Personal Blog

Memories from my stay in Barcelona, i think it was 2013. Already three years passed. Time flies really fast. I was walking when i saw people outside the town hall, and the show started.  You can get here a taste what i saw. It seems that they have the light show every year.

Enjoying the sunset from my new home in Nicosia. Not the best city to live in, but not bad either. I just wish it had less traffic and more... green as every big city. Sunset in Nicosia, Cyprus over the buildings. Sunset in Nicosia, Cyprus over the buildings.

Not long ago i remember buying my 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 and running my old games. I remember the huge difference that the hardware transformation and lighting could provide. I was fanatic of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit at this period. I had a good friend from the neighbour home and from time to time we were playing together in the PC trying to make the best time. I still remember his expression when we lunched the NFS again and saw the new graphics. My setup was a Cyrix 6x86 350 running at 250MHz with 32MB of ram initially that i upgraded them to 96MB later. My first graphics card had something like 4MB and with the upgrade to Voodoo3 3000 i went to 16MB. Enormous difference. Take a look on the difference of using Software vs Glide of 3dfx: At that period i was using my PC mostly about playing games and nothing else. So the first thing i did is to install the games included with my 3dfx card. I remember two or three games. The first was the Descent 3  and the other one, what i

The Acropolis of Rhodes is an acropolis dating from the Classical Greek period (5th–3rd century BC) 3 kilometers from the center of Rhodes in Greece. There are a number of monuments that someone can visit, including the temple of Apollo, the stadium, and the ancient theater. I have a good friend that prepared a very nice video of this area: I also included various photos from the area: There is also an ancient stadium that exists nearby the acropolis temple:  

Couple of months ago i got the idea of observing the sun using a solar filter. I ordered a cheap solar filter from Israel and  placed it front of the telescope. Note that you have to adjust the filter in front of the the telescope not between the body and the eyepiece because high temperature can be developed inside the telescope's tube. The next step was to point to the sun. Compared with the night sky it is really hard to target the sun, as you can't look (or you shouldn't) directly to the sun. The easiest trick is to align the body of the telescope with the sun to minimize the shadow created as shown in the next two pictures: Aligning the telescope to the sun using its shadow. Finally, we align as perfect we can the telescope. I aligned the telescope without the eyepiece because it was easiest to move it. The final result, note the sunspot on the right. Not perfect aligned and not the best quality, but for the 20$ price tag of the sun filter is

A good friend of mine, Stavros Ladikos , makes his first steps on video production. One of the recent videos produced is for the old town of Rhodes. Enjoy:

A couple of years ago I tried to receive the NOAA 18 using a small in-door antenna and an RTL DVB-T USB receiver. The results were disappointing. However, I always had in the back of my mind that I will try again in the future with an external antenna. The era of cheap RTL-SDR hardware has come, so many people have started looking for receiving images from the weather satellites. Easy targets are the NOAA satellites that transmit weather images using Automatic Picture Transmission method ( APT ). These satellites provide images in different wavelengths of light. So after following instructions from a site dedicated to the RTL-SDR receivers , I tried to receive some pictures using the simple TV antenna. However, this decision had many disadvantages, as the TV antennas are designed to receive signal on higher frequencies from NOAA satellites. Despite the poor reception and low cost (e.g.,. none, I had an old tv antenna installed, but not used) I was able to receive some pictures. I

Filerimos is a hill situated near the village of Ialyssos which stands on the same site as the Doric city of Ialysos, in ancient times. When the Dorians arrived around 1100 BC Ialysos became member of the alliance known as the Dorian Hextapolis.  Excavations discovered a Mycenaean pottery, a Doric foundation and a Hellenistic temple of Athena. In the middle age the Knights of St. John used the site.   Remnants of these periods and lot of the successive conquerors can still be seen. On the way up the ancient road to the Acropolis, you see the foundations of the temple of Zeus and Athena. On top you'll find the beautiful Monastery. This Monastery was destroyed under, the Turks and rebuilt by the Italians who installed Capuchin monks in it.  A short and quiet walk leads to an enormous cross, accessible by a stairway to the top. Also there are everywhere peacocks. Peacocks,  peacocks everywhere! The road to the big cross. The cross it self. Actually you can se

The hot springs of Kallithea Baths in Rhodes is known since antiquity for its beneficial health red water that gushes from the rocks. Although not longer used, the visitors can admire the glamour of the magnificent Baths built by the Italians. Outside the high season, this is the favorite spot for local people looking for a quick swim. Most of the building are newly renovated and when i visited them some parts were under construction. This is the main entry of the area of Kalithea springs. The baths are at the end of this picture. Paths that leads to the a number of building at higher ground.     View of the sea inside of the newly renovated buidlings. Inside the buildings. You can see old pictures. View of the back. Some of the renovated paths. Another path. Notice the details down. Fisherman. View from the back.

Some days ago i visited the old town of Rhodes again. The weather was perfect so i decided to take some pictures before the tourists arrived. These pictures taken around April. Old town: a merge of old building and new technology, but the result is not always beautiful.  A contrast of new and old building inside the old town. The window and the building in the center is in bad shape. In contrast the building on the right is newly renovated and although the owner used stone you can see the difference. Note also the road, the local authorities didn't have the money to fully repair it. Old Castle in the old medieval city of Rhodes, Greece. Taverns, taverns, taverns everywhere! In old medieval city of Rhodes. Still beautiful empty streets inside the old medieval city in Rhodes, Greece. Waiting for the tourists. Sometimes i ask my self, why we don't   have tourists on Winter.

Last two months i was not able to take pictures or to write any post on this blog. I'm currently at the army (mandatory in Greece), and my time is limited. However, i was able to take some pictures from the training camp with a lot of snow. Now i moved back to Rhodes where i 'm waiting to get assigned on the proper camp, after a second round of training. Here are one picture from the camp, somewhere in the middle of Greece: Snow from inside the training camp. I 'm waiting for first days off the camp to have some rest, where i 'm hopping to take some more pictures of the beautiful island of Rhodes...

Around ten years ago my father bought a used FTA satellite receiver and a small 65cm aluminum satellite dish targeting Hotbird 13* East. At that period, we couldn't receive the super beams from Hotbird and Astra 19.2* East was also out of reach. Moreover, the TPS system was broken, and most of the receivers were able to open the subscription channels even the pay per view (PPV).   After the era of piracy ended (almost), step by step we added more dishes and more LNBs. Thus, last summer I decided to buy a 10-1 Diseqc system from Amazon and connect as possible satellites. So here is my system with some photos: 80cm old Bulgarian dish targeting Nilesat on 7-8* West. The second lnb targets 15 West. The first dish is an old 80cm diameter dish provided by the bulsatcom. With this dish i 'm aiming Nilesat and Eutelsat on 7*W and 8*W. Most of the frequencies are received without any problem. Nilesat 102 and 201 are received without any problem with ~60-70% sign

Two days ago i decided to take some macro pictures of the garden. During the process i encounter rainfall. So, i decided to take some pictures of the garden using the sun and the rain. Take a look: