Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the most beautiful places in the US, stock trading madness, fourth dose Q&A, Russia as energy superpower, we travel to Prince Edward Island in Canada, take a deep dive in the Atlantic Ocean, amazing travel photography, rant against Web3 and more scammers doing horrible things to other people, take a look at Finland and how it is preparing to defend itself against Russia, the Ukrainian train workers, we need more doctors in the US, more evidence showing the virus came from a bat, the vehicles of James Bond, a hilarious video about conspiracy theorist nuts, Chilean thieves, Bilt gets in bed with Wells Fargo and buys bloggers, and a lot more. Enjoy the weekend.
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TRAVEL
This looks amazing! A 435-mile Walking Route Opened in Canada — and It Comes With Spectacular Views, Seafood Stops, and Charming Small Towns. The route loops around Canada’s scenic Prince Edward Island.
Pacific Voyages is a quirky blog. I think of my own blog being out there too so I like it. You just never know what is going to appear here and each post can veer off and bounce around to other areas so it is never boring, same here! Like this post: Deep, far, tiny and bouncy. Starts out with world records taking place in oceans. Such as free diving, long distance swimming, Atlantic crossings, around the world boat crossings and then, please sit down, we get to stone skipping. Did you know how many skips is the current world record? 88! Check out the embedded video, wow! And the blog post ends with a story about a ship named the Warrimoo…war what?
These are great: The Most Beautiful Place in Every U.S. State. I have to agree with the choice for Michigan: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
There are 35 amazing travel photos, enjoy!
PERSONAL FINANCE
If you aspire to be a legendary day trader…I want you to read this before it is too late: How I Lost $150k in a Day. Reading this I felt…sick. Don’t do this to yourself, it is not healthy! Remember, health will always be your most important asset.
I have not made a single stock trade since, and I will probably be a passive index bro for life. Ironically, losing $250K was the best thing that ever happened to me. Why? Because for 15 months, the market controlled every aspect of my life. I would wake up in the middle of the night and check futures. I refreshed my TD Ameritrade app every five minutes, because I always had hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk. Every conversation with my friends, family, and girlfriend returned to stocks, because the market was the only thing I cared about. Thank God we worked from home, because I would have been fired in a week if my bosses had seen what I was really doing all day.
You’re not going to become a millionaire by trading. Statistically, it’s just not going to happen. I mean sure, one of you might. But the other 4,400 won’t. Now that I’ve been out of the arena for several months, I have a much clearer perspective. Opportunity costs are the driving force behind every decision that we make, and the opportunity costs associated with trading are heavier than most. Why? Because trading is an all-consuming activity that leaves little time for anything else.Maybe you only trade for a few hours during the day, but the market will plant roots in your subconscious. You’ll be thinking about it, even if you aren’t actively playing it.
So we have an all-consuming activity, that is niche, where it is difficult to gauge your ability. And to top it all off, outperformance is almost impossible. At best, you make money through a time-consuming, stress-inducing activity that most people won’t care all that much about. At worst, you waste a ton of time not making money or developing other skills. And even if you do outperform, is a few percentage points of outperformance worth the time and effort involved? How much less effort would it take to double your income and invest more money at a slightly lower return? The end result would be the same.
I am not a fan of Scott Galloway as he has been wrong so many times. So, I was surprised he wrote this: Tech leaders are delusional if they think Web3 will give power back to the people. As a natural contrarian, I am starting to think this may be…bullish lol.
Web3 has different colored hair, but the same DNA as these earlier web paradigms, which decentralized services at an unprecedented scale in order to turn around and centralize wealth again at an unprecedented scale to a select few. Is that a good thing? Well, just ask a parent with a teenage girl addicted to social media. Said differently, there is no Web3. There’s just another tech buzzword that no one seems to fully understand — at least for now.
It is amazing to me how people can do this to others smh: Jobfished: the con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency. Great investigative story revealing a disturbing con!
The pandemic changed the way many of us worked – communicating through a screen became the norm. Ali Ayad exploited that. It was as if he wanted to be the next Elon Musk – and, in Madbird, he thought he had found a shortcut. A universe where he would be judged solely by his online presence rather than the offline reality.And the most shocking part of Ali Ayad’s gamble? The fact that we live in an age where it nearly worked.
UKRAINE WAR
This is more about economics than the actual war. One of the best podcasts I have heard recently: David Yergin Thinks Russia’s Days as an Energy Superpower Might Be Over. I learned A LOT here!
What a great article! The people who keep the refugee trains running out of Ukraine – photo essay. Heroes!
Fascinating things to learn about Finland! War with Russia? Finland has a plan for that.
COVID-19
So I guess if you are over 50 you can now have a second booster. Still so confusing! Anyway, after reading this article Fourth Dose Q&A…I guess I am going to schedule a Moderna booster to go with my previous three Pfizer shots. Exactly six months after my original booster.
We now have a go to website Covid.gov that has everything you need.
