I don't understand the list either. I have 265 sMerits available at the moment, and that is after today's awards.

I need to restart some projects so that I can use them.

For me, the biggest advantage of privacy is to stop Google messing with my searches.

I do use the Tor window in the Brave browser though.

Thanks for that factual post Jack.

As I have said many rimes, the current Corona Virus doesn't spread by aerosols, but by droplets. So masks aren't much use unless a person is only a couple of feet in front of you, and coughs directly into your face. The problem comes when the droplets fall onto a surface, and you pick them up and move them to your eyes or mouth. Don't wash face masks either, and this expands the holes in them. You realise the stupidity of people when you see them wearing face masks, but not wearing gloves.

Your best protection is not to smoke or vape. Smoking increase ACE-2 receptors, and the virus uses those to bind to your cells. Strengthen your immune system with a healthy diet, and the avoidance of all vaccinations. Don't take any pharmaceutical or recreational drugs, as they weaken your immune system. Maintain an active sex life to stimulate blood flow and restful sleep.

It isn't the damage to the lungs that causes smokers to be at an increased risk. Smoking increases the ACE-2 receptors that are used by the virus.

Come on guys - they haven't even got a reliable system for testing and diagnosis, so you can any stats be credible, Then there is the fact that people who have not been immunocompromised often don't show any symptoms, and don't get tested.

In addition most of the deaths related to CV are from secondary causes, because the hospitals have buggered up the body's natural defences.

Put an imaginary £500 into an imaginary trading account. Then pretend that you are trading with it by making imaginary purchases and sales. See how you get on for 3 months. If you make an imaginary loss, then you need to do some more reading. Analyse your trades,and if you feel comfortable with them, then try speculating with £100 for another 3 months.

Which country has a quality health service these days? I thought that all they do now is to push damaging pharmaceuticals and vaccines.

There is a fair bit of support here for people using a Raspberry Pi or similar. It's something I want to do with a couple of AGM batteries and a solar panel. I've got the batteries, I just need the other bits.

I was a Hero when merit was introduced, and I only received 500 merit in the air drop. As you can see I have been awarded over 1,000 merit from posting activities, so your comment is not relevant in my case.

Some deserts have underground aquifers. The real problem is the shifting topsoil ( sand) About 50 years ago, Shell  produced a sticky fertiliser to try to stop this, but the nomads living there burnt or ate anything that grew, and the project was abandoned.

If you purchase an account, then you buy it with all its attributes, and being banned is one of those.

If you bought a smashed up car because it was cheap, you wouldn't expect the seller to make it roadworthy would you?

Tell her to join the forum, and work to build the reputation of an account, just like the rest of us have done. Purchased accounts get tagged anyway, and thus become toxic, even if they aren't banned.

Trust me - You don't want me on the staff here - I'm far to opinionated and autocratic.

@Vod - to repeat the old joke. Love is a fellow feeling, and jealousy is another fellow feeling. There seems to be a certain amount of jealousy in this forum.

To return to the OP - Bitcoin Talk is an interesting site. Superficially it is a crypto forum, but it has developed into a broad community with a variety of special interest groups. There is considerable help within these groups ( as well as the forum in general), and much of this remains unnoticed. I did start a number of associated sites to help new members, and I have rather neglected them due to RL demands. I have a number of elderly friends, and I am massively distressed by the way they are being destroyed by Big Pharma, The Bankers, The vaxxers, and the misguided green activists amongst others. This has taken me away from some of my internet activities.

I would like to thank JackG for continuing to give me advice and discussions in the Crypto Coin Tree chat room. I stated this foe legendaries and merit sources, but it seems to have become a private discussion room for Jack and myself. No members have been deleted, so anyone who has registered is welcome to return. I have had some requests to revive the Fit to Talk English site, and I would like to do that. Please give me a week or so to sort out some minor problems, and to revive the registration process there.

I'm more interested in learning, information dissemination, and experimentation, and I welcome any suggestions about ways I can help with this in the forum. I'm fairly minor in the anti-spam world, as I just put people on ignore, but sometimes my index pages show that half the threads are to be ignored. Maybe I should be more active, as I think I am missing out by ignoring so much.

I go upstairs because it is quieter, and there are more power points at comfortable tables. That's why salesman and other business people use this area.

I don't usually eat the food at these places, but I did have a bacon and egg roll this morning. I probably have a healthier diet than most people. I cook with coconut oil, don't eat processed meats, and eat healthy vegetable like stinging nettles. I don't smoke, allow vaccinations, and I don't use any pharmaceutical or recreational drugs. I'm 78 in June, and I don't have any sickness or illness. The only times I have had to visit a hospital was the result of a couple of motor cycle accidents, and once when I slipped and broke a collar bone when I was involved in a fist fight.

I forgot another time - I had to have a metal splinter removed from an eye. This was me being stupid, and using an angle grinder to cut up a steel structure without wearing eye protection.

The Steem blockchain doesn't seem to be a part of the Steemit takeover, but I need to see what is going on with Tron. I haven't used Steemit for a while, and it may be time to review the changes.

It isn't really relevant to Bitcoin in my opinion. Bitcoin has a different business model.

I gave you 5 merits, and this is really more of an encouragement to continue helping the forum. Although the prize certainly alerted me to your activities. I'll try to be a bit more active in reporting posts in the future.

It's approaching 9am, and I'm upstairs in a McDonalds. I've been here since 6am, and I'm the only person using this space. The drive through has sporadic traffic, and there have been a few people downstairs I believe. This section usually has a few early morning business people on computers, and the odd tradesman grabbing a bit of breakfast. CV has been found in South East England, so I suspect it is going to start to hit some of the fast food restaurants now,

I'm not sure how this is going to affect the long term future of the businesses. I suspect that McD will survive on the drive through business, but coffee shops like Costa might start to suffer.

Temperature is probably once reason, but another may be because they don't have access to medical care. Current statistics deem to confirm that the more you spend on so called heath care, the sicker you are, and the weaker your immune system is.

I agree that merits can't take the credit for this directly., although the reduction in sig spamming probably helped. The trust system changes may have made a difference, and I think a few of the culprits have left the forum. Also we seem to have reduced the Moana Virus infections.

Thanks, and I'm shocked. I didn't think I was a major player in spam busting, although I do make a few reports.