Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the hottest stock markets, AI myths, terrorist in the brain, this epic World Cup, luxury lounge wars, Mag 7 losing, AI not killing jobs, lifelong runners forced to quit, most stunning beaches, 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!
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
“When you feel grateful, you become great, and eventually attract great things.” – Plato
MUST READ GEMS
I really like the posts with a bunch of facts and I usually post several of them in my annual Best Of series each December/January. And then I realized the trend may have morphed into doing semi annual Best Of posts. Each fact has the source linked.
Nearly 40% of years have seen a total return for the S&P 500 above 20%.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund holds, on average, roughly a 1.5% stake in every publicly listed company in the world.
An estimated $17 billion was stolen in crypto scams and fraud in 2025 (1,400% year-over-year growth). AI-enabled scams were 4.5x more profitable than traditional scams.
In 2017, Americans legally bet $4.9 billion on sports. In 2025, it was over $160 billion.
“Google raised just $26M (~$60M in today’s terms) before becoming profitable, while Meta raised about $480M (~$800M today). OpenAI is projected to burn through a staggering $115B before it even hopes to reach free cash flow profitability in 2030.”
The state of Wyoming only has 2 escalators.
Global suicide rates have declined by 29% from 2000 to 2021.
…a relative handful of elite stocks, headed by Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, churned out spectacular returns that accounted for nearly all the profits for investors over the entire century. At the same time, more than 96 percent of the stock market did virtually nothing for investors. The vast majority of stocks couldn’t even match the 3.3 percent average return of one-month Treasury bills — a return you could get month by month over the 100 years through 2025 without taking any appreciable risk.
It turns out that the combined losses of the 10 companies at the bottom of the list accounted for less than 1 percent of all the wealth destruction in the stock market over the century. By comparison, the top 10 companies — including Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and other heavyweights — accounted for 29 percent of all wealth creation over 100 years.
Wasn’t it just recently that you could do no wrong if you invested all your money into the Mag 7 stocks? Ok, never do that, always diversify! And, amazingly, just like that we have a complete reversal: The Mag 7 is Losing? as “The S&P 493 is destroying the Mag 7 so far in 2026“.
As of July 4, 2026
TECH/SCAMS/CRYPTO
I learned a new word this week: Nomophobia. It is the fear of being without your phone. Which is really becoming the phobia of the 21st century.
Firms that adopt AI grow headcount 10.2% over the two years following adoption, but these gains are entirely driven by high-intensity adopters. Low-intensity adopters see no statistically significant change.
Entry-level headcount grew even faster. At the companies making the largest AI investments, entry-level headcount grew 12% over the two years following adoption.
AI adoption and the associated gains are unevenly distributed. AI adopters are already larger, more engineering-intensive, more likely to be venture-backed, and faster-growing than non-adopters. These firms then grow faster upon adoption.
ODDZ & ENDZ
From the same guy at the Wall Street Journal who brought us an article about the Ford worker who invented that sign in all our cars pointing to the side the gas tank is we now have this: This Simple White Line Is America’s Greatest Unsung Innovation. This is the unknown story of another ingenious creation that changed a nation. Blown away, I had no idea!
As a former runner, I was crying inside reading this: When Lifelong Runners Are Forced to Quit. For those who rely on the sport for identity and community, leaving it behind can feel like a form of grief. These are all so true…
For the roughly 50 million Americans who run regularly, it is rarely just exercise. It is therapy, meditation, community and identity, often all at once. When the body finally says no, the loss can be staggering.
“When you say you’re a runner, people automatically assume you are disciplined, you are ambitious, you know how to set a goal and go for it,” she said. “It has this sheen about it.” Letting go of that identity, she discovered, felt like losing a close companion. “I really thought of running as one of my best friends. I was ‘with’ running five times a week. And all of a sudden you have to say, ‘I have to step away from you.’”