So many were jumping to different conclusions. Nature’s neglected GoF laboratory. The case for a zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2. Very long and most detailed article showing that the virus that changed the world came most likely from an animal…
You would think that doctor jobs will be plentiful, no? Why well-qualified medical school graduates can’t get jobs — despite doctor shortages.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Oldie and so funny! Conspiracy Theorist Anonymous. LOL!
Fun link: The vehicles of James Bond.
Say what? Thieves in the Night: A Vast Burglary Ring From Chile Has Been Targeting Wealthy U.S. Households. I had no idea this was a thing…Chile, really!
What a photo! National Geographic Picture of The Year. Black images are shadows of zebras. Zoom in and you will see zebras.
MILES & POINTS
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This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! Feel free to skip this section and parts of the next one if this is not for you.
Newbies: With so many airlines and hotels and bank proprietary point programs out there it makes sense if you focus on a few programs to keep this hobby sane. And this greatly varies based on your goals, credit score, spending patterns, home airport, hotel preferences, elite status and many more variables. But when it comes to bloggers in this space always remember that they don’t get paid if they don’t keep on selling you credit cards ALL THE TIME. Due to this variation, it is easier to decide which loyalty programs to totally avoid so you do not waste your time on them. Marriott Bonvoy is one of them I recommend to totally avoid despite what you see from blogs that have a built in conflict of interest selling Marriott Bonvoy credit cards!
And make no mistake, this is only going to get worse: Marriott To Introduce Dynamic Award Pricing [Now Live].
Register for the new IHG Rewards promotion.
Amazingly, Southwest still has not introduced fees for luggage or reservation cancellations/changes! But they are fidgeting with airfare classes: Eschewing Basic Economy, Southwest Will Ask Customers, Do You Wanna Pay More For Added Benefits? I prefer simplicity but I don’t run airlines and it shows lol.
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 been around this hobby for a very long time. And I am amazed how “hobbyists” are all becoming credit card salesmen feasting on uneducated consumers. But it still shocks me how much “play” the Bilt Rewards card has gotten out there! It is a card WITHOUT a signup bonus and I can not imagine how much more hyped it would be if it ever started offering one! As far as the card goes, I guess if you pay high rent and don’t mind the minimum five transactions per month and also earn 3x on dining…it could make sense. I can not help but wonder how much bloggers earn pushing it, those referral commissions must be very high! Especially after finding out how many of them were dined and dined by the Bilt Rewards people and its bank partner who is no other than Wells Fargo, yikes! I mean, could they not find any other bank with such horrific anti consumer rap sheet, wow! For the record, Bilt raised $60 million dollars from Wells Fargo! And this blog here does not make minimum wage smh.
I miss the good old days when we all knew and helped each other hanging around Flyertalk. For the record, I was not wined and dined by Bilt and Wells Fargo…not that I was invited. The moment you accept these invitations and then write about “review” their product you automatically lose all credibility, PERIOD! So, maybe support blogs that still refuse to be wined and dined? Just a suggestion…
Hobby speaking, this has gotten way too boring lately…I mean, how many more blog posts we will endure about masks this and masks that. Delta making award mileage earning permanent is not the “amazing” news bloggers are telling you it is. And why these blogs are so popular posting crap like this is beyond me!
View From The Wing: Pilot Caught Taking Naughty Pictures of Flight Attendant [most hideous clickbait ever, no one else comes close!]
One Mile at a Time: Does Closing Credit Cards Hurt Your Credit Score [If I had a conversion for every time I saw this post over the years…]
Be very mindful of the media you consume, we are all busy. Prioritize your mental bandwidth with quality!
I tried to see if I can get some points in lieu of an expiring Hyatt night but my Globalist concierge shot me down so I booked a night at the Detroit/Royal Oak Royal Oak Hyatt Place, weeeeeee! I need to burn some miles returning from the Berlin Marathon in September. Other than that, not much in my end. Capital One Venture X card minimum spend is done, another 100k point stash.
Marathon training is continuing to go well, about three weeks before my next one in Toledo, Ohio. Dropping some major mileage lately. Managed a PR in a half marathon while training, about a minute lower at 1.54 hrs. These PR times are getting rarer as I get older. Certainly shooting for a major PR in Toledo, my goal this year is to run a marathon under 4 hours!
I managed to watch the Ozarks show on Netflix. The first three seasons were great, I think starting with season 4 they are kind of making it up as they string it out…
Good to see the US Men’s soccer team finally make it official to the 2022 World Cup. Today we have the 2022 World Cup draw, thoughts and prayers!
Let me leave you with this…
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I can’t argue too much with the Outer Banks as the most beautiful in NC, though I prefer the mountains myself.
Apologies for getting political but I can’t believe what Biden is doing with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while simultaneously bashing the oil companies. If you were trying to bring about higher oil prices in the medium to long term this is exactly what you’d do.
