Devil's Dam Embūte (Joda Dambis)

22 December, 2020 | Tourism objects | 19 seen

Devil's Dam of Embūte is an awesome place for hiking and trekking in the Courland region. 

We first discovered this site at the end of 2020, and plan to return here more often.

Devil's Dam from a drone flight

Taken with DJI MAVIC AIR 2

Here is what I was able to find about this place (Source: Joda Dambis)

At the western foot of the Indulis (or Curonian) castle mound is the Joda Lower Square, where open-air stages have been built several times. Large-scale events have also taken place here - the Midsummer Festival with the participation of President Kārlis Ulmanis, theater performances and concerts. In the 1930s, several thousand people from all over the surrounding area gathered here for the summer solstice celebrations and peasants' days.

At present, the Joda Dam and its surroundings are designed for tourists. Walking trails, stairs, observation tower, observation platforms, information stands have been created.

Embute Church Ruins

18 December, 2020 | Churches and Monasteries | 25 seen

The Embūte Church is located in the Embūte Nature Park. Today, only the remnants of its former glory remain.

On a hazy afternoon in December 2020, I took my DJI Mavic Air 2 drone and captured some beautiful aerial photographs and even a video. See Embūte Nature Park 4K: Ancient Curonian Land, Latvia – DJI Mavic Air 2.

Embūte Church

Here’s what I found about this church (source: Embūtes baznīcas drupas).

The Embūte Church was built between 1674 and 1684, financed by the then-owner of the manor, Emmerich von Mirbach.

The Embūte Lutheran Church was one of the largest in the Duchy of Courland, with seating for about 300 people. During Latvia’s first period of independence, thousands gathered here, including some of the country’s most prominent figures, such as Kārlis Ulmanis.

The church was renowned for its interior wood carvings and a magnificent crystal chandelier. It survived World War I unscathed and was repaired in 1926. However, it was destroyed at the end of World War II.

Embūte Church from above

All that remains today are parts of the wall and the bell tower, still bearing traces of artillery fire.

Vilgāle flat renovation - how it all starts

15 December, 2020 | Home Remodeling | 16 seen

On September 18, I was lucky enough to win an online auction and bought a flat in Vilgāle village. It took a few more months before all legal procedures were done and I had the entry in the Land Registry before I was able to proceed.

I first saw this flat about a week ago, when I got the keys from the previous landlady (ut turns out there haven't lived anybody for the last 27 years). There is no electricity and no water (yet). I have started procedures to have them both. Today I had a meeting with an electrician, and after our meeting I made these photos, just to document the history.

Living room

There are still some belongings left from the previous owners. Interior feels like from the 70-ties

Living room

It is said in that cardboard box there is a "new" TV  box.

Bedroom

We are going to look to tear down some walls and unite this bedroom with the kitchen

Bedroom

The previous owner told me that this closet cost RUB 400

Kitchen

Can't wait to drink a cold beer here (on the floor there are bottles back from 1993, empty, unfortunately)

Kitchen

During…

Īvande Manor

11 December, 2020 | Tourism objects | 39 seen

Īvande Manor, also called Lielīvande Manor, is a manor house in Īvande parish in Kuldīga municipality in the historical region of Courland, in western Latvia.

The manor Groß-Iwanden was created by the merger of several small estates. In the middle of the 16th century the estate was owned by the family of Rudolf Steinrat.

Ivande manor

Three generations remained the property in the family Steinrat and was enlarged by them. In 1643 was the sale to Hofmarschall Christof von Sacken. In 1646 property was sold to Dettlof von Tiesenhause

n. Through death and inheritance connected with it, the estate went in 1690 to Ernst Gotthard von Manteuffel-Szoege. Due to missing heirs the property was sold in 1750 to Friedrich Johann von Schlippenbach on Gaicken and Muischazeem.

Ivande manor

In 1821 property was sold to Peter von Medem. In 1853 the estate was resold to Baron Eduard von Heyking. The property remained in the possession of the Heyking family until its expropriation in 1920.

The palace was built as a neoclassical building around 1860 to designs by the…

I'm earning $3.19/daily* by trading crypto options and I want more!

