Blog Archive: March 2024

Rainbow restaurant in Jaipur

28 March, 2024 | Restaurant reviews | 314 seen

Rainbow restaurant in Jaipur was a restaurant we were talking by our tour guide after wandering around the city of Jaipur for a few hours. 

Really delicious Indian cuisine and that KingFisher beer. As I was vegeterian and on intermittent fasting during our times in India I sticked with some simple fish masala and garlic naan accompanied by beer. Really delicious.

 Simple but elegant interior at Rainbow Jaipur restaurant

If there is a thing I discovered in India - then garlic naan with fish curry is among the top.

After having our lunch break we continued our discoveries in Jaipur before returning back to New Delhi in the evening.

City Palace of Jaipur

26 March, 2024 | Tourism objects | 219 seen

The City Palace, Jaipur is a royal residence and former administrative headquarters of the rulers of the Jaipur State in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

I had a chance to visit city palace of Jaipur in India back at the end of December 2023, during our about 3 week trip to India. We came here by foot from the Jantar Mantar observatory of Jaipur.

The palace complex lies in the heart of Jaipur city, to the northeast of the very centre. The site for the palace was located on the site of a royal hunting lodge on a plain land encircled by a rocky hill range, five miles south of Amber.

Construction started soon after the establishment of the city of Jaipur under the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, who moved his court to Jaipur from Amber, in 1727.

Jaipur remained the capital of the kingdom until 1949—when it became the capital of the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan—with the City Palace functioning as the ceremonial and administrative seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur.

Luckily I didn't saw any snake this time, but music coming out from the flute was absolutely brilliant. It

The construction of the Palace was completed in 1732 and it was also the location of religious and cultural events, as well as a patron of arts, commerce, and industry. It was constructed according to the rules of vastushastra, combining elements of Mughal and Rajput architectural styles.

I kindly asked guards to take a selfie

It now houses the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, and continues to be the home of the Jaipur royal family. The royal family has around 500 personal servants.[citation needed] The palace complex has several buildings, various courtyards, galleries, restaurants, and offices of the Museum Trust.The MSMS II Museum Trust is headed by chairperson Rajamata Padmini Devi of Jaipur (from Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh).

 Princess Diya Kumari runs the Museum Trust, as its secretary and trustee. She also manages The Palace School and Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School in Jaipur. She founded and runs the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation to empower underprivileged and underemployed women of Rajasthan. She is also an entrepreneur. 

We spent some good time here. Quite touristic place, but very interesting too.

France / Paris / Marseille / Disneyland

21 March, 2024 | Travel guides | 51 seen

In the summer of 2023, my family embarked on an unforgettable adventure through the heart of France. From the iconic landmarks of Paris to the serene lavender fields of Provence, our journey was a whirlwind of discovery, laughter, and cherished memories. But it wasn't just about experiencing the sights and sounds firsthand; it was about capturing those moments on film to relive and share with others.

Our adventure began in the City of Lights, where we immersed ourselves in the rich history and culture that Paris has to offer. From the majestic Eiffel Tower to the artistic wonders of the Louvre, every corner we turned revealed a new treasure waiting to be explored. With our camera in hand, we documented every awe-inspiring moment, from sipping espresso at quaint cafes to strolling along the Seine at sunset.

But our journey didn't end there. We boarded the high-speed TGV train and whisked away to the vibrant port city of Marseille. As we soaked in the Mediterranean charm and sampled the local cuisine, we couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the French Riviera. From the bustling markets to the historic landmarks, Marseille captivated our hearts and inspired us to capture its essence on film.

Next, we ventured into the picturesque countryside of Provence, where endless fields of lavender stretched as far as the eye could see. Amidst the fragrant blooms and golden sunsets, we reveled in the tranquility of rural France, pausing to capture the beauty of nature in all its splendor. Each frame told a story of serenity and simplicity, reminding us of the beauty that lies beyond the bustling city streets.

