Stream in a Canyon

This is a stream that runs down a canyon along the southern coast of Sao Miguel, one of the islands in the Azores. The Azores islands, located in the Atlantic, are part of Portugal.

Minecraft - Adventures with Skins

A while ago I wrote about my adventures in Minecraft. Lately, I have been experimenting with Minecraft skins. I didn't realize it when I first played the game, but you can customize your look with a costume, or skin. It doesn't matter much when you're playing alone, but if you join a Minecraft multiplayer server, you'll come to learn that self-expression through Minecraft skins is a big deal. Fortunately, it's easy to change your skin in Minecraft.

A Donald Duck skin? Yep, you can do that.

Everything You Probably Never Wanted to Know About Minecraft Skins

A skin is only going to allow good colour; transparency isn't permitted on the skin file except on the next layer, which can be transparent by default; enjoying offline, pixels may be rendered liberated resulting in "holes" from the epidermis. When a skin with translucent pixels on the initial layer is uploaded, then the transparent pixels will leave as black pixels in-game.


A skin may also refer to additional flaws in the sport, for example block textures, thing sprites, mob skins, etc.. A listing of these may be found here.


Skeleton dinosaurs can utilize average participant skins also, but remember that they have their scrawny legs and arms. (If a sword mob skin is employed as a participant's skin, their arms and legs won't be skinny.)


To be able to use the participant skin to get zombies and zombie pigmen you need to align it to the proper spot on the .png or the feel is going to be broken.


Altering a Skin at the Java Edition

A participant can only alter their character's skin should they've bought Minecraft. This is achieved on the Profile page by simply uploading a legitimate .png picture file (notice: .jpg files will be taken), which can substitute the default skin.



The steve.png and alex.png documents in minecraft.jar may also be altered and substituted using a resource package, but the consequences will only be visible to players utilizing the resource package, and will influence all players together with all the default skin.



Altering a Skin at the Console Edition



The skins can be found to be selected in the 'Change Skin' field of assistance & Options. This prevents difficulties using fully transparent skin customers "haunting" others. The participant may add customized skins into the Legacy Console Edition via hackingnonetheless, this may void the guarantee of this console, and also the player risks a ban from either Xbox Live or PlayStation Network to an illicitly modded console or game.



Altering a Skin at the Bedrock Edition


(Uses the identical structure as the Java variant). The participant must choose a legitimate skin picture from their picture library, and also will then be prompted to select between the two chief models.


Creating a Skin


Many players would like to have a new appearance, something that describes them. As you always have the option to search the web for a formerly made epidermis, many gamers prefer to make their very own.


The "steve.png" record could be downloaded from here and also a playerskin could be downloaded in http://skins.minecraft.net/MinecraftSkins/USERNAME.png in which "USERNAME" is substituted by the playername. When editing the "steve.png" file manually, make sure you keep the first image measurements and produce the backdrop of this skin (the fresh pixels) entirely translucent. Otherwise, Minecraft can fail to comprehend the skin as planned.



Alternately, some people today find it simpler to use an app, either downloadable or in-browser, which will let them get a live view of the personality on a 3 dimensional version since they are editing the epidermis. As an instance, a program named Skincraft will further help players by offering them with a huge array of pre-made selections (like boots, hats, sweaters, etc.), to provide your skin founder precisely what they desire, even if the founder has little to no artistic ability.


Png file in the Profile page of www.minecraft.net until the skin is put on. Once finished, begin Minecraft and then enjoy your new skin! Other gamers in multiplayer will even have the ability to understand your skin. Be aware that you won't have the ability to realize your customized skin if you aren't logged in or when playing offline.

The Amazing Rocks of El Torcal

I spent the better part of Saturday hiking among the rocks of El Torcal, a fascinating park in Spain. The rocks are beautiful limestone, carved into incredible patterns through the forces of erosion over time.

El Torcal is located just outside of Antequera, Spain. It's a smaller city in the province of Málaga.