Must read article if you are into dementia, Alzheimer’s and all brainy conditions: The Terrorist in the Brain. The article gets into the gory details of what Robin Williams went through and what Bruce Willis is dealing with these days. Along with the latest and evolving science in this area. I read recently about a new drug that is effective against Alzheimer’s. After reading this article, I was deflated.
The deepest lesson of the Williams and Willis stories may be the simplest. Money and access do not buy a way around the limits of current science. Robin Williams had the finest medical care in the world and died misdiagnosed, hunted by a disease no test of his time could catch. Bruce Willis’s fame turned his diagnosis into headlines that mostly got the science wrong. If two of the most resourced patients imaginable could not escape the genuine limits of what medicine can do, the rest of us will not find our way out through a blood test we do not need, a drug priced like a small car, or a bottle of glowing jellyfish.
Amazing: ISS – “Crazy Beautiful” in 4K. Marvel at a stunning display of Aurora Australis as seen from The International Space Station Expedition 74 in 4x real time. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot provided the quote for the title of the film in her notes of the sequence.’
After watching World Cup games every day, on Wednesday this week we finally had a day without one. And I gotta tell you…it was so weird lol.
So many memories from this glorious World Cup. Maybe next week I can dedicate a bit more with my thoughts. There are so many, I don’t know where to start. From the collapse of Team USA against Belgium and wondering if Trump had not interfered. From the robbery against the Egyptian team in the hands of the refs facing Messi’s never die Argentina. From that absolute classic Mexico vs England game. And this World Cup’s story, Cape Verde, I mean, what more can you say about this team? I could go on and on…For now, let me just leave you with some links that I found worthy:
I thought I’d seen the worst of soccer’s contentious video assisted review technology, until Tuesday’s Argentina-Egypt World Cup round of 16 game, when, late in the second half, the baffling, deeply-unpopular replay doohickey was deployed to disallow a glorious, field-crossing, momentum-shifting Mostafa Ziko goal after determining Egypt had fouled Argentina…roughly 100 yards prior. This wasn’t penalizing something Ziko did. This was like traveling back in time. This was like getting stopped by a SWAT team in Rhode Island and being told you were being ticketed for jaywalking in Oregon. In 1974.
I haven’t even gotten to the absurdity of the Croatia-Portugal match, aka the Hair of God, in which officials revoked a game-tying Croatia goal because a sensor in the ball few people knew even existed decided that the ball had grazed the hairline of a Croatia player.
We’ve turned the games we love over to zero-tolerance killjoys who would interrupt the Jupiter symphony because they think the oboe player held a note a half second too long…Everyone hates it, and yet, we’re getting more. It’s like reality television, AI slop, and social media. We’re too hooked to say stop.
Let’s laugh:
THAILAND
This Paddy Doyle YouTuber makes the best travel videos in Thailand, highly recommend. He just started an interesting project titled offreel. To get fans to connect with online creators. Maybe one day I set up a creator account and dish my expertise on the platform about Thailand (visas, locations, Hyatts, medical tourism, etc.) or travel hacking or personal finance (not sure about any regulatory compliance issues though). Just kidding, no time to start another online thing but maybe this helps some readers.
You know we like airplanes around here. And here we go: I Found a Boeing 747 Hidden in a Field in Thailand. The guy who bought it, what the hell was he thinking? I hope this has a good ending but I am not seeing it…
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.
MILES & POINTS
So, here we go again…
You know this hobby has changed so much lately: The Real Reason Miles & Points Are Boring Now. Well, I agree with most of these points. And, from so many people in this space who make money from it, well, they always have to find a way to keep you in it.
And there are two companies that have driven this hobby to the ground: Delta Airlines and Marriott. And they are at it again!
I guess Hyatt could soon start keeping a list of properties where members can use these Suite Upgrade Awards, rather than listing which properties are excluded.
