JUST ANOTHER DAY IN LA #1

On Sunday, I sat pensive at the computer when a short, sharp, physical shock shook the windows and rattled the walls of my apartment. A boiler exploding? A bomb? A terrorist attack? I had become accustomed to the sound of bombs during the 1970s when the Provisional IRA were planting infernal devices around London. This shock seemed too short and sharp. What the fuck? Which remained the question until I later learned it was a sonic boom created as the space shuttle Endeavour landed on Runway 4 at Edwards Air Force Base after its 16-day assembly mission at the International Space Station. It had been diverted from a planned landing in Florida by low clouds and high crosswinds at the Kennedy Space Center.