We bring you airline innovations, some trip suggestions for the Hawaii Big Island, mapping the US residential land values, travel to the Falkland Islands, we investigate where MMS Emily is, a breakthrough for curing Alzheimer’s, the best roadside scenic attraction in every US state, we go back to 1890s Paris, a weird story of someone going back to high school years later to relive basketball glory, a map of the biggest employer in every US state, another map of US states resembling economies of specific countries, we reveal blog plastic partnerships and all that for you for free.
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In case you missed my amazing Sunday TBB Best of Web post yesterday: Taliban Attack Survival Story, Comedian Life Lessons, Intellectual Dishonesty, Soros Plot.
Some card updates: The Capital One Spark Miles for Business card for up to 200k points is ending sometime today. The Chase United Business card still offers 75k. The Amex SPG card offers are going bye bye for ever on February 12, 2019, clearly the end of an era! You know what to do and thanks for any support!
This post has good suggestions on trip suggestions for the Big Island in Hawaii.
When you read articles about the future…always take them with a grain of salt and of course consider that the author may very well prove WRONG! But some will happen for sure. Heck, some of these things ARE here! These Airline Innovations Will Change The Way You Fly.
Gate agents will scan your face—not your boarding pass
Your reservations will all adjust automatically after a flight delay
Flight delays will be easier to predict
You’ll pay for flights by the hour, or in bulk, rather than one ticket at a time
Self-driving cars will handle your bags
Lost luggage won’t be such a big headache
Flying cars will replace trains—eventually
This is pretty cool: The best roadside scenic viewpoint in every state. In Michigan, it is the Arcadia Overlook.
I could be doing posts about bad passengers aboard airplanes or whatever stupid inconsequential crap (preferably with shocking video) that only purpose is to be clickbait and give the blog some rest from the rampant credit card selling going on. Not here! And our clicks show it, sad lol. Anyway, we had some monumental news about Alzheimer’s last week: We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it. And the finding is shocking I must admit, could this really be it?
If you bled when you brushed your teeth this morning, you might want to get that seen to. We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer’s disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease.
A Trip Through Paris, France in the Late 1890s. Amazing video! “A collection of high quality remastered prints from the dawn of film taken in Belle Époque-era Paris, France from 1896-1900. Slowed down footage to a natural rate and added in sound for ambiance. These films were taken by the Lumière company“.
What I think is a very sad story about a 25 year old man who posed as a 17 year old student and went on to a very short lived career as a high school basketball star.
Mapping America’s Biggest Employers. Walmart Nation baby! And definitely not surprising to see many health care related employers too. But in Colorado…the biggest employer is Denver International Airport. Say whaaaaaaat?
Here is another non travel and more personal finance related link for your dear eyes only. US States Renamed for Countries With Similar GDPs. It is from 2014 but you get the idea ok? Michigan compares to UAE??
We are on today with these economy/finance related links you guys! Value of U.S. Residential Land by County. Land only, after you strip the value of the buildings, wow!
I am enjoying the trip reports from the DansDeals group trip to Antarctica. They were diverted to Falkland Islands, how many times do you see pics from there huh?
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ territory, an area for advanced miles/points hobbyists and veteran blog readers.
Alert blog reader Steve has a follow up on whatever is going on over at Million Mile Secrets with Emily’s disappearance. Starts out with, read the rest by clicking the link! There is no doubt now she must have left in bad terms! No more mothers in law rules, hooray!
Oh wow. They must have *just* edited out the last reference to her in the last 24 hours. Friday it mentioned something like “while Emily is based in Austin, the rest of the team is spread all over the US.” Now it’s Saturday, and it just reads “Our team is spread out all over the US.”
Very sad to see God Save The Points send blog readers to One Mile at a Time for credit cards 🙁 “God Save The Points has partnered with this site for coverage of credit card content.“—->You need to check the URL to learn which “this site” is lol.
Update: My deepest condolences to Gilbert and his wife, sooo sorry! Help Support GOSH In Honor Of Grace Burns-Ott.
When big advertisers dictate what you post on a blog, sad! #1015
And I leave you with this…
TBB
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Gold!
Mondays are slow…Gold at 6.56 am!!!
I will take it, I only get Monday gold. Tried to apply for two credit cards using your links and denied for both. Barclays I knew was a long shot but I was hopeful on the BOA. Interestingly, the letter from Barclays said too many cards in a 24 month period.
I will just have to contribute via Amazon links. The blog is awesome and I am glad you haven given it up yet. Hopefully my Amazon purchased pay for an upgraded soy sauce for your sushi or something.
Upgraded soy sauce for your sushi – LOL.
A bit more and I can get my gray poupon too!
Thanks
Sick in bed!
