We bring you the IHG Rewards new offers, talk about the pandemic end, warn you about the FinTok lunacy, the sad Trump tax returns, travel to Indonesia, Berlin, North Korea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chase expanded the Pay Yourself Back feature, a stunning read about a giant dude in the Ukraine, the best Covid-19 coverage, the best drone photos, how clicking on clickbait crap makes the world an awful place so please stop contributing to it WTF is wrong with you and lots more, enjoy!
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I have moved the COVID-19 Section further down starting with this post. There is a LOT in this post. This is my baby, going strong for almost 8 years! You all enjoy the weekend and thanks for spending some of it reading my blog. If you are not into the frequent flyer miles/points game please feel free to skip the Miles & Points section.
TOP PICKS
I am starting a new blog section titled TOP PICKS. For readers who have been here for a while it is similar to the “Best of Web” posts I used to do. Simply I pick some content that deserves special mention in these now weekly curated blog posts I do. As I think everything I post here is a must read, think of these in this section as the MUST must reads! đ
Old friend Mile Nerd gives advice to graduating young men as they enter adulthood next year. Adulting 101. You will enjoy reading these and you will realize why it is here as a top pick. Just a few of my favorites:
Do you really want to be the guy who makes people wait for you to back into a parking space?
Make 2 lists:
First, write down the names of anyone you could depend on in a jam.
Next, list the people 100% willing to talk to you about anything at all.
If any names show up on both listsâŠthatâs who matters most.
For the love of God, learn the difference between âyourâ and âyouâre.â
No ribs on a first date. Or spaghetti.
Your career is important. But it shouldnât cost you your mental health.
When you consider doing something that crosses the line, take a second and remember what a courtroom is. Ask yourself the following question:
âDo I really want to put my life in the hands of 12 people who were too dumb to get out of jury duty?â
I have been around the web ever since I fired the Netscape browser in the last century. And I had never heard of the Improbable Research website! Its tagline is “Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK“. I found it very appropriate for my blog’s mission! Every year they have a contest titled the Ig Nobel Awards and here are the 2020 winners. These are awesome in their own improbable way (get it?) and my favorite was this to get a taste of what you are about to see, enjoy!
ECONOMICS PRIZE [UK, POLAND, FRANCE, BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, AUSTRALIA, ITALY, NORWAY, ITALY]
Christopher Watkins, Juan David LeongĂłmez, Jeanne Bovet, Agnieszka Ć»elaĆșniewicz, Max Korbmacher, Marco AntĂŽnio CorrĂȘa Varella, Ana Maria Fernandez, Danielle Wagstaff, and Samuela Bolgan, for trying to quantify the relationship between different countriesâ national income inequality and the average amount of mouth-to-mouth kissing.
Which one is your favorite? đ
Well, it belongs here as Trump’s tax records finally came out: Long-Concealed Records Show Trumpâs Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance.
I am not sure how I found this story from 2005. About some dude in rural Ukraine who had a brain surgery as a kid, something went wrong and then just kept growing and growing. Great writing and, well, I found it good enough to add to the Top Picks this week, enjoy! XXXXL. Update: He died in 2014.
Leonid S. is eight and a half feet tall, and he is still growing. He is 34 years old, weighs 480 pounds, and he is still growing. He can’t fit in a car, wears size 26 EEEEE shoes, can pick apples eleven feet off the ground standing flat-footed, and yes, he is still growing. Michael Paterniti journeyed 9,000 miles to a tiny village in the Ukraine to learn from the world’s tallest man.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 65k CitiBusiness AA, 20k Chase Freedom Flex, 130k AMEX Hilton Business & Hilton Surpass, 70k AMEX Delta Platinum Business and 60k Platinum Personal, 140k IHG Rewards Premier, 100k IHG Rewards Traveler, 5 Free Nights for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, 60k AMEX Delta Gold Business and 50k Gold Personal.Please use my Affiliate links.
If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you? Contact me please, thank you!
Chase Sapphire Preferred 80,000 Points Signup Bonus with $4,000 Spend. I can now refer you to this card, contact me via email travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com and thank you!
