shore of Lake Balaton in Balatonfenyves, 155 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, after water blown by high winds froze while dripping in sub-zero temperatures.
Picture: EPA/GYORGY VARGA



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

The sun rises for the last time in 2014 over East Coast
Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA



The sun rises over Holyport Village Green covered in frost, Holyport, Berkshire
Picture: Jonathan Brady/PA



Belgian's Wout Van Aert (L) and Netherlands' Mathieu Van Der Poel compete during the sixth stage in the Bpost Bank cyclocross trophy in Loenhout. Van Aert won the stage ahead of Der Poel and Belgium's Tom Meeusen.
Picture: DAVID STOCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images



A woman wears a head band displaying 2015 as she waits for the annual New Year fireworks display on Sydney Harbour
Picture: REUTERS/David Gray





More than 700,000 people visited Mar del Plata, Aregentina during December




Bathers enjoy the naturally warmed spa water as they relax in the rooftop pool of the Thermae Bath Spa, Britain's only natural thermal in Bath. Cold weather continues to grip the UK although forecasters have predicted a spell of much milder and unsettled weather will arrive for the New Year.
Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images



People entertain themselves prior to welcoming in the new year on New Year's Eve on Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia
Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images



A sea lion paints the Chinese character for "sheep" in calligraphy as part of a New Year's Day attraction at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo. The event, marking the forthcoming Chinese lunar calendar "Year of the Sheep", is part of the aquarium's New Year's attractions until February 1.
Picture: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images



A tourist writes "2015" with a light pen in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, Dec 30, 2014.
Photo/Xinhua



The Times Square New Year's Eve ball is pictured during a test in New York December 30, 2014. The ball is covered in crystals designed and crafted by Waterford artisans, each about 3/8" (9.5 mm) thick, 4.75" to 5.75" (120-146 mm) in length, and 6.8 ounces (193 g) in weight, and are custom-designed and built to exacting standards to withstand the stresses of high winds, precipitation and temperature fluctuation that exist 470 feet (143 m) above Times Square, organizers said. The ball will drop at midnight on New Year's eve and will be watched by millions of people around the world.
Photo/Agencies



I will now open my Malbec and toast a happy 2015 to all my dear friends at SDF

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


People look at fireworks during a New Year Celebration in Manila, Philippines
Picture: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images



People take part in the Procession of Light through the centre of Dublin to begin the city's New Year's eve festival
Picture: Niall Carson/PA



Confetti pours down to the revelry as they watch fireworks lights the sky during the New Year celebrations in Manila, Philippines
Picture: Romeo Ranoco/Reuters



Fireworks go off above an arrangement of five thousand red balloons spelling the number '50' on the Marina Bay in the Central Business District of Singapore. The country will celebrate its golden jubilee of 50 years of independence from Malaysia in 2015.
Picture: Wallace Woon/EPA



Schoolchildren perform the song 'We Are the Happiest in the World' at the annual New Year performance at the Central Youth Hall in Pyongyang, North Korea
Picture: KCNA/Reuters



Fireworks explode near Malaysia's landmark Petronas Towers during the New Year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur
Picture: Azhar Rahim/EPA



Buddhist monks and believers hit a traditional bell as fireworks go off during a ceremony to celebrate the new year at Bongeun Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea
Picture: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters



People gather to celebrate the New Year at the Imjingak Pavilion near the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea
Picture: Lee Jin-man/AP



People release balloons to celebrate the New Year during an annual countdown ceremony in Tokyo
Picture: Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images



Fireworks explode off the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the midnight fireworks display on New Year's Eve in Sydney, Australia
Picture: REUTERS/Jason Reed



Sydney locals Demi Bryant and James Hundt celebrate the beginning of the New Year atop a high-rise overlooking the iconic Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks display aside their next dream car, the all-new 2015 Ford Mustang.
Picture: James D Morgan/Rex



More than 10,000 aerial fireworks, 25,000 shooting comets and 100,000 pyrotechnic effects were used during the annual Sydney Harbour New Year's Eve show...
Picture: REUTERS/Jason Reed



Fireworks explode from the top of the Sky Tower to welcome the New Year on January 1, 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand
Picture: Dave Rowland/Getty Images



I will now open my Malbec and toast a happy 2015 to all my dear friends at SDF

A seal pup seems to be in deep thought as it rests its chin on its paw before staring into the camera. The one-month-old grey seal pup - the same size as a small dog - lays down on its side while getting used to its surroundings. Its mother is nearby as she keeps a watchful eye on the beach on the north Norfolk coast near Horsey.
Picture: Luke Millward/Solent



A hungry jackal moves in for the kill in South Africa's Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park
Picture: John Mullineux/Solent News



Two people have been taken to hospital following a road accident on the A449 near Ledbury, Herefordshire. The collision involved an SUV and a classic vintage car.
Picture: West Mercia Police / SWNS.com



Heidi Edgecombe, left, gives a yell as she makes the jump from the bridge with Savannah Easterday and Nancy Martin at the annual Olalla Polar Bear Plunge in Olalla, Washington
Picture: AP Photo/Kitsap Sun, Meegan M. Reid



From left) Japan's Princesses Kiko, Mako, and Kako wave to well-wishers during a public appearance for New Year celebrations at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo
Picture: REUTERS/Yuya Shino



Men ride on a mikoshi or portable shrine as local people carry it into the sea during a festival to wish for calm waters in the ocean and good fortune in the new year in Oiso, Japan
Picture: Yuya Shino/Reuters




A view of the Fire Volcano spewing ash from San Antonio community, Colima State, Mexico. The volcano is one of the most active in Mexico and in the last few days it increased its activity.Picture: HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images



Members of the Aqua String Band perform during the 115th annual Mummers Parade in Philadelphia
Picture: Joseph Kaczmarek/AP



Back to bottling my Grenache

Here from America...I present the Head Clan!



This was all of together (except for one daughter's husband who had to work) over the Christmas Holiday.