The passing of the monsters is s great comment. Yes, there is something sad that both the Nerd and Emily have left.
Thanks for the insight.
We all evolve…
I gotta admit I am NOT missing her flashing cash any more!
TBB is rapidly becoming a fascinating magazine-like compendium of great articles and ideas. Keep charging, Buzz.
Steve’s comment yesterday (linked above) expresses a lot of my views of the hobby and the blogging industry attached to and driving it.
There is evolution as the game goes mainstream, and I see it in the blogs. Truth is, Ingy didn’t get out too soon. He was a street hustler looking for angles and FTG got too big to be fed by one guy getting up each day asking ‘how can I make a buck?’. If Ingy has not sold around when he did, others like Daraius would have steamrolled him.
I give Daraius a lot of credit-he created a schtick with the bow-tie, the almost comic web page design, the 5 BofA apps in one day, etc. You can hate him, but no one forgot him. Emily wasn’t just a pretty face-her bio says she was a project manager for General Dynamics. I was a little involved with GD-that’s a serious outfit. Wouldn’t you love to have a video of those two at dinner discussing blog strategy circa 2014?
Meanwhile, VFTW and OMAAT, while original pioneers, have gone different ways. Ben, for all his faults, still writes very informative pieces, and his hiring of other writers (always tough) is going ok. Gary has lost much of my attention and regard. His pieces are rarely as in-depth and thoughtful as they once were, and the National Enquirer headlines may attract eyeballs, but that comes at a high price.
.
Which brings me the TPG, or as I have called him, the Ray Kroc of bloggers. Here too, I give Brian credit for pulling in talented people like Richard Kerr, and amassing big volume. The hobby is just about ruined now, as tricks last about 30 minutes, and flight availability is terrible. I guess if Congress can convince lower income people that lowering the top tax rate and eliminating the estate tax are good moves, the blogs can continue to sell wampum to excited newbies.
Enough on all this.
A note to Dml: I’ve been called sick in bed too. It’s their problem, not yours.
Note
Glad to see one reader finally figured out the early departure. That old fat guy had made enough, saw the competition coming up as younger and much more relatable to the traveling population and pulled the trigger without one single regret. The banks never told him hecouldn’t say “churn” and He never once had a “compliance issue” to resolve.
The guys To feel bad for are the late comers who thought about it, but didn’t pull the trigger when the getting was good. They spend hours a day: copying, pasting and rewriting the same post as others, or “whining” all for pennies a day???
And for what? That’s right: pennies a day
Hi Ingy,
Been so long, I know you read me.
You could have held out just a little longer for multiples of what you got, sad!
Still bitter whining at me for still blogging while nobody gives a phuck about you and nobody even comments at FTG anymore in months?
I am doing okay here amigo…Best month this month EVER! This is pocket money for me. No, let me rephrase. It is sushi money for me. I don’t need to make a fool of myself like the other salesmen…
Enjoy retirement. Start moving around! And hope the storms did not impact your life in a negative way.
All in all, it’s all good. I am still blogging and you are not 🙂
“The guys To feel bad for are the late comers who thought about it, but didn’t pull the trigger when the getting was good.”
The assumption here was that some bloggers were offered a buyout and, instead, decided to hold out for more. Who are you referring to? And, anyways, how would you be privy to it? (Personally, I doubt there can be more than a handful of these—OMAA, ??—but I have no clue)
Complete agree with you about Ingy. I’d rather have the $1M (or whatever) he took and call it a day–too bad he had to become so defensive on the web about what he did. I’ll bet he’s a decent chap IRL.
Thanks Anon. I was referring to the guys that thought about starting a blog early but didn’t bother and ended up getting in too late. The only three that sold that I know of were FTG, TPG and MMS and haven’t heard of anyone else successfully being bought out or even trying to sell out. (Well there was one other, but they lost their links 🙁 before a sale was completed
BTW, the multiples of all three sales were very close. but as in life, It’s size that matters. And most guesses I saw were way low.
Word in the street is that FTG had the lowest multiples. By far!
Was the other one Milevalue?
I should have started my blog earlier…missed on so many lols and woohoos that’s for sure!
I am holding out for a 4 digit buyout offer, I have your low 3 digit one locked up bwahahahaha.
Mommy points, bought by TPG.
Oh yeah, how did I forget that?
Thanks.
@Sam:
Thanks for this summary. I may add it to a TBB post just like I did to Steve’s comment.
>>>>>>TBB is rapidly becoming a fascinating magazine-like compendium of great articles and ideas. Keep charging, Buzz.