You should check out this new site: Plastic Prowl. “See the real cost of 3,800+ luxury stays after your statement credit — across every major program, in one search.” I really like the interface. The founder contacted me some time ago about the site and, you know, World Cup schedule intervened until I found some time to take a look into it. He gave me a free premium account but I have not used it yet. But I did spend some time on it as a regular user and I like it, fwiw. It does help that he has been reading my blog for years so I love supporting my blog readers. Give it a click.
You know I absolutely despise Bilt. And I would never do business with this company and I don’t see them lasting. This YouTuber goes over his experience dealing with “customer service”. Which is of course non existent. And of course it is not surprising at all that Bilt blames Cardless and Cardless reciprocates. For the gory details, start at 7.09 of this video: Billing Errors, Missing Points…Then This Happened!
100k CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED REFRESH:
This card has become a no brainer for, well, almost everyone. Especially if you are new into this travel reward cards space and absolutely do not care about Hyatt points whatsoever. Let me explain why you should get this card. Well, most of my readers either have this card or can no longer get it again due to Chase Bank’s new severe restrictions eliminating us credit card miles/points enthusiasts. This IS a great card for someone starting out by the way. We all have it in my household and are definitely keeping it. Because for just $95 dollars annual fee you get:
No foreign transaction fees
Primary car rental insurance
$100 Annual Hotel Credit. (This is per cardmember year, rather than calendar year. Must be booked through the Chase Travel Portal.)
Card earns at the following rates:
5x on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal.
3x on Dining/Streaming Services/online grocery (excludes: excluding Target, Walmart and
wholesale clubs)
3x on Gas/EV
3x on Airbnb, VRBO, Plum Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com, and Vacasa
2x on other travel
1x on all other purchases
5x on Lyft rides through 9/30/27. 5x on Peloton purchases of $150+ through 12/31/27.
Complimentary DashPass membership ($120 value) for 12 months. Plus, DashPass members get a $10 promo each month ($120 annually) to save on groceries, retail orders, and more.
and of course for just $5,000 minimum spend in three months you get 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points! Even if you did not do much with the points and just cashed them out for a penny per point, it means you pocket $1,000. For an annual fee of $95 plus all the goodies above, DO THE MATH! Of course, you can transfer the points out to travel partners like United or Southwest or Hyatt and get way more than a penny per point. Yes, it is a bit more work but it can make this card even more valuable.
There are many places online you can use to apply for this card. For the love of God, do not use the links from The Points Guy or any other big outfit pretending to be “in the hobby” when they are a big business selling plastic for the banks. Maybe prefer a small independent blogger who is into this for the love of the game and been doing it for decades and would still be here most likely if banks stopped paying bloggers to sell plastic for them #hint. Anyway, email me with ANY questions, thank you for the support.
100k CHASE Sapphire Reserve:$795 Annual Fee. Minimum spend $6,000 in three months
A whole bunch of new offers for Delta Skymiles, ENDINGJULY 15.
90k AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold: Minimum spend is $5,000 over six months
100k AMEX Delta Skymiles Platinum: Minimum spend is $6,000 over six months
125k AMEX Delta Skymiles Reserve: Minimum spend is $9,000 over six months
90k AMEX Delta Skymiles Gold Business: Minimum spend is $6,000 over six months
100k AMEX Delta Skymiles Platinum Business: Minimum spend is $8,000 over six months
125k AMEX Delta Skymiles Reserve Business: Minimum spend is $15,000 over six months
150k AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business PLUS $125 Statement Credit: $125 Annual fee, minimum spend $8,000 in the first six months. For more info on the card’s benefits click HERE. ENDING JULY 15.
125k CHASE Marriott Bonvoy Boundless + 1 Free Night: Minimum spend is $3,000 over three months.
As High As 200,000 Points on the AMEX Business Gold after spending $15k in the first three months
100,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Summit after spending $6,500 in the first three months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
80,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Ascent after spending $4,000 in the first four months. And a 50% flight discount voucher
85,000 BANK OF AMERICA Atmos Business after spending $5,500 in the first three months
75k CITI AAdvantage Business World Elite MasterCard
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. You can always email me at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!
BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
I closed my Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card. And I had to sacrifice about $30k credit limit. In retrospect, I should have transferred most of it to my Ink Business Cash card earlier. I am still surprised I was not allowed to do this as it appears the rep was correct that this card, along with the weird Ink Cash Premier card, are the only two cards that you can not transfer their credit limits. Still learning after all these years in this space. I was able to claim only about $450 of the credits of this card in the year I held it. I know closing it I effectively shut myself off from transferring Chase points to World of Hyatt 1:1. Well, with the once per lifetime Chase card restrictions and no more points from Ink cards, so what, it does not matter anymore.
I again tried for the Schwab Amex Platinum card and I again got the dreaded jail pop up message telling me I am not eligible for the signup bonus. So I have a dilemma now. The fat $895 annual fee for my Business Amex Platinum card is coming in September. I will be in Asia then and may have only a few days after I come back to close the card and move on. But I really really want the Schwab version of the card since the credits are so much more valuable when compared to the business card.
Having said that, I have managed to claim the following credits for my Business Amex Platinum card: $600 in 2024 (obtained the card 9/2024), $950 in 2025 and $1,050 to date in 2026. Not too shabby of course. But with no more United Travel bank, limited Dell credit and really no way to benefit from the pure business credits, I am now thinking to go for the Schwab Amex Platinum card to enjoy the automatic Schwab brokerage credit (we have all our investments with Schwab), the $400 Resy dining credits and $300 Lululemon credits and of course the $600 FHR/THC hotel credits (and more). As a matter of fact, since my wife obtained the Schwab Amex Platinum card less than two months ago, we have already claimed $720 in credits (with another $300 hotel credit, $200 Resy credit, $150 Lululemon credit and more to come before 2027 rolls in!). I am not even counting her UberOne $120 credit by the way. #Winning But I must admit I absolutely hate going for a card and not earn any signup bonus at all. But I am convinced Amex will just not give me any more signup bonuses anytime soon. Something about my history with them lol.
Our SE Asia trip is coming together very slowly. I blame the World Cup and the absolutely shitty state of business class award availability preventing me to wrap up all arrangements. Anyway, I have booked so far:
4 nights in a suite at the Saigon Park Hyatt for 80,000 World of Hyatt points
After returning to Bangkok from Saigon, we have 6 nights before flying to Singapore for a wedding. So I looked around and decided to book 2 nights at the Kromo Bangkok hotel, part of Curio Collection by Hilton in the Amex Travel portal with my business Amex Platinum card (last booking?) to claim another $300 The Hotel Collection credit. So I can continue the fourth year of staying for free every single night in our trips to SE Asia! #travelhackinglessons. Actually the cost for the two nights came at $306.64 so I failed for $6.64 lol. But let’s not forget the $100 hotel THC credit and of course the free breakfasts for two and some upgrade and late checkout, etc.
I now need to book 4 more nights in Thailand. I project I will be at 54 World of Hyatt night credits. And I will likely spend at least a few nights again at the Thessaloniki Greece Hyatt Regency. And I still have some leftover spend for the 2nd half of the furniture purchases that are on order. So no need for me to pay for a 30 day stay at the Bangkok Hyatt Place Soi 24 that will come out to about $67 per night to seal requalifying for World of Hyatt Globalist.
So, I am debating where to stay the last four nights in Thailand. Wife has another $300 Amex Platinum FHR/THC credit available and I do have a Hilton Free Night as well. Should I book the new Bangkok Andaz to continue my quest to experience all Hyatts in Thailand? Or maybe go for a few nights at the Pattaya Andaz, maybe on the way back to the airport to catch flight to Singapore? Maybe try the Bangkok Four Seasons on a FHR booking for one night? But my wife does not like to move around hotels but she has learned to tolerate it a bit with me lol. Any suggestions?
