How Chicago Sold Their Parking Meters to the UAE (and Lost BILLIONS); 25 Countries Ranked by Happiness; Map of Russia’s Territorial Expansion (1300-1991)
PLUS How many Arabic words made it into your language? (we have a map)
How the UAE Bought All the Parking Meters in Chicago
From NoCapCapital:
This is apparently a very old story, but it’s new to me and it’s going viral on the internet rn so here you go. 😁
👮♂️ FACT CHECK:
This was not actually a deal between Chicago and the UAE. It was a deal between Chicago and a consortium called Chicago Parking Meters LLC, which was led by Morgan Stanley.
Pretty much right after the deal went down, Morgan Stanley started selling their stake in the consortium to a UAE sovereign wealth fund (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority). Within a year the UAE owned most of the shares.
🧨 What really happened:
2008: Sold for $1.15 billion.
By 2023: The consortium had already collected over $1.5 billion in revenue.
Total projected revenue over 75 years is estimated to be $10–20 billion.
I had ChatGPT run some numbers:
👉 I posted this story on IG and a lot of people are blaming Mayor Daley for making a stupid deal. Reports do seem to say he led the deal and Chicago is kinda known for their corruption, so it does make you wonder.
I say we call Lori Lightfoot out of retirement and put her on the case.
In a way, it kinda feels like Chicago got belt-and-roaded by the UAE. 😅
Russia’s Territorial Expansion, 1300-1991
From u/Auri_Nat:
🧭 How Russia Acquired Alaska:
In 1741, Danish explorer Vitus Bering, sailing for Russia, reached Alaska’s coast.
From the European perspective, this was a “discovery,” but in reality, it was the beginning of colonization in a place that was already populated.
Russia claimed the territory, established settlements, and began fur trading, especially for valuable sea otter pelts.
💸 Why Russia Sold It:
By the mid-1800s, Alaska was hard to defend and not very profitable.
Russia feared it could lose Alaska to Britain (via Canada) in a future war.
In 1867, they sold it to the U.S. for $7.2 million (or 2 cents per acre), thinking it was better to cash out than lose it for nothing.
At the time, Americans called it “Seward’s Folly” — but it turned out to be a bargain, especially after gold and oil were discovered.
🧠 Russia selling Alaska to the US for pennies kinda reminds me of that time Chicago sold their parking meters to the UAE.
RANKED: Happiness By Country, 2021 to 2025
From Axios:
Three takeaways:
Northern European countries continue to lead the world in happiness.
USA is kinda in the dumps.
Costa Rica making big jumps.
The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry
From Bloomberg via Trendline:
I do miss Blackberry keyboards. They were so snappy. Could type faster and more accurately.
The Arabic Influence on Global Vocabulary 🌎
Fascinating map from languages.eu:
Jamás creí que existían tantas palabras árabes en español.
👉 Couple of interesting comments from Reddit:
🎶 Banger of the Day
Cajmere is on of the OGs of Chicago house music. He’s got another track called Brighter Days that gets a lot of play, but this one is my personal favorite.
SIDE NOTE: On Instagram, we pair each post with a song that bangs. A lot of people don’t know that we have a comprehensive Spotify playlist with every song we ever played. Click here to check it out. 🎶