Topic: Western Union

Mimi Smith-Dvorak compares the AI revolution to her grandfather's experience as a shoemaker during the transition to steam power. She recounts her own history as a teletype and keypunch operator, describing a night when her office accidentally received a message from Henry Kissinger intended for the White House. The FBI eventually arrived to seize the sensitive transmission in a black suitcase.

A major fire at an OVH data center resulted in one building burning to the ground, narrowly missing servers used for the show's infrastructure. This event prompts a comparison to the 1860s telegraph industry, where competitors like American Telegraph and Western Union frequently sabotaged each other by chopping down poles. The discussion explores the possibility of modern physical sabotage among cloud providers like Amazon and OVH, noting that OVH offers cheaper services similar to Amazon's infrastructure.

Sir Anonymous of Dogpatch provides a substantial donation and a note predicting that President Trump will use the Justice Department to pursue litigation and fines against pharmaceutical firms that moved production to China. Adam Curry also provides an update on efforts to repair the broken search functionality for the show's notes.

A donor named Tiffany Fiedler contributed $333.33 ahead of her upcoming brain surgery for trigeminal neuralgia, also known as the "suicide disease." The condition causes excruciating electric-shock sensations in the face. The segment includes a "health karma" mix and a satirical Al Sharpton clip regarding the Trayvon Martin case.

John C. Dvorak draws a historical parallel between modern pipeline competition and the "telegraph wars" of the 1860s. He describes how companies like Western Union would send goons to cut down competitors' poles. This historical context is used to emphasize the importance of independent communication methods like ham radio in the face of corporate sabotage.

Western Union has reportedly stopped accepting money transfers to Haiti due to delivery guarantees, raising concerns about the effectiveness of text-based donations. In Brooklyn, the District Attorney sent seven truckloads of confiscated counterfeit designer clothing from brands like Nike and Chanel to earthquake victims. The hosts question the utility of luxury knockoffs in a disaster zone.