Short wild trip through one of the funniest Onion pieces ever on our favorite Chase Bank, an incredible read about an Iraq war veteran going back to Iraq and some totally awesome wilderness pics you should check out. I think I may alternate some short and “lighter” material in between the Buzz posts. Enjoy the weekend!
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Chase Executives Fondly Recall Financial Company’s Hip-Hop Roots
TBB Reader Adam K. passed this on to me and if this does not make you laugh you probably have serious problems and you should seek some help. I mean, how can you NOT laugh at stuff like this?
>>>>>“We were pushing the boundaries of providing lending services and experimenting with a lot of funky-ass fund transfers,”
>>>>>the five pillars of hip-hop include DJing, rapping, graffiti art, breakdancing, and banking
>>>>>“A lot of hip-hop trailblazers came out of the Chase crew,” added Bambaataa. “Duke Bootee, Willard C. Butcher, Melle Mel—all started out at Chase.
>>>>>Chase had lost touch with its hip-hop roots over the years, claiming that the bank, with more than 5,100 branches and 16,100 ATMs in the U.S., became “totally corporate” and sold out.
>>>>>Afrika Bambaataa, who is widely regarded as the grandfather of hip-hop culture, was sentimental while discussing Chase’s role in the evolution of hip-hop, admiring how the bank developed talent and created unconventional amortized loans and groundbreaking transaction fees that forever transformed the financial and artistic movement.
>>>>>Reached for further comment, Chase executives admitted they were still embarrassed by the financial institution’s ill-conceived 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith.
Back to Baghdad: Life in the City of Doom
We are going from super funny to deadly serious. An Iraq War veteran goes back to Iraq. One of the most gripping accounts I have read on the war and its madness. I don’t want to get into politics here, as with religion the debate will never end. I just thought you may enjoy an account from someone who fought there and his emotions going back. Fascinating!
Smithsonian Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act [10 photos]
These are to totally awesome you need to see them!
© Dawn M. LaPointe, Hermantown, Minnesota, USA
And I leave you with this scene…
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Two in one day?
I feel like the goats look for my second first
When I post something, it is usually late at night and it is supposed to be for the next day…so this one is for Saturday.
Greeks like goats lol.
Thank you for the Smithsonian pics. They are amazing and exactly the relaxation I need after a tough week! I came to your blog pursuing the points game but I especially enjoy these ‘extras’.
Yeah, I loved them too…especially the two I reposted here. There is something about goats lol. There are so many blogs about miles these days….I don’t think I am offering something new if I stuck to that theme. I like the way I am mixing it up now. Mission is to always try to entertain, educate and sometimes even inspire….or I just like mixing it up here…as it sure entertains me 🙂
Thank you.
damn bronze
should be damn bronze-yo
Got it-yo
The pictures are absolutely stunning. Thanks, and have a great weekend!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed them! Weekend has started here with power outages all over Ann Arbor!
TBB,
I’ve been busy lately with work and new grandpa responsibilities. Sorry not to be around these parts.
Observation – just for fun, and the first time in a very long time, I took a look at the points guy website. Several years ago, Brian told his readers that he paid his quarterly taxes on his credit card. Based on the amount, I calculated he was earning a minimum of a quarter million dollars, and probably more.
On his website today, he mentions ‘Staff picks’ in a headline. That got me thinking about potential fodder for TBB. How many people work for him? He must be earning big $$ from cc signups if he’s paying a staff.
And now, back to bed.
Congrats on becoming a grandpa!
In the Chicago Seminar numero dos he brought at least 3 staff members. I am certain there is more now and I would not be surprised if this business operation is bringing 7 figures. Good for him, hope he is happy doing things this way. I just don’t think this leaves enough time to work on this “craft” he is portraying himself to be an expert of. Imho, these commercial bloggers are so out of touch what is happening in the real world is totally ridiculous. Sad thing is they don’t realize it themselves, too much koolaid 🙂
I wish I could be wined and dined at the US Open too courtesy of Amex (or Chase….I get them confused lol).
dhammer, I remember that article as well, although I estimated his income to be higher (400K +) based on that post. I think he posted something which indicated that his earnings put him in the highest (or second-highest) income tax bracket. I am sure TBB can correct me here…
Humbled guess, that was so long ago I would be surprised if the site did not gross 7 figures. I mean, it could be owned by bankrate at this pace…
Come off it. Last time I did the numbers ( grossing up his readership compared with mine, putting in a multiplier for the fact that he pushed cards far more than I do) I estimated it to around $4-5m.
He could do $500k without ANY card income given his numbers, if he simply put in airline, hotel and points.com affiliate links.
I need to get with it then 🙂
Travel with Grant deleted my comment that i posted in his site yesterday that Serve accepts BOA Alaska card. Oh my. No one else has chosen to delete my comment ever in this space (except for MP once after which i chose not to give my readership to her) and here my comment went in to moderation and never showed up. Bloggers – let me tell one thing, readers are in no way lesser than you bloggers and you are surviving because of regular readers like us. It is not a loss to me. By choosing to delete my comment which could have added value to some reader somewhere, you are not only denying my rights as a reader but also the value i bring as a reader. 1 site less for me. I dont care. There are lot of good blogs out there without any comments and there are lots of good bloggers who have not chosen to delete even worst of my comments – like George, for example.
