Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as the Great Entertainment, another Crypto crash, Moltbook AI mayhem, tiny Greenland, Bilt expose, sad cell phone statistics, retirement crisis, Vanguard cuts fees again, AI eats software, deep dive on the Iran protests, the most romantic places in each state, the best photography 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.
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts. Based on current support click trends, this blog has entered its final descent…
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We are not savage. We are not animals. We are not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans…Hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love” – Bad Bunny
MUST READ GEMS
This is probably the best read explaining what the hell is going on lately in the US. And the insane environment we are living through. And how we arrived here. Be gentle in the comments please.
The Great Entertainment
This is the Great Entertainment, the period after the Great Moderation. We are no longer in a world defined by alliances and mutual agreement. Instead we are rapidly entering a time of instability and uncertainty, driven by the appearance of success (not success itself) on TV.
I could excerpt more but I will let you enjoy this read so I can move on…
PERSONAL FINANCE
Vanguard does it again: Vanguard Cuts Fees on 53 Mutual Funds and ETFs for 2026. Lower!
If you bitch about how expensive everything is right now, well, visiting this site you can prove it: WhatShouldiSpend. Select an item from the list and the year you pretend you actually bought it and the site tells you what the price was that year, what is the equivalent in today’s dollars and the actual price today. Very useful!
Most of my clients are now retired and just a handful are still working. By choice. We are blessed that this retirement phase of life is not dependent on math anymore. But on the much more challenging softer internal challenges. Like this WSJ article so eloquently lays out: The Retirement Crisis No One Warns You About: Mattering. And oh boy it hits home I must admit.
We plan for our wealthspan and healthspan, mapping out financial security and physical well-being. Yet very few of us prepare for an equally essential dimension of retirement: our mattering span, or how we will continue to feel seen, useful and capable of making a difference in this next chapter of life.
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
Some really sad statistics here: Cell Phone Statistics 2026.
Each day, Americans spend 4 hours and 30 minutes on their mobile phones and check their phones 144 times per day.
…more than 8 in 10 teens report that they use their phones to connect with other people or learn new things. Alternatively, some teens use their devices to avoid social interaction.
Crypto is crashing and, well, who knows, this has happened several times in the past only to come back and maybe it happens again. Are we reaching the point where even this ridiculous Saylor dude starts selling its own bitcoin stash? To the moon y’all they said. Ok, whatever. Just be careful out there: The Crypto-Hoarding Strategy Is Unraveling.
This past weekend, bitcoin fell below $76,000, about the average price Strategy paid for its tokens, meaning the company formerly known as MicroStrategy was sitting on some paper losses. Shares of Strategy, which owns more than 700,000 bitcoins, fell 7% Monday and are down 61% since bitcoin touched its record high on Oct. 6. [Article is dated February 2. As of typing this paragraph I peaked at the bitcoin prices and saw $66,666 (not joking!) so my thoughts and prayers. Then again, by the time I click Publish it could be + or – $10,000 and I just don’t have the stomach for an asset this volatile, you go ahead and do not forget that you were warned ok?]
Update: As of this morning a few hours before I click on “Publish” on this post, this: Bitcoin Booster’s $12 Billion Loss Headlines Crypto’s Worst Day Since 2022 Crash.
The price of bitcoin, ether and other digital assets reached their peak in October and then began a retreat that has accelerated sharply in 2026. The decline has weighed heavily on the shares of Strategy and its many imitators. Strategy touched an unwelcome milestone Saturday. For the first time in more than two years, bitcoin fell below the average price the company paid to acquire the digital tokens. Strategy shares have fallen 68% in the past year. The stock dropped 3.1% in after-hours trading following the company’s earnings.
At least one reader likes this roundup: January 2026 Ponzi Scheme Roundup. This never fails to make me shake my head how gullible some people continue to be. And there are some entries that clearly stand out, like this guy:
Sylvein William Maximilian D’Habsburg XVII, 49, of California, pleaded guilty to defrauding elderly church parishioners and others in a Ponzi scheme that took in at least $5.9 million. He ran the scheme through Wild Rabbit Technologies LLC and BAI Intelligence LLC, claiming he had artificial intelligence technology that could predict the future and detect a COVID-19 infection based solely on a video recording. [I mean, his name is just a dead giveaway lol. And, I mean, come on, how can you fall for a claim like that?]\
Melton promised returns of 12% per month from investments in futures contracts using a proprietary trading algorithm. [Here is a tip: When you see “proprietary” anything, run away fast, you are welcome.]
