Is It Profitable Mining Ethereum (ETH) now (August / September 2018)?

30 August, 2018 | Servers | 81 seen

I have been operating a GPU ETH mining rig since the December 2017, the total cost so far to build it has been $1,661. That's a lot of money for just ~ 58MH/s hashing power. Now, things were different back in December 2017, let's see how does it works out now (August/September 2018).

Building a 12 GPU Ethereum Mining Rig From Scratch - Part 1: Ordering Details

For most of the Summer my Ethereum mining rig has been powered of (because of unprofitable mining - high electricity price / low etheruem price)

Mining ethereum August 2018

I turned on my mining rig for 24 hours, and mined 0.00417899 ETH (with ETH changing hand at $276.18) that gives me about $1.15. Not bad, but let's see how much we are spending here:

Ethereum mining calculator with 0.2$ per KWh

It turns out, I'm actually losing 0.4 dollars per day right now. Sure, I'm paying a hefty  price 0.2$ per KWh and I could move my mining rig to some cheaper location, like for example Georgia, paying just 0.1$ per KWh and in theory I would generate a small profit even now:

…

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

27 August, 2018 | Laptop Reviews | 196 seen

Intel Core i9 processors are gaining momentum in 2022, and seems they are going to rock in 2023

Top 15 Gaming and Creator Laptops with Intel Core i9 2023

With their high number of cores, high power draw, high thermal output, high performance, and unique desktop socket, LGA 2066, they are intended to be used by enthusiasts. A mobile version based on the standard BGA1440 socket was released in 2018, featuring six hyperthreaded cores and 12 MB of cache. It has been proven to attain 5 gigahertz under ideal conditions. It is rumored that the next generation of Intel CPUs will feature the Core i9 9900K, an eight-core hyperthreaded processor, while the Core i7 9700K will also feature eight cores without hyperthreading. The top-end model may have 28 cores.

Intel Core i9 powered laptops come with the price attached. You should be willing to spend about $1,500 -$4,000 in 2023, to get one.

A quick note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I might earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. …

Converting Currency Balances (EUR/USD) Interactive Brokers / Lynx Trader

25 August, 2018 | Investments | 192 seen

A time ago I opened a brokerage account with Lynx Broker, which turns out is affiliated with Interactive Brokers.

As I opened my account from Europe, by default my base currency was set to EUR, which in fact is nice and neat, as SEPA transfers from my bank to brokerage account happens almost instantly (in the same day).

Now, as I started to acquire US stocks, I noticed I have a negative balance in USD currency (while still positive in EUR). I started to explore and found the following link: Converting Currency Balances

Account holders may find themselves holding balances in currencies other than their designated Base Currency as a result of trades in products denominated in a different currency or from profits/losses directly associated with Forex trading. In these cases, IB does not act to automatically convert balances back to the Base Currency as this action would require assumptions as to the account holder's desired currency exposure as well as the trade price at which they would be willing to close the position.

Now here is how to get fixed it:

• Select the Account icon from the TWS…

Photoshop How to Solve: Could not complete the Save As command because there is not enough memory (RAM)

23 August, 2018 | Servers | 163 seen

The other morning I faced an issue Could not complete the Save As command because there is not enough memory (RAM)" while trying to save a .pdf files using Adobe Photoshop. I spent a couple of hours before finally found the solution:

The solution involves another problem - Error: An integer between 96 and 8 is required 

When you try to access the Performance preferences (Edit > Preferences > Performance), Photoshop displays the error message: An integer between 96 and 8 is required. Closest value inserted. 

You are unable to access the Performance settings in the Preferences dialog. Tools such as Blur and Liquify that use the graphics processor (GPU) card are also impacted.

Seems this issue appears after updating your operating system to Windows 10 Creators Update. 

• Press Windows + R keys to bring up the Run dialog. 
• Type regedit.exe and then press Enter. …

Wild Horses at the Lake Pape (Latvia)

22 August, 2018 | Outdoor Activities | 30 seen

Now, this is an interesting story - we didn't meet any wild horses tonight, but found some great information. At least I did. It turns out, wild horses have been living here just since 1999 when WWF-Latvia started to stimulate the return of wild horses in 1999 in Latvia. 

It was in the evening of my birthday when we finally reached the place called  "Wild Horses at the Lake Pape " - unfortunately, turns out, such wild places, just like humans, have a working time. And at time we arrived this place was already closed. 