10 December, 2020 | Crypto | 27 seen

This is a quick follow-up post to my original idea of experimenting with writing crypto covered calls on Ethereum and Bitcoin, I started at the end of November 2020

This is not the first time I'm selling options on crypto, in fact, I've been doing so for the last two years. This is the first time I'm applying one trading strategy only. About 3 years ago I was very enthusiastic about crypto mining and I was building my Ethereum mining rig, which at it's high was earning about $5.5 per day. See: Mining Ethereum @ ~53 MH/s and Siacoin @ ~310 MH/s Earns me $5.53 Daily - And It's Time to Take a Pause

Today I sold 3 out of the money covered call options on Ethereum, with 1DTE, for what I got, 0.003938 ETH, or about 1.31% daily income yield, and also I sold 0.1 out of the money 1DTE call options on Bitcoin, for what I got 0.00004375 BTC or about 0.43% daily income yield.

With todays exchange rates (1 ETH = $600, 1BTC = $19.062), that gives us $2.36 and $0.83. Total $3.19. All numbers are after platform taker commissions

My total investment so far, during this 30-day experiment is $…

Top 20 Laptops with Intel Core i7 11th generation processor

7 December, 2020 | Laptop Reviews | 231 seen

In this article, I have listed Top 20 laptop models with the 11th generation Intel Core i7 processor.

Below listed models will be the top choice among gamers and business users. Creative graphic designers, video animators, and photographers will enjoy these powerful laptops as well.

See: Top 5 Best Selling Intel Core i9 (Gaming) Processor Laptops

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This article contains affiliate links to Amazon, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for laptops listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product  Advertising API and is updated daily. For actual prices please refer to the product page on Amazon.

• 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 (2.8 GHz up to 4.7GHz 6 MB cache 6 cores)…

Ēdole Castle

4 December, 2020 | Tourism objects | 31 seen

Ēdole Castle is a Gothic Revival castle situated on the banks of Ēdole Lake, Ēdole parish, in the historical region of Courland, western Latvia.

Originally consisting of two residential buildings linked by a stone wall, the castle is surrounded by a landscaped park. It is considered an architectural and archeological monument of national importance.

Ēdole Castle

The castle was built for the bishop of Piltene between 1264 and 1267. It was rebuilt in the 16th century and from 1561 until 1920 it was the property of the Baltic-German Baron von Behr and his descendants.

During the 18th century the castle was expanded and from 1835 to 1841 it underwent a major reconstruction work to become one of the first samples of Neo-Gothic architecture in Kurzeme. The building was partly burned during the Russian Revolution of 1905. Between 1906 and 1907 a household yard and tower were built in one of its corners, being the façade remodelled with its Gothic forms preserved

Kronvalda Park in Riga

3 December, 2020 | Tourism objects | 13 seen

Kronvalda Park (originally Strēlnieku dārzs) is a part of the greenery of the Old Riga canal bank. The total area of the park is 11.92 ha. Kronvalda park which borders Elizabetes and Kr. Valdemāra Street, as well as Kronvalda and Kalpaka Boulevards.

The city canal divides the park into two parts.

Kronvalda park in Riga

I spent a good hour with our toddler baby girl and DJI Mavic Air 2 drone to capture some nice aerial photography of Riga.

Canal at Kronvalda park in Riga

Best for feeding ducks or lazy walks

View towards Riga

November 2020 Dividend Income Report - $140.67

2 December, 2020 | Stock Portfolio | 47 seen

Welcome to the forty-third (#43) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in November 2020.

Last November we spent in Latvia, did several trips here and there. I had a chance to play with my latest DJI Mavic Air 2 drone, made some really nice HDR photos, hyper lapses, and more.

St Nicholas Naval Cathedral in Karosta

From the perspective of dividend income - Last November was quite Okay (compared to previous months of the year, but not so Okay if compared to November 2019). We took $140 in dividend income last month. I would wish more for an almost 4 years old dividend portfolio, but things are as they are.

Compared to the previous November in 2019, when we took $260 in dividend income, our monthly dividend has decreased by -45.98%  (-$119.74). A year ago we did set a goal to take at least $320 this month, now this didn't happen. 

Luckily, an additional $1,479.60 was made from options trading.  

As options…

How to See Messages Sent From The Contact Form Drupal 9

24 November, 2020 | Drupal Development | 29 seen

Recently working on my latest Drupal l9 project - BalticInvestors.com I faced a strange issue - after enabling the core default contact form, it seemed that data is not stored anywhere after actually filling out and submitting the webform.

