Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the biggest stock market crashes, Al Pacino interview, the most haunted hotels, teenager hackers out of control, amazing astronomy photography, the coolest neighborhoods, Hyatt and American Airlines renew partnership and selected important developments in the crazy world of miles and points. See you tomorrow I hope.
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This blog started way back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of traveling with frequent flyer miles, hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to curated posts featuring the best web content along with my commentary.
This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
The experiment to post every single day this week continues. Why? To increase traffic and support clicks ( coffees sold and still non existent credit card sales ). I will reevaluate the blog direction afterwards.
Thank you for reading my blog. I always appreciate all feedback.
PERSONAL FINANCE
What a great conversation between two people I have huge respect for, Jonathan Clements and Clark Howard. About a very difficult subject, death. This is the description of the video to get an idea about what this is about: Many of us dread and avoid conversations about death, but it’s essential to have a plan. Clark talks with Jonathan Clements, a fellow money expert and longtime friend, about his financial planning journey after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. Jonathan shares the true value of money and happiness, if he has any regrets, and the decisions and changes he is making to ensure his family will be financially secure. An Honest Conversation About Death and Finance (Jonathan Clements Interview). We can’t escape it, stop putting off what you can do to make it better for the people you leave behind. Why don’t we talk about this? “Fear, complete and total fear” – Clark Howard. Yep, I agree. Oh, I need to throw away some more useless crap no one will miss in the basement! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Clark Howard for always supporting the fiduciary Fee Only financial advisers and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors NAPFA, a proud member since 2000, thank you Sir.
A graphic I forgot to add to the post yesterday when we talked about international stocks diversification. Maybe we need to reconsider how we do this in investment management?
This will happen again. And nobody knows when. Stop listening to assholes who keep repeating it and then when it finally happens they go “See, I was right!”. And the media keeps falling for their shit, come on! The Biggest U.S. Stock Market Crashes Since 1970.
SCAMS/CRYPTO/AI/TECH
Sobering story. About a very talented kid. Who took his talents and went on a very bad direction: This Teenage Hacker Became a Legend Attacking Companies. Then His Rivals Attacked Him. His life in cybercrime began at age 11, investigators say—and his case has brought worries about a new breed of fearless young hackers. When I was age 11 I hurried up to do my homework and then stayed out playing soccer for hours, different times I guess. Remember the story about the kid I posted earlier this week who died at 25 and it was later discovered he helped so many online with his gaming? Maybe the difference between these two kids came down to the type of family they had? Loving family vs broken non existent one. Basically, love? I don’t know.
Kurtaj was arrested a third time and charged with hacking, fraud and blackmail. Authorities said that while at the Travelodge, he broke into Uber and taunted the company by posting a link to a photo of an erect penis on the company’s internal Slack messaging system, then stole software and videos from Rockstar Games. Stolen clips had popped up in a “Grand Theft Auto” discussion forum from a user named teapotuberhacker and stirred a frenzy. [Travelodge, really? He could easily afford a Hyatt or a Hilton lol]
…the average age of anyone arrested for a crime in the U.S. is 37, while the average age of someone arrested for cybercrime is 19.
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ODDZ & ENDZ
I loved this: The Interview Al Pacino Is Still Going Big. Al Pacino got really old wow. And he has a newborn in his 80s, wtf! One of the best actors ever, no one doubts that. I loved the back and forth [The interviewer in bold font]:
…you write about a quote that’s meaningful to you. It’s from one of the Flying Wallendas, the famous daredevil family. Can you share it? The quote is: “Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting.”
…somehow I felt as though my life was saved by acting. Because I knew that I could do something.
Let me ask about one of your performances. Yeah, please. I rewatched a ton of stuff. Poor guy.
…you care a little less as you get older.
This is probably more psychoanalysis than you’re interested in: Is it possible that having a child at 83 years old is a reaction to the recognition of your own mortality? Wow, that was something. I have to really think about that. I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t even understand it.
You’re gonna play me? Yeah. What’s the secret? You should go to some of those mental houses and study some of those people.
I want to go back to your Covid near-death experience. Oh, good! I’d love to revisit that.
