Fresh factoids

These are both from Forbes. (1) Western Union and Orlando Valuta are corporate siblings. There's a great timeline for Western Union from the very beginning. It was surprising that Telex was Western Union; Teletype, American Telephone and Telegram. Both are teleprinting and used the Beaudot code. Those things wer so clunky! Banks are only just now realizing how much business is represented by cross-border funds transfers. Unfortunately FinCEN wants banks to make people show identication before making such transfers. Western Union and other money-transfer businesses do not require a show of i.d. by the sender. (2) The Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor is privately owned. This is perhaps the busiest border bridge and is extremely important because of the interlocking automobile- and parts-manufacturing businesses on either side of the border. The Canadians keep a list of border bridges and waits.