UMTRI wins Research Award for Connected Vehicles Program
As mentioned in a previous post, Metro Delivery vehicles are being SECRETLY TRACKED by UMTRI in a groundbreaking research project to improve vehicle safety.
For this massive collaborative effort, UMTRI just won the “Deal of the Year” Award from annarbor.com in the Research category. We can’t imagine that it’s easy to win an award for research in Ann Arbor, what with all the research going on. But this study is so huge, and unique, and important that we’re not surprised it took the prize.
Congratulations to our friends at UMTRI! We’re proud to be a part of this amazing study!
Proposition 3: Good for Business, Good for Michigan
Metro Delivery has been meeting with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters to demonstrate our enthusiastic support of renewable energy and Proposition 3 on the November 6 ballot.
Proposition 3 is an initiative that would increase Michigan’s use of renewable energy sources- like solar and wind power- to 25% by 2025. Currently, Michigan is committed to 10% renewable by 2015, and is on target to achieve that.
Right now, Michigan gets around 60% of its total energy from coal, imported from other states (for which we pay 1.7 billion dollars annually!). Renewable energy will allow us to reduce our dependence on those outside sources, while reducing the amount of deadly mercury that we’re currently pumping into the atmosphere and precious waterways of Michigan.
In exchange for this, what do we get? Maybe as many as 94,000 new jobs in Michigan. And maybe a better future for our children. Utility companies are running a well-funded campaign to defeat this proposal, and retain their ability to continue using the same old cheap, dirty energy sources that have us in a position where most fish from Michigan’s inland lakes and streams are so contaminated with mercury that you’re not supposed to eat them more than once a month.
If it sounds expensive to increase our use of renewable sources, know that the proposition includes language that forbids utility companies from increasing consumer costs by more than 1% annually (average $1.25/month for most consumers) to transition. If you don’t believe in the technology, please look into the tremendous results that Germany has achieved with renewable sources.
Michigan, with its amazing, pristine natural resources, is uniquely poised to step forward and assume appropriate responsibility to protect the environment for future generations. please don’t miss this opportunity to stand up for our air, our water, and our children.
Metro Delivery encourages you get out on November 6 and to vote YES! on Proposition 3.
Metro Looks Forward to the New International Trade Crossing
Metro Delivery attended a terrific presentation by Dr. Roy Norton, Canada’s Consul General in Detroit, regarding the new Detroit/Windsor bridge project now finally, finally moving forward.
Metro has operating authority in Ontario for deliveries to and from the U.S., and all the time we’re carrying time-critical deliveries back and forth over the 83-year-old-Ambassador Bridge, with the 8-10,000 other trucks daily, through all seventeen traffic lights to the freeway through the long-suffering downtown of Windsor. Take our word for it, we could use another bridge that connects directly to the freeway.
Click on the “NITC” link below for a printable PDF of the information sheet from the Consulate General of Canada which was distributed at the meeting; it has a lot of clear information on the new bridge.
We are really looking forward to a second bridge, as are many of our clients, waiting for supplies and parts to keep their factories and businesses productive and on line- let’s hope the new International Trade Crossing proceeds with all possible speed, despite the well-funded campaign being waged against it.
Thanks to the A2Y Chamber for this informative event! Here’s the article from Ann Arbor.com .
Chihuahua Warning Sign
Having recently added Hector the chihuahua to the Metro menagerie, we found the posting of this warning sign necessary after a couple of close calls due to Hector’s diminutive stature and our fast-footed working environment…
We offer the sign to all other 
chihuahua owners, to print & display, in hopes of reducing chihuahua risk for the general public.
Click on the image for a printable copy!
Metro Delivery Trying to Make Vehicles Talk to Each Other
The University of Michigan Transportation research institute had a big soiree this Morning to launch the largest study ever done on Smart Vehicle Technology- and Metro Delivery was there, as a volunteer participant in the study.
Metro delivery vehicles- and soon several thousand other vehicles belonging to local individuals and businesses- are being equipped with special UM-designed tracking devices that communicate with traffic signals, landmarks, and other vehicles, to gather data.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was on hand to express the Federal Government’s support for the study, which everyone hopes will result in drastically reduced accidents and enhanced fuel efficiencies.