Amazing photography: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 winners. I fell in love with this picture the first time I saw it. It may be a repeat. If it is, you can ask for a refund and I will ignore it so there!
TRAVEL
Halloween is coming, here you go: The Creepiest and Most Haunted Hotels in Every State.
Cool indeed: The 38 coolest neighborhoods in the world. First is Notre-Dame-du-Mont in Marseille, France.
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SAVE $60 FOR 2024 THE EXTRAORDINARY TRAVEL FESTIVAL
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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 and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
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The big news yesterday was an “enhancement” of the American Airlines and Hyatt partnership. Apparently, it looks like Hyatt hired a former PR person at Delta Airlines because the press release sure reminded me of Delta speak, I mean, who comes up with headlines like this huh? From Takeoff to Turndown: American Airlines AAdvantage® Program and World of Hyatt Enhance Loyalty Relationship with More Choice and Personalization. I long for the day to see a press release saying “Due to higher costs, we reevaluated and have devalued this partnership for 2025. We aim to do better, sorry“. Yeah, right. Anyway, very disappointing, especially for American Airlines elites. As far as Hyatt elites, I guess we’ll look at the goodies offered starting after elite night #70. If we ever get to that in 2025 as it looks like the World of Hyatt program is definitely not rocking. As the little cuts keep getting more frequent. Every blogger wrote about this. And just wait until there is an affiliate promotion on a travel rewards credit card they get paid for, you will be seeing cheer leading posts like it is the best card EVER. Again smh.
Get on the Capital One app to avoid waiting. Because if you don’t, you will wait for what could be a long time, there is almost always a line: How To Get Into A Packed Capital One Lounge With Ease.
Just mentioning this for completeness purposes: Marriott & Air Canada Launch Reciprocal Elite Match & Two Way Transfers. Because when it comes to how this is going to affect me, my response is: Zzzzzzzzz.
I really liked this Frequent Miler video How to book Air Canada Aeroplan stopover awards.
I am sure someone out there has been gaming this, buying gold bars at Costco that is: Costco’s Gold Bars Fly Off Shelves as Bullion Prices Smash Records. Or maybe you are into gold. If you are, you should probably walk out with some guns and ammo then. Freeeeeeedom lol.
Good offer: Citi American Airlines 75,000 Miles Business Offer. I don’t have a link to benefit the blog, thanks to the few readers who asked, I appreciate the thought. I am bringing it this week posting daily and still can’t make a single credit card sale since September 4th. It is beyond embarrassing smh.
Breaking: Looks like my son’s company is sending him to Singapore in Business Class. From Honolulu. We’ll try to get him the flights credited to Alaska Airlines so he can now requalify easily (without resorting to mileage runs) as Alaska Airlines MVP Gold. I may update this post when the flights are booked. It looks like it will be between Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and JAL. Good choices to have indeed. Sadly, Singapore Airlines pricing was more than double, wow! Hopefully we can get that Alaska Airlines frequent flyer number in there successfully so there will be no follow up tracking the miles down. Does any of these Asian airlines do this better than the other? There is a lot at stake here!
I am going to garden my own reservations…tomorrow (again).
I am no longer recommending the blog Miles to Memories in my Miles & Points Resources page. That will cost them two page views, feel the TBB wrath! Why? Well, this blog just does not miss a chance to promote and link to the View From The Wing blog which has become the National Enquirer tabloid of this space. Just got hit with another hideous clickbait gem over there: “She Left Her Kids for a Taxi Driver in India and Faked a Kidnapping—GPS Tracked Her Down, Now He’s Facing Charges”. Why do you send your readers to read this shit? I am down to recommending just three blogs, how sad is that? Doctor of Credit and Frequent Miler and Miles Earn and Burn. Resist turning the online world turning to complete shit, yes you can! But I see this clickbait shit is spreading all over and here I am all alone still resisting almost 12 years into this lonely fight. Ok, enough ranting for today. Enjoy this while it lasts my friends, all nine of you sad lol.
I am finishing strong in this blogging adventure. Unlike the people who did my driveway concrete project, still not completely done! And this is how you go from being recommended in the neighborhood email list to ‘naaah, never mind’.
