Cash Back Monitor, Aurora and Rainbows, SPG Hot Escapes, Insane prisoners, Black Hawk Down, more IHG promo codes!

TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!

 

Welcome FINCON2013 readers to my world! Hope you like what you see around here. I would love your feedback on my blog and would love to answer any questions you may have about travel and frequent flyer miles/hotel points. We can talk about Money too! Some friends call me the M&M guy (you know, Money & Miles which are my two biggest passions).

This blog has been a labor of love so far. If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!

In case you missed it, here is my abbreviated trip report from my last vacation to the Canadian Rockies!

 

Blog Action covering October 4 – 6, 2013:

 

TRAVEL

This Double Rainbow is Perfect. Taken at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. By Twisted Sifter

Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights pictures. By Seriously For Real?

 

I am trying to promote my homeland and increase property values so I can sell my property there 🙂  I gotta tell ya,  much much cheaper than Bora Bora lol.

 

MILES/POINTS

Frequent Miler did more experiments. He says that Cashback Monitor is the best portal finder. This is good enough for me, out goes evreward and in comes Cashback Monitor! You know, trust goes a long way online. Would you believe a statement like that if it was coming from …..ooops, I (almost) did it again 🙂

SPG is replacing Starpicks and Beat the Timer Rates with “Hot Escapes”. By Loyalty Traveler.

The Wandering Aramean also put his FTU presentation slides up that has Free Tools he uses.

For all attending the Chicago Seminars, Frugal Travel Lawyer has a bunch of IHG promo codes for you! I think I got 22k in my stay back a few years ago.

 

ON MY MIND

Got me a new laptop as my Acer is almost split in two. Computer repair shop wanted $200 to fix, I got me a new Lenovo for $360 from Office Depot.  This Windows 8 is a bunch of crap, I keep Googling  “where do I find xyz in Windows 8” and looks like I am not the only one!

I liked the movie Gravity for the views from space. Is it really like this out there?

 

ODDZ & ENDZ

Here’s What Men in Asia Eat To Boost Their Libidos.  Penises and testicles from horses and donkeys, WTF!!! Ok, we like being entertained around here. How about stuff like this: “At the Beijing penis restaurant, customer Wei Jingsheng, 47, is a devoted believer. “It does work very well,” said the 47-year-old construction businessman. “After I took it, my hair stopped falling out, and now I feel very energetic the whole day. Before, I needed to sleep at noon to not get tired, now I don’t need to. Every aspect of my life has become fantastic.” Late night cable TV, here it comes “Buy one horse penis, get one FREE”

Black Hawk Down. The real one. Never before seen footage. Update: 60 Minutes showed this on Sunday Oct 7.

13 Haunting pictures of insane prisoners in Kentucky. These are very disturbing, you have been warned. Brings back memories of the time we visited a State prison’s “special wing” at a local community service event. I am still being haunted by the look of one guy. The prison officials assured me that he was being tied down to keep him from hurting himself; his nickname was”the Cutter”. But still…

 

BLOG BUZZ

I did not like the Million Mile Secrets Friday interview with the Lounge Buddy app developers pushing their app. Hey guys, when you get the Android version out let me know. And good luck to you.

 

RANT

What? We thought you took a week off from being “negative” TBB? You are right, this is the last Buzz post holding back instead of letting it all out like my therapist insists I do 🙂

As most of you know my favorite travel blog is Yomadic written by Nate Robert. Absolutely unique writing and into street photography (which I find totally fascinating). You can take a gazillion pictures of the Eiffel Tower but not many can compare to forest whores in Poland or a homeless guy in Budapest or strolling through the former Bulgarian Communist Party headquarters. Yeah, take that flat bed seat and Croc champagne (or whatever it is called) and shove it, how blah!