Imagine traffic lights that turn green because you’re coming towards them, or a warning from your dashboard when collision is imminent. Imagine your car knowing when there’s been an accident 500 yards ahead on a dark wet highway, and you can immediately begin to grasp the implications for public safety. Imagine a car that can listen to the other vehicles on the road and take their advice to reroute you around traffic jams and you start to think about the tremendous savings in fuel economy. We’re proud to be a part of it!
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder stood to proclaim himself a “nerd” in support of the project and Congressman John Dingell drew a large hand of applause when he said that he looked forward to a day when not only vehicles but also people could communicate with each other.
The system was demonstrated to local members of the Media, who were given test drives in vehicles equipped with the technology.
Metro thanks our friends at UMTRI for the opportunity to be a part of this exciting study of developing vehicle-to-vehicle technology! Pictures below!
Metro Delivery’s Penguin to Race Ducks
The 2012 Ypsilanti Heritage Festival is this weekend, and Metro Delivery will be participating in the A2Y Chamber’s Corporate Duck Challenge for the first time ever. The A2Y Chamber provides a Plastic Decoy Duck to customize:
fig. 1: corporate duck
But they don’t give you a lot of design direction. After internal debate about how to decorate the duck, we had to send the following request to the A2Y Chamber for clarification:
Dear A2Y Chamber:
As we at Metro Delivery prepare to customize our Corporate Duck for the A2Y Chamber Corporate Duck Challenge at the Heritage Festival in Ypsilanti, questions have arisen about specific limitations that may be imposed on the project, hypothetically.
Is there any reason to believe the following enhancements may disqualify our duck?
1. Remote Control Engines or Propulsion Rockets
2. Trained Mice inside on a paddlewheel or rowing, galley-style
3. Proximity-Triggered machine guns and/or flamethrowers
4. The substitution of an actual duck for the plastic one provided
Although there is little likelihood that our final design will incorporate all or any of these accessories specifically, Metro Delivery’s Corporate Policy requires that we clearly define the extreme parameters of a challenge, in order to achieve best results- and to prepare defenses and contingencies, i.e. if a competing duck will be firing torpedoes, we may choose to armor our Corporate Duck’s undercarriage.
We look forward to the event on August 19th, and thank you and the A2Y Chamber for sponsoring and coordinating the Corporate Duck Challenge!
Sincerely,
Metro Delivery
…the A2Y Chamber was quick to respond that motors and explosive devices were prohibited, which was a little disappointing.
Evidently any other modifications are fair game however, so we went with our TRUE SECRET PLAN: We replaced their Duck with our trained Company Penguin, Presto. Bet they never saw that coming.
fig. 2: corporate penguin
Extensive testing of his swimming ability was performed in the Metro Delivery kitchen, and Presto performed admirably.
fig.3: corporate penguin flotation test
As a coup de grâce we gave him a package to deliver to the finish line, as incentive.
fig 4: penguin, loaded.
Come on out to Riverside Park in Ypsilanti this Sunday 8/19/2012 to cheer for Metro’s duck! er, penguin! Race starts at 3:30 PM!
Race results next week! We think Presto will do great- unless the herring are running.
Things Learned Between Stops: Mercurial Fashions & Accessories
The God of Messengers, Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) wore a snazzy hat called a PETASOS, adorned with wings, as modeled here on Presto the Metro Penguin.
Mercury also is frequently depicted as wearing winged shoes.
On the evidence, Mercury had an obsessive focus on style that required wings on everything, or he wouldn’t wear it at all.
Mercury carried a (winged) snaky scepter called a CADUCEUS, the traditional staff of Heralds & Messengers.
The impressive image of the caduceus, two snakes intertwined around a rod surmounted with wings, has been appropriated as a logo by various modern Medical Institutions, who’ve confused it with the ROD of ASCLEPIUS, which is a stick with one measly snake tied around it.
Metro Delivery respectfully calls for the restoration of the caduceus to the Couriers, who are its rightful bearers.
The Long and the Short of Metro Canine Companions
Metro’s newest hire, Hector, considers climbing Ozzie, the Burmese Mountain.
Video and Pics from the 2012 Ann Arbor Jaycees 4th of July Parade with METRO DELIVERY
Metro Delivery: 2012 Jaycees 4th of July Parade In Ann Arbor, MI from Metro Delivery on Vimeo.
It was 101 Degrees! We delivered 804 Beachballs! We won 3rd place in the Parade! Hooray for the Glorious 4th!
