When big snowstorms hit cities people react in different ways. If you’re from a city that’s not prepared for snow, everything might shut down. Cars might start sliding off the roads in droves. Power lines might collapse. You might feel OK using hyperbolic terms like “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowmageddon.”

In Chicago we scoff at such fear mongering. Sure, snow causes a lot of headaches like canceled flights, flooded basements and potholes here, but for the most part IT’S NO BIG DEAL. That’s right, #snobigdeal.
Enjoy these pictures of a normal winter snow storm in a major metropolitan area.

This week on Worldview we talked about higher education in the Middle East and how its changing.

Like everywhere else in the world, some students from the Middle East make the decision to pursue an education here in this country. A study released this week  says the number of Middle Eastern students studying in the U.S. went up 18% this year.

As part of our series Higher Education in the Middle East, we went out to local universities in Chicago and got a first-person account from some international students about why they chose to come study in the U.S.

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Those in the know have been waiting for Chicago rapper Kid Sister to become a mega-star for a few years now. Next Tuesday that moment may finally arrive. Her long-awaited debut album Ultraviolet comes out on Fool’s Gold Records. If the debut video for “Right Hand Hi” is any indication, she could be poised to finally knock Lady Gaga off the radio!

I can’t claim I’ve done exhaustive research on Chicago-centric costumes, but when my friends Tim and Anastasia showed me this last night I knew it was something special.

One-month old Stella dressed as a Chicago-style hot dog.

I say this is the pinnacle of Chicago-centric Halloween costumes. Can you top it? Send us your Chicago-centric costume and best prize wins a Car Talk mug.

Photo by Terry Miller

When did the pumpkin patch start caging animals as part of the halloween experience? It’s been a few years, but I don’t remember being a kid and going to pumpkin patches with camels and giraffes on display. Is that a farm thing? Or are pumpkin patches going the way of the county fairs? I know it’s a fairly well done deal, but why? What does it have to do with halloween? Help a city kid out…

Last week our fall membership drive concluded with more than 10,000 of you pitching in to support us. A lot of you will be getting our Membercard in the mail really soon. Take it from someone with experience- sometimes it’s hard to remember where you can use the Membercard and what you can use it for. Of course you can go to the Membercard page, but thanks to intrepid listener Jon Svensson, you can also browse this map to find participating businesses. (It’s ok, you can thank me after your date this weekend.)

View WBEZ Member Card Locations (updated 9/29/09) in a larger map

We were amused when Harold Washington Library was dubbed one of the top 15 ugliest buildings in the world by Travel + Leisure yesterday. The library’s bright green, copper gargoyles may not be the most pleasant creatures in the Loop – but they do make a statement. We asked a few of the city’s leading architecture critics what they thought – and who they would’ve nominated to the list.

• Lee Bey – former architecture critic for the Chicago Sun-Times
  “The Museum of Contemporary Art… it’s brutal… and not in an architectural sense.”

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via superciliousness

• Blair Kamin – Architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune
  “The buildings that don’t say anything in particular – including many of the apartment and condo towers built recently in Chicago.”

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via darrow-west

• Lisa DiChiera – Advocacy director for Landmarks Illinois
  “Once the spaceship addition landed in Soldier Field…”

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via jfravel

The CTA announced it’s new budget today. In order to close the budget gap fares are going up, employees are getting laid-off and some express bus routes are going away. Here’s the complete list of buses that will stop running in February. Chicago’s express days are numbered.

Route  Name
X3        KING DR EXPRESS
X4        COTTAGE GROVE EXPRESS
X9        ASHLAND EXPRESS
X20      WASHINGTON/MADISON EXPRESS
X49      WESTERN EXPRESS
X54      CICERO EXPRESS
X55      GARFIELD EXPRESS
X80      IRVING PARK EXPRESS
53AL   SOUTH PULASKI LIMITED

The 148 bus was one of the express routes that was spared. (Photo by Erin Nekervis)

The Sun-Times reported this morning about the lack of carpools in Chicago. For more than a year now, I’ve been counting heads as I drive to work.

Photo by Joseph Palmer

Every morning on my daily commute down Lake Shore Drive, I’ve checked out how many cars have more than one occupant.  It’s not scientific, but I’ve paid close attention almost every day, and I can report to you that in 15 months I have NEVER counted more than five cars with more than one person.

Some days, it was less.

This was during busy times, too.  There I was, at the wheel of my own personal isolation pod, among hundreds of vehicles, all going the same direction. Twice I’ve seen three people in one car. Once what looked like a whole family.  One time, I spotted a fuzzy gray head in the back of a sedan.  But it might have been a poodle.

The point is, can’t we do better on this carpooling thing?

I include myself, of course.  I live around people I work with.  We could figure something out.  And the reasons I don’t are probably a lot like the reasons you don’t.  My life is regimented enough, what with work and family.  I tell myself I need a little freedom to run errands on the way home or to get to a meeting quickly during the day.  I like listening to the radio, and I don’t want to talk to anyone before my second latte.

The ultimate carpool, of course, is efficient, widespread public transportation.  But until we get there, what about doubling, or tripling up?

There are private Web sources for finding like-minded commuters. An added plus: you can read about the guy whose car was stolen who needs a ride to Lombard…or the Valparaiso workers who want a couple extras for the trip to downtown Chicago.

Still, I’m pretty disappointed not to find public incentives for carpooling around here.  Other cities and states do this:  reward folks who double- or triple-up by giving them their own lanes.  I’d like such HOV lanes on Lake Shore Drive or the Kennedy. In a Huffington Post column in January 2008, Ben Rosen addressed the whole idea of government support for carpooling.

Hey, Houston does it.  Seattle does it.  Even Los Angeles does it.

Anybody with me here?  Or what’s your better ideas on how to get more of us carpooling with one another?

The Sun-Times reported this morning about the lack of carpools in Chicago. For more than a year now, I’ve been counting heads as I drive to work.

Photo by Joseph Palmer

Every morning on my daily commute down Lake Shore Drive, I’ve checked out how many cars have more than one occupant.  It’s not scientific, but I’ve paid close attention almost every day, and I can report to you that in 15 months I have NEVER counted more than five cars with more than one person.

Some days, it was less.

This was during busy times, too.  There I was, at the wheel of my own personal isolation pod, among hundreds of vehicles, all going the same direction. Twice I’ve seen three people in one car. Once what looked like a whole family.  One time, I spotted a fuzzy gray head in the back of a sedan.  But it might have been a poodle.

The point is, can’t we do better on this carpooling thing?

I include myself, of course.  I live around people I work with.  We could figure something out.  And the reasons I don’t are probably a lot like the reasons you don’t.  My life is regimented enough, what with work and family.  I tell myself I need a little freedom to run errands on the way home or to get to a meeting quickly during the day.  I like listening to the radio, and I don’t want to talk to anyone before my second latte.

The ultimate carpool, of course, is efficient, widespread public transportation.  But until we get there, what about doubling, or tripling up?

There are private Web sources for finding like-minded commuters. An added plus: you can read about the guy whose car was stolen who needs a ride to Lombard…or the Valparaiso workers who want a couple extras for the trip to downtown Chicago.

Still, I’m pretty disappointed not to find public incentives for carpooling around here.  Other cities and states do this:  reward folks who double- or triple-up by giving them their own lanes.  I’d like such HOV lanes on Lake Shore Drive or the Kennedy. In a Huffington Post column in January 2008, Ben Rosen addressed the whole idea of government support for carpooling.

Hey, Houston does it.  Seattle does it.  Even Los Angeles does it.

Anybody with me here?  Or what’s your better ideas on how to get more of us carpooling with one another?