I caught a glimpse of myself reflecting in the window today and was disgusted beyond belief. I suppose the fact I was waiting for the Public Library to open, there in public, in the bright sunshine, made it all the more significant to me. My fingers were fat, my hands looked swollen and my belly stuck out like a newborn was developing beneath the skin, fully looked as though I were 8½ months pregnant!

Surfers at a popular Lunada Bay surf spot Friday where a group of non-locals came to surf the waves. Palos Verdes Estates Police were on hand along Paseo Del Mar as well as below down at the surf line where local surfers gather. No incidents reported between the groups and there were plenty of good waves for all. (Photos by Brad Graverson/The Daily Breeze/LANG/1-12-16)
By Priscella Vega, Daily Breeze High swells attracted the usual contingent of surfing locals to Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes Estates on Friday, but they had some company: four police officers, the city’s top administrator, the media and a few out-of-towners who wanted to share the waves. It wasn’t exactly a party, though. The Bay Boys, notorious for their harassment of outsiders who visit their surfing spot, weren’t fond of the attention that rained down…
2016,
Associated Press,
Challenger,
Christa McAuliffe,
Concord,
Ellison Onizuka,
Francis R. (Dick) Scobee,
Gregory Jarvis,
Judith Resnik,
Kathy McCormack @ AP,
Michael J. Smith,
New Hampshire,
Ronald E. McNair,
Space Shuttle,
Steven McAuliffe,
STS 51-L

The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 1986. All seven crew members died in the explosion, which was blamed on faulty o-rings in the shuttle's booster rockets. The Challenger's crew was honored with burials at Arlington National Cemetery. (AP Photo/Bruce Weaver)
CONCORD, N.H. — Thirty years after the Concord High School class of ‘86 watched social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe and six astronauts perish when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on live TV, a number of them have gone into teaching — and some wonder if, indirectly, the tragedy affected them enough that they wanted to make a difference, as she did.
2016,
Associated Press,
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales,
Christopher Weber @ AP,
El Niño,
Elon Musk,
European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites,
GPS,
Jason-3,
John Antczak @ AP,
La Niña,
NASA,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
SpaceX,
Thales Alenia of France,
Vandenberg Air Force Base

The Jason-3 spacecraft lift's off from Vandenberg Air Force Base Sunday, January 17 during a 30-second window that opens at 10:42 p.m. EST (18:42 UTC). After providing an initial boost toward orbit, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage will separate, drop away and use a series of engine burns to fly back to one of SpaceX's autonomous landing platforms, which use thrusters to position themselves under descending rockets. Photo by Gene Blevins/LA Daily News
By Christopher Weber and John Antczak, The Associated Press LOS ANGELES >> After successfully delivering a U.S.-European ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit, a Space X rocket made a hard landing on a floating barge in the roiling Pacific, breaking a support leg and toppling over Sunday. SpaceX announcers said the first stage of the Falcon 9 was not upright after reaching the 300-by-170 foot landing pad in choppy seas about 200 miles west of San Diego.…
2016,
California,
CNES,
El Niño,
Jason-3,
JPL,
La Niña,
NASA,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
NOAA,
Sea Level Rise,
Topex/Poseidon-Jason,
Vandenberg Air Force Base

Jason-3, a U.S.-European oceanography satellite mission with NASA participation that will continue a nearly quarter-century record of tracking global sea level rise, lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Sunday at 10:42 a.m. PST (1:42 p.m. EST) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE >> Jason-3, a U.S.-European oceanography satellite mission with NASA participation that will continue a nearly quarter-century record of tracking global sea level rise, lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Sunday at 10:42 a.m. PST (1:42 p.m. EST) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Jason-3 is an international mission led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in partnership with NASA, the French space agency CNES, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

Redondo Union students counter-protest Monday morning. (Photo by Sean Carroll)
by Jeff Klopmeyer It’s been 30 years since I was a high school student, but on Monday, January 11 2016, I learned a lesson at Redondo Union High School that will stay with me forever. My son is a student at RUHS, and about a week ago, I received an email from the school to inform us that the infamous Westboro Baptist Church — a hate group recognized by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern…
2016,
Angie Bowie,
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Associated Press,
Billy Idol,
Cancer,
Cardinal,
Celebrity Big Brother,
David Bowie,
David Jones,
Duncan Jones,
Gianfranco Ravasi,
Iman,
Justin Welby,
Mary Angela Barnett,
Prime Minister,
Ricky Gervais,
Steve Martin,
Tony Blair

FILE - This is a June 19, 1987 file photo of David Bowie. Bowie, the other-worldly musician who broke pop and rock boundaries with his creative musicianship, nonconformity, striking visuals and a genre-bending persona he christened Ziggy Stardust, died of cancer Sunday Jan. 10, 2016. He was 69 and had just released a new album. (PA, File via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE
LONDON — The latest on the death of singer David Bowie. All times local. 2:15 p.m. Producers of reality-TV show “Celebrity Big Brother” says David Bowie’s ex-wife Angie has decided to remain on the program despite his death. Angie Bowie is appearing on the British show, whose contestants must live together in a house, cut off from the outside world and be filmed by ever-present cameras. The show’s publicists said Monday that she had been told of Bowie’s death by her representatives off-camera and “has taken the decision to continue in the program.”
David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning. No other details were provided. Mr. Bowie had been treated for cancer for the last 18 months, according to a statement on his social-media accounts. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” a post on his Facebook page read.
2015,
Candace Nafissi,
CenterCal,
Charlie Anderson,
Fred Bruning,
International Boardwalk,
Joy Coradetti,
Kelcie Pegher,
Mystical Joy,
Redondo Beach Waterfront,
Rescue Our Waterfront,
Slightly Different collectable shop,
The Beach Reporter

Winter is a lonely time for merchants on the Redondo Beach pier, most of whom support the proposed CenterCal development plan to boost sagging business. File photo. (Robert Casillas / Staff Photographer)
As he walked along the International Boardwalk on the Redondo Beach pier one day last week, merchant Charlie Anderson was just about the only person on the waterfront. “It’s a ghost town here,” said Anderson, the owner of the Slightly Different collectable shop.
2015,
Associated Press,
Blue Origin,
California,
Cape Canaveral,
City News Service,
Elon Musk,
Falcon 9,
Florida,
Hawthorne,
Jacksonville,
Marc Eisenberg,
Marcia Dunn @ AP/CNS,
Mission Control,
NASA,
ORBCOMM,
SpaceX,
Tesla,
U.S. Air Force

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully lands back at Cape Canaveral on Monday night. (Credit: SpaceX)
Six months after one of its rockets exploded two minutes into flight, Hawthorne-based SpaceX launched a rocket from Cape Canaveral on Monday night and delivered 11 satellites into a low orbit — then made history by successfully landing the booster rocket back on Earth.