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eNews 2.6.09 Vol. 18

[Detroit Transportation Revolution]
www.thenightmove.com

Reason #53 to ride the Night Move: FREE Vitamin Water!
What's your favorite reason to Night Move?

Well hello there, Night Movers!

Bus here, reporting. Happy Friday! And happy Winter Blast, which is now upon us.

Looking for an excuse to ride the Night Move?

Ride the Night Move downtown to go to the Monroe Street Bar Blast tonight! Feel free to get as drunk as you want on the bar crawl, and take your life saver (the Night Move) back home problem-free!

Be sure to stop by the Night Move Blast booth this weekend, all day today, tomorrow and Sunday bus-shaped cookies, high-fives, and the latest issue of Ambassador magazine. AND enter our karaoke contest to win a FREE night at the MotorCity Casino Hotel, courtesy of Ambassador, MotorCity, and yours truly. Check out this video for an example of how not to win.

Please note: the Night Move won't be running its regular route on Saturday night in order to provide FREE transportation between stops on the Bar Blast pub crawl.

Upcoming Culinary Road Trips from the Night Move and Taste-full Tours: February 10 is the Grocery Tour, where you'll learn how to shop like the master chef experts; and February 14 is the Pizza & Wine Lovers' Tour (for food you'll fall in love with... Sorry, the Bus has no corn filter -- see below). Book now or miss some of the chances of a lifetime. Seriously. Sign up on the Upcoming Tours page of their website.

If you missed the Chinese New Year celebration at Mon Jin Lau last week, worry not. Shanghai Wednesdays are every week, so be sure to make your appearance next week, and from now on. See you there!

If you're not already our Facebook fan, now's your chance to keep in touch and show your bus love!
And follow the Night Move on Twitter! We're just all over the social media world, aren't we? We're new age, high tech and... nerds -- don't judge us.


Now, the moment that will change your life: Click this button for hours of cornified fun:
(Courtesy of cornify.com.)

Kisses,
The Bus

Taste-full Tours in Metromix!

Check out the Night Move and Taste-full Tours in Metromix!

Culinary road trips for your eating, drinking and learning delight.

eNews 1.30.09 Vol 17

[Detroit Transportation Revolution]
www.thenightmove.com

Reason #11 to ride the Night Move:You can take the People Mover for FREE to Taste Pizzabar in Times Square! Ask your driver for details. Mm, pizza...
What’s your favorite reason to Night Move?

TGIF*, Night Movers!

Bus here, signing in. Happy Friday!

Looking for an excuse to ride the Night Move?

Take a hint from Matt, our "Year of Free Bus" winner, and ride the Night Move down to the Detroit Roller Derby, to watch those roller girls kill St. Louis at the Masonic. If you've never gone, now is certainly the time do it. Especially since you won't need a ride -- the Night Move's got you covered.

Get excited. Winter Blast is almost here! It’s February 6-8, from 11am to 9pm. Come check out the Night Move booth for bus-shaped cookies, high-fives, and the latest issue of Ambassador magazine. AND enter our karaoke contest to win a FREE night at the MotorCity Casino Hotel, courtesy of Ambassador, MotorCity, and yours truly. Guess what song you'll have to sing to win? If you can't guess it, then we can't be friends. Just kidding, I still like you. While you're Blasting, be sure to check out Bar Blast Friday and Saturday nights from 9pm to 2am. Please note: the Night Move won’t be running its regular route those nights in order to provide FREE transportation between stops on the Bar Blast pub crawl.

If you haven't booked a spot on this weekend's Taste-full Tours "Culinary Road Trip," aboard the Night Move, then you're out of luck, kiddos. The BBQ and Beer Tour is SOLD OUT. You and your sweetheart should book in advance for the Valentine's Tour on February 14, or you could hit up the Grocery Tour on February 10. Check out Ese's write-up on Metromix.com for info, and then sign up on the Upcoming Tours page of their website. Don't miss out. Seriously.

A couple more ins, outs, ups, and downs, per usual:

• Looking for more reasons to ride the bus? Go to MotorCityBlog for Detroit’s own anti-blog, always up to date on stuff you definitely need to know. And check out After 5 Detroit and Metromix for other fantastic excuses to ride the Night Move.


