Blog Archive: December 2022
Christmas in Bakuriani
| Living in Georgia | 67 seen
Another awesome holiday weekend has been recorded, this time we had a road trip to Bakuriani, staying in a lovely log house with fine cuisine.
Winter fun, attractions, gifts, and a lot of fun with drones. Made my first real - flythrough. December 23-25, 2022
Enjoy the video and thumbs up!
How to obtain a tourist permit to fly a drone in Israel
| Travel guides | 46 seen
In this article, I will share details on how I obtained a tourist permit for flying a drone in Israel at the end of 2022.
We booked a short one-week trip to the State of Israel for the 2022/2023 New Year celebrations. I have my DJI Mavic Air 2 drone and I thought it would be cool to bring back some drone memory from Israel as I did from Sri Lanka.
I know different countries have different drone regulations, and I assumed Israel might have one as well.
I started by simply googling several articles about flying a drone in Israel, at one point I got even more confused and was considering not taking a drone with me to Israel until I found the official website for obtaining a tourist permit for flying a drone in Israel - and it was much easier than I thought.
There was a 350 ILS fee (about EUR 100), PayPal was available and it took about 10 minutes to complete the registration form (though it took another 24 hours to get the actual permit to my email)
In case you are wondering how to get a permit to fly a drone in Israel in 2025 or 2030, this article might get outdated, as drone rules change quite quickly
At the time of…
Top 15 Best Selling Laptops January 2023
| Laptop Reviews | 208 seen
Unlike the previous months, January 2023 data for best-selling laptops might seem skewed, Apple has given up #1 to the Lenovo Ideapad 3 laptop.
The explanation is simple - Holiday season, with increased laptop purchasing, many good bargain deals
Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, HP, and Apple are the laptop brands among the best-selling on Amazon for January 2023. Laptops for everyday computer needs, as well as gaming laptops under $1,000, are among the top-selling laptop models.
Keep reading to learn more.
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 might earn an affiliate income from that. The prices for laptop computers listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product Advertising API and are updated daily. For actual prices please refer to the product page on Amazon.
Lenovo Ideapad 3 Laptop, 15.6" HD Touchscreen, 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 Processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD, HDMI, Webcam, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth, Windows 11 Home, Almond- Memory is 8GB high-bandwidth RAM to…
Could TerraM coin price reach $2 in 2023?
| Crypto | 16 seen
At the end of December 2022, I minted 10,000 TerraM coins with an aim to raise $10,000 for covered call writing on Ethereum.
TerraM coin has been on the blockchain for just some mere 2 weeks and has already raised about 13% of our total goal, for truth's sake, the largest investor still am I.
Nevertheless, the funds have been deployed to the Deribit trading platform for covered call writing and already we have distributed the first week's profit of $24 back to the token holders, and are on the track to distribute about $67 for the second week.
See TerraM on the Solana Scanner
These are quite impressive numbers and give about 7% return in about 10 days.
At the moment there are two options available on how to invest with TerraM coin - either purchase directly from me at the rate of 1 USD: 1 TerraM (7,798 TerraM available) or swap them on the Raydium liquidity pool at the dynamic rate, as of writing this: 1 USDC ≈ 1.096008 TerraM (80.54 TerraM available)
With time (weeks and months) the total liquidity will increase on the Raydium poll, while the total amount of coins will decrease for direct…
How To Buy TerraM Token Using USDC coin and Phantom wallet
| Crypto | 105 seen
At the start of December 2022, I minted 10,000 TerraM tokens on the Solana blockchain, tokens are available for sale on the Raydium decentralized market.
Update: A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying TerraM Tokens via Raydium AMM
In this article, I will provide a brief tutorial on how some, perhaps you, could buy TerraM tokens online.
Things you will need: USDC coin, Phantom wallet, few SOLs as a network fee
First things first - TerraM coin runs on the Solana network and it is available to buy with USDC token at the moment. If you already have USDC coin, skip this part, if you don't have yet any USDC, keep reading.
For my cryptobuys I prefer Coinbase over other exchanges, but you should be able to buy USDC coins from any reputable centralized exchange. If you are a first-time buyer, I would recommend starting small, by purchasing some 10 USDC at the begging.
Once you have bought some amount of USDC on Coinbase or your exchange of choice you are ready to transfer them to Phantom wallet and then buy TerraM coin on Raydium
Again you could use some other wallet that supports Solana tokens, Phantom is quite…
How To update SPL Token Metadata
| Servers | 544 seen
It has been recently since I minted the first 10,000 tokens for TerraM coin on the Solana network.
The launch has been very successful and the token is growing, so far we have been able to list it already on the Raydium pool, also tried to list it on CoinGeckom but due to the lack of trading activity got rejected so far. No regrets here, as the token is growing and eventually we will get there.
