Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as Vanguard and ETFs clean up, 12X bet on AI, Iran’s future, great AMEX and Alaska Airlines offers, the strangest book in history, the ozempicization of the economy, smartphones get all the blame, orgasmic meditations, Iran war rippling across the world, so much winning, the most embarrassing art heists, 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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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.
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BLOG HOUSEKEEPING
This is truly a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it while it lasts.
In case you missed it, I did publish my annual post: How I Burned 1,893,248 Miles and Points in 2025.
I am really proud of my blog. And I am really tired bringing it to you paying out of my own pocket to cover the costs of running it. Let’s see what happens this month and then it will be time to evolve again. I know I have said this many times lol.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy” – Heraclitus
MUST READ GEMS
I have two gems for you today:
The Strangest Book in Harvard Library
I had never heard of this before. 100 years ago, Arthur Inman decided to write the most brutally honest and explicit diary in history—so he hired people to tell him their intimate secrets.
Inman wrote some 17 million words and filled 155 volumes (now housed in Harvard’s Houghton Library)—that’s roughly 25 times as long as the Bible—and devoted more than 40 years to his project. He started writing his diary in 1919 and continued working on it until shortly before his death in 1963.
This guy was a disturbed individual and…not going to spoil it for you, read it.
The second gem comes from a newsletter titled “Gold and Geopolitics“. Ok, love geopolitics and gold has never been my thing so I thought this was just another piece of content from a gold bug. Anyway, this particular piece captures the absolute absurdity of what we are all enduring here in the US these days, enjoy:
March, 19-21: God is a Comedian
No excerpts, read the whole thing.
PERSONAL FINANCE
In my real job (blogging is not it!) I have been using all ETF portfolios to manage clients’ money and of course my own. For over 20 years now. And taxes is a big reason why that is: Why ETFs Win the Tax Battle Over Mutual Funds.
Kyla Scanlon with several thoughts about what is going on, especially among the younger generations: The Ozempicization of the Economy. I must admit I can’t keep up with what’s going on with the younger generations, like wtf is looksmaxing and manosphere and shit like that, etc.
Everyone is chasing after the gold. Everyone is trying to strike rich, easily and quickly, to “get in on the next big thing and hope for the best”…
If you did not stop investing during the last mega crash almost 20 years ago, you have done well. As a Vanguard investor for my own and my clients’ money we have been incredibly grateful looking back. This allows me to still work on this blog after so many years, I can assure you it is not the money lol. Anyway: Vanguard Investors Cleaned Up. Oh yeah…
On an asset-weighted basis, Vanguard’s equity funds returned 12.6% per year over the decade ended Dec. 31, 2025.
But what appears to have set Vanguard apart is its fund investors largely staying put and, thus, participating more fully in their gains. [Behavior is key always]
Top Marginal Income Tax Rates by State in 2026.
CRYPTO/TECH/SCAMS
We like to blame the smartphone for many bad things these days. And deservedly so imho. But maybe we are overdoing it? Is the Smartphone Theory of Everything Wrong? A Comprehensive Investigation. Maybe we can agree on four big truths about smartphones:
1. Smartphones and social media are hard to study well. This basic fact cuts two ways. It means SToE crtitics can overstate the evidence, but it also means the evidence can understate the real effect of phones.
2. There’s something weird about America—and, maybe, the entire English-speaking world.
3. People overrate phones’ effect on misinformation—and underrate their effect on information.
4. The biggest problem with smartphones isn’t what’s on the phone, but rather what’s not on the phone.
I remember them, I guess time finally came for sentencing and boom, lock them up! Founder of ‘orgasmic meditation’ company gets nine years in prison in forced labor conspiracy. I must admit “orgasmic meditation” sounds very appealing?
They never stop: March 2026 Ponzi Scheme Roundup. Nothing uncommon here, same old fraudsters doing fraud. Also, do NOT ever fall for this, ok? There is never zero risk and guaranteed returns in investing!
He collected more than $3 million from investors, promising zero risk and a guaranteed return.
AI
There is no way to keep up with all the AI developments. Oh wait, maybe there is. Enter the AI News Aggregator, I like the daily Executive Summary a lot. Make sure you click on “jump to the latest” to get to the latest one.
Huge amounts of money is being spent on AI: The 12x Bet on AI.
For every dollar hyperscalers earn from AI today, they’re spending twelve dollars to build more capacity. That’s the bet embedded in $575 billion of capital expenditure this year.