• As always, flash your Night Move ticket to take advantage of this stuff:
  
  • $2 off of well drinks at Mosaic
    on Fridays
  
  
  • No cover at Fifth
    Avenue, plus Night Move drink specials
  
  
  • 20% off your fare in a Michigan Green
    Cab
  
  
  • And remember: if you work at Moosejaw, Quicken, Google or ePrize, use your coupon code for a discount. Work somewhere else, but want your company to get a discount? Let us know, and we’ll work something out.

*Remember TGIF from when we were young and innocent? Full House, Boy Meets World and Step by Step all in one night?! Those were the days...

Good talk. See you out there!

Kisses,
The Bus

Free treats. Cooking tips. Culinary road trips.

Listen up folks. We have a very awesome announcement to make. The Night Move is pairing up with a company called Taste-full Tours to lead what they term, “Culinary Road Trips.” If you haven’t heard about these, prepare yourself to get excited. They’re bus tours (on the world’s greatest biodiesel-run shuttle bus, of course) run by culinary professionals. Sign up on the Upcoming Tours page of their website to check out some chefs’ little secrets -- off-the-beaten-path bakeries, homemade chocolate shops, local brewpubs and authentic international markets. You’ll get to rub elbows with shop owners, taste their specialties, and best of all, learn something. (And since the more you know, the more you grow, this is pretty much the greatest opportunity ever.)

How big is your foot?

Or rather, how big is the footprint you're leaving?

Take the quiz on ecofoot.org to see what kind of a mess you're making of our planet, and for suggestions on how to fix it.

Here's a tip from your friends at the Night Move:

Increase your public transit ridership by riding the Night Move. Your public transportation options are limited in this area, but riding the Night Move is one way to do your part for the environment. Not only are you reducing the number of individual carbon-emitting vehicles on the road, but the Night Move runs on biodiesel AND we've neutralized its carbon footprint on Carbonfund.org.

Love the Earth? Then do your part to keep it lovable.

Speaking of transportation...

Check out this Craigslist post from the "Best Of" list. It's been a Night Move fave since we first came across it in August. Copied and pasted below:

Bike for sale

What kind of bike? I don't know, I'm not a bike scientist. What I am though is a manly guy looking to sell his bike. This bike is made out of metal and kick ass spokes. The back reflector was taken off, but if you think that deters me from riding at night, you're way wrong. I practiced ninja training in Japan's mount Fuji for 5 years and the first rule they teach about ninja biking is that back reflectors let the enemy know where you are. Not having a rear reflector is like saying "FUCK YOU CAR, JUST TRY AND FIND ME".

The bike says Giant on the side because it's referring to my junk, but rest assured even if you have tiny junk that Giant advertisement is going to remain right where it is. I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler. When he sold it to me I had to arm wrestle him for the honor to buy it. I broke his arm in 7 places when I did. He was so impressed with me he offered me to be his son but I thought that was sissy shit so I said no way.

The bike has some rusted screws, but that just shows how much of a bad ass you are. Everyone knows rusted screws on a bike means that you probably drove it underwater and that's bad ass in itself. Those screws can be replaced with shiny new ones, but if you're going to go to that trouble why not just punch yourself in the balls since you're probably a dickless lizard who doesn't like to look intimidating.

The bike is for men because the seat is flat or some shit and not shaped like a dildo. If you like flat seated bikes you're going to love this thing because it doesn't try to penetrate your ass or anything.

I've topped out at 75 miles per hour on this uphill but if you're just a regular man you'll probably top it out at 10 miles per hour. This thing is listed as a street bike which is man-code for bike tank. The bike has 7 speeds in total:

Gear 1 - Sissy Gear
Gear 2 - Less Sissy Gear
Gear 3 - Least Sissy Gear
Gear 4 - Boy Gear
Gear 5 - Pre-teen Boy Gear
Gear 6 - Manly Gear
Gear 7 - Big Muscles Gear

I only like gear 6 and 7 to be honest.

Additionally, this tool of all immense men comes with a gigantic lock to keep it secure. The lock is the size of a bull's testicles and tells people you don't fuck around with locking up your bike tank. It tells would-be-thieves "Hey asshole, touch this bike and I'll appear from the bushes ready to club you with a two-by-four".