AI
This has been a crazy week in AI. You know something is happening when your software engineer son reaches out to us old folks to warn us about scams that will proliferate very soon. Most coming from this Moltbook thing that just erupted out there. Moltbook is a human-free Reddit clone where AI agents discuss cybersecurity and philosophy. Sometimes the pace of change AI is inflicting is too much to even comprehend.
Moltbook might be the strangest corner of the internet right now. It’s a Reddit-style social network where more than 35,000150,000 1,146,946, 1.6 Million AI agents talk to each other without any human involvement. The visual interface exists purely for humans to observe; agents communicate entirely through the API. [I don’t dare to look at how many agents the site is up to now].
Is this a preview of how humanity begins its downfall? I don’t think so, this is all going fast and getting more weird: The Chatbots Appear to Be Organizing. Moltbook is the chaotic future of the internet. I really like how the author ended his article:
The promise of the AI boom is to remake the internet and civilization anew; encasing that technology in a social network styled after the platforms that have warped reality for the past two decades feels not like giving a spark of life, but stoking the embers of a world we might be better off leaving behind.
And speaking about a bloodbath in software. Remember the saying “Software will eat the world”, maybe AI will eat software instead? Threat of New AI Tools Wipes $300 Billion Off Software and Data Stocks.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Wow, so many missing with their cars: Map the Missing. Any case near you?
Since 2022, this site has been dedicated to tracking people who have gone missing with their vehicles. One of the few ways a vehicle can remain missing for 3+ years is if it’s underwater, and the technology to find them may be held by someone in your community. Currently, we know of around 900 cases that fit this criteria, though the true number could be a lot higher.
This YouTube channel “Asian Boss” is pretty good making in depth videos about Asia. And this is a must watch about Iran: How Iran’s Middle Class Got Wiped Out.
I bet we all use WD-40. And I also bet you did not know this, I sure didn’t: The Secret Society of People Who Know the Formula for WD-40. Even the CEO had to wait more than 30 years to get into the vault that holds the recipe for the lubricant; ‘It was like getting into Fort Knox’.
The True Size of Greenland, Compared to Most World Maps.
Greenland appears roughly the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is 14 times larger.
Greenland is the single most exaggerated territory on Earth by percentage. It is actually 73.9% smaller than is shown on a Mercator map.
TRAVEL
Sometimes I check these things out just to see what was picked for my own state of Michigan: The Most Romantic Place to Go in Every State. I am not sure I deem Sleeping Bear Dunes as romantic, just only the best place in Michigan overall.
Amazing scenery: Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China’s Wind and Solar Buildout. Meanwhile, we here are going back to coal wtf!
What a mural, wow: Maria Callas mural in Kalamata named world’s best for 2025.
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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
Here we go again.
Decent Hyatt Bonus Journeys promotion, register HERE.
Great resource to bookmark: Popular Credit, Finance & Travel hacking Abbreviations. Yours truly made it as TBB, hooray!
TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARDS
This section will have developments and news and will keep my own commentary reserved for the MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING section below.
The more I read about Bilt the more my stomach turns: Cardholders Are Mad at Bilt’s CEO. They’re Still Renewing.
Jain tells me—loudly, and more than once—that Bilt never intended to get into credit cards, by far the company’s best-known product today. [Do you believe this was not the plan all along? I sure don’t.]
His father is serial entrepreneur Naveen Jain, who in 2002 was forced out of InfoSpace, a company he co-founded with his wife, Anu Jain, amid accusations he misled investors. [I did not know this and, cough, mislead investors ha? Years later Wells Fargo was misled bigly lol].
In 2024—the same year Jain married fitness entrepreneur and influencer Erika Hammond in a lavish event set against the Pyramids of Giza…[If you google this it will shock you]
Jain maintains. “If you’re going to use our card,” he says, “it should be the best.” – LOLOLOLOLOL
I wanted to excerpt more, about his altruistic reasons to make a difference starting Bilt and now blowing money on constructing new headquarters and more. I guess I will never be invited to be wined and dined at a Bilt event, so sad #notreally.
The latest on the subject: What Works? Using Amex Airline Credits in 2026.