Turns out there is a little helper module, which solves it - Contact Storage

Contact Storage module will provide storage for Contact messages which are fully-fledged entities in Drupal 8 and Drupal 9. This plus core contact module aims to provide functionality equivalent to the base-features of Webform or Entity Form.

Contact storage in Drupal 9

Apriķi Lutheran Church

20 November, 2020 | Churches and Monasteries | 12 seen

Apriķi church is located in the Apriķi village, Laža parish, Aizpute district in the Western part of Latvia (Courland).

Apriķi church is considered to be the pearl of Courland sacral art because the glory of its indoor interior is remembered by every visitor. 

Apriķi Lutheran Church

The stone church is built on Apriķi manor house land as Osten-Sakenu private church in the beginning of 17th century.  The church got its glorious blue-white and golden coloured interior in the middle of the 18th century. The main influence in the interior is rococo, but specific elements share distinct baroque characteristics.
The pulpit, organ gallery, organ, altar, confessional make up a unified ensemble – decorative wood-carving masterpiece. The interior of the church is made even more luxurious by its ceiling, where there is a depiction of the sky and allegoric beings (truth, caution, hope etc.) and over the organ gallery there is a whole orchestra of angels depicted.

Enzo’s Ezo Italian Restaurant in Kakheti

19 November, 2020 | Restaurant reviews | 10 seen

Discover chef Enzo’s Italian yard  with a positive vibe and happy atmosphere in the center of Chateau Mere hotel, close to Telavi 

It's said that the place serves home-made simple rustic Italian food and 36 hours of rising dough pizza.

We had a chance to dine here at the start of October 2020, ordered some quattro formaggi pizza, salads, pasta carbonara, some drinks. Food was good, bill was about GEL 100

Overall - nice place. 

Golden hour at Northern Forts / Liepāja

17 November, 2020 | | 22 seen

Northern forts of Liepāja are really cool military history tourism site - Built by Imperial Russia at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of 20th century to provide the protection of Liepāja’s naval base in case of enemy attack.

It was at the start of November 2020, I was equiped with DJI Mavic Air 2 drone and wanted to make some cool drone footage. Decided to test with bracketing to post process in Adobe Lightroom later and make some nice looking HDR's.

Here is what I got:

Northern forts of Liepāja

 According to history - In November of 1908, Tsar Nicholas II approved a decision to shut down the sea fortress in Liepāja. It has been now over 100 years since these fortification walls don't function anymore and just recently they have been placed on tourist maps.

Golden hour at Northern forts of Liepāja

There was an attempt to blow up the gun batteries, the underground structures, and the gunpowder depots but this did not prove effective. So nowadays we can still see the remains of the newest and the most up-to-date fortress of the Tsar’s Russia.

Northern forts of …

Top 10 Gaming Desktop PC's with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics Card

16 November, 2020 | Laptop Reviews | 46 seen

Long been the days since I built my first crypto mining rig, these were the days I was following up on the latest trends for GPU cards. 

Now, in today's article, I've listed the top 10 Gaming Desktop PCs with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3800 graphics cards.

The GeForce RTX 3080 delivers the ultra-performance that gamers crave, powered by Ampere—NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture. It’s built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory for an amazing gaming experience.

A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page, and by making a purchase on the Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for desktops listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product Advertising API and is updated daily. For actual prices please refer to the product page on Amazon.

• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core 8-Thread 3.6 GHz…

Cīrava manor from a birds flight during golden hour

13 November, 2020 | | 14 seen

Cīrava Palace  is located in the village of Cīrava, Aizpute municipality, Latvia. 

The palace / manor t was built in 1752 as a hunting palace for the German Baltic baron family von Manteuffel-Szoeges.

Cīrava manor in Latvia

We love to come and visit Cīrava if we have a chance, so did happen last time at the start of November 2020, I was equipped with a DJI Mavic AIr 2 drone and wanted to make some awesome golden hour HDR photography

Abandoned Manor Complex in Cirava (Latvia)

Cīrava manor from a drone flight

The palace is surrounded by a nineteenth-century landscape park. There is also a decorative pond with two islands and a big collection of trees and bushes in the park. G. Kuffalt, the main gardener of Riga, took part in the creation of the Cīrava Palace park.

Cirava Lutheran church