UPS Trucks (Mostly) Don't Turn Left, Saving Them 10 Million Gallons of Gas Per Year

Interesting article from Priceonomics: I've excerpted at lot of it below - go there for the whole thing.

In 2004, UPS announced a new policy for its drivers: the right way to get to any destination was to avoid left-hand turns. 

When better tracking systems emerged in 2001, the package delivery service took a closer look at how trucks performed when delivering packages. As a logistics company with some 96,000 trucks and several hundred aircraft, much of UPS's business can be distilled to a series of optimization problems around reducing the amount of fuel used, saving time, and using space more efficiently. 

UPS engineers found that left-hand turns were a major drag on efficiency. Turning against traffic resulted in long waits in left-hand turn lanes that wasted time and fuel, and it also led to a disproportionate number of accidents. By mapping out routes that involved "a series of right-hand loops," UPS improved profits and safety while touting their catchy, environmentally friendly policy. As of 2012, the right turn rule combined with other improvements -- for the wow factor, UPS doesn't separate them out -- saved around 10 million gallons of gas and reduced emissions by the equivalent of taking 5,300 cars of the road for a year.

If you don't believe it, well, that's why Mythbusters exists. The program sent a truck out to deliver packages following a normal route and a left turn hating UPS route. They found the UPS approach saved gas but took a bit longer:

Mythbusters likely failed to save time on the route by following the rule even more stringently than UPS. While the no left turn rule has an appealingly simple and algorithmic quality to it, you will see UPS drivers take left turns on occasion, especially in residential neighborhoods without much incoming traffic. Asked how often UPS drivers turn right, a driver told ABC:

"A guesstimate, I would probably say 90%. I mean we really, really hate left turns at UPS."

Since UPS uses software to map out routes, it can send drivers on right turn heavy routes while making exceptions when a left turn is easier and faster. As an amicable senior VP of the company said in an interview about the rule, "That's why I love the engineers, they just love to continue to figure out how to make it better."

Friday links

UPS Trucks (Mostly) Don't Turn Left, Saving Them 10 Million Gallons of Gas Per Year.

Scientists provide comprehensive breakdown of how much people poo in their lifetime.

Famed archaeologist forged murals, inscriptions for decades.

How Do You Make Beer in Space?

Astronauts return to earth with altered DNA.

London Weather in the Late Seventeenth Century.

ICYMI, Thursday's links are here, and include high-tech forgery (a computer-generated 'Rembrandt' painting), Middle School reading lists 100 years ago vs. today (plus a 1912 test for eighth graders in Kentucky), the Florida town where people cut off their appendages for insurance money, and, for William Shatner's birthday a Star Trek/Monty Python mashup.

Videos of violence against marshmallow peeps, including peeps vs. .50 Caliber Rifle Parts 1 and 2

Marshmallow peeps vs. .50 Caliber Rifle Part 1:



Part 2:



10 Ways to Kill Marshmallow Peeps (Microwave Included!):

Peeps in a vacuum chamber:

Thursday links

It's William Shatner's birthday: here he is in 1978 'singing' Rocket Man, plus a Star Trek/Monty Python mashup.

Sold: Isaac Newton’s Notes on the Philosopher’s Stone. It was a long time before anyone admitted that he was interested in alchemy.

High-tech forgery: Computer-generated 'Rembrandt' painting unveiled.

"Nub City" - the Florida town where people cut off their appendages for insurance money.

Middle School Reading Lists 100 Years Ago vs. Today. Related: Check out this test for eighth graders in Kentucky dated 1912.

Moldy beer and pungent salt beef: a 17th c. sailor’s diet

ICYMI, Tuesday's links are here, and include science and myths of the vernal equinox, Silicon Valley billionaires prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand, a message written by cows that could be seen from space (the message, not the cows), and a TED video classic from 2005: How To Tie Your Shoes.

Tuesday links

Spring is here - The vernal equinox is on March 20th at 12:15 PM EDT. Here's Vivaldi, science, myths, "spring spheres" and more.

Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand. Related: Google founder's flying taxis secretly tested in New Zealand.

100 years later, the question remains: What happened to the USS Cyclops?

A TED video classic from 2005: How To Tie Your Shoes.

"Since sixt week j learn the Englich and j do not any progress": While imprisoned on St Helena, Napoleon started learning English.

