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TIL that a stunning $12 trillion — almost 40 percent of all foreign direct investment positions globally — is completely artificial; it consists of financial investment passing through empty corporate shells with no real activity.

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JYVOl TIL that 84% of the world’s rough diamonds and 50% of the world’s polished diamonds pass through the Belgian city of Antwerp, which houses 4 diamond exchanges and over 1700 registered diamond traders in an area of less than one square mile
QJn6p TIL During the first SARS epidemic in 2002-2004, to help revive the economy Toronto hosted a concert called SARSstock which was attended by 500,000 people and headlined by The Rolling Stones , AC/DC, Justin Timberlake, Rush and others. It is the largest outdoor ticketed event in Canadian history
e0KE TIL the security director for Morgan Stanley in the WTC predicted airliners crashing into the towers, drew up a detailed plan accordingly, and used it to swiftly evacuate all but 13 of 2700 Morgan Stanley employees and hundreds more. He died when the buildings collapsed.
epd6L TIL Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac play on Werewolves of London. Warren Zevon and his band wrote the song, but Jackson Browne and T Bone Burnett performed it before he did.
6E4jX TIL Yugoslav people still exist. Most of them were of mixed descent, being unable to identify as part of any specific ethnicity. Thus they chose to identify as “Yugoslavs”, and stuck with it.