Its formation is due to a process that has lasted several hundred million years. It goes back 200 million years ago, when much of Europe and the Middle East were submerged under the sea. The process of carbonation sedimentation began, originated by the accumulation and deposit of skeletons, shells and shells of marine animals at the bottom of the sea that will last about 175 million years. These sediments have been accumulated and compacted at different levels, forming the horizontal strata of thicknesses of thousands of meters.

Today, it all makes for incredible scenery and beautiful pictures.

Beautiful Flowers of Thailand

The wonder of the radiant tourism industry of blossoms and Thailand end up being a great combination. The tourism industry has been propelled by the flower gardens of the constant state to greater heights. One great proof that is festivals are kept the big pool of people from neighbouring claims that find particular areas in Thailand. These people catch the opportunity to to obtain a glimpse of the famed flower gardens that the districts in Thailand are recognized for.

There are many sunflower gardens located within Thailand. One of these is positioned in Bueng Sam Phan in Phetchabun. This makes the positioning glittering with gold blooms. An excellent sight of the area is through the daybreak when sunlight increases the sparkling colors of the sunflowers. During December to find different competitions such as for example seed preservation Travelers flock to the region, the largest sunflower, and beauty contest.

Source: Nongsamrong Thai Flowers

Plumeria Flowers in Bangkok

Chiang Mai features an exclusive botanical garden. It really is a haven made up of over 1000 species of blooms along with birds, fishes, butterflies, and mushrooms. The garden sits in 4 hectare real estate possessed by the Seehamongkol family members.

Tourists who are aficionados of orchids place their foot on the Noong Nooch Flower Backyard everytime they go to Chiang Mai. The flower backyard can be proximate to Pattaya which makes it a perfect stop for travelers in the area. This orchid garden has become the famous in Southeast Asia having the ability to place about 1000 species of orchids. Within the premises of the Noong Nooch Orchid Backyard are many demonstration areas that are distinctively built from 1 another to create them more desirable to visitors.

Another impressive flower garden in Thailand may be the Mae Fah Luang garden in Chiang Rai. It’s the brainchild of the Princess Mom who strived hard to enhance the living circumstances of the residents in the area. The flower garden is a budding tourist attraction and flourishing income source now. The 10-acre flower garden houses globally-renowned and exotic species of flowers. It’s close to the Doi Tung Place and tribal villages of Akka and Muser.

Cosmos Flowers

These are a number of the flower gardens in Thailand simply. There are lots of them scattered throughout the national country, each which offers a distinctive perspective of the abundant floral diversity of the country. The adequate blooms in the Thai flower gardens could be one of the primary factors why there are many festivals that provide glory to blossoms that will vary. In fact, a few of their festivals are called after particular species of blooms. One of these may be the Blooming Krachai Festival.

Lotus, a holy bloom in Buddhism provides its flower festival also. It is kept in Bang Phli and is named the Rap Bua. Among the many highlights of the event that is said may be the fluvial procession of multi-colored floats bearing superb flower plans showcasing lotus as the centerpiece.

The rich floral diversity and the existence of several flower gardens in its district in Thailand harmonize with the rich culture in the country’s. These components blend to enhance the tourism industry of Thailand perfectly.

The Critical Meanings Behind Blossoms in Thailand

With regards to flowers, Thailand puts critical meanings to particular types and colors that are extremely special. There are cultural meanings in back of the giving of flowers at specific events and times aswell. Before you begin selecting which blooms to have sent to a grouped relative in Thailand, you should take the time to learn a few of the cultural meanings in it to ensure you merely don’t accidentally send the incorrect message.

Thai Blooms in Bangkok

For example, in the United States, folks make use of white blossoms to indicate a joyful and glorious occasion, including a wedding. In Thailand white blossoms are utilized at funerals. It could be a huge mistake to send white blooms for a marriage in Thailand.


Very bad omen.

Yellow is a color of strong relevance in Thailand aswell. It can be used by them as a symbol to signify their faith in the Buddhist religion. Furthermore, yellowish is utilized to symbolize your day that their King was created. Their nationwide flower is yellowish Also, & most gardens in Thailand could have such blooms. They’ve been known as Ratchaphruek, plus they are a kind of orchid which is manufactured additional gorgeous by the glorious shiny yellowish color. Furthermore, these flowers hardly ever bloom one at a time. You will see them developing in clusters just, so that they have an more powerful effect on the eyes even.