As our journey drew to a close, we returned to Paris for a special celebration: Renee's 5th birthday at Disneyland. Amidst the laughter and excitement, we watched our daughter's face light up with joy as she experienced the magic of Disney. And as the fireworks illuminated the night sky, we knew that this moment would be forever etched in our hearts and captured on film for generations to come.

Now, as we share our video with the world, we invite you to join us on our journey through France. From the enchanting streets of Paris to the tranquil countryside of Provence, our film is a testament to the beauty and wonder that await those who dare to explore. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And don't forget to give us a thumbs up if you're captivated by the magic of France. Bon voyage!

How To Generate Captions (Text to Speech) in Adobe Premiere Pro

20 March, 2024 | Digital Photography School | 56 seen

Lately I have been amazed by  the power of AI  and its capabilities in converting gibberish text-to speech into usable and readable articles. I keep recording YouTube videos for our Crypto hedge fund channel, I like YouTube as it generates auto caption from my spoken text. I then re-use this text with ChatGPT, making readable blog articles. 

Unfortunately, sometimes YouTube doesn't generate auto captions, don't know why, it happens. Thats how I discovered that Adobe Premiere Pro has function to export text to speech, which then can be reused again in the same Chat GPT, for example.

In this article I will share how to generate captions in Adobe Premiere Pro:

Open Adobe - > Create New project - > Import video -> Drag and drop your video to the timeline

Make sure your video is selected on the timeline, then from the actions windows (left upper corner) make sure to select Text and click on Create captions from transcript.

You will be prompted with a windows offering to customize your transcription settings, play around, or leave the default.

It may take few seconds to generate captions, now to make them usable you just need to export them

From the Captions window click on the three dots (...) - > Export and choose your preferred file format.

As I'm using captions for generating blog content, I then just paste this text in Chat GTP and play around.

Hope it helps!

Jantar Mantar observatory in Jaipur

19 March, 2024 | Tourism objects | 50 seen

The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur, Rajasthan. 

The monument was completed in 1734. It features the world's largest stone sundial, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is near City Palace and Hawa Mahal. The instruments allow the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye. The observatory is an example of the Ptolemaic positional astronomy which was shared by many civilizations.

I first visited this observatory back in December, 2023 during our about 3 week trip to India. We were taken here by a tour guide and spent some good two hours here. 

The monument features instruments operating in each of the three main classical celestial coordinate systems: the horizon-zenith local system, the equatorial system, and the ecliptic system The Kanmala Yantraprakara is one that works in two systems and allows transformation of the coordinates directly from one system to the other. It has the biggest sundial in the world.

The monument was damaged in the 19th century. Early restoration work was undertaken under the supervision of Major Arthur Garrett, a keen amateur astronomer, during his appointment as Assistant State Engineer for the Jaipur District.

The name jantar is derived from yantra a Sanskrit word, meaning "instrument, machine", and mantar from mantrana also a Sanskrit word "consult, calculate" Therefore, Jantar Mantar literally means 'calculating instrument'

The observatory consists of nineteen instruments for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking location of major stars as the Earth orbits around the Sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides.

Built from local stone and marble, each instrument carries an astronomical scale, generally marked on the marble inner lining. Bronze tablets, bricks and mortar were also employed in building the instruments in the monument spread over about 18,700 square metres. It was in continuous use until about 1800, then fell in disuse and disrepair. Restored again several times during the British colonial rule, particularly in 1902, the Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in 1948. It was restored in 2006. The restoration process in early 20th century replaced some of the original materials of construction with different materials.

How To Sell Covered Calls with Solana on ByBit

14 March, 2024 | Investments | 305 seen

ByBit is my new favorite crypto trading platform, I switched from Deribit to ByBit around August 2023, with the launch of TerraMatris crypto hedge fund. 

I like trading on Bybit because, unlike on the Deribit, options are settled in USDC, not in crypto itself, which makes it much easier to calculate and actually grow the portfolio.

In this article I will shed some light on how I'm selling covered call options on Solana using ByBit trading platform.