Anyways, back to my point. Matador Network liked the story on the forest whores so much and wanted to publish it. Nate said “sure, go ahead, send my compensation to charity”. And then many readers jumped on him for crap like exploiting women and other ridiculous things. Nate responded with this which I thought was just beautiful:

 

Here is my uncut rant about people insulting me for writing about the prostitutes in Poland.
Before I say anything, I will say this : if you are offended, I apologize – and respectfully suggest you go away, and don’t come back and read my work any more – as it is likely you will be offended again at some point. I have 60,000+ views every month, and very, very little negative feedback – despite touching on issues such as corruption, prostitution, drugs, war, and poverty. I have many regular readers/followers, who understand what kind of a person I am, and I am happy to have like minded people around. Now, on with the rant…

First : I have not made any money from the article on prostitution. There is no advertising on the page. Matador Network offered to pay me for the article on prostitution, and my very first response was to say “please donate 100% of my payment to charity”. I will not receive one cent. Ever. I don’t need the money, other people need it more than me, so of course they can have it.

Second : if you are at all familiar with my photography, I print a LOT of photos of people in public. This is a tradition that dates back to the beginning of photography, the genre is known as “street photography”. The goal of many street photographers is to capture the “human condition” in public places. So, although I do not use the photos of the sex workers as an example of fine street photography – indeed, I would not even consider using these images as representative of my photography – I do consider that these photos are just as acceptable as any other publicly taken photo (without consent). A quick scan of the internet will show you millions and millions of faces of people, taken in public, without consent. That is the world we live in today.

Third : I have publicly grappled with the “ethics” or “morals” of street photography. Before you accuse me of being exploitative, reading this article I wrote : “Mean Streets of Budapest”. Summary of that article – I never want to be considered exploitative – including images of the homeless, children, etc. However, I am 100% happy with the decisions I make.

Fourth : as for the word “whore”, I will say this. To me – it’s just a word. If you want to add negative connotations to that word, that’s your prerogative. I see no difference between whore, prostitute, sex worker, whatever – it’s all the same to me. If you don’t like my choice of language, I won’t force you to read my work. If you’re that easily offended, I suggest you stay away from my work.

Fifth : as for whether or not my work is “journalism” again, that’s for you to decide. I don’t care either way. I write, in my own style, about what I see, with my own eyes. I think if you read more than one article, you will find I’m not only a respectful person – I’m downright compassionate. Whether you think this is “good” journalism or not, I don’t care. I’m happy for you to call it “fast food journalism”. However, you should note that some of my articles have been picked up by reasonably prestigious establishments, including Think-Tanks, Newspapers, NGO media outlets, and so on.

Sixth : basically, this is a personal blog. A travel-logue, if you will. I am traveling around the world, using my own funds, and maintaining complete control over my own work by publishing it myself, to my own site on my own domain. I answer to nobody.

Seventh : as for the article in question, it seems that some people didn’t read these pertinent lines:
“these citizens are not entitled to any social benefits, such as health-care and other social welfare. In a country where all efforts to promote safe sex are hindered by the dominance of the Catholic Church, this is worrisome.”
” I have many female readers. Above all, I respect, protect, and admire women the world over, especially those nearest and dearest to my own heart. I make no personal judgments on the forest ladies. Sadly, I am sure many of them are working as prostitutes so that they may simply have a roof over their heads, and meals each day.”
“for accuracy and journalistic integrity, there are no doubt some other things I should mention. Such as but not limited to: not all of these ladies are Polish citizens, to some people whore is a bad word, and Poland is an incredibly interesting, diverse, and beautiful nation that doesn’t consist solely of prostitution. Obviously, prostitution and exploitation go hand in hand”

So, if after reading all of the above, if you still think I’m an exploitative asshole, well, that’s fine.

I know who I am, and what kind of person I am. I find that people that cruise the internet looking to morally judge other people are normally the type of people I wouldn’t associate with, and probably have more than a few skeletons in their own closet.

I’m not looking for work as a journalist, nor as a photographer. I’m not looking for payment, as this would compromise my integrity.

And that’s what it’s all about – integrity.

I’m happy with my levels of morals, ethics, honesty, and integrity.

I’m happy with offending the occasional overly-sensitive person.

I’m happy to keep doing what I’m doing.

To my regulars who understand me – I love you all.

Nate.

PS, Matador Network approached me. Not at any point have I endeavored to have this article distributed beyond my own website. Again, Matador Network have agree to donate 100% of any payment for that article to charity, as per my instructions.