Interesting Fact - Forex

According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures. 2.45 trillion dollars, nearly 30 percent of the global total of 8.09 trillion dollars of money in the world is held by China.

(I wonder what they're going to do with it all.  Buy something nice for the kids I hope.)

Interesting Fact - Money

According to a Bank of International Settlements' report, the global foreign exchange market turnover has 90 percent to some four trillion dollars by April 2010 from 3.3 trillion dollars three years earlier.

(Britain is still the world's largest foreign exchange (Forex) centre with 36.7 percent of the total trade, followed by The United States, second with 18 percent, and then Japan with six percent.  I wouldn't even know how to start.)

Interesting Animal - Magpies

According to a survey by Opinions Matters, in association with London Wildcare Trust,  the most unpopular animal in the garden is the magpie.

(Almost 29 per cent of British people surveyed believe they are a menace that destroy the nests of other birds.   However, according to the RSPB old magpie nests are often used by protected species, such as long-eared owls in rural areas and blackbirds in suburban areas, so it's swings and roundabouts really.)

Interesting Place - Wales

Wales holds the record for the number of people dressed up as Smurfs at any one time - 2,510, in Swansea.

The majority of the participants were students from the local university, and they crammed into the Oceana nightclub to almost double the previous record of 1,253.

Interesting Place - Ipswich

Ipswich, in the UK, is home to the oldest circle of church bells in the world.

(There are five of them, the oldest of which were cast in the 1440s. They are housed in St Lawrence Church where they are known locally as Wolsey's Bells, after Cardinal Wolsey, the adviser to Henry VIII. I wonder if they rang out after he'd had his head chopped off.)