I introduce you to UbuWeb, all the new Amex Delta offers, 401(k) savings by age, streaming wars, travel to the Midwest and Azerbaijan, live in airports, prioritize how to save, gigantic amounts of cash looking for a place, democracy is under siege all over the world, the best Covid-19 coverage, the best photography, and lots more! Enjoy the weekend!
TBB Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
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TOP PICKS
Top picks are for truly exceptional quality content.
What a resource! You can spend days here. The site tagline is “Founded in 1996. All avant-garde. All the time.” You come here for eclectic content. Where else will you watch Christopher Walken dance in an empty hotel lobby to a song by Fatboy Slim?
TRAVEL
Bored in the Midwest? Try these 12 road trip ideas! Come to Michigan and spend money!
We have seen articles about them: How some people can end up living at airports for months – even years – at a time. Just imagine being in an airport for months and not once being allowed to enter an American Express Centurion Lounge 😉
Looks really nice: Virtually travel Azerbaijan, the Land of Fire, on this stunning photo tour.
COVID-19
Great news for us in our 50’s in Michigan, we become eligible for the vaccine starting March 22, woohoo!
I think this is an excellent article about where we stand right now: The short-term, middle-term, and long-term future of the coronavirus. This quote stands out!
“The most predictable thing about this coronavirus is its unpredictability,” said Howard Markel, a historian of medicine at the University of Michigan
The big danger is the continued mutations and most specifically this P1 one in Brazil. Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say.
It really depends on the virus and…our behavior! “When will it end?”: How a changing virus is reshaping scientists’ views on COVID-19. I so hope they are all wrong!
PERSONAL FINANCE
I actually like this order: Hierarchy of Savings.
I have been saying this for a while, there is SO much cash floating out there! Consumers Saved $2.9 Trillion During the Pandemic. Their Money Will Drive the Global Recovery.
We can do better than this, come on! Here’s how much Americans have saved in their 401(k)s at every age.
CURRENT EVENTS/POLITICS
We have a 2021 Freedom in the World report. You know it is not good when it is titled: Democracy Under Siege. You can drill down to the country data.
If you do not love these images from Mars, are you from Venus? Mars: Nasa’s Perseverance rover sends stunning images.
ODDZ & ENDZ
I think I am the only human without ever having a Netflix account! Which Streaming Service Has the Most Subscriptions?
These are amazing! The Best Analog Photos That Won The International Photography Awards 2020.
I had to share this as I love all about the amazing octopus creature, especially when it takes selfies! 1st Place Wide Angle Ocean Art 2020 Gaetano Dario Gargiulo.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 75k CHASE Ink Cash, 75k CHASE Ink Unlimited, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 60k CITI Premier, 65k CITI Business AA Platinum Select, 50k CITI AA Platinum Select, 20k CHASE Freedom Flex & CHASE Freedom Unlimited, 75k AMEX Platinum, 85k AMEX Business Platinum, 50k CHASE World of Hyatt, 150k AMEX Hilton Business & Hilton Surpass (and $150 credit!), 100k AMEX Hilton Card (and $100 credit!), 150k AMEX Hilton Aspire, $300 AMEX Blue Cash Preferred, $300 AMEX Blue Cash Everyday, 140k CHASE IHG Rewards Club Premier, and many more! Please use my Affiliate links.
If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me!
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! Feel free to skip this section and parts of the next one if this is not for you.
Newbies: Incentives matter! If your favorite travel blogger keeps selling a specific product (like travel rewards credit cards) maybe YOU are the target! Help small independent bloggers that have YOUR best interest in mind. And before you click some stupid clickbait headline, STOP yourself. The act of doing that ONLY incentivizes the blogger to post MORE of that shit!
Delta Skymiles suck. So Amex keeps increasing the signup bonuses on these cards to get you to sign up! I may even list above with a heavy heart because I think Skymiles suck and there are much better alternatives out there. American Express Launches Increased Offers for All 6 Delta Cards. I could be doing cheery posts praising every feature of them to get you to sign up so I can make money. I won’t. But if you want to get one please consider using my links, you can be FIRST in March, sad lol!
I no longer bother with these. But maybe you will, this is a good roundup: Beauty In The Eye Of The Cardholder: Stephen’s Top 6 Card-Linked Programs.