The Large herbivore natural grazing area was established in the Eastern coast of the Lake Pape in 1999. Currently, the natural grazing area exceeds 400 ha and everyone can explore, how these animals are restoring the natural open landscape at the shores of the Lake Pape.

Excursions to the wild horses, auroxen are only available using local guides!

closed gates

The excursions are organized all year around by paying the entrance fee. 

You should reserve at least one hour for a walk in the grazing area and be…

Europa City Amrita Hotel Review in Liepāja

20 August, 2018 | Hotel reviews | 15 seen

Europa City Amrita Hotel is located in the centre of Liepāja. We booked this 4-star hotel in mid-August 2018 and stayed here for two nights in total paying EUR ~110.

The 4-star hotel offers rooms with a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a minibar, and a private bathroom. Free private parking is available for hotel guests.

A couple of years ago I stayed at another great Liepāja hotel - see: Hotel Fontaine Royal Review In Liepāja

Room at Europa City Amrita hotel in Liepaja

The rooms of the Amrita Hotel feature an elegant interior design with wooden furniture, which includes a work desk and a wardrobe.

The hotel’s staff is available 24 hours a day. The Amrita provides a shuttle service. Guests can rent a car directly at the hotel.

The hotel’s restaurant, Oskars, serves international and Latvian dishes. Grill bar Bruno serves barbecue dishes. In the morning a breakfast buffet is available.

Breakfast at Europa city Amrita hotel

Rich and tasty breakfast for just additional EUR 5 (when booking on site)

A white sand beach is within 1.5 km from Amrita…

Pape Lighthouse

16 August, 2018 | Tourism objects | 53 seen

The Pape Lighthouse (Latvian: Papes bāka) is a lighthouse located on the Latvian coast of the Baltic Sea. I paid a short visit here during my 33 birthday in August 2018.

The lighthouse was built in 1910; in a place of a former lighthouse (which existed since 1887); on the southernmost tip of Latvia's coast to the Baltic Sea. Although this lighthouse doesn't impress as much as Akmenrags lighthouse located close to Pāvilosta, an interesting historical fact is that the lighthouse was known as a boundary beacon - by the border between tsarist Russia and Prussia.

Pape lighthouse

During its early existence (up until the end of World War I), the lighthouse was known as a boundary beacon - as the lighthouse guided ships to the port of Liepāja, on the border of the Russian Empire and Prussia.

The current lighthouse is a tube-like cylinder, supported by a riveting iron construction. Currently, the lighthouse is closed to visitors, although Emilis Melngailis - a famous Latvian composer, stayed overnight during his…

Padure Manor in Latvia

14 August, 2018 | Tourism objects | 11 seen

I'm continuing to explore manor houses located in Latvia. This time a short stop at Padure manor near Aizpute

Padure manor in 2018

In 2018, there was located Laža special school in Padure manor. See: http://lazasskola.lv/

Unbiased Mintos.com Review - Results after 19 months

12 August, 2018 | Peer to Peer Lending | 23 seen

I've been investing in Mintos.com peer to peer lending marketplace since the beginning of 2017, or it has been already 19 months since I've been exposing my funds to this Latvian fintech platform. 

In the past 19 months, I've made a nice revenue of EUR 624.78 (before tax) from an investment worth little more than EUR 4,000

I should note that I have been skeptical regarding peer to peer lending business in general and I when started my humble journey with Mintos.com I decided not to invest here more than EUR 5,000. In fact, Mintos.com is the only one peer to peer lending platform I have tried, and I don't plan to try any other platform (yet). 

I really like the way how Mintos operates, these past 19 months here have given me a lot of confidence to trust the platform, buyback guarantee works excellent, all due loans have been bought back with interest applied.

Still, I won't hide my doubts in the longer-term success of such business, mainly because of the following reason - investments in developing economies. Countries and regions where…

Invest in Cryptocurrencies - Review After 13 Months (Dollar Cost Averaging)

8 August, 2018 | Crypto | 13 seen

Time flies and it turns out it has been already more than one year since I've been investing in cryptocurrencies. Wow, what an interesting time it has been - starting with buy and hold, day trading, and even building up a custom ethereum mining rig. At one time I even experimented with cloud mining contracts.

