We bring you info on what do with United flight disruptions, promote PointsCentric, show you how awful pollution is in China, please do dot feed trolls, the latest Club Carlson promotions, teach you about idioms and their meaning, visit Pitcairn Island, laugh with Tupac’s Hail Mary and snoring dog, ponder the candy diet and how clickbait is poisoning us, bring you the latest triumph of the Greek Freak in the NBA, shake our heads at the resident blog troll and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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Heads up, I will be at several events at MGM and Cobo during the Auto Show in Detroit Saturday, Sunday and Monday. If you are around, let me know.
Doctor of Credit has been on a major blog groove lately, wow! What You Need To Know About the Chase Sapphire Reserve Bonus Reduction. Exactly what the title says! To recap, the 100k goes away and drops to 50k on January 12 so January 11 is the last day to apply online. To get 100k Ultimate Rewards points after January 11 you have to visit a Chase branch and you can do this until March 12, 2017. Lets see which bloggers keep readers in the dark about the 100k so they can sell their 50k affiliate link! Keep them honest, call them out and if they don’t do the right thing, LEAVE them, there is NO excuse!
This site sells credit cards, heck…its name is MileCards.com! And they have great content. My blog was never against monetizing, it was and always will be about valuing and rewarding great content! Here is another useful post: Your rights when a United flight is delayed or cancelled.
Register for the Club Carlson First Quarter promotion. Just do it, ya never know. Remember the free night per each award days? #sweetmemories (HT: GringoLoco).
Loyalty Traveler analyzes the IHG Rewards Club 2017 hotel category changes. The conclusion is not pretty: “This is a another significant devaluation in IHG Rewards Club points value.”
I know things got heavy in the comments yesterday so lets return to real entertaining stuff. Such as how a church mistook Tupac Shakur’s “Hail Mary” for catholic prayer. Oh Tupac, you are a legend in Sri Lanka lol.
You are not laughing yet? Ok, how about this 32 sec video of the cutest dog who wakes up by a video of him snoring. The dog’s face is…priceless! If you don’t laugh I don’t want you around here, go work on your taxes or something woohoo!
The 50 most useful Idioms and their Meaning. This is very cool. It was passed around in the TBB comments, I forgot who to give the HT to, please let me know. My favorite one for many of us bloggers is:
Don’t give up the day job
You are not very good at something. You could definitely not do it professionally.
Have you guys heard of the “Greek Freak” in the NBA yet? If not, you will soon. Giannis Antetokoumpo was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks out of a small team in Athens, Greece to complete shock, I had never heard of the guy. And what a story, illegal immigrants in Greece, dirt poor family, obviously raw talent. Most importantly, a VERY good kid whose brain is in the right place. The future is bright, he may make it to the All Star game this year. I remember the day he was drafted after they called his name he got the Greek flag out, brings tears to our eyes. So proud of him!
Ok, this next one is important! The candy diet over at Seth’s Blog. Some excerpts to highlight are below and are so relevant to the clicbait BS that is littering the blogosphere as well. Don’t become bait, ignore the bank sales reps masquerading as travel “experts”!
The economics seem to be that the only way to make a living is to reach a lot of people and the only way to reach a lot of people is to race to the bottom, seek out quick clicks, make it easy to swallow, reinforce existing beliefs, keep it short, make it sort of fun, or prurient, or urgent, and most of all, dumb it down.
Clickbait works for a reason. Because people click on it.
The thing about clickbait, though, is that it exists to catch prey, not to inform them. It’s bait, after all.
Turn the ratchet. We can lead our way back to curiosity, inquiry and discovery if we (just a few for now) measure the right things and refuse the easy option in favor of insisting on better.
Oh hello Pitcairn Island. Less than 50 inhabitants are left, the place will become extinct. You see they have a dark secret over there, it involves children. WTF!
Pollution in China, some eerie photos, wow! If that was not enough, watch this 12 seconds creepy timelapse video, wow!
No personal finance link for you today, just a picture. Needless to say, all my clients were diversified in Ethanol, Heating Oil and Orange Juice! #notreally What the hell is Rough Rice, I prefer soft!
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced/old timers of this quirky hobby…
Apologies to readers for my contribution to feeding Ingy, this blog’s troll. This is the second time I do this and intend to to do my best to stay away from feeding the troll who thrives on attention. Please do the same! Obviously, there is a problem here, WTF!
