Eighty one-year-old Sakon Haba (L) wearing loin cloth walks past a police station after he bathed in ice-cold water at the Teppozu Inari shrine in Tokyo January 11, 2015. According to organizers, about 100 participants took part in the Shinto ceremony to purify their souls and wish for good health in the new year. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

A long skater speeds away on the rain-wet ice on lake Orlangen, South of Stockholm on December 15, 2013. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around 5 degrees for southern Sweden. (Photo by Tobias Rostlund/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

“As you can see I love the Icelandic Horse. Born and raised with them, I love to work with them and watch them ... they have unbelievable network of communication and energy I can´t explain with words”. – Gigja Einarsdottir. Photo: “Runners”. (Photo by Gigja Einarsdottir)

To mark Halloween, 150 teens descended upon a swimming pool in Essex to help mobile network giffgaff recreate the famous Tomatina tomato fight... only this time, with blood and guts. Different takes #giffgaffguts. On October 18, 2013 in Dagenham, England. (Photo by Dave J. Hogan/Stringer for giffgaff)

Metallica and Lang Lang rehearse for THE 56TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS music industry's premier event takes place Sunday, Jan. 26 (8:00-11:30 PM, live ET/delayed PT) at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Heather Wines/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Zappa, a toothless 15-year-old Italian greyhound that looks surprisingly like Sid the Sloth from the animated movie Ice Age, is redefining dog beauty. Owners Sadie and Rosalie Millen, of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, say that Zappa started sticking her tongue out a few years ago when she lost her teeth.

A light pillar is a visual phenomenon created by the reflection of light from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces. The light can come from the Sun (usually at or low to the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the Moon or from terrestrial sources such as streetlights.