Make it more accessible. Like in the above post - you should have put a REALLY EASY, no-brainer link, that explained exactly what the this whole thing is about.

Also, you didn't explain at all what Sphinx is. And you said, "remember for 2021" - well, I'd say probably 99% of people do NOT remember, and so you've lost them.

And here - it says "no featured bounties at this time": https://community.sphinx.chat/bounty/. That's even more prominent than the link to actually see the bounties. It's confusing.

In the "if you want to earn bounties" - do you really need to make things complicated by giving 5 separate steps? No. You need to make people excited about the opportunities, and eager to find out more.

Read the book "Don't Make Me Think". Constantly think of the principles in that book, when communicating.

Also, I'd suggest going to something like Fiverr. Find some iOS developers on there. Pay them some money, and ask them to review the materials you have, trying to induce people to try for the bounties. Ask them why THEY wouldn't want to try the bounties.

And you may also need to promote - like actively market - this. It may just not have enough visibility.

Eating carnivore (or even Keto, and low-carb) can completely cure depression.

It's amazing (but I guess expected) how mostly only the pharmaceutical solutions for depression get any press. But avoiding carbohydrates can cure depression, for good, in a matter of weeks or a few months.

For more information, listen to some interviews with Dr. George Ede. Her book "Change your Diet, Change your Mind" is amazing.

Also check out her site: https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/

Decrease in smoking.

Full fat, for sure. Low fat is a bad idea. Your brain is made of around 70% saturated fat. The thought that saturated fat is bad is just flat wrong.

Here's my yogurt recipe. Super easy, super tasty. I don't make it much anymore, but it was fun while I was on a yogurt kick.

YOGURT ############ Heat up a quart or 2 of full fat milk. Or, use half milk, and half heavy whipping cream, for extra richness - that's what I did.

Heat it to 115 Fahrenheit, measure with digital thermometer Once it's at 115, take off heat, and stir in maybe 1/4 cup of plain starter yogurt I use a whisk to distribute it really well. Then pour into a jar. Put the lid on, and double or triple wrap in a warm blanket or sweater or down blanket or something. It needs to stay warm overnight, or 12 hours or so. After 12 hours, put it in fridge, it will thicken.

Some people heat to 180, and then cool to 115 ( to get rid of competing microorganisms) but in my experience it's overkill, the above works every time for me. And cooling to the right temperature is a big pain.

Also - be sure to put a little aside, before you start eating, so you don't have to re-buy the starter yogurt.

So...is this somehow related to Trump just coming into office? Or is it a completely separate thing, just happened to be at the same time?

Could somebody write this up in more depth? What exactly might it mean for those that aren't up to date?

Also maybe see if it's different for you on the android app...

This might be helpful:

I did see one question on the telegram group, asking if Robosats was down. It's coming up for me.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the funders of these pro-coffee studies were companies somehow related to the coffee industry. Most nutritional studies are funded by corporations.

I strongly doubt it's the coffee.

Instead, anybody who drinks unsweetened coffee is already probably very aware of the negative effects of sugar, and is avoiding it more than other people.

That one factor alone would cause a much lower risk of dementia, because sugar is very strongly linked to dementia.

I'd recommend reading the book The Big Fat Surprise, by Nina Teicholtz. In addition to great information on nutrition, it has some outstanding sections on how studies can be very easily manipulated and distorted, to "show" things that aren't really true.

My first question here was - how did they estimate the size of the shadow economy?

In the underlying article (https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/unveiling-the-shadow-economy), this is how they explain it:

Unlike conventional transactions that are documented and accounted for, the shadow economy comprises a range of informal, unreported, and often illegal activities that evade traditional methods of measurement. Therefore, to gauge its impact, researchers and economists must look past official records and established business channels to other data sources. There are three main strategies for doing this, each with its own merits, drawbacks, and constraints.

