Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as how to double your money, the 100 most influential people on AI, thorough theme parks guides, the Chase 90k cards are back, we go deeper into the Abe assassination and it gets really weird, must see charts for investors, more on the crypto rise and how crazy it got, SBF’s parents get sued, we had stoner cat NFTs smh, latest on the Ukraine Russia war, CIA’s World Factbook is great, two amazing stories in the Oddz and Endz section, amazing photography, looking at magnificent ramen dishes going round and round, we catch up on the latest miles and points hobby happenings and I introduce a new menu section, enjoy the weekend!
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This blog publishes every Friday. This is a one man labor of love operation. If not Friday, it will be on the coming Monday.
If you are here primarily for the miles and points content, please scroll way down to find it.
I want to single out one article that blew my mind. In The Atlantic.
The Bizarre Story Behind Shinzo Abe’s Assassination
PERSONAL FINANCE
Some of these are very interesting: 12 Must-See Charts for Investors in September 2023. The one that stands out for me is this one below, The Top 10 Companies in 1999, only Microsoft beat the S&P 500. Any chart that stands out for you? Discuss in the comments.
You know how the saying goes, it is time in the markets and not timing the markets. This is why below. It is imperative you do what you can to start investing as soon as you can, the earlier the better.
CRYPTO/SAM BANKMAN-FRIED/FTX/SCAMS
Zeke Faux has a new book about Crypto titled “Number Go Up”, Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall which looks fantastic. Here he is being interviewed at The Compound. He had written an article about SBF before his fall and then Sam invited him after the bottom fell thinking Zeke will again write something positive. Well, he was wrong, enjoy! I need to find time to read this book, maybe on my flights to/from Singapore/Thailand in November.
Here we go: FTX sues founder Bankman-Fried’s parents.
FTX’s lawsuit alleges that Bankman and Fried accepted a $10-million cash gift and a $16.4-million luxury property in the Bahamas from FTX, even as the company teetered on the brink of collapse. Bankman and Fried also pushed FTX to make tens of millions of dollars in charitable contributions, including to Stanford University, FTX said.
As OneCoin mega scammer Cryptoqueen is still at large, her partner gets locked up for 20 years. ‘Cryptoqueen’ Ruja Ignatova remains a fugitive as her partner in $4B OneCoin fraud gets 20 years. She was last seen on a flight to Athens, Greece in October 2017 and has a $250,000 reward. With so many tourists visiting Greece lately, keep your eyes open ok?
The insanity of what we witnessed is mind boggling. How about…Stoner Cats NFTs. Think about this for a second. Cats that are stoned sold as NFTs, stab me! SEC Files Charges Against NFT Project ‘Stoner Cats’ Starring Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and More. The LLC connected to the animated Web3 series, which also stars Jane Fonda, Seth MacFarlane and Chris Rock, agreed to pay a $1 million penalty and return payments to buyers of the NFTs. Actually, the more I think about this one, they did try to make something (an animation series) before packaging it for sale…
AI
This is excellent if you want to take a deeper dive in AI. AI Index Report 2023: Measuring Trends in Artificial Intelligence.
If any of these pivoted from crypto recently…you can ignore them. The 100 Most Influential People in AI.
GEOPOLITICS
Professor Timothy Snyder in Thanking Ukrainians for these ten things, from security to freedom.
This is how to respond to the question: “Can you give up any part of Ukraine for peace?”
CIA’s The World Factbook is awesome. The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
ODDZ & ENDZ
I am going to start this section with two wild stories.
I had never heard of this American guy in the 80s who was a movie star in a Soviet film: The Man From Fifth Avenue. In the ’80s, an unlikely man went to Russia and enraged America. No one knew what he was really up to—until now. He is still alive by the way and his story is really sweet I thought, a love for the movies and true love falling for Albina, I guess it did not work out. Enjoy this story as much as I did.
From Tiananmen Square fighting for freedom to America to mega riches managing a hedge fund, wow. No other investor has a life story quite as unbelievable as Li Lu. Wild turn of events for sure. I respect his colleagues who still fight for freedom instead of this guy but hey, we are all different I guess. Talk about a sell out…
The two articles above were a bit too much for you? How about clicking at RamenHaus? And watch ramen going round and round and round…
Amazing photography here: 30 Of The Most Impressive Images From The 2023 Nature “inFocus” Photography Contest.
TRAVEL
“High speed” rail finally arrives in the United States. Brightline Opens $6 Billion Florida Rail Line, Sets Lights on Las Vegas. Orlando – Miami. I placed “high speed” in quotes because it only goes up to 125 miles per hour. Hey, that’s a start!
Good reference: Ranking the Biggest, Most Crowded and Most Expensive Theme Parks.
If you are stuck at home right now, you can still travel virtually. With Air Pano, enjoy.