In Singapore the wedding party has a few hotel nights reserved for us near the wedding venue. And then earlier this year (before July) I booked the Singapore Conrad Marina Bay hotel on wife’s new Schwab Amex Platinum card for the $300 FHR credit. Still have to pay quite a bit over that but let’s just pretend it is mostly free lol. The price differences between Singapore and Thailand are absurd.
Also looking for suggestions for Saigon. Must do/see/eat etc.
Maybe the way to go for business class awards to Asia is to finally open an EVA Airlines mileage account and transfer some bank points to it? I don’t like dealing with foreign airline loyalty programs as I try to keep this hobby sane. It appears EVA has more award space these days, thoughts? Maybe this gets me to get back on the Citi Strata points ecosystem…
The Atlantic had an article titled The End of Reading. It was depressing and I am not linking it here because you will be depressed too. Blog readership is falling as many continue to flock to video form. Even One Mile at a Time will move towards that as well. It is like one of these secular trends that will continue. Especially with younger generations reading even less. It is incredibly deflating to pour hours into this blog and seeing readership and support clicks fall. I need to really sit down and figure out how this blog will evolve from here. Having no more of wife’s Ford paychecks, the COBRA health insurance first bill arrival and a very over budgeted home renovation project all come together and me looking at how much time I spend to bring you this product and pay out of my own pocket to do so is not sustainable. But this project does bring me psychic rewards which are important. Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts. It has been like this for years. Wife is loving her retired life without any stress and here I am up in the middle of the night to finish the final touches of this post before I hit publish. So, do NOT encourage a loved one to start a blog for God’s sake!
The home renovation project is finally done! We have some furniture on order which will take a while to arrive. But everything else is done. And we had our first friend gathering and everyone loves it. And we do too! We wanted to have a kitchen island be the hub of the activity and it is indeed. I kid myself that we will recover the money spend if we sell the house. No plans to sell but who knows? As I encourage my clients to spend more it was time to take my own medicine lol. We did a lot more in addition to the kitchen by the way. Two pics of the new kitchen:
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1. That kitchen-Wow! Did you use a designer? The lights and windows really make it so classy!
2. What exactly is a high-intensity adopter? Does Anchor make them?
3. Loved the article on why the game is less fun these days. As we had lunch at the Morgan Library last May. I wondered what ol’ JP would think about Chase lounges today. Opiate of the masses indeed.
OK, today I decided to just read the new updated version since I get both versions and I will get used to it. I must adapt. It takes me a few days to slowly enjoy all the wonderful links and please always remember that I, and I am sure everyone else, really appreciates the effort you go to in order for us to enjoy your post.
The kitchen looks great! It’s huge, too! Glad your wife is enjoying her new retired status. It’s been over 18 years for me and I am glad every day I don’t have to go to work!
Thanks as always! Still trying to dope out my next travels as it seems like every time I start to do so something else crops up, but I press onward.
Hey Buzz-
1. That kitchen-Wow! Did you use a designer? The lights and windows really make it so classy!
2. What exactly is a high-intensity adopter? Does Anchor make them?
3. Loved the article on why the game is less fun these days. As we had lunch at the Morgan Library last May. I wondered what ol’ JP would think about Chase lounges today. Opiate of the masses indeed.
What a kitchen! WOW! Looks just great.
Great links today … The story about the white line on the side of the road
was truly wonderful.
Having the world cup here was really neat. I think many eyes were openned.
OK, today I decided to just read the new updated version since I get both versions and I will get used to it. I must adapt. It takes me a few days to slowly enjoy all the wonderful links and please always remember that I, and I am sure everyone else, really appreciates the effort you go to in order for us to enjoy your post.
The kitchen looks great! It’s huge, too! Glad your wife is enjoying her new retired status. It’s been over 18 years for me and I am glad every day I don’t have to go to work!
Thanks as always! Still trying to dope out my next travels as it seems like every time I start to do so something else crops up, but I press onward.