The higher signup bonuses from the banks keep coming. We now have the IHG Rewards Club Premier offering 140,000 points and even the no annual fee IHG Traveler credit card offers 100,000 points! I think these are indeed the highest offers for these cards. You could stay in Holiday Inns for several nights for free and not even pay an annual fee, thanks US banks!
And Marriott has now come out with a very interesting signup bonus offer. Instead of a bunch of points, it offers 5 free nights for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.
Update: Register for an excellent Hyatt promotion. You can earn 3x or 4x points and all nights count twice for stays through January 4, 2021. [posted October 1 at 12.35 pm EST]
Post corona our world is so different. And banks try to hang on to their customers by making it easier to burn some of the accumulated points as not many are even thinking about travel these days. Chase Expands âPay Yourself Backâ To Ink Cards & Extends Until April 30, 2021. Certainly a welcome move.
Update: Register for the Q4 2020 5% Quarterly Categories: Freedom/Flex, Discover, Dividend, Cash+ & more [posted October 1 at 12.48 pm]
Hilton Honors still has hotel awards that cost just 5,000 and 10,000 Hilton Honors points. Not that many but still…I could be doing numerous pump posts screaming at you to get the Amex Hilton cards so you can stay for up to 30 nights for freeeeee but I am not that kind of blogger and I guess that is why my blog credit card conversions suck đ
TRAVEL
Well, what can I tell you? You come here for unique content. Like this one about, please contain your enthusiasm, Ukrainian Railroad Ladies. For some strange reason, today’s post is taking a Ukranian turn you guys…
A stunning 3.50 minutes film “Devil’s Gold”. Roughly 300 miners a day climb two miles up the Kawah Ijen mountain and then descend more than 900 yards in their search for âdevilâs gold.” This is one miner’s story of hard work, courage, and suffering all in the name of family.
I love this link in German. It shows pictures of Berlin side by side that you can then extend out. I was in Berlin (both sides) back in 1987 and it still remains one of my most important travel experiences that had a huge impact in my life. Maybe one day I dig out some of those paper photos and scan them…
Remember Mobutu Sese Seko? If not, a little history for you. He was the dictator of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly called Zaire) who ruled for more than 30 years expertly playing off the two super powers to help him…take corruption to unprecedented levels, even for African dictator standards! And then he built Gbadolite: The Versailles of The Jungle. Amazingly how it rots these days…
Since we are again avoiding destinations like the Maldives which travel bloggers bank sales representatives use to sell credit cards to unsuspecting masses, why don’t we visit virtually more fascinating places like Gbadolite above or, please sit down, an empty village: Inside âPeace Village,â The Ghost Town On The Border of North and South Korea.
COVID-19
Sure hope so! Hereâs How the Pandemic Finally Ends. A vaccine by early 2021, a steady decline in cases by next fall and back to normal in a few yearsâ11 top experts look into the future.
A must listen! How Will COVID-19 End? with Ed Yong at the In The Bubble podcast with Andy Slavitt. The whole transcript is there as well. I am the reading type đ
We all knew that but reading this it kind of scared me: Vaccine Chaos Is Looming.
What if the Chinese get there first? Or the Russians? Oh, talking about the Russians: Russiaâs Sputnik Vaccine Stunt Could Cast a Long Shadow.The Russian government is exploiting a scientific win for propaganda purposes. The potential consequences are troubling. “Troubling” may be the second best understatement of the year. What is first you ask? That Donald Trump pays his fair of share in taxes, bwahahahahaha!
I guess we could not have prepared for the pandemic like South Korea so let’s compare to Vietnam: Vietnam vs COVID-19: Round 2. 1,094 cases and 35 deaths. IN TOTAL TO DATE! This is just an average day in Florida, sad!
What a sad milestone and such tragic photos: A Look at Virus’s Impact as Deaths Near 1 Million.