Dear reader smittytabb, I am turning the other cheek, hold me to it please, don’t allow me to have a relapse 😉
For the record, I have no problem against ANY blogger at all. I may have issues against blogging practices and I sure do not agree with many of them. Nobody forces you to read any blog, it is up to YOU! The only two people I do not consider friends is the troll and his disciple Rene. Both happened to be the only bloggers who have repeatedly bullied and threatened to sue me multiple times. I wish them the best too.
I have finally added PointsCentric to the Blogs I Like list. You know I move slow, this blog belonged here a long time ago. All the best with the baby!
Anyways, there was a hell of an exchange of comments yesterday. I love the feedback, logical arguments and calling me out if you think I deserve it. Remember the comments by Dan of DansDeals when Southwest devalues again. We may have won a battle (for 2 months) but they can always win the war so we ALL lose while the blogger gets brownie points and more clicks which is always a good practice for for profit ventures! I prefer the approach not to be too greedy, get what I can get, don’t create any noise and unnecessary attention, if something is taken away shrug it off and move on, not sue for age discrimination (lol) or create unnecessary labor expenses to deal with DoT complaints blah blah. Anyways, I did not have a dog in this fight at all, this was not the Fairmont Lifetime Platinum deal lol. Southwest is a good company and they proved it, so thanks. I guess.
I am tired, I need to move on, this is a one man operation…No wait, it looks like son is done with his Hong Kong post #winnning
Ok Dan, stop counting paragraphs now 🙂
And I leave you with this…
See you Monday, have a great weekend everyone, thanks for reading!
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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1
All the right now.
I dream about you Scottie!
Funny that you bring up Fairmont Lifetime Platinum.
I don’t know what exactly changed Southwest’s mind, but I do know that I got the Fairmont Lifetime Platinum deal honored by raising hell about it when they tried to back out of it.
Why didn’t you ask “WTF is DansDeals thinking” back then when I was making all that noise?
It was different.
They stopped the bleeding at 113. I think they can manage that and, in retrospect, I think they gained some fans and business that would not be there.
But this Southwest Companion Pass, I don’t know, it felt different and the airline is respectable. The loophole was open for so long we should have just said thank you and moved along. Now with all the noise and DoT complaints…well, lets see what they do after March to later this year…
Time will tell…as it always does.
Dear George,
This is your conscience speaking. I will see what I can do to hold you to your promise, but as for me, I will be on a working Norwegian ship sailing north in search of the Northern Lights. Got a sweet last minute deal with a Northern Lights guarantee. If I don’t see them, I get a free cruise. Good luck with the troll. Since I will be actually in the land of trolls, I will be thinking of you!
>>>>>>Got a sweet last minute deal with a Northern Lights guarantee. If I don’t see them, I get a free cruise.
That’s a hell of a guarantee, wow!
Enjoy, we will miss you.
Pro tip. I booked this trip on the UK website where the prices for the last minute ones are almost half what the US website was listing. The UK website tries to get you to click on a link to take you to the US site when they see where you are logging in from. But, I figured I’d put my US information in and book it and see what happened. It ticketed the next day.
So technically if the Northern Lights happen and I miss them, I am SOL. I am a light sleeper, so I feel good about my chances. Here is the actual guarantee:
Northern Light Promise Terms & Conditions 2016/17
Northern Lights Occurrence is defined as a sighting from the ship which is recorded by the ship’s deck officers and which is announced to passengers on board. An occurrence can last anything from a few minutes to a matter of hours, and the ships decision as to whether the Northern light occurred is final. We hope that you will experience seeing the Northern Lights whilst on your Classic Round Voyages cruise, although we cannot be held responsible if you don’t. We do however, promise that in the event of there being no Northern Lights Occurrence as defined above on your voyage, we will invite you back to cruise with us once more.
Wows, sounds great.
Maybe this is the one you do a trip report for me here…and your Travel expert career is launched. No fake expert, the REAL deal 🙂
#dreaming
Dear “Lying George” (HT: Ingy via DJT):
I remember another blogger who got a little carried away in *his* comments and promised to turn cheek and not do it again. Hell, he even promised 25 dollars to anyone who caught him back in the act.
Any guesses who that blogger was?
P.S. He stills owes me.
