In this episode, I investigate a pretty noise emanating from an air vent in my office and wind up recording a summer thunderstorm.

I've always liked noise and sound -- odd and otherwise. A few years back, I acquired an interest in unusual noise when Fortean Times alerted me to a BBC story about scientists investigating strange noises near the city of Rajkot in western India.

Surprisingly, the BBC article fails to mention Bangladesh's famed Barisal Guns, which have been reported for centuries. Not surprisingly, Charles Fort described the Barisal Guns and other such phenomena many, many years ago in New Lands.

During the 1970s, I can recall numerous "Mystery Booms" making the news up and down the East Coast of the United States. The best explanation scientists came up with linked the sounds to deep-sea methane flatulence.

Similar phenomena include the Seneca Guns, the Moodus Noises and an entire family of disturbing sounds -- of which my favorite is the "Cornwall Thump." By the way, such noises are apparently known as "mistpouffers."

Perhaps the most notorious noise of late has been the Hum.

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It's love apples everywhere this time on ChicagoScope as Leah, Dick and I first dine at The Baked Tomato and then have an excruciatingly detailed conversation about tomatoes while the Mobile Recording Studio sits in a parking lot at Portage Park.

Among the topics we discuss is the age-old question of whether tomato seeds that pass through the human digestive tract are viable enough to produce plants when human sewage is recycled as fertilizer.

The answer is yes, based on a study conducted in India by researchers who fed volunteers fresh tomatoes and then collected their feces. Whether fruit produced will be any good is another matter, since most store-bought and commercial-seed varieties are hybrids whose seeds won't produce the same fruit. But we are, ahem, undeterred in our exploration of this question.

I also bring up the question of whether Milorganite, a longtime human sewage product produced in Wisconsin, ought to be known as "The Stool That Made Milwaukee Famous." Tomato plants do not sprout from Milorganite.

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While jogging around Portage Park this afternoon, I encountered something truly bizarre: palm trees. At the northwest and southwest entrances to the park there are giant planters with huge tropical palms.

I'm a big fan of palm trees. These plants are beautiful, graceful and elegant. Palms define California and the tropical and semitropical parts of the United States, and are a wonderful relief from winter when kept inside.

The skyscraping Mexican fan palms at Los Angeles Union Station really helped make my recent vacation special. Nothing tells you you're in California like a block of gently swaying palms.

But outside in Illinois?

Turns out that tropical plants make seasonal appearances all over Chicago. Down along North Michigan Avenue, the city plants palms, bird of paradise and lord knows what else. The effect is nice, but it's not Chicago and it's not the Midwest.

So why can't Chicago embrace native plants instead? In the fall, the Boul Mich planters are turned over to ornamental cabbage and kale -- which look really, really nice, a gentle reminder that cool weather is on its way.

But palms outside? On my jog back from Portage Park, I even saw a small Washingtonia filifera planted next to a bungalow. This palm, also known as the California fan palm, is among the few palms native to the United States. It still grows wild in parts of California and the Desert Southwest.

But unless this one's taken inside come winter, it'll die.

After doing a little research online, however, I'm amazed at just how hardy some palms are. Sabal minor palms can actually survive winters and snows as far north as Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Check out the info from Alligator Alley, which declares, "Our most recent endeavor is to bring the tropics to Oklahoma."

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Graffiti.

It's been going on since the days of the pharaohs and the time of the caesars.

Of course, if someone got caught writing "Ramases licks his sphinx" or "Caesar takes it up the Rubicon," chances are the penalties would be far greater than what happens to contemporary vandals.

One of my favorite stories I published when I was managing editor of the News-Star and Booster newspapers involved a Chicago police graffiti sting.

The cops staked out a nice virgin wall for an entire evening and, one by one, arrested 25 or 30 miscreants ranging in age from juveniles to adults well into their 30s and 40s who just couldn't resist symbolically lifting a leg and peeing on somebody else's property.

The cops gave us a list of those 17 and older who'd been arrested and I ran the list on the front page under the headline: Do You See Any of Your Neighbors' Names Here? I expected to get complaints from the folks whose names appeared in the paper, but nobody called or wrote.

That's when I realized that these punks probably creamed their shorts over the publicity.