PERSONAL FINANCE
I like the first line of this “Seems So Easy” article: “Managing Money is ridiculously simpleâand unbelievably hard.” Right on! Everything listed is so common sense and looks so easy. Yet, the vast majority of people are basket cases when it comes to their money management. I think #7 “Keep It Simple” is very important. Sadly, I see this constantly out there: Instead, it seems investors are drawn to complicated strategies because of their complexity. They like the sense theyâre doing something âspecialâ and they wrongly assume such âsophisticationâ is the key to better returns.
I like helping people, it is in my nature I guess. And warn you about dangerous stuff. Like some ridiculous bros in FinTok, as in financial Tik Tok: Welcome to FinTok, Where Day Trading, Options Investing, and Misinformation Reign. STAY THE PHUCK AWAY!!!
CURRENT EVENTS/POLITICS
I watched the debate. It was a shitshow and I hope they do not have another one. If you are still undecided, what is wrong with you? Here is the transcript of the debate.
I have been on record, never wavered, that this Trump guy is mentally unstable, totally unfit for this office and very dangerous to the well being of us all and the whole planet actually. And he never amazes me how he can reach yet another low, wow! I mean, when you run on Law and Order and you have an easy task to just condemn white supremacy and violence and you instead do this Asked to Condemn White Supremacy, Trump Stalls and Tells the Proud Boys to âStand Back and Stand Byâ…is there any wonder why I am very interested to buy a gun for the first time in my life? Shocking as I am a lover and not a fighter…maybe when you cross middle age that love part takes a step back, sad lol. #GodHelpUsAll
So, instead of crying, let’s laugh, you are reading the TBB blog after all. Best tweet with a gif about the debate!
Here we go: Ten times Trump shamed others on tax. The ridiculousness of it all! And how can you lose so much money running golf courses, depreciation and all, wow! I could do a whole post on this but…let’s move on, shall we?
Oh, God keep helping us please! How QAnon Conspiracy Theories Spread in My Colorado Hometown. I have a feeling years later we will find out that all this Q shit was started and developed from an intelligence operation by Putin himself…oh wait, am I fighting conspiracy non sense with….conspiracy crap? Hope God helps me too!
This shit is spreading faster than the corona virus after it enters a nursing home! QAnon’s Inexorable Spread Beyond the U.S. The bizarre, pro-Trump cult known as QAnon has been gaining followers in the United States for months. Now, the conspiracy theory has begun spreading to Germany. It’s followers believe that the coronavirus is a weapon of the elite in their quest to enslave the world.Â
ODDZ & ENDZ
I remember reading about this many years ago, wow! The 1925 Serum Run To Nome: The Incredible Story of How a Remote Alaskan Town Was Saved From an Epidemic.
Remember when you heard of a nice married woman who was volunteering in prisons and helped a man sentenced to life escape because she fell in love with him? Yeah, I remember shaking my head wondering how stupid can people get and ruin their lives. This is a fantastic story along with an interview of her: The True Story of the Married Woman Who Smuggled Her Boyfriend Out of Prison in a Dog Crate. On a second thought, maybe this deserved to be a Top Pick instead of the Ukrainian giant dude…
If you are very pro environment and all green and stuff like that, you will soon be able to be buried in the first ever eco-friendly fungi mycelium casket. Lay dead and…feed the earth with your very own nutrients and become a valuable source for new life. I think I will spare you the shocking video ok? đ
One of the most enjoyable reads this week was this: The weird world of kidnapping insurance. Fascinating insights about how they all operate in this “industry”.
Reading this article made me very sad. There should be no mercy to people who do this! Stolen lives: The harrowing story of two girls sold into sexual slavery.
No photos yet in this post, how sad. Let’s change that, here are the Best Drone Photos of 2020.
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
I have updated some of the blogs listed in my now infamous lists: Blogs I Like and Blogs To Ignore. One notable addition is Miles to Memories who continue to do things their own way and succeeding and keeping the quality up and not going down in a rampant bank sales representative mode like the blogs in the Ignore list. And with so few blogs in this space now I had to add one more.
I also updated the Travel recommendations with the sites I use for travel hacking, general travel sites and a few miscellaneous ones. Additions are Amusing Planet, Cranky Flier and The Atlantic.
