I hearby announce that I am also not buying Valve & Counter-Strike for £12 billion. You heard it here first!

I applaud Rowling for her hostility. Not because I agree with her, but because others say the same thing but hide it behind nicer words and those are way more dangerous, because it is harder for people not knowing much about transgender people to see the damage done, the hatred spread. With Rowling even the most uninformed people realize that it is off, wrong and bad.

If Rowling agrees with a “reasonable TERF” they have now to distance themselves from her and it is fun to watch that happen. No you can’t distance yourself from someone who just says the silent part out loud, you are in the same boat, so keep row(l)ing!

Also, most all US small to mid sized business transactions are by check.

Why? It is a bank transfer with extra steps. A check can get unreadable, get lost… No one in Germany would write a check for a permit fee or to pay a business partner. You pay online. Fast, safe, can’t get lost, easy to proof what, when to whom you have paid for years to come. And the transfer won’t get through if you do not have money on your account or are allowed to overdraw, while you can write whatever you want on a check and then run.

It is not cash or check it is bank transfer or check and the bank transfer is the safer, faster option. All they do at a bank is to scan the check and to turn it into the exact same bank transfer it could have been in the first place. All you do is adding a layer of risk by writing on a piece of paper.

I find that really funny, because many Germans still refuse to buy their groceries without cash, many like me do not own a credit card only debit cards, but no one younger than 90 uses a check. I am 58 years old and have never owned checks.

To be fair, the project was the dumbest thing I have ever seen, but it was one of the only big projects that got rid of cars completely and in that one thing it was actually refreshing and futuristic and not the same old. A walkable citiy with a fast train - I hope they keep that, but it will be the first thing to go says my cynical brain.