Positive change for us transiting Frankfurt and Munich: American Express Platinum Card Access To Lufthansa Lounges Extended To All LH-Group Flights.
Sign #459 Amex is going for all of us with deep pockets: Amex Platinum Card Increases Spend Requirement to $12,000.
NEW OFFERS:
A flurry of new offers all at once, just going to lay out the very basics. You know what to do to learn more. Please let me know if some of these offers are no longer valid.
- United Explorer: Earn 70,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles after spending $3,000 on qualifying purchases in the first three months of opening an account, plus $0 annual fee for the first year.
- United Quest: Earn 80,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles and 3,000 PQP after spending $4,000 on qualifying purchases in the first three months of opening an account.
- United Business: Earn 100,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles and 2,000 PQP after spending $5,000 on qualifying purchases in the first three months of opening an account.
- United Club Business: Earn 100,000 United MileagePlus bonus miles and 2,000 PQP after spending $5,000 on qualifying purchases in the first three months of opening an account.
175,000 IHG Rewards Premier: $99 Annual Fee, minimum spend $5k in three months.
120,000 IHG Rewards Traveler: No Annual Fee, 90,000 for $2k spend in three months and another 30,000 points for a total of $10k spend in six months.NEW
75,000 Capital One Venture PLUS $250 Travel Credit: $95 Annual Fee, $4k spend in three months. That’s at least $1,000. I got the card last year and now it is time to cancel it 11 months out. And yes I am keeping the Venture X. I never understood why people can’t do this extraction from the banks, it is not really that hard!
And we also have new Increased American Express Delta Offers, Up To 125,000 Miles (Personal & Business Gold, Platinum, Reserve).
I am also listing the other offers still going from last week below:
3X50k Free Night Certs Amex Marriott Business Card: $125 Annual Fee, $6k in first six months.
Three Avios cards (British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus) now offer 90,000 Avios Signup Bonus for $5,000 minimum spend in three months. They are all $95 annual fee cards.
New interesting offer for the personal Hyatt Visa offering 5 Free Night Certificates (Category 1-4) after a total $15,000 in the first six months (three of the five FNCs after $5k spend in first three months). I prefer World of Hyatt points offers but this could be relevant for some of you. Why? Because you can get the following night credits: 5 for having the card, 6 for spending $15k (card earns 2 night credits every $5k) and another FNC after hitting $15k. With me so far? You now have 11. If you do burn all your now 6 FNCs you are at 17! Just three away from hitting the first 20k Milestone Reward and 13 away from the next more valuable 30 Night Milestone Reward and Explorist status (where another FNC awaits you, among other goodies).
Due to credit card vendor restrictions, the only affiliate links I can place in the body of my posts are for Capital One cards. For the rest, you know what to do. You can always email me at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com with ANY questions.
EXPIRING OFFERS:
125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve/150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve for Business
We now have the refreshed AMERICAN EXPRESS Platinum & Business Platinum Cards ($895 Fee, 175k/200k Bonus, Many New Credits).
Citi now offers the 100k CITI Strata Elite card after $6,000 minimum spend. This is Citi’s premium card at a $595 annual fee. $300 annual hotel credit, $200 annual Splurge credits, $200 annual Blacklane credit, 4 annual American Airlines Admirals Club lounge passes, Priority Pass Select membership and $120 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit. Earning structure is: 12x points per dollar spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com, 6x points per dollar spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com, 6x points per dollar spent at restaurants on Citi Nights purchases, Friday and Saturday from 6 PM – 6 AM EST, 3x points per dollar spent at Restaurants any other time, 1.5x points per dollar spent on All Other Purchases. Points can now be transferred out to American Airlines. This card is a Mastercard. There is a $145 discount off the annual fee if you are a Citigold customer or have a Private Client relationship (requires over $200k with Citi). Citi Private Clients get the first annual fee waived. Citi is not an easy bank to deal with so beware. Email me with ANY questions.
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BONUS OFFERS NOTIFICATIONS
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Elevated Card Offer Notifications
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MY ACTION AND BLOG BUZZING
Amazingly, just when I had decided to retire my United Gateway card to my sock drawer, here comes yet another spending based promotion for 3x on Gas, Groceries and Restaurants until March 31, maximum 5,000 bonus United miles. Fine then, it comes out of my sock drawer, it was there for a whole 6 days lol. Waiting for 10k to be credited for a spending based promo that ended December 31, with another one that will net me another 10k already taken care of and now this 5k miles. This card just keeps on giving bonusing.
