These days you can see and photograph a natural firefall, but the conditions have to be just right. The first ingredient you need, oddly enough, is sunlight. You can’t capture this effect throughout the year, and the setting sun is only in the right position during the last two weeks of February, when it can shine a golden spotlight down the center of Yosemite Valley. Wintertime can bring clouds and storms that block the sunlight, so timing is everything.

The next ingredient you need for the firefall is water. The source of water comes from Horsetail Falls, a small waterfall atop El Capitan. The water basin that drains into Horsetail Falls is around 30 acres. The elevation at the top is 7569 ft. It is cold up there in February. It gets cold enough to freeze any snow or rain into a solid piece of ice. California also has dry years when waterfalls barely run. No water means no waterfall, and no firefall. Like I said, timing is everything, and this can be a rare sight.

The best pictures I have of the firefall were taken during the El Nino. It rained nonstop during the El Nino of ’95. Horsetail Falls was raging on February 22nd. The water seemed to fling off the shear face of El Capitan. The waterfall was also affected by strong winds at the top of the mountain. The wind created a fine mist that was being blown across El Capitan. The winds also cleared the sky of rain clouds as sunset was approaching. In short, prime firefall conditions.

El Capitan was falling into shadow when the sun began to disappear. I saw the last golden light of day zero in on Horsetail Falls. El Capitan went dark as the firefall began to glow. It looked like a giant waterfall of fire in a twilight sky. The clouds of mist from the water spray were glowing. The show lasted for five minutes. I had taken over 100 pictures by the time it was over. It looked like an electric neon fire. I had to remind myself that the firefall I had seen was real.

I drove back to Yosemite every winter after that memorable day. It was five years before I saw the firefall again. It was a most unexpected and unusual sight. It was a very cold year. The valley floor was covered with a few feet of snow. Horsetail Falls was frozen solid the morning I arrived. The falls began to dribble water down the face of El Capitan in the warm, midday sun. There was a small amount of water running by late afternoon. The winds picked up as I positioned myself along the Merced River. The water from the falls whipped up into a vapor. Horsetail Falls looked like a cloud creating new shapes before my eyes. The cloud became electric at sunset and a new firefall was created.

The firefall is another one of nature’s little miracles in Yosemite National Park. I understand why Ansel Adams spent a lifetime taking pictures there. My favorite quote is by Adams: “Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.”

Picture Spot

The best location to view the firefall is slightly east of El Capitan near the base of the mountain. You need to be east of Horsetail Falls as the sun sets in the West. Sunlight shining through the waterfall creates the most brilliant colors. There is a small meadow that provides an opening in the forest at a perfect angle. The spot is in between Yosemite Lodge and El Capitan. Photographers gather in a large herd at the end of February. The easiest way to find that meadow is to look for a lot of cars parked along Northside Drive for no apparent reason. You have gone too far if you get to the large parking area directly in front of El Capitan.

While being on business in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, one Russian traveler and photographer decided not to spare a chance and made a helicopter trip around the center of the city to make a photo-story. To say that the city is rich means not to say anything. Dubai literally shines with luxury, mile-high skyscrapers and hi-tech facilities. These shots will carry you to the world of an incredible beauty with its fairy-like views.

To the fore you can see Dubai golf club which lies on the banks of Dubai creek. These train tracks below is a new railroad feeder which will be opened in the end of 2010.

Bur Dubai district. The yacht to the left is the second biggest private yacht in the world (the first one, as all of you know, belongs to Roman Abramovich) and the small vessel to the right of it is a support ship.

Body of human-made isles which is called The World. As you understand, it is in the shape of the world and comprises all the countries. One of them is already finished and functions well enough. In the beginning sheikh used the isle for advertising purposes but soon afterwards gifted it to his daughter.

This palm-shaped island is Atlantis hotel. They say that one week stay in this hotel with your children and wife costs more than $12,000.

Skyscrapers of Dubai Marina district. Then the center of the city ends and the industrial district show its face.

And here the symbol of Dubai and the highest building in the world enters the sight, Burj Dubai. The huge building behind Tower of Dubai is one of the biggest malls in the all world, Dubai Mall. There is an oceanarium located inside and also lots of waterworks. Each evening terrific waterworks show is being held there. It was made by the same company as in Las Vegas, but on a large-scale basis.

And now the rest, but not the least:

A woman in Aloha, Oregon, called 911 because she thought a deputy who had just visited her house on a complaint was good-looking. After her neighbors reported a noise complaint, two sheriff’s deputies knocked on Lorna Jeanne Dudash’s door. One of them caught her eye. When they left, Dudash dialed 9-1-1 in a desperate attempt to get the deputy she described to dispatchers as “a cutie pie” to return.

She said that she didn’t have an emergency; she just wanted the dispatcher to “throw the cute police back her way”. The “cute” deputy returned, and, once he determined there was no legitimate emergency, he arrested Dudash for misusing 9-1-1. She now faces a fine of up to several thousand dollars and up to a year in jail.

Click the link to listen

The woman who called 911 after getting locked inside her own car

A Florida woman called 911 because she was locked inside her car. Turns out all she needed to do was manually pull up the lock on the door.

The unidentified woman was parked at a Walgreen’s store in Kissimmee. “My car will not start. I’m locked inside my car,” the unidentified woman said. “Nothing electrical works. And it’s getting very hot in here, and I’m not feeling well.” The dispatcher then suggested pulling up the lock. The woman tried it and was successfully able to open the door.

Hear the 911 call here

The lonely man who called 911 over 27,000 times

John Triplette, a 45-year-old unemployed man, was charged for abusing the 911 emergency line: he made over 27,000 calls to 911.
Police says he was a lonely man who would call the dispatchers for company, sometimes hundreds of times a day. He would also make various noises, including grunts and other bodily noises, minimal conversation in a disguised voice, beeps from the touch pad, etc.

The prank 911 calls were made from a T-Mobile cell phone which leaded to his arrest after police tracked his cell signal. Police said he apologized for the calls. He said he made them “because they were free.” He faces $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail.

The woman who called 911 because McDonald’s didn’t have McNuggets

Angered that her local McDonald’s was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food “emergency.” Latreasa Goodman, 27, called police to complain that a cashier would not give her a refund. When cops responded to the restaurant, Goodman told them, “This is an emergency. If I had known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one.” She was arrested and the Police pressed charges for misusing the 911 system.

The wife who called 911 to make her husband stop watching porn

A frustrated German housewife called police because her husband would not stop watching porn movies. The 44-year-old woman, from Aachen, dialed the emergency police number and told the dispatcher in a weepy voice there was an emergency. But when officers arrived at the scene they found her pacing the apartment while her husband, 46, sat in front of the TV watching a blue movie. She was told however that there was nothing the police could do in such a case, but refered her to a counselor for help.

The 4-year-old boy who called 911 because he couldn’t solve a math problem

A 4-year-old kid named Johnny decided to call 911 when he needed help with his math homework. Amazingly, the dispatcher actually helped him; the video is a must-see.

The woman who called 911 over lack of shrimp in fried rice

A woman called 911 to report she didn’t get as much shrimp as she wanted in her fried rice at a Fort Worth-area restaurant. The angry customer told the the dispatcher, “to get a police officer up here, what has to happen?” The customer also said: “He didn’t even put extra shrimp in there.”

The upset customer was gone when an officer arrived the next day. Restaurant workers said the woman had been denied a refund after leaving with her order, returning later to complain. The cook said there was nothing wrong with the meal.

The couple who called the police to settle a cold feet row

A woman called the local 911 in China after her boyfriend refused to warm up her cold feet. Police officer Xiao Deng, of Ningbo, received two consecutive calls, one from the woman complaining her boyfriend refused to warm her feet – the other from the man saying his girlfriend was too demanding. Deng went out to the rental apartment, close to Ningbo University, to try to resolve the issue but found the couple still rowing. He eventually persuaded the boyfriend that it was a man’s job to warm his girlfriend’s feet but told the woman not to leave her feet there for too long. The young couple put aside their differences and thanked him for coming out to solve their problem.

