On this day in 1960, the FDA approved Enovid-10, the first commercially-produced oral contraceptive, for general use. The pill, produced by Searle, was yet another earth-shakingly-cool thing to come out of Chicago in the last 50 years.

Apparently I haven't come very far in 20 years: I just bought John Lennon's Double Fantasy, which is about as classical as you can get without Neville Marriner.

Minor, little anniversary: twenty years ago today, I bought my first CD, a copy of Mozart's Mass in C-Major K317 performed by the Bavarian Radio Chorus under Eugen Jochum.

Kind of a silly thing to remember, I guess.

So far today, there have been eight earthquakes of 5 or stronger magnitude off the coast of Japan, one of magnitude 6.8. Something going on over there?

I'm not kidding: the Evanston (pop. 75,000) City Council has decided against war with Iran (pop. 66 million):

Aldermen on Evanston's Human Services Committee voted 4-1 Monday without discussion to back a resolution urging that the United States not take military action against Iran. The resolution was proposed by a coalition of local groups opposed to the war in Iraq.

Apparently, I've never posted an entry on May 6th. May 5th and 7th, yes, but not the 6th.

Alors, voilà.

Five years later, do you feel safer?

Hat tip to reader TC for the story about last night's unexpected barbeque of 22.6 tonnes of beef ribs on I-80 outside Chicago:

The semi-trailer truck was headed east on I-80 about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday and was exiting onto southbound Interstate Highway 294 when a fire started in the braking system, igniting a blaze that consumed the entire trailer, said Master Sgt. David Bird of the Illinois State Police. The driver escaped without injury. The trailer was loaded with about 50,000 pounds of beef ribs, Bird said. He could not say what cut of ribs they were, but added, "There was no sauce."

Now, make them baby-back pork ribs and throw on some KC Masterpiece, and I'd still be eating.

OK, it's not that the Cubs lost 10-7. It's not that the Brewers beat them. And it's not that it was 2°C in the park.

No, it's the combination of all of those things that made me wimp out after three innings.

Three innings. I'm so ashamed.

I think this is a cool idea:

[Chicago Transit Authority B]uses will make fewer stops—four to five blocks apart. Kiosks will be installed at the bus stops to enable passengers to pre-pay their fares and board quickly once the bus arrives. Technology will be added to some traffic signals to extend green lights for buses running behind schedule, much like the signal-priority equipment that gives the green to ambulances and fire trucks, officials said.