More amazing photography: The Independent Photographer Has Released The Winners Of Its Travel Photography Contest 2023.
RUNNING
Yesterday I ran for the first time since my last almost 9 miler in Huntington Beach before I got Covid. These days running means intervals of walking and jogging, did 6.5 miles. I need to rest my left foot, that metatarsalgia needs rest. So, at this point, I think I am going to the Chicago Marathon to get my shirt and bib and eat some pizza and I may line up for giggles…
BUZZING
A section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life and anything else that just does not fit in another section above
Bentley vs Train, hilarious!
Microsoft must have been impressed by my daughter during her summer internship and they offered her a full time position after graduation next year, hooray!
This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS NEWS/PROMOS/MY ACTION
I am redoing this section to make it shorter. I have moved some material to the new Miles & Points page under the new RESOURCES menu. This page will be updated with all things miles and points going forward. Hopefully you visit it often to find what you are looking for. I will also be updating the other pages under that menu item going forward…
Hyatt continues to steadily increase its footprint: Hyatt Luxury and Lifestyle Growth, 30 New Hotels and Resorts in the Americas through 2025.
More on the Delta Skymiles elite massacre: My Thoughts On The Delta Status Changes: The Good, The Bad & The Mostly Ugly. The good? I guess simplifying the whole elite qualification thingie is good smh.
Ok, the amazing 90k Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited card offers are back! These are NO ANNUAL fee cards. The Ink Business Cash earns 5% on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone services and 2% on gas and restaurants. Why don’t you go to Office Depot and buy gift cards of the stores you usually buy from, hello 5% Amazon! The Ink Business Unlimited works differently, it just earns 1.5% on everything…so if you were going to use a card to earn 1% why don’t you pull this one out instead? Bottom line, I think these are the BEST business travel rewards cards out there right now! The 90k Signup Bonus can be earned after $6k of spend on the cards in the first three months. I am not going to make a fool of myself with recurring “69 reasons I love these two cards”, this is not a sales maximization blog ok? You can click to find out more about them and you can apply HERE to support this blog, thank you (they can be found under Category/Business). I am definitely going to try to get a few more in my household again. In order to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points out to partners Hyatt you need to hold one of these cards: Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred.
ADVANCED
I tried to see if I can switch my United economy class tickets to/from Singapore/Thailand to business class. So, 66 flights available, three of them having Business class saver awards, two seats 360k each and one for 450k lol. United miles have turned to Skymiles, sad!
If you know what you are doing and still want more Delta Skymiles, there is now a certain order how you should apply for these cards: Delta Amex Bonus Eligibility Rules Now Require an Order to Applying. Please consider using my blog’s Credit Card Links to support, thank you.
Yet if you started with the Blue card, you could later get the Gold, then the Platinum, and then the Reserve, scoring all 4 Welcome Bonuses.
This is a targeted offer that I tried to get for my daughter, the only one in the household who does not have this no annual fee Amex card that we use to keep our Membership Rewards points alive. Maybe the link will work for you: American Express Blue Business Plus 75,000 Points Signup Bonus (No Lifetime Language). The Signup Bonus on this card has always been WAY smaller so 75k is amazing…we will try again 🙂
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 90k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 90k Chase Ink Business Unlimited, 150k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60K CITI Premier, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 140K CHASE IHG Rewards Premier (with $100 Statement Credit), 60k CHASE Sapphire, 60k US BANK Business Altitude and many more including many AmericanExpress cards such as Delta Airlines, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors cards! Please check out my Affiliate links. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you?
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! SKIP if you are not into it!
As of today, I have burned 822,950 miles/points year to date in 2023 and have 4,241,707 miles/points in the bank. Some do drugs, I do miles lol!
Thanks to US banks, very lucrative travel rewards credit card offers come and go all the time. This section will act as a reference point on the best CURRENT offers. I will designate new material preceded by NEW.
TOP THREE TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARD OFFERS RIGHT NOW
Ok, the amazing 90k Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited card offers are back! These are NO ANNUAL fee cards. The Ink Business Cash earns 5% on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone services and 2% on gas and restaurants. Why don’t you go to Office Depot and buy gift cards of the stores you usually buy from, hello 5% Amazon! The Ink Business Unlimited works differently, it just earns 1.5% on everything…so if you were going to use a card to earn 1% why don’t you pull this one out instead? Bottom line, I think these are the BEST business travel rewards cards out there right now! The 90k Signup Bonus can be earned after $6k of spend on the cards in the first three months. you can apply HERE to support this blog, thank you (they can be found under Category/Business).
The Capital One Venture X card offers a 75,000 point Signup Bonus after a minimum spend of $4k in the first three months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its excellent travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait…there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add FOUR authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership. You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more. Available with my Credit Card Links, thank you for your support!