The world of soccer is in shock as 31 year old Greek player was found dead at his home’s swimming pool in Athens. Great player and really nice guy as well. Very well liked and he also played for the Greek national team. A cruel coincidence is that he was born and raised in England and guess what game is being held today? Yep, England vs Greece at Wembley. RIP George!
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Going to end this section with any credit card offer that expires within the next two weeks:
AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business card: Oh, it is back! Up to FIVE free nights again. I am no fan of Marriott Bonvoy but hey, five free nights is five free nights you guys. Each Free Night Award certificate has a redemption level up of to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, expire after one year and can be topped off with points for up to 15,000 additional points per night. The annual fee is $125. The minimum spend is $8k in the first six months. Earning structure is 6x on Marriott purchases, 4x on gas stations, cell phone bills, restaurants and shipping and 2x on everything else. You get 15 elite night credits, Gold elite status AND a Free Night Award cert at each card anniversary. Having Gold elite status earns an additional 25% bonus points on Marriott stays, 2 pm late check out and if the planets align with the moon a shocking room upgrade. No foreign transaction fees. 7% discount on rooms and premium internet access. Offer ends 10/16/2024.
MILES & POINTS
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As of today, I have burned 1,859,617 miles/points year to date (1,148,286 in 2023) and have 4,213,180 miles/points in the bank.
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George
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NIck: PDF: I have an 11 minute chat with the Google NotebookLM AI thingie again which sounds amazing again but I can’t get a link generated to it, just an audio file. Hmmm, maybe they deactivated this feature?
Edit: I mean, that “Copy Share Link” is not showing up.
Hmm, that would be unfortunate. Will it let you download? You could paste to YouTube or something.
Yes I downloaded it. Not sure about posting in on YouTube, no video with it. Amazing, it is starting to learn what I am about…which is kind of werid! Just not seeing that “Copy Share Link”…maybe Google canned it? Do you still get it? Let me know next time you play with it.
On time today!
Thanks for the link to the Al Pacino interview. Now that is someone to emulate!
Marking everyone else tardy today!
I woke up late and a Dr. appt shortly. Post looks good and will read later. Much appreciated another post this week! Have a great day!
TBB Management may require a doctor’s note going forward. We see gaming potential with this practice lol.
Posting daily is a grind. Even if it’s your primary occupation and especially if it’s not. Sadly, I have no CC apps to send your way.
Oh yeah, it is exhausting. No way it can be sustained, need to eat! Just interested what the traffic will look like. I am giving this baby my best shot, I know of no other way. I will be in peace when it is time to join Mile Nerd in retirement and just post a poem or something on the first of the month.
Watching England – Greece, we just scored in minute 93 to go up 2-1! Historic performance, all playing to honor the fallen teammate, very emotional.
Congrats!
But seriously, why is England not a top category A ranked team? Meanwhile Israel is top ranked in group A and get to plate France and Italy. What am I missing? England is THAT bad (worse than Israel)?
Also, Gibraltar beat San Marino!!!!!
Never really understood the rankings logic. And wish we did away with this Nations Cup tournament. But new Greece coach is on a roll!
Hey there George, how about an update on how the beard’s coming? Maybe with a picture?
Long beard is not my look. After consultations with the TBB make up team, it was decided my look is a short beard. #1 length. Going to the barber every 7 to 10 days now to trim it. I like it that short too and so does the wife. I’ll see what I can do about a pic, the TBB camera team is on strike. Not sure what they are bitching about, something about not being paid on time or something. I told them I ‘ll pay them when the mother of no cc conversions streak ends!
Going to an Indian wedding this Sunday, maybe I’ll scare you all with a pic of my beard Monday morning lol.
Hope springs eternal.
I remember, years ago, I got tired of shaving, so decided to let my beard grow. In the course of my job, I spent a lot of time on the phone, and while talking, would stroke the beard, and pluck the occasional misplaced hair. That tic, and trimming the #%@$&$#@ thing, finally got to me, and I decided to limit the experiment to one year. At the end of the year, I gave my daughters some scissors, and got a beardcut. Never have looked back. Clean shaven forevermore. And better looking. Now I don’t look like a terrorist.
I am starting to like my short beard. And keeping my hair short as well is not that bad. Will keep it for a while. I really have NOT missed shaving at all!