I keep track of my calendar year spend on my World of Hyatt visa. Because each $5k earns 2 qualifying night credits towards elite status. And I am baffled why I received 2 additional night credits when I was about $1.2k away from hitting $15k. When at that level I earn another Free Night Cert. Is this a glitch of some kind? Will Chase take them back? Very strange.
Wife needs to go back to Malaysia for a family event next month and award availability is just horrendously non-existent. And she wants to just lock in a ticket, we may just buy one this weekend. In the grand scheme of this hobby, along with the increasingly tough banking restrictions and endless devaluations, what hurts the most is how ridiculously hard it has become to actually use our miles and points. Especially with some of us who just can’t be that flexible. It has never been so difficult before. And this is why I am just taking a break earning more miles this year while I reevaluate everything. And starting to become more comfortable paying for travel now that we just can not rely on an endless stream of Chase Ultimate Rewards points as that gravy churning train has come to a stop after decades of paying for numerous family trips.
Next card to close is wife’s United Explorer card and my own Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card. Of course so many bloggers and YouTubers can not fully express what is happening and instead try to fool their audience so they can keep selling them plastic. But that business plan may not be working as well as it did, can’t wait for so many business men to exit this space so they can go on to sell what other shit they think they can make money on.
Very slowly catching up on posting pics/videos from our recent trip to Thailand and Malaysia. I post as my time permits these days. Actually, can’t believe I am still here blogging away…
Pics from the Hyatt Regency Koh Samui Suite & Breakfast
Some pics from around Koh Samui
Video short of son’s room at Koh Samui that had a private pool
Follow on Instagram and YouTube if you want to see more, they are coming…eventually.
Tax season is on. And so are the workers destroying my kitchen, hopefully the new one to arise will be much better. We eat out every day, life is so hard 😉
I DO have a separate page listing my affiliate links HERE including Rakuten and Top Cash Back and more.
I am giving myself a challenge to average 5 credit card sales and 15 Buy Me a Coffee sales per month. As expected, the 6 Capital One Venture X sales during December 2025 finally appeared (three were by my wife, son and daughter lol). And thanks to reader T. for finally breaking that mother of all dry streaks of non CO credit card sales here since, please sit down, December 11th, enjoy your United Business card. Apparently, he also got a Chase IHG Premier but no signs of that being credited to my account yet. For that idiot who emailed to tell me he unsubscribed because my blog got too commercial, what can I say? There are some really strange people on the internet. What this blog earns barely cover its costs and it is getting increasingly more difficult to do that due to the latest banking restrictions, looking at you Jamie Dimon at Chase. Enjoy each post and understand that each credit card and coffee does keep the blog going. Because I will not keep this baby going and pay out of my own pocket to do so.
December:
Credit card sales: 8 Buy me a Coffee sales: 19
January:
Credit card sales: 0 Buy me a Coffee sales: 20
February to date:
Credit card sales: 1 Buy me a Coffee: 0
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS:
150k CHASE Sapphire Reserve Business, 125k CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 100k CITI Strata Elite, 75k AND $250 Travel Credit CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 175k AMEX Platinum, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 100k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash, 200k AMEX Business Platinum, 200k CAPITAL ONE Spark Cash Plus, 75k CHASE Sapphire Preferred, 30k CHASE United Gateway, 100k AMEX Gold, 15k AMEX Blue Business Plus and many more!
As of today, I have burned 47,515 miles/points year to date (after burning 1,893,248 miles/points in 2025 and 2,027,816 in 2024) and have 4,194,295 miles/points in the bank.
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please forward it to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
Feel free to contact me anytime at travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com, all feedback is very appreciated.
George
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Thanks for the Ponzi update! I seem to notice less scamming inside affinity groups, Madoff’s scams of Jewish connections is a paradigm, and more pure b.s. Huh.
The retirement linked piece was really interesting. Work gives approbation. Adam Smith
knew that.
I wonder how many more Ponzis are out there, this site just singles out major ones that made the news. Yeah, the softer issues around retirement are much more challenging than the math.
Running WAY behind today. Woke late and there is too much STUFF going on around here. Good links in the blog again and the next couple days I will be able to check them out. Not having a kitchen is a big PITA but I am sure once done it will be awesome. I am sure though that you are getting at least 3x per buck at all the restaurants!