You may want to email him to see if the comment was caught in the spam! This sometimes happens and when readers do not alert us we have no way of knowing really as the spam folder is like a ZOO…I get scared when I have to look in the Spam folder. These asshole spammers are so prolific it is INSANE!
I always felt if readers take the time to write a comment, the least a blogger can do is respond. I feel bad when I don’t get to every single one of them. I understand why many commercial bloggers do not do this anymore as their time is more efficiently allocated in preparing mega cc pump posts.
Well, the comment is showing up now. So, I will leave it at this. He is relatively a kid in this space, growing, and generally has some good stuff in his site. I Wish him good luck. Anyway.. Though i dont expect responses to all my comments, the least i expect is my comment getting displayed, but your statement of comments going to spam folder made me think twice. I take it as a valid point but generally i am just going to avoid reading/commenting in blogs except for chosen few, till i am fed up with those few too. Just that even as a reader, i find new limits as i grow 🙂 . Have a great weekend, George.
Probably saw your comment here and checked the Spam folder. Just to give you an idea about the Spam folder…I see 4,732 comments in mine there as of now (they get wiped out by Akismet plugin after a few days…)
Just do what I do. Repost the comment. Eighteen times.
Hey, just noticed that TBB has 3000+ readers now. George, party time 😉
I wish every one of the Twitter followers was a reader!
Great pictures and the Iraq story was very interesting. Oh, and thank you for introducing us to good people like Doctor of Credit. If you remember last week, several of the widely-read bloggers were proclaiming the end of the
Marriott Visa 70K bonus…”Hur-ry…don’t let this one pass you by”. Wouldn’t you know it, a few days ago we suddenly found ourselves in need of a bunch of Marriott points for an upcoming trip. Damn…that bonus was just the right amount to secure our award but it’s gone. Or is it? I google “Marriott 70K” and among the results I see the doctor. He’s someone I think I can trust, so I click it. Not only does he have the 70k offer alive after 1K spend with first year fee waived, but you also get a free night cert (this is after meeting the spend requirement and is additional to the annual cert). He also had another offer with lower point value but $150 statement credit. Cool! Anyways, just wanted to give a shout out of thanks to TBB and Doctor of Credit for being the good guys.
The more I screw around online the more I feel it comes down to…trust.
The ones pumping cc offers non stop have a built in conflict of interest. They need to keep pumping to keep the money flowing from the banks to them and get wined and dined at the US Open as many are there right now. Friends don’t let friends click on cc links of the blogs in the TBB Ignore list. Reward true experts who put their readers FIRST!
I wish doc would stop commenting on the Ignore blogs and interacting/feeding them content online #hint
Been traveling for the last week and that really gets in the way of my travel hacking. Haven’t kept up with TBB, or The Forum, or Twitter. Did see a few of my bloggers friends at a NYC points meetup and have been thoroughly enjoying the free hotel nights, including one at an Intercontinental. While I flew first class, we remain true to our frugal traveling ways, hopping on megabus to get between east coast cities and schlepping our stuff from the bus to the hotel by foot.
Did some sightseeing/museum going; the most moving/heart wrenching of course being the day we spent at the 9/11 Museum. With the growth of ISIS/ISIL I really think we will see such attacks again and I am in all seriousness fearful for the future.
Among the more fun/uplifting trip highlights was a visit to the Grounds for Sculpture in NJ, taking part in (but not winning) a lottery for $27 tickets to The Book of Morman, soaking up the energy and vibe of NYC, wandering stately and colonial Philadelphia, and an amazing conversation with a part Japanese, part Jewish, part Irish, mahjong playing restauranteur who spoke fluent Japanese and is the subject of a movie on her life! We met her at her current restaurant, Yasha Ramen, using a groupon Kathy of Will Run For Miles suggested we buy!
Today we will attend the wedding that broad us east in the first place. A good weekend to all!
Oops, that brought us east….
Sounds fascinating. Megabusing it and all 🙂 Thank you for passing on the TBB Amazon link to the newlyweds, they deserve it 🙂
Enjoy your trip!
That’s one of the best Onion articles I’ve seen in a long while, thanks! Just brilliant.
I agree…I knew you would like it 😉
I feel like many of the bloggers are running around a bit like chickens with their heads cut off bouncing from one affiliate link to another. It still amazes me how they all shamelessly peddle the Delta Amex links after deriding the skymiles program for many years (gleff), or after “dumping” delta’s program (TPG)…one of the more egregious examples recently was JAPT who wrote a long post on why she doesnt think this is a good offer but stuck her links in there anyway!
I am still waiting for a message from the CHASE MARKETING MACHINE to these bloggers to “Keep Calm and Stay Chase-y” 🙂
Bet the CHASE MARKETING MACHINE is wining and dining at the US Open 🙂
Spleens from prostitutes
George wears cheetah print spandex
Bet ya they were bought with the TBB Amazon link!