King's Mountain Hike

We reached the trailhead around 6.30 am and started to hike at 7.00 am. The trail was full of frozen snow making it difficult to walk at some points. Reached the summit around 9 am and had our breakfast. Then we started the descent and reached the trailhead around 11 am.King's Mountain on EveryTrail

Snowshoeing at Boy Scout Ridge near White River in Mt. Hood

We reached the trailhead around 7.10 am and got prepared. Started to hike around 7.30 am and hiked until 9.00 am. Had our breakfast and head back to trailhead. Mt. Hood was clearly visible when we started but later it was covered with cloud and not visible. GPS machine stopped working after a while so the track is not complete. I tried to complete it myself hence there is no accurate information after 3.5 km of the track.

Snowshoeing - Boy Scout Ridge

 

Line Smoothing for Matlab plot() command

The regular Matlab plot() command outputs curvy lines as if they are staircased due to the lack of proper antialiasing. A remedy for this is to use the hidden feature of line properties: LineSmoothing (plot(function,'LineSmoothing','on')). One example is shown below:

clear all; clc;

% Simple example showing the Line Smoothing property

freq=1e6;        % frequency of operation
omega=2*pi*freq; % angular frequency
T=1/freq;        % period

Nt=10;
dt=T/Nt;

c=3e8;           % speed of light
lambda=c/freq;   % wavelength
k=2*pi/lambda;   % wavenumber

Nx=20;
dx=lambda/Nx;

x=(-6*lambda):dx:(6*lambda);

% Evaluate $$ f(x)= sin(\omegat-kx) $$ at t=0
func= sin(omega*0-k*x);

% Plot
figure(1); clf; set(gcf,'Color',[1 1 1]);
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(x,func,'-b'); hold on;
title('No Line Smoothing');
Xlim([x(1) x(end)])

subplot(2,1,2);
plot(x,func,'-r','LineSmoothing','on')
title('With Line Smoothing');
Xlim([x(1) x(end)])

For more information and other tips on Matlab, please refer to the following website: undocumentedmatlab.com

 

Green Point Ridge Hike

We started around 6.30 am to hike aiming to reach North Lake. By 9.30, had our breakfast and kept going. Almost one mile away from North Lake, decided to head back. The trail was full of snow after approximately 1500 ft. Nice view of Columbia Gorge can be seen. On a sunny day, this trail should be a terrific hike. Here is the hike log and some photos:

Green Point Ridge Hike
Snapshots:

Nesmith Point Hike

We started around 6.30 am for the hike. Hiked uphill until 9.30 and stopped to have the breakfast. Then started our descent. Trail was full of snow after 1500 ft.
 

Wahclella Falls - Highway State Trail Hike

Wahclella Falls - Highway State Trail

Snapshots:
Our GPS log overlayed on Google Earth:

Google Nexus 7 screen not rotating

When I get home, I wanted to check my e-mails using the Google Nexus 7. However, when I took it to my hand I noticed that it was stuck in the landscape mode. And even if I try to change position, the screen was locked. Most probably my 1 year old daughter has locked while she was playing with it. However, I didn't know how to unlock it. I check the "settings" but to no avail. Searched online and there was no simple instructions on how to unlock it. So, here I am, posting this post on how to unlock Nexus 7 screen if it is locked:

If you swipe from top around to mid section, you get the drop down menu but still does not help you unlock it. The trick is to swipe from where the battery icon is (see the red arrow below)

Once you swipe from the top-right you get the following drop down menu:From here it is pretty straightforward: Just click the "Auto Rotate" option. I hope this post helps someone out there. Best Regards.

Costa Classica

Another ship photo from the St. John's Castle in Kotor, Montenegro. This time a cruise ship from Italy.

Costa Classica 
Ship Type: Passengers ship
Year Built: 1991
Length x Breadth: 220 m X 29 m
Gross Tonnage: 52926, DeadWeight: 7781 t
Speed recorded (Max / Average): 13.4 / 12.3 knots
Flag: Italy [IT] 
Call Sign: ICIC
IMO: 8716502, MMSI: 247819000

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/showallphotos.aspx?imo=8716502&photoid=1011588#top_photo

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Arnavutluk Rozafa Kalesinden Ezan

Enver Hocanın altında onca yıl din yasaklanmasına rağmen, o yasaklayıcı zihniyete inat ezan Shkoder semalarında eskiden olduğu gibi yankılanıyor.


An old Ottoman mosque (Lead Mosque- Kurşunlu Camii) in Shkoder as seen from Rozafa Castle. The minaret has been exploded due to lightning struck.

View of Rozafa Castle as seen from airplane right after Podgorica airport

Getting to Skopje city center from the Alexander the Great Airport

The main getaway to Macedonia is Alexander The Great Airport in the outskirts of Skopje. It is relatively small but definitely modern and very clean. It is built by the Turkish TAV (Tepe-Akfen-Vie) company which also built the airports in Istanbul.So, internal architecture-wise this airport is very similar to those in Istanbul. Once you reach the airport, there are several ways to get to the city center. I just want to briefly mention them.

There are many taxis waiting outside the airport.

There is also furgons operated by Vardar Express. The price to city center is 100 MK Dinar which is around 2.1 US$.

Here is the ticket for Vardar Express. There are several stops along the route. It also passes through the international bus station. Getting off around Hotel Holiday Inn is enough for walking to the historical old city, Stari Grad.

Just out of the airport, the roads looked good. Evidently, the Macedonian government is trying to beautify the country.

Right between the airport and city center, there is the municipality called Gazi Baba.

Halkbank was a big hit over there. All the billboards were full with their advertisements. Also Acibadem hospital was exhibiting itself everywhere.