Nice sunny day for once, at least for now and laundry is going plus other stuff. Still no firm travel plans but a big road trip is starting to tempt me. Thanks for another great post, George!
Yeah, kitchen—->short term pain for long term gain. Today is the last bigly cold day, going to warm up all of next week, it’s about time.
The 2 nights per $5k spend on the Hyatt personal card doesn’t reset each calendar year, it is rolling since card open date.
It is annoying to track that, I wish Chase had a counter.
Yes, this was the way it was done and it was frustrating and annoying to track it. But I was under the impression that Chase changed that to make it a calendar year basis. And I confirmed it on the Chase site in the Terms and Conditions, which state:
Earn 2 additional qualifying night credits:
Earn Additional World of Hyatt Tier-Qualifying Night Credits Each Calendar Year: You, as the primary cardmember, will earn 2 World of Hyatt Tier-Qualifying Night credits for every $5,000 in Purchases.
I am certain I did not hit $15k this calendar year so I should have earned 4 night credits and not 6.
I bet this is a glitch and of course I am not calling Chase. The thing is…my whole spend tracking now is kind of messed up.
Your kitchen is enormous. Normally that’s wonderful but when it’s being rebuilt less so. Looks like they’re making progress anyway.
Overall I’m seeing tons less award space in premium cabins but coach generally shows decent availability. Unfortunately, once you’ve grown accustomed to business class on long haul it’s not easy to revert. Have you checked space on EVA or through Europe?
The pic may be deceiving, I would not say it is enormous. Large yes. 🙂 Yes, there is progress every day, nice to see it coming together.
Done with burning miles/points on coach these days. As this currency is just not coming around as plentifully as it used to be, so sad. I am not good in burning. I still have some time left before PointsYeah membership runs out and what I get from them is just absolute crap, I mean, almost non-existent. I left an alert for economy and what I am getting is just absolutely trash, 100k United miles on economy and stuff like that. Once in a while I do a tour checking AA, UA, AS and AC and I get nada basically. And yes I don’t go for positioning flights and dates are not that flexible. I still hope something decent will pop in UA Saver awards but waiting for last minute availability to open up everywhere is definitely not as a lock as it used to be as well. Airlines have the upper hand. And now banks. We are nearing the point of “this is not worth it” anymore. Of course you would not see this at all from all the other people “in the game”/business of pumping plastic to gullible readers who fall for “Look at me in my flat bed drinking champagne and eating caviar for free” smh.
Check Toronto YYZ to Bangkok BKK on Condor with Alaska. There’s about a half dozen dates available in business for 85K Alaska miles. It won’t get her all the way there but it’ll be close anyway.
Thanks. No way she would wanna add getting to Toronto segment. We could drive actually so I can drop her off after a day or two in Toronto but not in March with possible snowstorms and still tax season. She is fine flying economy and saving the miles for later. And we are now fine saving them for business class flights and paying for economy. And we have come to terms paying for Business class flights now, almost jumped at yet another business class fare through TK but no way she would layover in IST for 22.5 hours. Will do another award search round today, thanks again.
Happened upon an article about the genetics of your countrymen!
https://www.science.org/content/article/remote-greek-culture-has-been-genetic-island-4500-years
My first trip of the year is planned! Taking the family on a short-ish road trip to Jekyll Island next month. Possibly a night in Beaufort SC as well. I’m hoping the weather cooperates… The snow was fun here but we’re about ready for some warm weather now.
Oh yeah, Mani people, we always thought of them as different 🙂
Will hit low 40’s today. And then back in the 30s for the rest of the week. In other words, we got a heatwave lol.
Road trip huh? Tried to use again miles to send wife to Malaysia and award availability continues to be absolutely horrendous. She gave up, she found herself an economy RT ticket on Turkish Airlines and bought it. It was about $1.2k but then after picking seats went up to almost $1.5k. But she loves the one stop layovers in IST instead of two stops. Best I could get her was one way in economy on the same exact flights with 55k UA miles. Which wanted 250k miles on Biz class one way LOL. Of course that was the lowest, went up to 650k or 800k UA miles, absolutely horrendous. Noticed a YouTuber doing a video saying he is canceling cards and simplifying and at the end, oh I am sponsored by an ED pill company to enhance performance. This will never happen here LOL.