These blooms grow very in Thailand readily. In case you're to roam the roads there, you’d find that the roads are filled up with trees which are developing these flowers simply. It almost appears like the trees are glowing with gold adornments around them. They contact these flowered trees golden showers, because now there are so a number of these blooms seen hanging from the trees always.

As far as other types of blossoms, Thailand puts critical meanings in back of lilacs also, petunias, daisies and roses. If you would like to send somebody a token of pleasure and friendship, you’d either send out daisies or chrysanthemums. If you would like to send somebody in Thailand a bouquet that signifies amorous like, you’d pick huge crimson roses. If you send big crimson roses, you’ll end up being indicating an agreeable or platonic sort of love. There may be two distinctive meanings with regards to the Petunia. It could signify peace occasionally, while at other times it could be a gesture of hostility or anger. Lilacs have higher than a single meaning in Thailand also. In one feeling, they are able to signify love, while however they could be an indicator that someone has a dearth of passion possibly. Moreover, peonies carry higher than one signifying in Thailand also, because they could either show a feeling of act or shame as symbolic of a joyful relationship.

As possible see, it truly is vital that you know the meanings that men and women in Thailand area behind their blooms. When you have a grouped relative that loves blooms in Thailand, you can generally locate an internet florist to provide to them so they know how much you care.

I'd Rather Be on the Beach

Ah, to be on the beach with crystal-clear blue waters and a light breeze. Instead, I am stuck inside on a hot, sweltering August day. Processing photos and paying bills.

The only thing that bothers me about this photo is how it is split with the horizon line in the middle of the frame.

Traveling Through Minecraft

My normal routine is to document my real-world travels around the globe. I'm lucky enough to have traveled to most of our continents and well over a hundred different countries, taking lots of photos along the way.

Lately I've been in some downtime with travel, hanging at home and working on my photography collection. And I've been spending a great deal of time on the computer. My most recent obsession is Minecraft, a game that's mostly played by kids. But as a curious adult, I decided to give it a try.

At first, not so interesting.

But then I discovered the maps. There is apparently a massive Minecraft subculture built around creating and sharing Minecraft maps. These maps take all shapes, forms, and sizes and can be simple obstacle course maps or elaborate adventure maps and scenes. There's really no end to it all. I was blown away by just how much time you can spend exploring them all.

I started with a good collection of the best Minecraft maps I could find but soon I was hungry for more. As a real-world explorer at heart, I wasn't going to be satisfied until I could see everything that was out there.

Turns out this is impossible. But I did find some great sources for Minecraft maps, along with plenty of communities and guides for downloading, installing and even creating your own maps.

Let's start with the obvious place to go. MinecraftMaps.com. This is a comprehensive catalog of thousands of maps that are available. It has a very handy list of the top rated maps available so that you don't have to waste your time downloading junk. Some of the top maps for Minecraft include Rail World, Future City, and World of Worlds.

Another good site to visit is MinecraftSix, which also has a collection of high quality maps.

If you want to try your hand at creating your own Minecraft maps, then you should look at MC Edit. It's one of the best tools for making maps. It has a steep learning curve, but with a little practice you'll be creating your own worlds for exploration in no time at all. There's even a great user community for MC Edit on Reddit.

Want some more pointers? Curse Gaming has a list of the most downloaded Minecraft Maps. And here's a video of one map that makes the lofty claim of being the "Best Minecraft Map Ever." You can be the judge.

Winter turns to Spring

As Winter turns to Spring, my thoughts turn to the beach -- warm sand, rolling waves, and flowers everywhere!

Vancouver - Outdoor Paradise

Spent the weekend exploring Vancouver, British Columbia. It is an outdoor paradise with no end to the amount of activity you can pursue in nature. There's simply too much to do in a single weekend, so for the most part I stuck to the basics and toured around the city on foot and on bike.

I did get out of the city limits to explore the surroundings on Sunday. Such a beautiful place and I hope to return when I have even more time to explore.