The losing battle over graffiti is being fought here in Jefferson Park, just as it is elsewhere in the city of Chicago.

This desecration isn't confined to urban areas, even. During a recent train trip on Amtrak's Southwest Chief, I saw graffiti spray-painted on walls and viaducts all over the place. They've even tagged rocks out in the middle of nowhere. 

PHOTOS -- Top: Pedestrian tunnel and steps leading from North Milwaukee Avenue to the Metra platform. Middle: Graffiti on door of unoccupied retail space just north of Nadig Newspapers. Bottom: Back door of Jefferson Park's CVS drugstore.

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I'm not sure where these folks are from, but I enjoyed their performance Friday morning in the plaza next to the Tribune Tower.


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Grabbed this footage of an outbound Metra train sailing into the Jefferson Park station on Saturday, Aug. 8. After I left the station, I saw the cops warning a woman not to feed the birds. She had just dumped at least two pounds of birdseed and breadcrumbs down near the Milwaukee Avenue entrance to the station.

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One of my favorite pleasures is reading On the Bi-Level, a monthly newsletter distributed to customers of Metra, the Chicago suburban rail service.

The newsletter is a riotous collection of commuter train news and bitchy complaints from riders outraged by the behavior of others. Check out the current issue. (Note: This will open a PDF page.)

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The Chicago Transit Authority's beloved Holiday Train brought Santa Claus to Jefferson Park on Saturday, November 29. Parents, children and railfans of all ages turned out along the Blue Line right of way to join in the festivities.

The event is especially fun for photographers, as it's the one time of the year when they're not threatened with arrest by CTA gauleiters.

Watch the video all the way through to learn who Santa contacts on the "Green Phone."

There's still time to catch the Holiday Train. Check the CTA website for Santa's schedule.

NOTE: If you're viewing this page on an iPhone or other mobile device that does not support Flash, you can still view the video by clicking on the POD logo to the left of the headline, or on the filename that appears after "Direct download" at the end of this text item.

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I had my compact digital camera with me the other night when I walked to the CTA Blue Line to head home. As I passed by the State Street Macy's, I shot some video of the holiday windows.

Is it just me, or do this year's holiday windows suck the big one? Being an adult isn't the reason these displays disappoint me. I seriously doubt these relatively static, uninspired "Fraggle Rock" things would appeal to any child.

I'm not the only one who thinks the windows blow chunks this year. Writing in The Huffington Post, Mike Doyle declares, "Macy's State Street has cost-cut its Chicago Loop holiday windows and Christmas tree so deeply this year, I personally don't believe it's worth bothering to make that time-honored family foray downtown to see them."

Perhaps the real problem is that Marshall Field's was always something special, but Macy's is really nothing more than just a store.

Uncle Mistletoe has got to be spinning in his grave. Don't ask me about Aunt Holly.

NOTE: If you're viewing this page on an iPhone or other mobile device that does not support Flash, you can still view the video by clicking on the POD logo to the left of the headline, or on the filename that appears after "Direct download" at the end of this text item.

ChicagoScope feedback line: 312-683-5272. Send e-mail to ChicagoScope@gmail.com.

One of the highlights of Christmas in Chicago is the arrival of the Chicago Transit Authority's Holiday Train. The first time I saw this train, I was thoroughly delighted. The CTA takes a normal L train and gussies it up inside and out with lights, garlands, decals and ornaments.

The peace on earth de la resistance is a flatbed car with Santa's sleigh and Santa himself. And you can ride on this train for just the cost of regular fare. (Just to clarify, you ride in the normal train cars; you don't get to sit outside or on Santa's lap.)

The CTA Holiday Train starts running this weekend with special appearances on the Red and Purple Lines. Railroad cheer continues until December 23.

See Flickr photos of the CTA Holiday Train. Here's some great video of the 2007 train. And here's a charming video of the interior.

It would also be fun to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, which next week begins a monthlong journey through six provinces and seven states. The train features live music and raises donations for local food banks. It rolls into Illinois in early December, visiting Pingree Grove and Savanna on the 5th, and Gurnee on the 9th.

See Flickr photos of the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train. And here's a wonderful video of the CP Holiday Train arriving during a snowstorm.

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