And speaking of the SPR yesterday I learned that we had a National Raisin Reserve until 2015 and it only ended because of a Supreme Court Case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Raisin_Reserve
Give it some time for these moves to work…I can’t believe the orange buffoon still stands by Putin and asks him for help with Hunter Biden…then again, we are dealing with a buffoon all right smh.
Had no idea about the raisin reserve, wow!
You know maybe Bilt can buy my blog so I can finally move on from here 🙂
The moves will *work*–oil prices will be lower this year than they otherwise would–it’s just that they’re working toward the wrong goal.
Anyway, here’s some more doom and gloom:
https://mailchi.mp/zeihan/the-return-of-the-third-horseman
I think the 2030s are going to be pretty awesome but I am not too optimistic about the next few years.
Stay positive NIck 🙂
I bought my first N-95 mask in January of 2020. I spent the month of February watching a slow-motion horror show where most of the world pretended covid didn’t exist and/or pretended it wasn’t a big deal, right up until that magical day in mid-March when they suspended the NBA season and Tom Hanks caught covid and everybody spontaneously realized that covid was a big deal.
That feeling I had in February 2020 is exactly what I’m feeling now looking at both the energy and food situation for the globe. Being right about covid doesn’t mean I’m right about this but I’m sticking to my guns. Normies don’t realize what’s in store for the next few years. And I’ll be delighted if I turn out to be wrong.
You could be right…or, you could be wrong. So, what are you gonna do about it?
The solution is: Diversify and stick to it by rebalancing and move on…praying for the best.
My farmer relatives back in Greece are all going to plant a lot more of that stuff that feeds people this season…
LOL, I put my money where my mouth is and un-diversified last year to energy and commodities. It’s worked out very well for me but I recommend others don’t do it.
Switching gears: today I learned that the Udmurt people of Russia have the reddest hair in the world.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29950844
There’s also a National Cheese Reserve
Yep, the cheese one made it into one of my posts here. Still…raisins? 🙂
The financial link about trading addiction was terrific! Thank you.
It might be noted that I for one am excited that we now get Delta MQM for mileage flights!
yeah, that post should have made it into a Best of Web post, oh well.
For the vast majority of Delta passengers, it is a non event. And Delta is known for injecting “positive” news to go along with another shocking devaluation that will revolt bloggers for a day and then they all go back into selling Amex plastic, rinse/repeat.
Meow! Because *churning* is an all-consuming activity that leaves little time for anything else. Maybe you only *churn* for a few hours during the day, but the market will plant roots in your subconscious. You’ll be thinking about it, even if you aren’t actively playing it.
Have you checked out wallstreetbets? Basically legal gambling. Pretty crazy stuff over there!
I peaked in the wallstreetbets once a long time ago and…could not believe what happened next! As in, never wavered back in there 🙂
Netherlands got lucky. Group E looks hard. 50% chance US moves to the next stage.
About the origin on SARS-cov2, Philipp Markolin acts like a Twitter troll married to an outcome. And that’s my challenge with most of these “scientific” experts, they act like cult member (it’s always the same folks on Twitter). A scientist should always keep an open mind and work with as much data as possible. And when it comes to the origin of sars-cov2, we lack data. And this is why there’s so much speculation and the issue won’t be settled. China did a decent job of tracking down SARS 1. But has not been transparent about SARS 2.
The major point is still, are we taking sufficient precautions to work with high risk viruses/bacteria in labs? There should be a stronger international framework. We were somewhat careless about anthrax. And after that terrorist attack, security at universities increased. There are lessons here that we are not acting on. And some of these scientist are heavily invested in an outcome (predominantly via funding but also “prestige”).
BTW, a journalistic piece from Vanity Fair about the origin of SARS-2, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03/the-virus-hunting-nonprofit-at-the-center-of-the-lab-leak-controversy/amp
Here we have Kristian Andersen (@scripps) suggesting he can completely remove an article by Dr Bloom (perhaps because it didn’t follow KA’s narrative) “ Andersen then offered to either entirely delete the preprint or revise it “in a way that would leave no record that this had been done.”
At the university level, this is unethical. Again, someone married to an outcome.
I think USA will make it to the second round. Do we play Iran in every WC or what?
>>>>>>>>>>>>About the origin on SARS-cov2, Philipp Markolin acts like a Twitter troll married to an outcome.
You know, this VF certainly acts like the writer is married to the opposite outcome 🙂
I could not read further after Redfield was recruited…that guy…will go down as the moron who kept nodding his head when Trump was talking about what a genius he was, what clowns!
I bet the VF piece makes into a DansDeals post rather than my piece, hey? 🙂
So happy to see that someone is covering Bilt honestly. Seems if you went to Moskito Island you were hypnotized or something so as to lose any semblance of objectivity. SMDH. Quoting TBB as a source in my next post…
Oh yeah….how can I forget about the Moskito island wining and dining luxurious staying for “free”!
Thanks.
Best of Web post coming tomorrow Tuesday.
So I am now + in my Twitter stock…Maybe the answer is Elon buying everything…maybe my blog too lol