How To Create Custom Token on Solana Blockchain without Coding - Part 1
Besides that, TerraM token asks for some upkeeping work, for example, when minting the TerraM coin I didn't pay much attention to the ico style image, I uploaded for the ico, I just used some randomly generated ico from online ico generators.
Now, once the coin started growing I was not quite happy with the visual presentation and decided it would be good to update the custom image and also change the coin name.
So far I have found two working solutions (services) to update the SPL token:
- https://sol-tools.tonyboyle.io/token-tools/edit-token
- https://app.strataprotocol.com/edit-metadata
Updating from the Google Chrome browser is quite easy…
How To Fix Drupal AMP Error with Google Analytics
| Drupal Development | 34 seen
AMP for Drupal is a really powerful module, that can give your Drupal-powered website an impressive website traffic boost. But it will only work if there are no AMP-related issues - like Custom Javascript error from the Google Analytics module.
I have been using Drupal AMP since 2016 or 2017 but stopped using it after upgrading my Drupal version from 7 to 9, as there were some bugs with the Drupal AMP module - it just didn't work.
At the end of 2022, I decided to fix it and get AMP back for Drupal - it took me several days and nights, a lot of clean state servers, MySQL dumps.. but in the end, turned out just a line of code in amp module. Victory, I thought, when noticed ?amp pages working out. Just a few days later I noticed that despite ?amp being up and running it is far from perfect - there was zillions of errors and AMP was just not valid.
turned out I didn't have enabled (or built) an AMP theme. Which I did. Then fixed some minor things with the Advanced Aggregation Module, till was left with the last error standing - custom Javascript from Google.
After several hours of research, I found a working solution (Drupal 9.4 and…
How to Withdraw Crypto To GEL bank account in Georgia
| Living in Georgia | 111 seen
For most of my crypto ventures, I have been dealing with Coinbase and my bank account in the EU, which supports SEPA payments. Most of the time, I've been happy with the existing setup.
When dealing with crypto in Georgia in GEL currency I have been skeptical or simply not in a real need for it - I know there exist a few crypto ATMs across the city, but the slippage seems too high (5-12%) for me, also - crypto and GEL didn't sound very appealing to me.
A few months ago, for my partner's company, I helped to set up a route for receiving payments in stablecoins from a Chinese partner. As I had already established a very reliable Coinbase - SEPA route. I suggested following this route, but there was another issue - this money is not a pure profit, but has to be used to pay expenses, salaries, etc., and actually needed to be paid in GEL.
Additionally, I have started to work with my poor man's hedge fund, where I have minted 10,000 TerraM tokens, selling them for USDC, which then are used for Ethereum Covered call writing.
Also, together with another partner, we are buying real estate in Tbilisi, and I have the plan to put this deal on the…
Life and Business in Georgia
| Living in Georgia | 14 seen
Life and Business in Georgia - or another awesome weekend has been recorded - Together with a business partner from Canada exploring construction sites in Tbilisi, building relationships while hiking around Turtle lake, and sipping hot wine with Guliani.
Fun with Santa and his socks. Thumbs up and enjoy!
How To Buy (or not) Real Estate in Tbilisi - Samgori EcoCity December 2022 Update
| Real Estate | 60 seen
At the start of December 2022, Uday, a business partner from Canada arrived in Tbilisi, and we went together to the Meti office in Saburtalo to meet with the developers and sign the documents on-site (we already had them electronically). After the meeting with the developers, we went to the actual construction site in Samgori.
I have been eyeing real estate in Georgia since I originally come up with my idea - buying black frame projects in Batumi, I wanted to raise the capital using a token (and I'm still open) until at the start of September Uday contacted me and showed his keen interest investing in more classical FIAT way.
After some longer e-mail correspondence, one Zoom call, and several meetings with contractors both in Batumi and Tbilisi, we narrowed down to one apartment at the Samgori EcoCity project by Meti.
Timeline
- Scouting Potential Apartment Investment in Tbilisi (Samgori Ecocity)
- Securing first under-construction real estate investment in Tbilisi - Planning to SELL as NFT
Uday checked at the Mariott Courtyard hotel next to Liberty square and followed my suggestion…
Pullman Tbilisi Axis Tower Gym and Pool
| Health & Wellness | 424 seen
Pullman Tbilisi Axis Towers Wellness Center is located in Vake (37M Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue) on the 6th floor at Axis Tower. It has a 25 meters heated indoor pool with a retractable roof, sauna, steam room, gym (more like a fitness), spa treatment rooms, and a lounge.
We booked an unlimited membership here for one month in November 2022 (paying GEL 600 each, kids go free) with unlimited access to the gym pool and sauna facilities.