Bike is for 150 OBO (and don't give me no panzy prices)

New Year's Eve at the Hyatt

It's here: NEW YEAR'S EVE.

What are you doing tonight? Those of you heading to the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, make sure to book your seat BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. Go to thenightmove.com/booking.

Only $12 to celebrate responsibly. It's metro Detroit's green public transit -- make the resolution to be green.

Happy holidays from the New Kids

OK so this has nothing to do with our usual topics of the environment, transportation, the Night Move, and Detroit, but I came across it and had to share. It's the New Kids on the Block (minus Jon for some reason) performing "Funky Funky Christmas" on Arsenio Hall. Enjoy:

Yuck.

A plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills was using his patients' fat to make biodiesel. Yeah, I know, you want to puke. And yet, it's kind of a good idea... it was just going to go to waste, right?

Check it out on Forbes.com: "Fill 'Er Up With Human Fat."

According to the article:

Love handles can power a car? Frighteningly, yes. Fat--whether animal or vegetable--contains triglycerides that can be extracted and turned into diesel.

A gallon of grease will get you about a gallon of fuel, and drivers can get about the same amount of mileage from fat fuel as they do from regular diesel, according to Jenna Higgins of the National Biodiesel Board. Animal fats need to undergo an additional step to get rid of free fatty acids not present in vegetable oils, but otherwise, there's no difference, she says.

Um, ew. Apparently the doc and his girlfriend have fled the country because using human fat for stuff is definitely illegal, on top of the fact that he was letting the girlfriend and his assistants perform surgeries without licenses, and dozens of patients reported having too much cut off of them and "left them disfigured."

I'm totally disgusted and yet all I can do is wonder what human fat biodiesel smells like. Ew, I'm sorry.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (or) Auld Lang Syne (or) What's YOUR resolution?

The new year is upon us. Get ready to make some resolutions you'll never keep.

We thought you should know: there’s still time to book a ride for NEW YEAR’S EVE!

The Night Move is an official sponsor of both the NYE Rock 'N' Roll Ball and Eve 09, which are both at the very swanky Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn.

Celebrate responsibly this NYE by letting the Night Move be your DD -- and make your resolution to be green a resolution you’ll actually keep. SEATS ARE LIMITED, so book them while you still can at www.thenightmove.com/booking.

I get by with a little help from cow guts

So I'm not sure if this is how Clean Emission Fluids (our biodiesel supplier, located on the grounds of NextEnergy in Detroit) does it, but apparently turning corn into biofuel has gotten easier in the past year.

"An enzyme from a microbe that lives inside a cow’s stomach is the key to turning corn plants into fuel, according to Michigan State University scientists," and according to this article, on the Environmental News Network: "Cow stomach holds key to turning corn into biofuel". Um, gross?

Basically, they pull a specific gene from a cow's stomach. This gene produces the enzyme that converts grass and other food into the sugar that fuels the cow. And they've figured out how to grow corn that has that enzyme. Magicians, I tell you.

If they put it in the right place, the enzyme makes the whole corn plant is now usable for biofuel. According to the article, "If the cell produced the enzyme in the wrong place, then the plant cell would not be able to function, and, instead, it would digest itself."

Read the article for more info. It's really super cool, but for some reason talking about cows' stomachs and enzymes and things digesting themselves grosses me out.

Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! Biodiesel!

It's been a while, faithful readers, and for that we apologize. Anyway, today we'll be talking about biodiesel. Enjoy...

The Night Move runs on B20 blended biodiesel. That means 80% of it is diesel and 20% of it is biofuel. Detroit's own Clean Emission Fluids has an on-demand blender, called a F.A.ST. unit (fluids affordably stored), which is where we get our blended biodiesel. The biofuel we're currently using is made of corn. Since I don't really speak biofuel, I found this explanation of biodiesel for your enlightenment, from biodiesel.org:

Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

Biodiesel is made through a chemical process called transesterification whereby the glycerin is separated from the fat or vegetable oil. The process leaves behind two products -- methyl esters (the chemical name for biodiesel) and glycerin (a valuable byproduct usually sold to be used in soaps and other products).

