There is no rhyme or reason what appears here other than to satisfy the mission of TBB: To entertain, educate and inspire. Excuse the Amazon affiliate link above, I earn enough for a latte at Starbucks every week or two thank you!
I took a picture of this showing a comparison of the Delta and United Elite Threshold requirements:
This was an interesting read. The FTC’s Revised Endorsement Guides. I quote some interesting excerpts with my inflammatory commentary in brackets:
“…the financial arrangements between some bloggers and advertisers may be apparent to industry insiders, but not to everyone else who reads a blog. Under the law, an act or practice is deceptive if it misleads “a significant minority” of consumers. So even if some readers are aware of these deals, many readers aren’t. That’s why disclosure is important.” [Duh! I would love to see a study how many people who click on an affiliate credit card link are aware of these deals, and more importantly, their estimate on how much $$ goes to the bloggers for each app! Hey Chris Elliott, this is right up your alley!]
“We’re not monitoring bloggers and we have no plans to.” [Oh great, how comforting for you to let us know. So, it appears, it is the Wild West all over again?]
“Do I have to hire a lawyer to help me write a disclosure? No. What matters is effective communication, not legalese” [Mega LOL…Just take a look at some of the disclosures of some of the “Blogs I Ignore“. Some lawyers got paid very well. Legalese up the wazoo!!!]
“Would a button that says DISCLOSURE, LEGAL, or something like that be sufficient disclosure? No. A button isn’t likely to be sufficient. How often do you click on those buttons when you visit someone else’s site? If you provide the information as part of your message, your audience is less likely to miss it.” [hahahahahahahahahahahahaha…What? Provide it in every message, are you serious? But that would hurt conversions…Oh, these government bureaucrats obviously don’t have any idea about us entrepreneurs…#sarcasticagain]
“As for where to place a disclosure, the guiding principle is that it has to be clear and conspicuous. Putting disclosures in obscure places – for example, buried on an ABOUT US or GENERAL INFO page, behind a poorly labeled hyperlink or in a terms of service agreement – isn’t good enough. The average person who visits your site must be able to notice your disclosure, read it and understand it.” [Clear, conspicuous? Obscure places? Nah, this never happens in the miles/points blogosphere at all, what a joke!]
It looks like Capital One issued an apology to Saverocity. So I added it back on the TBB Referral Links for now.
I may start adding one personal finance article I find it satisfies TBB’s mission. So, here is one outlining The Complete Cheat Sheet to Tax Changes in 2014. From Wall St. Cheat Sheet. Comprehensive and easy to understand.
2013 Nature Conservancy Photo Contest. Wow!
18 Bookstores Every Book Lover Must Visit At Least Once. I did not know about most of them but I have been to the one below in Paris!
Amazing street art: the surreal murals by Etam Cru. At the Blog of Francesco Mugnai. Here is Etam again, I just love his art!
What I like most about the Olympics is seeing the beautiful Greek flag appear first every time!
Here is the video with the full story behind Felix Baumgartner’s 24 Mile Freefall in High Definition. Never seen before footage. This is completely mesmerizing!
As this Buzz edition was going to press…Here is my Big Crumbs $$$ Affiliate Link as this shopping portal now pays 3.5% cash back if you buy AMEX Gift Cards, take that 3% Top Cash Back! Yep, I added it to the Referral Links page too. Come on, be the first one who ever clicks on one of the links I list there! Hey, I appreciate it you guys 🙂
And I leave you with these two horrifying gifs…
A coach celebrates in a Mexican league game. Is this guy for real?
So leave it to some people on the internet who have way too much time on their hands to make fun of it. How do they dare do such a thing, what cowards! 🙂
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
Please pass my blog link to your friends and family if you think they will enjoy it too.
George
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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First?
Yes, first !!
OMG,you are first! Welcome, it’s an elite group 🙂
How soon they forget…this was not my first first 😉 !
Ooopsie, sorry about that. It is getting hard to keep track of all the firsts you know.
I knew you were always Elite 🙂
Aw, thanks! 😉
The soccer coach must’ve thought he was first here, but nope. I am.
Or not
Oh, missed it by one minute. Just to make you feel better, there were a few times someone posted “First” only to be beat by a few seconds.
Thanks for trying to be first. You try harder….like Avis!
LOL, I saw the image next to your blog in Feedly and thought it was my blog!
Same thing happened to me too 🙂
I love how the coach stops halfway to open his eyes to make sure the TV cameras are still on him…then more “spontaneous celebration”…
That gif cracks me up. Every time!
Is Greece #1 in anything good?
@Paul
yep providing some of the fines breakfast in America, who needs elite status when you have Greek dinners.
Question for fellow junkies.
What do i need to do to apply for credit after moving to a new address? How long before banks know I am there and can verify me?
@Paul: Can’t think of any right now. Oh wait, shipping. Most commercial ships belong to Greeks. Feta cheese is the best. And history…oh the history, we are number one there man! We invented civilization you know 😉
@StuckInTraffic: That is a great question! I don’t know. I put off moving for a very long time because I did not want to interrupt my cc churning pattern 🙂 I took a 6 month break after moving in 2007. It did not slow me down at all, just fyi. Anyone care to comment?
