


Everyone knows Google Maps (which BTW now allows you to add your local business for free), but there's more:
Preparatory works at the Howald tunnel (A1) are starting this weekend, leading to the following traffic restrictions from Friday (28.05.) 20:00h until Sunday 06:00h (source):
The actual works are scheduled to start June 28 and are going to last until November. Since there are no viable alternative routes, you'll probably be telling your grandchildren about the legendary traffic jams:
"Back when oil was still plentiful, I used to drive my car to the bank where I worked and that one summer they had to renovate the tunnel and..."
"Mom, Grandpa needs his pills! He's talking gibberish again!"
Here's the official website for the tunnel works with further information.

The City Concorde shopping center has set up a few stands where you can have your name* written in traditional Chinese characters, buy Chinese tea, try (free!) Chinese food, etc., during regular opening hours. It's not the world expo, but it's surprisingly nice. Saturday (22.05.) is the last day.

If I had any loyal readers, they'd know that I like to post BS from time to time. Side effect: I'm pretty good at identifying BS, too. So let's have a look at the signs for the imminent return of the Deutsche Mark (DM), shall we?
These signs can be divided into two groups:
1. Stuff that someone said: informants close to Merkel, overheard conversations between bankers, etc. Well guess what, I can't verify this and those who could are not making any efforts to do so.
2. Concrete signs:
2a. The new bank notes (which look just like the old ones), ready for distribution: fake, original image is here. Got to admire the effort, though.
2b. KITCO's "half-ready" page listing precious metals in DM? Wayback machine says that this page has been around for years. It's obviously not "half-ready", but "half broken" because it's a ghost page that's not maintained anymore.
2c. Gysi's comment. He's criticizing that politicians are just reacting to the developments, running around and throwing money at every new hole that opens in the ground [my words]. That's the context. Then he says: "There's a lot of confusion and I don't know what will happen next Friday, but something's going to happen so I'll see you again then." Something is going to happen, again, like it does all the time. What exactly? He doesn't know, nobody knows.
2d. Invoices which show the former currency in anticipation of its return together with the euro (like this one): some companies never stopped writing invoices like this, particularly in France (Pixmania is a French company). Also: old exchange rate.
I have friends who still calculate in LUF. OMG, that means they're in on the top secret plan! I'll go interrogate them later and should they eventually just turn around and walk
away this can only mean one thing: they know everything but were sworn to secrecy!
2e. Armored convoy transporting money: I don't see any DM in that video.
2f. DENIC name server meltdown on Wednesday: I admit it, for a moment I thought about running to the BCL and buying whatever gold coins they still have. However, after an hour and a half the German internet was back to normal. Sure, if you're planning something like a surprise currency replacement it'd be nice to have an internet blackout. However, you wouldn't want to try this out a few days earlier, first upsetting all the crazies and then giving them a chance to write down the IP addresses of their favorite websites so that they won't be affected when you repeat the procedure a few days later. Makes no sense. Nice adrenaline spike, though.
I'm absolutely not saying that the Euro's going to last forever. There is, however, no proof and no convincing indication that the DM is about to return this weekend. What we're witnessing here is what psychologists call "scenario fulfillment"- people see what they expect.
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