I remember seeing an old Saturday Evening Post cartoon showing a pair of commuters waiting at the bus stop.

One says to the other something like "Remember when they said that by 1970 we'd be whisked to work through pneumatic tubes?"

So, where's my pneumatic tube?

There was something magical about this pre-electronic form of communication. There was something magical about seeing a ticket disappear from the clerk at the auctioneer's table at the sale barn to be whisked away to the office.

My wife remembers her mother putting winter coats on lay-away at Schweser's in North Platte, only to see the tickets carried away by air pressure.

Then there were the orders at Woolworth's and deposits at the bank.

Wouldn't it be nice to step into a sealed chamber, relax a moment and find yourself transported across town?

Pneumatic tubes probably aren't in the cards for human transport any time soon, but there are definitely better ways to get around than slogging through the ice and snow in the winter.

I remember unauthorized trips through "the tunnels" under Kearney State College and thinking how much better it would be to make our way to class through a heated passageway instead of braving icy sidewalks.

I recently saw a piece on television about a Canadian city that has developed enclosed connections to make downtown shopping and dining more inviting.

In another town where I lived, one local leader proposed an instant mall, by building a roof over the entire business district.

Days like Monday don't make it seem like such a whacky idea.

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I think weather like this plays into the hand of those who are opposed to extensive school consolidations. Many parents argue that it's not good for young children to spend hours on the bus each week just to get to and from school.

While the economies of scale seem to dictate larger schools for lower per-pupil costs and larger classes, the extra cost associated with bringing students long distances to school might not show up on the balance books. Often, it's a cost borne by the parents and not the school itself.

Of course, many of those students are now attending school in the same town where their parents work.

Many of us were surprised that school was canceled again Tuesday, but we shouldn't have been.

Many students and teachers have long commutes that would have been dangerous or impossible with the icy highways and drifting country roads.

Maybe it's time to think about new ways to deliver education services in sparsely populated areas like Southwest Nebraska.

Perhaps we could look at expanded distance learning, with classrooms closer to home and specialized classes delivered via teleconferencing.

It might be the next best thing to a pneumatic tube.