Anyway, we may move to pond algae soon instead of corn. It seems logical to me to make the switch, since using algae wouldn't threaten our food supply. Read about "Why Algae Will Save Us From the Energy Crisis" this Esquire magazine article.

Stay tuned for Night Move biodiesel developments, we'll keep you posted as they occur.

Learn more about biodiesel on Wikipedia.

Things That Make You Go, "Wow!" from Inside Detroit

Have you been to Detroit's new Welcome Center?

Find it at 1253 Woodward for answers to all your metropolitan needs. Jeanette Pierce and Maureen Kearns, who run the center and Inside Detroit, are experts. They'll provide you with any information you're looking for, as well as some you're not. They also organize walking tours and pub crawls to open people's eyes to the culture, history and a worthwhile perspective of the city.

Yes, that's right, pub crawls: turn getting drunk into a learning experience. How cool is that?

Courtesy of Inside Detroit, click here for some "Wow" facts about the city. A sample, quoted from InsideDetroit.org: "There are 125 bars and restaurants within the one square mile of downtown Detroit." Detroit is ripe for the exploring.

Why don't you check it out? Use the Welcome Center as a resource or (gasp!) dare to venture down on your own. Consider going on an Inside Detroit pub crawl or walking tour, especially if you're a Detroit novice.

Detroit has a lot to offer; it's time you took advantage. (And perhaps, nudge nudge, you could hop on the Night Move to do it.)

Driving is expensive (duh).

Even with gas prices falling again, it's kind of disheartening to see how quickly dollars can accumulate--outside your pocket. And it doesn't even include the cost of parking, or the cost of all the speeding tickets I get (I'm a terrible driver).

What we need is public transportation.

Wait, we have that now!

If you haven't yet used the Night Move to get around, now is the perfect time to start. Book a seat for this weekend at www.thenightmove.com/booking. Then ask the bus driver for a token for a free People Mover ride; AND use your ticket for a discount on a Michigan Green Cab ride, to get you the rest of the way home. The savings here are AMAZING, no?

ACCESS DETROIT is tonight!

Free block party in Detroit tonight! Celebrate the grand opening of the Cadillac Book Hotel and check out this awesome event.

And don't forget to book the free shuttle! Do it on the Night Move website. You know you want to.

For more details on Access Detroit, check out the site here.

Public Transit NOW

I went to a Model D event last night on public transportation in Detroit. One speaker said mass transit is the crucial element to connecting social and commercial centers, and that without such connectivity, we can never expect our city to grow or the community of suburbs and city to fuse.

You've heard talk about the light rail system that's being planned. Did you know the reason they're funding it privately, at least for stage one, to get it built as quickly as possible? Asking for federal funding would push the timeline at least five years. They're trying to do something about our public transit problem now.

The Night Move is a step in that direction. It's something we can use now.

If you're our fan on Facebook...

Hey fans!

Go to http://www.thenightmove.com/booking. Enter coupon code FANS to get 20% off your ride this weekend!

Just our little way of saying thanks for being you.

(If you're not our fan, this is the perfect time to become one.)

AND now you can book on your iPhone or Blackberry! Just show the driver the confirmation screen instead of a printed ticket. How great is that?!

See you there!

Detroit is awesome.

Read this, from Model D, by U of M kid Kimberly Chou: "Maize, Blue and Detroit, Too: U-M Grads Find Promise in City's Future."

The Night Move introduces mobile booking!

Did you know you can now book a ride on The Night Move using your iPhone or Blackberry? Just go to www.thenightmove.com/booking, like you would on your computer, and go through the booking process. Then, to get on the bus, you can show the confirmation screen on your phone to Dupree* instead of a paper ticket.

So if you're out Friday night and decide to hop on The Night Move to get you around between Royal Oak, Ferndale and Detroit, pull out that iPhone! Note: if no one in your group has an iPhone, I suggest you be the first. That way you not only have access to The Night Move mobile booking, but you also have a super sweet phone and all your loser friends will be jealous because they're still living in the past.

See you on the bus!


*For those of you who don't know, Dupree is our all-star, totally awesome and huge superhero driver. If you haven't met him yet, do yourself a favor. The guy is quite a character.