I would respond with the perfect bait-y come back here but I promised to smittytabb I am done feeding the troll…
Or maybe lets wait until she gets on that cruise 🙂
Oh, I do remember that! Maybe he got busy with the charity website 😉
Now excuse me, while I go lying and start counting my beans like a bad ass bean counter that I am woohoo!
First (no, not the ScottCastle type):
Enjoyed the comments section yesterday — it WAS entertaining. Appreciate having a dialog with someone (Dan) that doesn’t devolve into name-calling/mud-slinging/nastiness. Reminded me of ’80s!
Second, not feeding the trolls is HARD. I know, I still have an email folder from 17 years ago from a certain stamp-collecting troll from the Southern Hemisphere. Good luck, Buzz!
Third, I come here because the mission statement is what I find: education, inspiration, and entertainment. Not many of the blogs in the miles/points realm deliver as consistently as does TBB.
For example, I have a life-long itch to visit Pitcairn. Always had a reason or 50 not to do it but now — not so much. Along comes Buzz with a Pitcairn link — who wants to go with? I’m available any time after 30 March!
And another example from today — the idiom link. I have two daughters — one doesn’t share my genetic material and one that does. Both have fairly good English skills but teaching them idiomatic expressions is HARD. Sent them both the link this morning and both have already replied how useful that is.
TL;DR: Thanks Buzz. I’m a fan!
Ran across this — my kinda funeral: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38528122
And so it goes. Happy Weekend and #TBBon
Dialogue with Dan is always time well spent.
>>>>>>not feeding the trolls is HARD.
Tell me about it 🙂
>>>>>>Pitcairn
Me too but no way in the horizon for me. Unless TPG buys me out woohoo!
Has any reader or miles hobbyist ever visited this place?
The blog’s mission statement. Never wavered from it. Sometimes I slip in a paragraph but it doesn’t get past smart readers 🙂
That idiom link was first provided in the TBB comments, forgot by who! Yes, it is great, I already sent it to some people back in Greece too!
LOVE the funeral link RIP Tung!
Enjoy the weekend too….I know it will be weird here without a TBB post…unless
In the land of TBB, I crown myself king of idioms.
#fitforaking #princecharming #aroyalpain
DansDialogue.com.
Coming soon to a blog near you.
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subscribe!
Weren’t we all actually discussing ethics yesterday, not morals?
Discuss
George, 50 idioms link is great. Thank you for blogging!
Cheers,
PedroNY
I am busy checking out that funeral link GringoLoco provided…This is the way to go out or what?
Thanks, you have a great one too.
Thanks to the two readers who got CSR cards with my link! Whenever I post that I imagine the reaction by…..Smack! (virtually via smittytabb)
Not HAVING to do a post the next day is kind of refreshing. I should have listened to Mile Nerd all along, so great for recharging the batteries!
Chalk up PM&M as one who isn’t forthcoming about the 100K deal sticking around in bank branches until March:
http://pointsmilesandmartinis.boardingarea.com/2017/01/get-chase-sapphire-reserve-card-now/
Closest they come is slipping in the word “online” in “The last day to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card online with the 100,000 point bonus” but it’s pretty easy to read the post and assume it’s totally dead after the 11th.
PM&M is the same guy/gal that was called out for blatant plagiarism/copyright violations in the past…
If you ask me, are you asking? Dan from Dans Deals is one of the more legit bloggers out there. He doesn’t ‘pump’ the credit cards that way other bloggers do. He povides helpful information to loads of newbees that need their hands held. As a matter of fact, even an oldtimer like me will pay attention to his travel advice. Dan does all the analysis. Other bloggers do the same, but DD doesn’t hit you over the head like TPG, MMS, OMAA, and VFTW with cc links.
Last?
I just realized that the Dan above is Thee Dan. 😉
When I was new to the hobby, I would have figured that out asap. 😉
We got new servers today because yesterday they crashed from the activity onslaught here!
And today….not much. Where is the troll hidingg? We are ready for you!
I want to be ScottCastle’s groupie too!
Always first, so consistent, a true winner!
#1
Happy Friday.
Weighing on applying for a 2nd Citi Platinum w/o the 24 mo language as it’s been 8+ days since my last app. Any advice?
Thanks
I tried to turn the other cheek but my belt buckle got jammed.
Pointscentric replaced one of the blog I follow that seems to have become the non-affiliate version of TPG.