It all started in the July 2017 when the idea of purchasing crypto once in a month came after a brief conversation with a friend over Facebook, while I was enjoying mild Summer nights in Crete, Greece.

As I had already investments and even investment strategy, since the start of 2017. Desire or FOMO (fears of missing out) to acquire cryptocurrencies was so huge, that I quickly developed, so-called,  Dollar Cost Averaging strategy to buy and hold cryptocurrencies. I had a plan to buy 3-5 cryptocurrencies each month, no matter the price, until the end of 2020.

In general, that is still in what I believe - dollar cost averaging, but since July 2018 I have stopped buying more cryptocurrencies, instead focusing on dividend stock portfolio. Let's say this I have taken pause…

July 2018 Dividend Income Report - $202.84

7 August, 2018 | Investments | 40 seen

Welcome to the fifteenth (#15) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in July 2018. 

In case you are wondering why I'm sharing online my earnings - the answer is pretty simple - I like transparency and these reports help me to observe my progress or bounces. Hopefully, my reports can give some inspiration to you as well.

For the second year in a row - July is the best performing month in my portfolio, and this July did break all milestones and for the first time since tracking, cracked pretty impressive $200 milestone.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending website, by clicking on links on this page and by making an investment on mintos.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk investments and you could lose some or all of…

Let's Encrypt Fix for "produced an unexpected error: Problem binding to port 443: Could not bind to IPv4 or IPv6.. Skipping."

6 August, 2018 | Servers | 25 seen

The other day I faced this problem - server was not automatically renewing Let's Encrypt certificate:  

produced an unexpected error: Problem binding to port 443: Could not bind to IPv4 or IPv6.. Skipping. 

It took me some time to debug and find a solution, which is as easy as shutting down nginx server and then renewing lets encrypt (Solution found here: Trying to renew cert on nginx but getting “Problem binding to port 443: Could not bind to IPv4 or IPv6”)

Dubulti Evangelical Lutheran Church

5 August, 2018 | Churches and Monasteries | 12 seen

Dubulti church, the most expressive object and the visual dominant of the surrounding area is the most monumental and exquisite Art Nouveau building in Jurmala from the viewpoint of historical and sacral architecture.

The size and details of the building clearly show the tradition of national romanticism that may be seen in the rich sculptural elements of the building in the placement of the elements, decor of ornamental sculptural details, as well as the diversity of the facade decoration with the smooth, corrugated and coarse plaster.

Dubulti Evangelical Lutheran Church

Dubulti church with 750 seats as it is today, was built by Riga building contractor and manufacturer, master of masonry Krisjanis Kergalvis (1856-1936) according to the design of the architect Wilhelm Ludwig Bockslaff (1858-1945) and Edgar Woldemar Eduard Friesendorf (1881-1945). Its foundations were laid in September 1905, but officially the foundation stone celebration took place on 16 June 1907.

2 Baby Stocks To Have in Portfolio

4 August, 2018 | Investments | 12 seen

Being a proud father of one little princess, and being an active and growing portfolio investor, in today's stock watchlist series I want to speak about two great "baby stocks" - Kimberly-Clark and Procter&Gamble.

If you ever have changed a diaper you will know these companies because of Huggies and more famous Pampers brand diapers

Both companies will be a good fit in almost every portfolio, both are more than 100 years old, and what's interesting, both companies currently offer pretty attractive ~3.5% yield. Speaking of me, currently, 3.5% yield for me is way too low (right now I'm focusing more on +9% and more dividend stocks) - but I'm ready to come back here after a year or two and add the blue chips to my portfolio.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include Kleenex facial tissue, Kotex feminine hygiene products, Cottonelle, Scott and Andrex toilet paper, …

Pica Diāna - Pizzeria in Ventspils

1 August, 2018 | Restaurant reviews | 21 seen

Pizza Diana probably is the most popular pizzeria in Ventspils. This Pizzeria offers more than 25 types of pizzas and various second dishes at very friendly prices.

Located on J.Poruka street in an old 5-story Soviet apartment house, the pizzeria is pretty close to the city center.

Pica Diāna in Ventspils

Despite you cannot compare this pizzeria with the famous Armenia Tashir Pizza - one thing is common, both pizzerias have very similar outdoor terraces. See: Tashir Pizza (On Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan)

Pizza at Pica Diāna in Ventspils