This approach uses representative household micro-surveys to investigate public opinion of the shadow economy, along with actual participation. The findings are then extrapolated to a larger scale.

Pros. Surveys provide detailed insights into the shadow economy’s structure. They are particularly useful when other data is not available. Cons. Surveys draw information from only a fraction of the population. They are susceptible to design flaws and response bias—for instance, people tend to avoid reporting their own shadow activities. The surveys may thus underestimate the informal economy’s size. Language and social disparities may make it difficult to compare results across surveys.

The indirect approach deploys macroeconomic indicators and models, using various economic indicators such as discrepancies between national expenditure and income statistics, disparities between electricity consumption and reported economic activity, and the demand for currency in cash to estimate the size of informal economic activities.

Pros. This approach typically leverages readily available data, making it relatively cost-effective. Cons. Each analysis measures a single aspect of the shadow economy instead of encompassing its complexity.

This approach uses a model called statistical multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC). By analyzing the rise and fall of key variables over time, MIMIC can explore the evolving relationship between the shadow economy and its enablers. Variables include tax burdens, self-employment levels, and unemployment data. This model yields relative estimates of shadow economy activity, often applied to groups of countries.

Pros. MIMIC offers a more sophisticated analysis than other methods by considering multiple causes and indicators concurrently. Cons. The model generates relative estimated coefficients that require additional calibration. It cannot be exclusively applied to individual countries.

Given the complexity of measurement, only a limited number of studies have been published that compare the size of shadow economy across multiple countries using consistent methodologies. One ongoing database, released by the World Bank in 2018, covers shadow economy sizes and trends for 158 countries from 1991 through 2015. Remarkably, it shows a distinctive decline in the global average share of shadow activities by 6.7 percentage points—from 34.5% of total nominal GDP to 27.8%—over a span of 24 years. This decline can be attributed to factors such as economic growth and development, improved government regulation and enforcement, increased technology adoption and digitalization, and enhanced access to formal financial services. Nonetheless, there is still a long way to go for some countries that need to improve their government effectiveness in constraining shadow economy. Moreover, new technologies such as blockchain-based digital currencies and generative AI may also have profound impact on the shadow economy.

For sure, the screen thing. If we didn't have the (smartphone) tech, we would not, as a culture, be constantly staring at the little device that sucks up so much of our life.

Just yesterday I was at a tire repair place, and had to stay in the waiting room a while. And EVERYONE else was on their phone the entire time. I took off and walked around the area a bit (Walmart, McDonalds).

It feels so wrong that there's no more spontaneous conversation or anything in places like this anymore.

I wonder how accurate the statistics are.

I was in Morocco a while back (a LONG while) and saw an incident which showed very blatant and open corruption in the police. Which makes me distrust any stats from there.

Doesn't surprise me.

Just yesterday I was just doing a boat-load of research on apprenticeships, the types that are available, application process, etc.

The thing that struck me most is how blatantly racist and sexist every single last one was. (Except there was one, set up by an industry group and not funded by government, which didn't appear to be racist/sexist).

But the rest - they all favor "historically under-represented groups". Some of them say flat-out, that it's ONLY for the "historically under-represented". And there's either no white males at all, in any of the photos, or maybe one.

Another interesting thing is - I was going through a list that was very recent, from last year. And lots of these programs have gone dead, broken links, or they just say it's not running anymore.

On Robosats, after USD and EUR, I think the Brazilian Real is the next most common currency.

Wow, really? Which one?

Thanks!

I forgot to mention in the original that I also put my podcast device away on a high shelf, when doing a digital detox day.

(I don't listen to podcasts on my phone, I listen on an old repurposed tablet, just to have a separate device that doesn't go places with me, like my phone does).

Goal - once a week Reality - once every two months.

And honestly - when I'm not restricting time, I'm on the laptop a lot. Researching, writing, working, surfing news sites...

I'm pretty much steady state now with my diet, haven't really made many changes since I went hard-core carnivore.