From 2020 to 2024, hyperscalers issued an average of $20 billion in bonds annually. In 2025, that jumped to $96 billion. In 2026, it will reach $159 billion. Morgan Stanley projects $1.5 trillion over the next few years.
Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, & Oracle will spend 90% of their operating cash flow on AI data centers in 2026, up from a historical average of 40%.
Hope it works out…







Gold! Maybe? I dunno. Lots to read going through this and thanks as always. Fighting with multiple house things here myself. Not renovations but minor irritations. Thankfully the days are finally getting longer and that makes this old man smile! Always appreciate the work you do to present all this to us every week, George!
I figured that since the markets are closed on Good Friday, Trump was going to start some kind of ground operation after market close on Thursday and then conclude it at 9:29 am EST on Monday. I woke up this morning to no boots on the ground, so that’s a win I guess…
Forgot to include this in my post: Rick Steves’ Iran! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYoa9hI3CXg
You could have linked to TBB’s Iran report. What happened to yomadic?
TACO, apparently the wall street war playbook is; buy on Monday, sell on Friday. Weekends are too volatile.
WC tickets are outrageously expensive. And more games than ever.
Carl is indeed GOLD!
Thanks for the wonderful links … the tax benefits from ETFs are so dramatic that traditional mutual funds just seem weird.
did big sur and did not get the appeal. at all. granted i lived in SAN for 6 yrs.
Happy easter everyone. We were Vanguard investors until recently, let me tell you when you need good customer service they are not your go to company. We ended up having to move all our investments to Schwab as the only way we could access the funds thanks to Wells Fargo debanking us. Totally agree on your thoughts on gambling. However, unfortunately governments enjoy the lobbying by the gaming industry and are addicted to the taxes it raises. We are tracking similar to you on Hyatt this year. If our expected Thailand/Singapore happens in July we should make Globalist again but 2027 is in doubt. Only pushing through this year because we want those suite upgrades to use in Europe in 2027.
BTW have you lost a lot of weight as you are looking very thin?
Re-hyatt spend and elite nights, the spend actually carries forward from prior year. If you had $19K spend in 2025, $4K roll-over to 2026 as part of that elite night count, so spend another $1K in 2027 gets you 2 nights in 2026. Only the $15K spend for FNC is by calendar year. I was confused at first when I got elite nights from spend that didn’t add up to $5K yet so I looked into it and also confirmed with Chase.
Just watched my hometown soccer team lose to the worst team in the league with one of its worst performances ever…and I am not feeling well, so excuse me, going to be short here.
The link to the Iran video is great, thanks Nick!
Big Sur is over rated I agree.
Best place to hold Vanguard investments are at Schwab 🙂 Vanguard’s customer service is legendarily bad. Trying to maintain weight under 175 lbs and it would be easy if I stayed away from free Hyatt breakfasts, airline lounges and business class airline food lol.
Thanks Elena, for clarifying that! I went back and tracked it now and it makes sense, only $1,131 away from another 2 Hyatt elite nights.
Hey Buzz,
Great links this week, thank you as always.
Currently watching my boys lose to Southampton, and waiting to see if they collapse again this year on all fronts.
Excited about the important game today, at least for you and I. Hopefully will be a close, well played adventure.
Elena, thanks for the heads up!
Enjoy the games today Buzz!
UofM BB team has been on a giant roll all year long, one more to go! I still remember back in 1989 celebrating the national championship when I was a young man lol.
Arsenal must quit collapsing one of these years.
I am more proud of the Detroit Pistons, what a turnaround. Of course it would mean nothing if we don’t win a playoff series, it’s been soooo long.
Everyone is depressed back in my hometown, it happens after each AEL FC loss. Yesterday’s performance was so embarrassing. Wednesday’s game is a MUST win or we will likely not escape relegation.
Happy Easter!
BREAKING NEWS: YOU CAN NOW OPEN BANK ACCOUNTS WITH AI AGENTS. TOTAL GAME CHANGER ONCE I FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT. OR MAYBE NOT, I DON’T KNOW.
https://www.meow.com/mcp
(yes, this is a legitimate site and it’s really called meow. no, I don’t know why they called it that.)
Yeah, there will be more like this showing up…
What a dumb name though, wow. The tiny print at the bottom, this is from an RIA!
I think I am going to pass for now 🙂