These Cows Wrote a Message That Could Be Seen From Space.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include Saint Patrick’s Day, some guys changing tires while driving, the linguistic evolution of "dagnabbit", and the difficulties inherent in coastline measurement.

Spring is here! Here's Vivaldi, science, myths, "spring spheres" and more

Spring is here! Some miscellaneous stuff:

Science of the equinox. More here and here (this one is from 2013, so the time is wrong).

No, you can't balance an egg during the equinox. Or a broom.

This video on the mechanism of the seasons is kinda grade-school level, but for that reason it's simple and complete:

Informative 2 minute NatGeo video:



The Four Seasons - "Spring" - Concerto # 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, played by Itzhak Perlman:


       

     Allegro

        Giunt' è la Primavera e festosetti                    Here comes the Spring, and festively
        La Salutan gl' Augei con lieto canto,               The birds salute her with a merry song
        E i fonti allo Spirar de' Zeffiretti                      And fountains, to the whispering Zephyrs,
        Con dolce mormorio Scorrono intanto:            With sweet murmurings flow all the while.
        Vengon' coprendo l' aer di nero amanto           Advancing o'er the heavens is a black canopy
        E Lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti              With lightning and thunder to announce her.
        Indi tacendo questi, gl' Augelletti;                   Then, when they go silent, the little birds
       Tornan' di nuovo al lor canoro incanto.             Return anew to their cheerful song.

                               

    Largo

       E quindi sul fiorito ameno prato                       And later in the lovely flowering fields
       Al caro mormorio di fronde e piante                 To murmurings of fronds and leaves
       Dorme 'l Caprar col fido can' à lato."                The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog beside.

                   

    Allegro

       Di pastoral Zampogna al suon festante            To the rustic bagpipe's festive sound
       Danzan Ninfe e Pastor nel tetto amato             Nymphs and shepherds dance

       Di primavera all' apparir brillante.                     'Neath heaven's canopy,

                                                                                 And Spring appears so brilliantly.

                     

                                         - Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

                                           (Le quattro stagioni, "Primavera")* 

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet, drink, and botanical medicines. 

~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) (Journals, entry for 23 August 1853)

  

Today is the vernal equinox, heralding the coming of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. At the vernal equinox, the sun appears to cross the celestial equator from south to north, and for a brief period shines directly on the equator, yielding equal length for day and night in virtually all parts of the world. Although most people my age grew up thinking that spring always began on 21 March, none of the vernal equinoxes for the rest of this century will occur in the Americas after the 20th of the month. American humorist Ogden Nash (wiki) noted in "Like a Rat In a Trap,"

After various guesses at last I've guessed
Why in spring, I feel depressed.
When the robins begin to play
Summer is just a step away.

Then hardly the summer has commenced
When autumn is what you're up against,
And once that autumn has muscled in on you
Winter is waiting to begin on you.

So spring isn't spring, but otherwise,
Just a prelude to winter, which I despise.

The two revolutions, I mean the annual revolutions of the declination and of the centre of the Earth, are not completely equal; that is the return of the declination to its original value is slightly ahead of the period of the centre. Hence it necessarily follows that the equinoxes and solstices seem to anticipate their timing, not because the sphere of the fixed stars moves to the east, but rather the equatorial circle moves to the west, being at an angle to the plane of the ecliptic in proportion to the declination of the axis of the terrestrial globe.

~ Nicolaus Copernicus

My personal favorite "spring" story:

                                   

Seattle school renames Easter eggs 'Spring Spheres': This is actually from a couple of years ago, but it's still great. On top of all the additional ways in which this is ridiculous, eggs are, of course, not spherical.

A TED video classic from 2005: How To Tie Your Shoes

Terry Moore* found out he'd been tying his shoes the wrong way his whole life. In the spirit of TED, he takes the stage to share a better way - an example of extraordinary results from small changes.

(Historical note: This was the very first 3-minute audience talk given from the TED stage, in 2005.)

*Terry Moore is the director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews

From the TED summary: 

At 50 yrs old, Terry discovered he (and most people) have learned to tie their shoes wrong. If you pull on the laces at the base of the knot, the incorrect common knot will turn vertically along the shoe. This is a weaker form of the bow.

The key is when turning around the loop, go the opposite way to normal. This will yield a stronger knot, and will make it align across the shoe.

As Terry concludes, sometimes a small advantage sometime in life will yield extraordinary results.