I do. 🙂
You can apply right away, but you will not be approved instantly. Be ready to submit the proof of the new address when they ask you to (they will).
@Andy what did you use for proof of address?
To answer my own question.
1) Change you address at the BANK ASPA, maybe even before your move.
2)Once you have applied, have the credit card company call your bank and verify your new address.
3) Profit
Yep. When the CC rep called I gave her the bank phone number, and she made a conference call to verify my new address.
Greek inventing civilisation? The Chinese, Indians and Mesopotamians beg to differ…
Why stop there? From the Onion “Historians Admit To Inventing Ancient Greeks”
http://www.theonion.com/articles/historians-admit-to-inventing-ancient-greeks,18209/
“”We picked Greece because we figured nobody would ever go there to check it out,” Nguyen-Whiteman said. “Have you ever seen the place? It’s a dump. It’s like an abandoned gravel pit infested with cats.”
Ouch you guys.
Here is the SNL Chart about the Greek Gods: http://screen.yahoo.com/greek-gods-000000517.html
Note to Germany: Send more money
Interesting FTC link! Thanks!
I try to keep the legalese out of travelblawg’s disclosures:
http://first2board.com/travelblawg/about/
🙂
Wow, great disclosure page indeed. My site is for entertainment purposes too you know for now until my wife gets too fed up with it lol. Thanks.
FTC guidelines are nothing but common sense. No one with enough self-respect who cares about his readers should have a problem following them.
I agree. And I am going to stop there:-)
Hey, nice trip you had recently!
I don’t think I will go to Fincon this year. You?
Hey, it was an epic trip for me since I can never afford to travel for more than a week at a time. And I will miss OZ F badly!
Don’t know about Fincon. I had fun last year, but it won’t be the same without you there. 🙂
Success kid is proud of the soccer coach.
I am scared of that guy!
Hey George!!! I’ve got a bit of fascinating news for you from the great world of internet brands and ftg!! I’ve heard via the grape vine….. but from a decent reliable source…. therell be a shakeup in ftg staffing. Internet brands has been very unhappy with the new editor’s work and is looking to kick Arianna to the curb…. like any one could blame them. the posts on ftg have been to forumlaic… i feel like i’m reading the same posts very week with just different creditcards plugged in and the other blog readers i’ve talked to have said the same exact thing or just said that they’ve stoped reading completely. I didnt realize she was doing anything on flyertalk until i was told that shed be bumped off that site too and probably even faster than ftg. know any one looking for a job cause a postings gonna go up very soon!!!
I think all IB cares about is how much $$$ the site generates. It’s all about the money and the higher revenue generator BY FAR is the credit card affiliate revenue. Everyone knows it. I personally find it sad to watch, there is some talent there that has been sacrificed for the all mighty dollar.
I think the pressure to generate $$ must be getting more intense. Perhaps to keep the chase links? Who knows and I frankly don’t care. Thanks. Time will tell, it always does.
Editors Note: The above is the opinion of TBB who proudly makes less than a dollar per day with this blog 🙂
Talent? Must have missed it…. there will be some jems between all the recycled stories…. but not much…. the Weekend stories are often the best. Gotta agree about the green $$$… but that is also true about most blogs no? [with the exception of TBB] Best as to who’ll be the next person incharge of the blog?
The talent is…elsewhere 😉
All I can tell you is it won’t be me…I don’t care how many zeros they offer me 🙂
I’m surprised no one has reminded us that cards such as the CSP [insert link], CIP [insert link] and CIB [insert link] can be used in Sochi as they waive foreign transaction fees
How many different banks do you think Gary can come up with a top 5 list for in order to get the Chase cards somewhere in the post. Before he even gets to the top 5, BAM! CSP BAM! CIP BAM! CIB
“none of the cards in this post offer affiliate credit to me, except the 3 cards that had nothing to do with the topic and which were the sole reason I made this post to begin with”
Boardingarea is getting more and more irrelevant.
Yeah, sometimes he over does it. I am sensing all of these guys must be under pressure to avoid Chase cutting them off the knees or something. Gary’s other content makes up for it, I just skip these sell/sell/sell posts…That last quote was very funny.
Hey, BA added a blog in Italian recently!
Pre first.
A year ago or so the best new deals could be found on any number of the big blogs. Now they get little if any press and not until they have been tested and perfected on FT. Saverocity is much more helpful than BA now. And I don’t know if a new 100K AMEX would be shown anywhere unless it was an affiliate link.
“Pre first” – Lol, sounds much better than last!
I probably share your sentiment about new deals. Just way too many new “expert” bloggers looking to generate clicks imho.
Speaking of 100K Amex…
My memory is not what it used to be, LOL, but from what I remember, the last 100K Amex Plat got popularized by Travel Summary (I think), who did eventually make a killing on that particular affiliate link. Nothing is wrong about it and kudos to him for being there at the right place at the right time, but it proves once again that a good intention sprinkled with a pinch of self-serving interest has yet to hurt anybody. 🙂