Been busy, I also updated my Personal Finance recommendations. I added Investor Amnesia.
I had several readers who did not like my turn to anti Trump material here and they let me know. I guess this guy wrote the response for me to you disappointed reader.
A travel blogger quit and I am surprised we are not seeing more yet: I’m quitting travel blogging.
Posts that make me barf. By the king of clickbait View From The Wing who only posts this crap because…you click on them, SAD!
Woman Climbs On Seats, Pounds The Overhead Bins Screaming About Her Evening Plans
Woman Jumps American Airlines Counter When Sheâs Not Allowed To Board Without Shoes
I wonder who the ghost writer is who writes these posts for the top two bloggers in Boarding Area and posts them almost at the same time…not even trying to hide it anymore. You can rest assured this blog is being produced by the guy who goes by TBB…whose blog can not afford to even hire an intern lol.
I am out with the CNB card, I cashed out with eight $100 Amazon gift cards. CNB bank sent them to me via UPS in about four days, very fast! I will be canceling the card shortly, adios #anotheronebitesthedust
I have started running again. More like jogging. If you are over 50 years old, recovery is so darn slow!
And I leave you with this…
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Sure Happy It’s Thursday is the new TGIF!
My Pocket runneth over with new interesting links. Muchimas gracias amigo!
The tax code is an abomination. I haven’t lived in the US for almost 20 years and STILL pay taxes. My daughter, born in Costa Rica, NEVER set foot in the US, has tax consequences upon my death. Over my lifetime the money I’ve paid for tax advice, tax planning, tax preparation would buy food for a Costa Rican family for 20 years. Or pay for 40 Costa Rican college educations. The tax code is an abomination.
Welcome October. Probably going to be a shitshow (h/t Jake Tapper).
#TBBon
Good morning Thursday!
Caught me looking for Friday. But what a ton of interesting reading material.
Thanks for hanging in there.
CRAP! For some reason I thought it was Friday, mega oops!
Must be aging…
Actually, it is better that way as this one is the longest post ever so you all needed more time to get to all the links through the weekend đ
I also agree that the tax code is indeed a sad abomination.
Hope we have no more debates, I don’t think we can survive another mega shitshow.
I again apologize for pulling the trigger a whole day earlier. I had to call my mother by 7 am and just felt rushed to…post thinking all along it was Friday…I can not believe it!
Doctor of Credit comes right out and links back to his idol View From The Wing in its latest “Recap” post…
smh
haha, so many gems in that mile nerd post today
Sadly, the giant is no longer with us:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Stadnyk
Yeah, that Mile Nerd was a gem, easy Top Pick…pick đ
Yeah, I looked it up also. I should edit the post by adding it, thanks.
I added two more links in the Miles/Points section, the Hyatt promo and all 5% registration links.
Raining plastic today….bloggers, I mean, banks sales representatives are on fire pumping their merchandise. If it is not clibkbait shit…
Is Chase giving out special handjobs for selling the most credit cards? It’s craaazy day for the pumpers!!
Today it reminds me back in those days…
https://travelbloggerbuzz.com/travel-milespoints-blogosphere-has-turned-into-a-giant-credit-card-pumpization-scheme/
$ from credit cards is way down for months…so now they have a chance to go all out to reach the old glory days…
No $ clicks here, even the one from last post still has not showed up yet, SAD!
A classic post that called it all out brilliantly!
Goldman acquires GM card:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/general-motors-credit-card-brought-to-you-by-goldman-sachs-11601575609
Here’s hoping their marketing team screws up and gives us an offer we can’t refuse.
I say 50 50 on that one đ
Tell ’em Donald!
I really don’t care. Do u?
Where should I send my thoughts and prayers?
At this point, I am not excluding anything that will happen…
We are clearly in even more la la land!
Must read and no I am not posting in my blog next week…that is like decades away in the Trump Covid calendar, sad lol.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/what-did-you-expect-donald-trump/616583/
What did you expect Ramsey? Making fun of Biden wearing a big mask? I mean, the most ridiculous buffoon alive has the nuclear codes, God help us all!