Book my Covered Calls Course | How to Generate Income from Options

Before that, make sure to check out my previous articles about options selling with Solana

• I'm making $0.21/daily* by selling covered calls on Solana coin
• How to Sell Covered Call Options with Solana on Deribit?

First things first - ByBit re-introduced Solana options on March 6, 2024, about a week ahead the Deribit, despite Deribit was the first announcing Solana options, already back in October 2023. In short both Deribit and ByBit already had Solana options, but they stopped issuing new contracts shortly after FTX crash back in November 2022.

Now, once we are done with history, lets dive in: 

As I already had 1 SOL coin in our crypto portfolio, it was no brainer to go and start generate some income from it, as we were   buying small bits with Solana during the past few weeks we had a nice buying price of slightly under $100 per coin, while the actual coin price was about $130. We were already gaining 30% from this holding (Sadly, we didn't bought 100x more) and now I just wanted to squeeze out some extra USDC by selling call options. 

Your case will be different, a popular covered call trading strategy is buy/write, something I would recommend to be really careful, especially with crypto. 

Once the Solana options were once again enabled on ByBit I opened following, 2 days to expiry call, option on Solana coin

Sold 1 SOL-8MAR24-146-C for 0.6

Let me translate that for you, on March 6,  I sold one call contract on Solana and with expiry on March 8, 2024 (2 days to expiry)  with a strike price of 146 for what I was rewarded with 0.6$ per contract. In total 0.60 (before commissions)

What happens next?

On the expiry date, March 8, 2024, SOL is trading under $146 per coin -  options expire worthlessly and I keep the premium and start over - if SOL trades above $146 on the expiry date, I pay the difference in USDC. Say SOL trades $150 on the expiry date, I will need to pay the difference between the spot price and strike price, which is $4.

But as our actual buying price for one SOL coin is just $99, we will actually make a huge gain of $47.

Now, as we already had SOL in our long term crypto portfolio, I look on  his covered call writing strategy as a form of passive income, and actually not encouraging on aggressive buy/sell approach. Something i have done a lot in the past, especially on stocks, unfortunately with quite mixed results.

But if you have few SOL laying around, why not generate some income from them?!

At Terramatris crypto hedge fund we sell both put and call options to boost our portfolio performance while investing in different crypto assets. Visit our website to learn more.

Hawa Mahal / Pink Palace in Jaipur

13 March, 2024 | Tourism objects | 125 seen

The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the Zenana, or women's chambers.

We visited this place at the end of December 2023, during our about 3 weeks trip to India, in the frames of our golden Triangle trip. Hawa Mahal was among our first stops in the city of Jaipur.

Area around the palace is quite busy, just like everything in India

The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of the city of Jhunjhunu in the state of Rajasthan. He was so inspired by the unique structure of Khetri Mahal that he built this grand and historical palace.

It was designed by Lal Chand Ustad. Its five-floor exterior is akin to a honeycomb with its 953 small windows called Jharokhas decorated with intricate latticework. The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen. 

This architectural feature also allowed cool air from the Venturi effect to pass through, thus making the whole area more pleasant during the high temperatures in summer. Many people see the Hawa Mahal from the street view and think it is the front of the palace, but it is the back.

In 2006, renovation works on the Mahal were undertaken, after a gap of 50 years, to give a facelift to the monument at an estimated cost of Rs 4.568  million.

The corporate sector lent a hand to preserve the historical monuments of Jaipur and the Unit Trust of India has adopted Hawa Mahal to maintain it.

 The palace is an extended part of a huge complex. The stone-carved screens, small casements, and arched roofs are some of the features of this popular tourist spot. The monument also has delicately modelled hanging cornices.

Quite interesting spot to visit once in Jaipur. I hope to return to the city of Jaipur and explore more in the future

Minimum Wages in European Union 2024

7 March, 2024 | Macroeconomics | 230 seen

In 2024 there were 22 out of 27 European Union member states with an official minimum wage set by the government.

Turns out this is already the tenth (#10) article about minimum wages in European Union featured on the blog. To keep it up, here is the raw data for minimum wages across European Union in 2024. 