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
A certain blogger (One Mile Conversion at a Time) pounded a deal by a Brex company HARDER than I have seen in recent memory. And I have been around this bunch of strange hobbyists since the 1990’s. Remember when I said incentives matter? I did not go for it and cautioned others to be careful. Brex closed (and reopened) Nick’s account and there’s some cause for concern. I left a comment there which I am pasting below. I need to move on, I hope it works out for you, I am staying the hell away! The sad part is the blogger who exclusively pumped this “deal” made (my guess) hundreds of thousands of dollars….shit, one Brex app and the commission on it would earn him more than what this blog earns in a month! Please don’t laugh. At me!
This genuinely kind guy was around several frequent flyer events over the years, RIP Michael! And the tributes over at FlyerTalk are wonderful.
My hometown Larisa in Central Greece has been rocked with a 6.3 earthquake and many aftershocks. They moved my mother to a different building. Many spent the night outdoors. I was very used to earthquakes while growing up there. But this one sure was way stronger. No dead yet. Hopefully it all quiets down very soon. On top of all the lockdowns it has been very rough in the home land! The Greek word for earthquake is “sismos” and the screams of it from my mother followed with “get out” are ingrained forever in my brain!
I am going to try to limit myself to no more than three links in a section. If I have more, I pick the top three leaning towards ones that are more timely in a sense. And ones that do not make it on the post they get back the queue for the next post. If they get moved twice…it means they are just not worthy to appear in my blog and they will be executed deleted.
And I leave you with this…
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
This is the comment I left in the Frequent Miler post about the Brex deal:
A certain blogger out there (me!) has been pounding about this company and that you should be careful out there!
I think it is great that this article was written and posted. But why aren’t bloggers doing the due diligence research BEFORE you recommend something to their readers!
I have been around long enough to “smell” something and make my decision fast and…move on. This was one of these times.
If you did it AND you got your money out AND cashed in the points, GREAT. I am happy for you. If you got caught in “customer service” hell, I feel for you…Sometimes, many things are not worth the potential heartache you know, we only live once and health is paramount!
But remember something else. When things appear too good to be true…sometimes they are and it takes TIME to realize it. As in, YOU are the product. I cringe when you have to upload business entity documents and even passports…This info is…out there….in some remote location all over the world…and…with so much hacking going on, why would you do this? I could understand if Chase or Citi did this but…Brex started by some kid in Brazil, seriously?
Incentives matter. The only ones TRUE winners here are TPG Inc and One Mile at a Time who made out like bandits selling this baby. If a class action lawsuit ever happens (before the venture capital money, if any, runs out that is) maybe it should catch all who were involved? Or, maybe I am paranoid about this but, like I said, been around long enough to trust my gut.
First, do no harm. Cardinal rule imho.
I would do a separate post about this but my blogging gig sure does not pay. Enjoy the hits!
Got to add that Frequent Miler has been pretty heavily working that Brex thing as well, but do admit they are teaming with Omaat or TPG (I forget which). I wasn’t interested as I am trying to simplify and some of the stuff going on nowadays, like this, just seems too complicated.
Great pile of stuff as per usual and I love the Octopus pic! Hope your mom is gonna be OK with all that earthquake action going on!
“Average contribution to 401k” does that include 40% of millennials that don’t have access to a 401k?
Obama tried to fix that, Trump ripped apart the executive order. Will Biden fix it? Sadly I have not heard Biden talk about this at all.
Maybe he is waiting for that Ron Johnson dude to be done having some read the latest stimulus bill. And also rage against Dr. Seuss, biggest scandal since Obama’s tan suit!
Actually, I don’t know, the guy has enough on his plate. Only been in there six weeks!
Good morning,
Thanks for the links. Yes, living in an airport would be ghastly. Think of a world where CNN is the only television channel.
The horror, the horror…Getting tired of CNN, it is like Fox for the leftists 🙂
But I keep tuning in to watch…Kaitlan Collins!
@TBB why you deleted my “buymeacoffee”? Sad.
@ABC what about 401K? I see so many payroll providers adding this even for a tiny businesses.
Many, many companies do not offer a 401k as a benefit. Let those workers access a state “sponsored” plane as a last resort. And I’m not even talking about a match. My currently employer (mid-sized) does not offer a 401k.
>>>>>>>> @TBB why you deleted my “buymeacoffee”? Sad.
What??? Did you leave a comment and it did not make it in here? I now need to check my Spam comments folder…
re: 401k’s. ABC is right. I think the state sponsored route is happening…and it obviously needs to speed up. But can we concentrate first on the vaccines please? 🙂
@ Pav: I found them back on February 19. Spam blocker is very sensitive when a link is included in the comment! I found them between spam comments for Amoxicillin and CheapFlights…sorry 🙂
I am aware of BuyMeCoffee…And Patreon. Frankly, I do not want to add yet another site I need to check regularly. But one day I may do it. I have used the BMC site before to help other creators, it works smoothly. Much smoother than Patreon, that’s for sure! Franklyy, some credit card conversions and some Amazon shopping is enough to keep going here AND make me feel I am not a complete moron for continuing to blog.