I am! I can not believe six years into it! What started out as a joke. Ok, maybe I still think of it as a joke lol. Giving back to this disappearing hobby and the last holdouts 🙂
I think your summary was pretty good. Just a few thoughts:
Ingy could have held out a little longer for A LOT more money! Plenty of players steamrolling themselves in this space…
I agree with your opinions about the MMS duo. In a Chicago Seminar many years ago MMS told me it is all about “content marketing”. And Ingy while paying all attention to the TV Nightline crew kept mumbling something about “It’s all about conversions” 🙂
I also fully agree with VFTW.
Does OMAAT still write better pieces than VFTW? Yes! Are they that good? Hell no! And he let the Spencer dude go. I always liked Tiffany though.
Your TPG label “Ray Kroc of bloggers” is unbelievably RIGHT ON! And still the only blog that never linked to a credit card that did not pay them the best lol.
I must admit having Ingy back energizes me a lot 🙂
I should probably file son’s tax return and get him some refunds, he needs it woohoo.
@Sam, Great post.
Buzz: Got a BofA Cash Rewards card through your link, thanks for all you do.
Thank you!
Another one Ingy did not get 🙂
To all:
I made an update on my post today. It is below the God Save The Points linking to OMAAT for plastic. I feel SO horrible for blogging about this before seeing the super bad personal news affecting Gilbert Orr and his wife.
Gib and Laura, so sorry!
I didn’t know who these people were and I’ve never read their blog but their post was incredibly moving. I made a small donation just now. Thank you for sharing that, George.
Buzz-
Thanks for the kind words.
I was thinking-Maybe you and Ingy should bury the hatchet. No, not there. I have something else in mind.
Decades ago, the New York Yankees started having one game a year titled “Old Timers Day”. On that day, before the regular game, they would introduce all the guys who used to play for the Yankees who showed up, and they would play a couple of innings against each other. Some younger guys could still play, older ones were hobbling around. But everybody loved it and they sold Yankee Stadium out, year after year.
So how about a big gesture-you invite Ingy to write a guest post on TBB? No shots at you allowed, but otherwise it’s up to him as long as he stays on the assigned topic.
Hey, here’s a thought. Since the Super Bowl is Sunday, how about Ingy writing about how to use miles and points to go to the game? TBB could run his post on Friday and you’d have all week to promote the hell out of it.
What do you say guys?
Ingy would first ask what his compensation would be to post here 🙂
Oh yeah how to do the Super Bowl for free…they are coming!
Can you stop the other two talking about Chinese food…they are making me hungry!
@Ramsey, have you tried my PhoHouse yet? I can recommend the Pho, of course, but also the Egg Noodle seafood soup and the Lemongrass Pork Banh Mi.
Oh shoot, I’m hungry now and it’s barely passed breakfast time.
Will the diet stick or will I break down? Ugh
BC, I have not….yet. But I will be making the rounds to all your recommendations. So keep them coming.
I took one of my many sons to lunch Friday near that location the other day, Szechuan Brothers, a brand new “real” Chinese restaurant. It was very good, a little more expensive, but felt like a healthier option for this cuisine. Maybe the best Chinese around north of the Columbia River. But as you know, the bar for this is set very, very low in the hood. They just have to beat out Safeway Chinese at the deli counter and Panda Express. Szechuan Brothers is a welcome addition to our neck of the woods.
Have you tried Thai Time restaurant? Baron Von Stroopwaffle gives it 2 thumbs up!
Hi Ingy.
Thanks for the tip on SB restaurant—looks promising. I will report back!!
In the meantime, my mouth is watering for a stroopwaffel, darn you
And now the phucking pop ups are starting to show when applying for Chase cards…
This is just now getting downright depressing folks…
just got the Marriot biz, ….100/24…..totally shocked to get approved for anything…..at least Buzz you now have kids that you can help raise their credit rating. At least that is what i told all my kids when I used their SSN to go hog wild applying for cards over the years. And in fact everyone is over 800 credit score, so that got that, and free travel.
Loyalty Lobby first wrote about that yoga lounge…
All the Titans then followed and nobody HT LL.
For the record.
There is no bigger ass kisser than this guy!
Live and Let’s Fly this am:
John Kasich Poaches First Class Seat After Involuntary Downgrade
followed up:
Fat-Shaming Passenger Has Meltdown On United Airlines
On the fat-shaming, there’s just no reason to insult people by calling them ‘Fat Pigs’.
I use the more vegan-friendly term ‘Lard Ass’. Used in a sentence:
“Can I make this lard ass pay me part of my ticket price since she’s using half my seat?”.
It’s easy to keep thing civil.
Drew just posted a textbook summary of the Alaska Airlines program.
I bet he heard it’s old timers’ week and he didn’t want to let Ingy get the jump on him.
Come on, Rick. Boot up that old Dell, and show how to enjoy the big game like a winner.