Please don't judge too hard, data are taken from this article on Wikipedia, and applied some basic calculations for yearly growth.

It should be noted: The calculations are based on the assumption of a 40-hour working week and a 52-week year, with the exceptions of France (35 hours), Belgium (38 hours), Ireland (39 hours), and Germany (39.1 hours). Most the minimum wages are fixed at a monthly rate, but there are countries where the minimum wage is fixed at an hourly rate or weekly rate.
This review provides a comprehensive overview of the changes in gross minimum wages across various European countries from 2022 to 2024. Here are some key observations:

Luxembourg: Witnessed a significant increase of €368.93, marking a substantial growth of 16.75%.
Netherlands: Experienced a notable rise of €599.00, indicating a substantial increase of 35.21%.
Germany: Demonstrated a moderate increase of €175.00, reflecting a growth rate of 8.86%.
Ireland: Saw a considerable increase of €371.30, representing a growth rate of 20.92%.
Belgium: Experienced a significant increase of €368.18, reflecting a growth rate of 22.64%.
France: Witnessed a modest increase of €121.92, indicating a growth rate of 7.41%.
Spain: Demonstrated a notable increase of €157.00, representing a growth rate of 13.46%.
Slovenia: Experienced a substantial increase of €178.93, marking a growth rate of 16.65%.
Poland: Saw a significant increase of €316.00, reflecting a notable growth rate of 48.24%.
Portugal: Witnessed a considerable increase of €134.66, indicating a growth rate of 16.38%.

Overall, the average minimum wage across the European Union increased by €190.04, representing an average growth rate of 18.53%. These figures underscore the dynamic nature of wage trends within the European labor market and highlight the varying degrees of economic growth and policy changes across different member states.

When visualizing data on the map, its' clearly visible that higher minimum wages are set in the Western European countries, despite the higher growth rates are found in Eastern European countries.

I find these data useful as right now I'm growing TerraMatris crypto hedge fund from scratch and minimum wage in EU seems one of the benchmarks to look at when growing our fund in monthly terms, as of writing this article we are targeting about $10.1/daily, that wouldn't get us even a lowest minimum wage in EU yet. We would need at to target at least $17.26/daily to have a minimum wage in Romania. 

I hope next time I'm going to make an article about minimum wages in EU for 2025, our monthly income from the fund will increase to at least average minimum wage in EU.

How about you? How do you interpret this data? Are you a person receiving minimum wage in one of the mentioned countries above? Leave a comment, readers and I would love to hear!

Royal Orchid Central Jaipur Hotel

6 March, 2024 | Hotel reviews | 47 seen

Royal Orchind Central hotel in Jaipur, India is a decent 4 star hotel. 

We stayed here for one night at the end of December 2023, during our about 3 week trip to India. We got here transferred from Agra after visiting Taj Mahal by a private Golden Triangle tour company, we didn't paid directly for booking here, instead tour operator did. But seems the price per one night is about $35-$40 which is very good price for this hotel. 

A short walk from Gandhi Nagar Railway Station, Royal Orchid Central Jaipur, Bani Park has a rooftop pool. Its rooms feature 26-inch flat-screen TV and city views.

Centrally located in Jaipur City, Royal Orchid Central is just 14 km away from Jaipur International Airport.

Fitted with wooden flooring, rooms at Royal Orchid are equipped with air conditioning, internet access and DVD player. They each come with a tea/coffee maker and a safe.

Guests can relax and dine at the hotel’s new-age lounge and restaurant, Pinxx. Alternatively, Ginseng Restaurant serves a variety of Asian dishes. Room service is available.

Jaipur’s Royal Orchid Central offers valet service and free parking. For the convenience of guests, a business centre and 24-hour front desk are provided. The hotel’s tour desk provides travel assistance.

We spent one day in Jaipur and were transferred back to Delhi next day. Our stay at this hotel was short, but veyr comfortable. I can only recommend this place. Book now on Booking.com