The man who called 911 because he was turned away at a nightclub

A man in Beaverton, Oregon called 911 when a nightclub refused to let him inside. Employees at “The Caribe” nightclub in Beaverton said they didn’t let Edgar Dieguez-Lopez inside because he was too intoxicated. Dieguez-Lopez then called 911 and complained to dispatchers that he was denied entry. Dispatchers explained through a translator that the club has a right to refuse service and asked him to wait outside for the police. Officers responded to the club and found cocaine inside one of Dieguez-Lopez’s socks. He was arrested on drug charges.

Listen to the 911 call

The man who was chased by cops and called 911 to try to fool them

A Sarasota man about to be pulled over by police tried to lure officers away by making a fake 911 call. Officers were following a 28-year-old man’s car to make a traffic stop when they got a 911 call for an armed robbery happening several blocks away.

The man’s plan seemed to work at first when the officers cut off their chase to answer the call. But then other officers in the area followed him into a parking lot and saw a gun in his car. Officer’s determined that the man was a felon and not allowed to possess a firearm. After the man was arrested, officers said they discovered that the bogus 911 call came from his cell phone.

Jupiter and Venus begin December in conjunction at dusk in the southwestern sky. If the sky remains clear, the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, officially occurring tomorrow night, will be spectacular. Venus is the brighter of the two planets, and it remains high in the southwest throughout December, while the gaseous Jupiter descends the western horizon all month.

Venus, ever effervescent, is visible at negative fourth magnitude (ultra bright), and it is easily mistaken for a distant jetliner approaching Dulles International Airport with its landing lights on. Jupiter at negative second magnitude is bright enough to enjoy from the urban light-polluted sky. At month’s end, Venus sets after 8 p.m., and Jupiter sets before 6 p.m.

onight, notice that the sliver of a young moon is below Jupiter and Venus, while tomorrow night the crescent can be seen above the planetary duo. Young moons always appear briefly in the western sky at dusk and early evening.

At the very end of December, the fleet Mercury (zero magnitude, or bright) joins with Jupiter at dusk in the southwest for another conjunction. The brighter Jupiter is to Mercury’s left, and Venus is far above the fray.

The full moon Dec. 12 will be at its closest (356,556 kilometers, or 221,554 miles) to Earth since 1993, and the full moon won’t be this close again until 2016. Once a month the moon gets close to Earth at perigee, but sometimes the monthly lunar perigee coincides with the full moon. On Jan. 1, 2257, the full moon will be closer than this year’s event — at 356,371 kilometers, or 221,439 miles — according to Belgian astronomer and mathematician Jean Meeus. Concerning this phenomenon, the radio program “Earth and Sky,” by Deborah Byrd and Joel Block, provides excellent details on its Dec. 12 podcast, found at http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching. The podcast link is on the right side of the page.

Saturn, the beloved ringed planet, is a late night owl. It rises before 1 a.m. in the southeast now, while at the end of the month it rises about 11 p.m. Its rings are nearly edge-on, and the planet is found in the constellation Leo.

The official start to winter in the Northern Hemisphere — the Winter Solstice — occurs at 7:04 a.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 21, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Before long, our short days will start to get longer.

A smiley face was scrawled on a leg. Dawn, 43, said: “Whoever did this is sick. I’d only left her for ten minutes while I was in the shop.

“When I came out I was horrified to find that someone had drawn over her.

“It will take me ages to get it all out.”

Animal-lover Dawn, of Fulham, West London – who also has ten cats and two guinea pigs – added: “I just hope it doesn’t have any long-term effect.

“She had a lovely nature, but now gets frightened when anyone goes near her.”

Dawn rescued Precious after she had been mistreated by a previous owner.

She said: “The moment I saw her I fell in love and had to have her.

“She is my baby. It makes my blood boil that someone could be so cruel.

“I can’t see how they can get any sort of pleasure from drawing all over a defenceless animal.”

The RSPCA is investigating.

Chief veterinary officer Steve Cheetham said yesterday: “This would have caused Precious distress.”