The formatting of the emails to the TBB subscribers is messed up and I apologize. I highly recommend you read my blog posts on the website that has been redesigned, thank you for understanding.
AI Facts and Risks, China’s Long Twilight, Best Hotels, Amex Great Expansion
Some of you are still getting emails with the old email list service , it is very confusing. I am working to fix this; if you are or know of a techie with extensive experience working with the Mailchimp platform please reach out. I am thinking to shut all emails down and eventually restart it at Substack, let me know your thoughts. This is a labor of love, I am doing what I can.
Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as AI facts and risks, China’s long twilight, the best hotels, Amex great expansion, explaining bonds, problem gambling, most haunted hotels, the best multi day hikes, only the best photography and Thailand links and of course always all of the most important developments in the crazy world of frequent flyer miles and points at the lower half of the post. And much more. Enjoy the weekend.
Blog Mission: To Educate. Entertain. Inspire. In That Order!
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No clickbait. No ads. No algorithms. No sponsors. No AI. No paywalls.
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.
BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We are what we repeatedly do…excellence, therefore, isn’t just an act, but a habit and life isn’t just a series of events, but an ongoing process of self-definition” – Aristotle
MUST READ GEMS
Best read this week. When something is in this section I highly recommend to read it in its entirety, no excerpts for you.
The 26 Most Important Facts About AI and the Economy
PERSONAL FINANCE
This probably belongs in the AI section below. But since this stock market would not be anywhere near where it is at without AI I am adding it here: The Biggest Risk Everyone Already Knows About. And this should give us all some pause and make us realize the times we are in these days so enjoy them while they last…

And as the author correctly states at the end of the article…
It feels uncomfortable to say but the three most important words right now for every investor trying to handicap this market are:
1. I
2. don’t
3. know
Bonds are in the news lately so this is very relevant. It is the best explainer of what bonds are: Bonds Explained: What They Are and Why You Might Own Them.
We all hate paying taxes but when you compare us to other countries it is not even close: The World’s Most and Least Taxed Countries.

Morgan Housel in his last video titled Three Types of Intelligence talks about: New skills that become more important in an AI world, the cost of living, and winning the lottery.
AI/TECH
This article contains some sobering charts and numbers: AI and the Fall? of the Creative Class. America is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in Media, Film & the Arts. How Much is AI to Blame?
America has lost more than 200k jobs in “creative” industries over the last four years, with roughly 50k lost within the last year alone. That makes for one of the worst stretches for media employment in modern US history, with similar job loss intensity and duration occurring only during the major economic recessions of 2001 and 2008. Yet there’s no generalized recession today—instead, this period of job loss coincides with the rise of AI systems that can compose wholesale novels, photorealistic images, soundalike music, and practically every other form of digital art, en masse and at extremely low costs. Is this the fall of the Creative Class?
We all must admit that this looks a little weird…
SCAMS/CRYPTO
I am anti gambling. And I am not going to change now. And articles like this shows how awful it is:I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. And all these people pimping it, how shameful. Anyway, enough of my preaching. You know I use this site to do this by now, right? And it is a major reason why I have not quit yet.
Some of the older readers will remember the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, the televangelist couple scamming millions out of their moron followers. If you ever gave money to them please leave now. The dude was sentenced to over 40 years in prison but did only 5. And then came out and did it all over again with another wife smh. He could not stop himself from selling fake Covid cures and other shit. And ranted non stop, even blaming hurricanes at Barack Obama. Oh, anyway he died finally: What Happened to Jim Bakker After the Fall of His Religious Empire? Inside the Late Televangelist’s Life and Crimes. RIH, just made that up, Rest In Hell. If you were offended my blog is probably not a good fit for you.
Back in the old days when a scandal like this made it to the front page of the Wall Street Journal, a resignation soon followed. Or a firing. Not these days, who knows, she may even get a promotion smh: Exclusive | ‘Honey Please’: Kimberly Guilfoyle Pushed Donor to Wire $100,000 to Her Amex Account. Text messages with a MAGA ally show her seeking funds and offering access to top administration officials ahead of her confirmation as ambassador to Greece. We may be living in an age of AI…and very close to that is grifting led from the very top, yikes. I guess her name is already preprinted on the pardon papers lol. Naturally, I find it sad that she spent so much on the Amex Platinum card (I am assuming that is the card she had…or was it the Black card?) earning just 1 point per dollar lol. I was going to do some excerpts and insert some pics of the text messages here but I I will be accused of being political. And I am really trying not to, really! Ok, just one, I can’t resist







Congrats on finally getting the Schwab card Buzz!
Say it ain’t so…another silver or gold perhaps for the desert curmudgeon.
Great post today, lots to catch up on for the weekend.
The Bakker lot…eeeesshh, I remember that story, gross, barf.
On that note, have a great weekend.
Almost forgot to mention your obsession. Flying to Australia for 1 night credit, funny Buzz.
Good morning!
Lots of weekend reading …
I didn’t realize that Bakker started again with a new wife! I hope to be able to forget that …ignorance can be bliss.
I’m late to the party today. In Lynnwood WA for 2 days as that is the nearest USA Tesla dealership to check on some stuff with the car. Good news is nothing to worry about, it’s just showing age (It’s a 2025). Staying at a Residence Inn. Not bad, not great, crappy pillows. I wish Hotels (in general) would up their pillow game as it is my most common complaint.
Congrats on the plat! Hope all is well with you and I’ll be diving in and out of the blog over the next couple days!
The website formatting is great, BTW!