If this is true…I will send my thoughts and prayers:
After meeting with Trump on Tuesday, Amy Coney Barrett met with the following people:
âȘïžMitch McConnell
âȘïžTed Cruz
âȘïžMike Pence
âȘïžChuck Grassley
âȘïžMike Lee
âȘïžLindsey Graham
Just when we all thought this year could not get any crazier, wow!
What do you say to all the dumb phucks out there thinking that this is a hoax, huh?
I am not convinced he is not lying to get out of more debates after his fiasco…
Vote please and vote often so there is no doubt on Election night!
I have voted my absentee ballot but still have them at home…now I am thinking maybe I should take the risk and vote in person to get it counted faster…hmm, not sure if this can be done at this stage…
Meanwhile DansDeals is overrun by anti-maskers.
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/news-roundup/president-trump-tests-positive-covid-19/?utm_source=milesfeed.com&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=MilesFeed.com
No time to do a science when there are nickels to be saved on diapers and toothpaste
Yeah, started reading some of these comments and I just could not go on…caught myself, WTF am I doing there?
I’m usually not a fan of Dan but I do have to commend him for responding and pushing back against all the moronic comments. Holy shit. Why are there so many morons out there?
Let’s assume that it is true, it is a phucking conspiracy to force people to wear masks. What the hell is the endgame here?
I don’t know, I don’t get it man…
But it is good for engagement apparently đ At least, he doesn’t do shocking videos of passengers jumping aboard airplanes smh.
Thank you to the reader who got the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card using my links.
And son applied for the Flex, instantly approved. Let’s see when it goes through their system…
Two cards by the 2nd day of the month…WOW. TPG exec leadership is concerned, they may declare an emergency board meeting over the weekend you think?
Lol.
Waiting for pics of Trump at Walter Reed to leak…
Thom Tillis, another Republican Senator in attendance at the Rose Garden tests positive. Looks like a super spreading event.
I was hoping Tillis would just lose his NC senate seat on Nov 3rd.
Generations later they would still talk about the amazing collection of morons during these four years wow!
https://twitter.com/NickBryantNY/status/1312222124468326400
And Senator Chuck Grassley refuses to get a COVID test, at 87 years old.
If anyone thinks Donnie is fit for this office they are just phucking asshole racists at this point…
He went to school on Covid at Walter Reed you guys….only after 210,000 died and now insists on infecting more.
This is not going to end well…
Anyone know the latest on Hawaii travel, asking for a friend!
Vaccination works.
Make sure your kids get HPV vaccination. We can eliminate cervical cancer!
https://twitter.com/davidjuurlink/status/1311729247707369475?s=21
Yes!
Can you imagine the terror in everyone’s faces inside the White House when the moron turned and took his mask off before he stepped in?
The Prez is a super spreader.
I voted today to stop the killing!
Benito Trumpolini!
I just got my absentee ballot. Not sure I can be 100% confident mailing it in. I almost feel safer going in person.
I drove to City Hall and dropped in the ballot box.
Next day I got an email that it was received and my signature verified and is to be counted. Email had link to a “I voted” sticker in case I misplaced it inside my absentee ballot envelope (which I did). Our city clerk has been doing a really good job on elections and he has been running unopposed for years. Or decades đ
Someone posted the Herman Cain timeline…and I think we may have more to come on this, he is 74, obese and dumb as a rock now even more drugged up.
For those of you who enjoy reads about obscure places…
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-island-humans-cant-conquer/
Read it already. It did not make the cut. Which means the blog post tomorrow Friday morning will be amazing!
Let’s hear it for the fly attracted to Pence’s shit, I mean, hair. If you can call it that…
I have lots of material. Enough I can do three posts per week! I thought briefly this morning perhaps splitting them up to just two, one tomorrow and then one maybe next Tuesday. And then I made the stupid move to check:
Amazon: No orders in, nothing shipped yesterday. Zero!
CreditCards: No conversion since Oct. 3!
And that was that….See you all tomorrow.