My home town shook today.

Around 2:30 pm today, the small town of Malone N.Y. shook. Workers at the local Walmart went outside to see if a truck had hit the building. Others thought it was a rare December thunder clap. Super sonic aircraft were the most probable suspect of the window rattling, but there is one other possibility.
A small asteroid entering the Earth's atmosphere could cause a sonic boom, and if it exploded could cause a small pressure wave. The object need not be bigger than a softball, maybe even a baseball, tennis ball or a hockey puck.
The event was experienced as far as Huntington, Que.
I personally called the county fire control and the local state police for information, but they had none. I'm sure if aircraft inadvertantly caused a sonic boom, the state troopers would have been informed.
In May 2011 a meteor exploded near Virginia Beach and the result could be felt in neighboring states. In April one caused several calls to police and fire departments from Wisconsin to Missouri.
Small rocks from space are not uncommon, but an inigma to most people.
The next time you or your house are rattled by something, as long as your water heater hasn't exploded, go outside and look up, if you can find a contrail in a clear sky, it probably was a meteor.
If the cause of today's disturbance turns out to be a couple of military jets, I will look the fool. This is the risk I take as a writer.
Keep looking up.

Watch how fast science moves next year.

2011 brought many new findings in many different fields of study.
When I asked my wife Charlene what she remembered most from last year, she mentioned all the falling stars lately. There are no more now than there ever was. Meteor showers are being announced more often by the media because we can more precisely predict them. The same goes for Man made satelites whose orbits decay. One can find out exactly where to look and when.
The CERN super collider in Europe has begun to collect data hinting that the Higgs boson may exist. This particle experiment will change the way we think about our perception of reality. New tecknologies and therories will come out because of this new way of looking at things.
NASA's Kepler probe has found two planets in the Goldie Locks Zone. By the end of next year I'm betting we will have found a hundred fold.
On August 8th of next year the Mars Science Laboratory MSL, nicknamed Courisoty will land on the martain surface. We will learn even more with every mile it travels.
We've seen a comet pass through a part of the sun and survive.
We put the Space Shuttle to rest and opened the door for the age of commercial space travel.
2012 will not be the end of the world, but the dawn of a new age for science. I predict at least once this new year, you will be caught saying, "Isn't that cool?"; I know I will.