Get 75K Miles, Lounge Access & More with the Capital One Venture X Card
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance if you ever get a credit card here!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please pass it on to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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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.
Glad to hear you can run again! Wonderful!
I miss getting pizza at Uno’s at 1am … Gone are those days.
At 1 am I am in Dream #26 🙂
Cards sold this month here in September: 1
Buy Me A Coffee: 11
Daraius of MMS resurfaced in yet another clickbait headline by the self proclaimed travel thought leader. Arrested in an animal protection/freedom of speech protest and now of course suing because, you know, easy money may have something to do with it. I clicked on that blog after a VERY long time. Some of the comments may make you ponder about humanity lol. Where is Emily?
You all enjoy the weekend…
Buzz-I was thinking about Daraius and Emily a few days ago. I admire his activism, and while I am no fan of the plaintiff’s bar, I hope he skins ‘em.
Congrats to your daughter and your whole family on her continuing to knock it out of the park. Does she have any thoughts on how to monetize TBB?
Maybe I am biased or just weird but I wonder:
How do these guys just revolve around money…I mean, how does he come up with such headlines…I even fell for it! So…was there an agreement before hand for D to show up in the comments to split the $ dough from the page views?
Did D pick this particular protest exactly for that reason? And had lawyers standing by to nail them for a big amount so he can afford to just do more protests?
Gary and D do live in the same city. I wonder if D was this guy? Oh, wait, this guy has hair:
https://twitter.com/FlyerTalkerinA2/status/1704665791327592711
Some of the comments in that post, I keep shaking my head…
Thanks for the congrats, she is excited and so relieved. Now she can enjoy her senior year.
She did help me some time ago with TBB Instagram but it did not work out. Her standards are high and mine are like, you know, anti establishment and non conforming 🙂
I do know one thing, if with them 90k Ink offers this blog does not sell at least one more cc this month it is time to wrap it up…just in time to enjoy Singapore/Thailand.
Or wait, maybe D can buy me out before then, I am sure he can afford it.
I wish Emily well too.
George, whether or not you get any more signups this month, either s**t or get off the pot, and quit threatening to stop your blog. You’re no longer a miles/points blogger; were it not for the interesting comments, your blog would amount to Zero in the blogosphere. You need to get some useful/interesting content in order to survive, otherwise, you die. It really is irrelevant whether your foot pain prevents your running a marathon, or whether one of your kids is doing well, or whatever. I believe TBB used to stand for Travel Blogger Blog, so get back to travel related content. This is NOT going to be a popular comment, but is something sorely needed, to bring you back to your roots, and not just a tax scam.
Thanks a lot for the support I guess.
The pandemic changed everything. Including me and my blog. It is not about travel anymore but I can not change the name/url.
I have received a lot of feedback from readers who love the evolution and focus on personal finance and everything else.
I thought about splitting all the non travel stuff to a different thingie (Substack newsletter?) but it is not feasible doing 2 different things.
Until then, the blog continues to be a way to give back and reach a lot more people than I could in-person. This is not a commercial endeavor, it is just a personal adventure. The few cc signups cover the costs and keep the ship going. Until one day I get tired of this and quit. I guess you won’t miss me
Thanks for the feedback.
Hey Buzz,
Congratulations all around, but take it slow, just in case.
Have a great weekend
Bentley
@ David: Thanks, will see how many miles I can do tomorrow… #developing.
Lol @ Bentley.
Some “expert” on LinkedIn posted a picture of his daughter reading that Rich Dad, Poor Dad book and the glowing comments that followed really made me question humanity’s potential smh
Do bonds diversify as much as we’ve thought?
https://twitter.com/BobEUnlimited/status/1705993748809658513
Responses that sound good but are a cop out:
It depends.
It is all relative.
Reversion to the mean.
What is your time horizon?
My answer: No.
In other news, apparently they’re ethnically cleansing Armenians in Azerbaijan now.
Just turned away a potential client who was begging to hire me…other colleagues will die to have them on board.
September to date conversions with even the 90k Chase Ink cards going = 1.
Do not prove The Masked Poster right you guys smh…
Maybe this blog does not return when I take off for Singapore/Thailand, we will miss each other.
On the other hand:
Sunday: 14 miles
Monday 12.2 miles
Intervals
Maybe I have a shot in Chicago to get that medal…
He’s back!!!
https://viewfromthewing.com/million-mile-secrets-blogger-arrested-and-jailed-in-houston/#comment-5571029
Yeah, I think I commented about it here.
Guess he followed up with another arrest and Travel thought leader did another clickbait post calling him ‘Pioneering blogger’ smh.
All I want to know is how Emily is faring at this point.
Also, Rick FTG will speak at one of the several Chicago Seminars. Someone thank him for still reading TBB and remind he sold Soooooo early