And the comments and emails really help too!
Thank you and sorry about that.
To all: If your comment does not post, let me know!
P.S. Not you Ramsey, take it easy with your different handles dude.
All the vaccines have been purchased and are produced at an accelerated pace.
In a month when we may start to have excess supply, Biden & Governors must launch an ad campaign to promote vaccination. 60-70% vaccination rate may not be sufficient.
we are looking to see what happens in Israel. They are at 85% vaccination rate for 16+ y.o.
I think they better start the vaccination ad campaign now…or next week!
I think we are going to end up with plenty of leftover vaccines later this year and we will save the world…offer to countries “Pfizer or the Chinese vaccine?”. BOOM.
Israel has been the leader in vaccinations. I hope the good data continues…If only we can outrun the strains that keep popping up!
I could certainly be wrong, but I don’t buy into the Brazil reinfection hype–from what I can tell the reinfection worries arose after seeing new cases in Manaus, which was previously thought to have a covid seroprevalence over 70%. However, that number was apparently overstated by quite a bit.
I’m not an epidemiologist though…
I guess time will tell…
I hear epidemiology is a HOT field!
Apparently half of all Twitter users are epidemiologists.
It’s amazing how they find the time with their jobs’ as electrical power grid engineers as well
Lol…you mean, now that they may be retiring from daytrading using the Robinhood app? 😉
Hey Buzz, thanks for the post.
Went for a hike yesterday in the desert hills, passed 47 people (8 on horseback)on narrow trails, and a grand total of 4 people had masks.
I agree with you, we can do better!
If I did not know where you live…I would say…Texas?
No cc conversions for almost two weeks.
Amazon brought in 42 cents yesterday because something shipped. No orders booked yesterday.
The few monthly donations appear to have stopped.
I have turned down numerous sponsored posts and “partnership” offers.
No ads posting here.
Bloggers never link or HT me. But they just can’t wait to link to the BIG commercial blogs that flood their readers with clickbait shit and relentless plastic pumping posts.
At the end of the day, build it and they sure don’t come. On top of it, I have a few assholes complaining I have become like the bloggers mentioned above.
No wonder so many bloggers have quite in this space. And they keep quitting. And the winners are TPGs, VFTWs, OMAATs and Frequent Miler (rightly so with several full time staffers).
I appreciate the comments and the supportive emails.
But pounding out what I think are great blog posts that make a difference STILL does not spare me the feeling of demoralization I feel when I check the cc conversions and Amazon and Paypal.
I no longer whine in the body of the posts. At least I can whine here which DOES make me feel a lot better and gives me a reason to continue.
Shut up Ramsey.
Ingy will go down as the blogger who still sold TOO early!
I am still standing…8 years plus…Hero or moron…don’t answer that!
I am taking a break from the comments for the whole weekend.
My hometown soccer team is playing a do or die game in Crete in a few hours. We lose and the relegation to the B Division is clearly inevitable…Pray for us to win.
So long…
quite=quit
I clearly need more coffee!
Maybe you need to start dancing in the streets for these new Delta Amex offers that can get you half of a one-way flight to Europe with their all-time high offers? Surely EVERYONE should get those! I emptied my Delta account for my flight to Santiago in December and won’t look back
OMAAT is raving about them…Because…morons click…Sigh 🙂
Fan of my Greek hometown soccer team AEL Larissa since…birth. We have had a disastrous season dead last facing relegation to the B Division…A horrific 16 game stretch without a win. Only to finally put together back to back wins with every game now a HUGE do or die situation. Today we won in Crete in one of the craziest dramatic games I have seen recently. We are still last but now just one and three points behind the teams above us that leads us to…salvation.
Game highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVRDCeB5p0c
If ingy got 1 million out of his blog while Brian Kelly (let’s not call him TPG since he owned it for only a short time) sold for 20 million, ingy definitely sold too early.
Just deleted a bunch of Ramsey’s messages. GTFOH, you are not welcome. Go troll another site free loader jackass, stop wasting my time, I waste enough time here to educate/entertain/inspire while now even losing money because I don’t want to be like the clickbait pumping bigshots…
@John: Ingy could have phoned in a few posts here and could have made many more for years AND sold for lots more years later but…he phucked up. It’s all about conversions afterall and he let go THOUSANDS of them, SAD!