Kids (pre-schoolers) going free was the selling moment for us - as I believe this is a great family deal, spend about GEL 1,200/mo but gain access to a gym, and swimming pool - a good and healthy way to spend the winter months in Tbilisi.
My favorite gym for years has been and still is the Champions Academy on Aghmanashebeli avenue. In fact, during the month of November, I visited both gyms, sometimes both on the same day. lol
Kind of brand new and equipped with the latest soft, built by Techn0Gym but still I'm not very enthusiastic about the Technogym brand. Don't get me wrong. They do the job, just are not very sturdy. If comparing gym equipment at Champions Academy - it feels much better over…
How To Create Custom Token on Solana Blockchain without Coding - Part 1
| Servers | 113 seen
It has been already several years since I have been originally thinking of launching a custom crypto token.
For most of the time, I was thinking about issuing smart contracts on the Ethereum network. Probably a high price for minting on the ETH network and the additional learning curve kept me back most of the time and I never actually proceeded with my idea.
Back in spring 2022 again I returned to the idea of issuing custom tokens, for Batumi Real estate crypto investment, I even launched a pre-sale token, but at the end attracted anchor investor who was more interested to make this deal in a more classical, FIAT way, now we are coinvesting in Tbilisi with cash, see: Ecocity Samgori, Tbilisi
Im still looking to put this real estate on blochchanin, but besides real estate I also trade options with crypto on deribit platform and I thought that I could issue a "crypto fund" token, for attracting investment for covered call trades.
With past several month beeing involved in Solana trading, I learnt more and more about this coin and network, and decided to try Solana network over Etherum (lower price and seems easier to implement). So I…
Raising $10,000 capital for issuing Covered Call Crypto Fund (Solana blockchain)
| Crypto | 53 seen
I'm raising $10,000 for the covered call crypto fund.
For the past several years I've been trading and investing in crypto with mixed success. I've made my gains and taken my losses. Covered Calls with crypto have been one of the hardest to learn -and I'm still learning.
Over the years I've realized - making money in a growing market isn't hard - preserving and growing in a bear market is much harder. But possible.
Hedging with futures makes it possible. At some point, it can get tricky, but with the right mindset and some expertise, it can be achieved.
Despite, the time has proved that dollar cost averaging investing is one of the best investment approaches when investing with crypto (and most of the other kinds of assets), I have decided to proceed with an idea that has been in my head for the past few years - launching a crypto fund, where myself will be the biggest investor for some time at least.
Issue a token, with 10,000 coins, each coin worth $1. From the dollar acquired buy Ethereum and sell covered calls on each position. Additionally hedging each position…
How to Install Drupal 9 with Nginx, PHP-FPM 8.1, MySQL, phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 22.04 - Linode Guide
| Servers | 448 seen
In this article, you will learn how to set up a webserver for serving Drupal websites running with Nginx, PHP-FPM 8.1, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 22.04
For the following tutorial, I used very much the information from my previous guide with Ubuntu 18.04, but I decided to rewrite it for Ubuntu 22.04 version as it is shipped with php8.1 version and will work with Drupal 9 (most probably with previous versions too)
Prerequisites
- Ubuntu 22.04
- Root privileges.
You can get a cheap VPS starting just $5/mo from Linode. That's what I did - bought a new nanode from Linode
Literally, in a couple of seconds, the new server was up and running - that's what I love about sticking with Linode for years
Follow the basic security guide, see: Securing Your Server
I will use Terminal from MAC to access over SSH (Windows users could use Putty)
Secure your serverCreate the user, replacing example_user with your desired username. You’ll then be asked to assign the user a password:
adduser example_userAdd the user to the sudo …
November 2022 Blog Traffic And Income Report 21,650 Users / $ 398.52
| Blogging | 65 seen
Welcome to the #1 renewed blog traffic and income reports covering blog traffic and earnings/expenses for November 2022.
It has been already 7 years since my latest blog traffic and income report. As I enjoyed them back in 2014-2015, and because both the blog traffic and income have decreased significantly in the past year - I decided to renew these reports to get a better understanding of what's happening behind the scenes as they help me track my success or failures and hopefully can generate some ideas for you as well.
About Blog traffic in November 2022Past November comes with a small but important - 3.96% traffic growth if compared to October, and resulted in 21,651 unique users visiting my blog.
But if compared YoY to November 2021 that is a -38.64% traffic drop. Back in the Summer of 2021, I did a major blog upgrade, upgrading it from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 (as Drupal 7 become more and more obsolete) I believe the traffic drop is related to the blog upgrade as not all went smoothly like I had lost pictures, gmap module support and also AMP. I have managed semi-manually recover gmap…