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  Ladies and gentlemen, a radish (daikon) vending machine.

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  The last slide of your talk should be the conclusions. Not a "thank you". Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

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  We haven't been allowed to release this graphic on social media—Mark Subbarao, leader of NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio shows #IAU409 a secret animation which follows asteroid Apophis during the close approach to Earth in 2029. From the whispers in the room, the conference has been derailed and the ban was a good idea 😅

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  In silent screams of the day: Me: [trying to slide my smartphone into my pocket, but the pocket isn’t deep enough] Dude next to me on the train: [Stuffs a 500ml drink bottle into his trouser pocket and pulls out a book.]

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  Weird consequence of the continued Middle East conflict is black & white crisp packets in Japan. Due to a shortage of the petroleum-derived naphtha which is used for coloured inks, big snack company Calbee switched to colourless packs. They were initially hard to spot, but are now overtaking stores.

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  Rocket bottoms in the swamp summer of Tokyo.

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  New glasses! With progressive (varifocal) lenses because HELLO MID-FORTIES. (If you don’t know what those are, you will one day my sweet summer child.) Also, who knew this is what Tokyo looks like?! Wild. The world tilts if I turn my head sharply. I hear this takes practice.

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  Cat cugs! (Shortly followed by cat wrestles 😼) #CasperCat #NorahNeko

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  A man steps outside his house, carrying his toddler child. Child bursts into tears. And that is today’s weather report.

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  The English press release with the first images of asteroid Torifune captured by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is now live! (I translated, the ISAS PR lead checked it while practically running from the press conference, and someone at JAXA HQ stayed late enough to upload 😆 HIGH-FIVES ALL AROUND!) https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2026/07/20260706-3_j.html

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  The presentation will be in Japanese, but there's a JAXA press conference at 16:00 JST (~30 minutes) on the flyby of Torifune by Hayabusa2. SHOW US A SPACE ROCK! And let's hug a 12 year old spacecraft that just pulled off a tight flyby it was never designed to do. Maybe we can save the world 🛰️👀🪨. https://www.youtube.com/live/ptnVCeR3rqI

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  IT'S ROCK N' FLYBY TIME! Now on an extended mission, JAXA's #Hayabusa2 will attempt flyby observations of asteroid Torifune at around 18:30 JST tonight (07/05) 🛰️👀🪨 Turning a rendezvous mission into a flyby spacecraft is not trivial, requiring crazy high precision navigation for a close approach. But this is exactly what we might need to do to protect the Earth on short notice. It's time for a very fast practice run... 🏃‍♀

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  This is why I have trust issues 😐 (This happens because of the strong association in the literature between Hayabusa2 and asteroid Ryugu, the destination of the original mission. But it's interesting this overrides even quite a simple translation and pre-AI would not have had a problem with completing correctly.)

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  A visit to Nagato, a town seemingly so remote that it took two train staff and a physical paper map to purchase tickets 😂 We only saw three convenience stores 😱 IS THIS EVEN CIVILISATION?! (My friend used to live there and would claim yes, but I remain skeptical!)

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  We are launching a rocket 🚀. Here is a live feed (launch at 09:53 JST). This is JAXA's new H3 launch vehicle, which will launch the Martian Moons eXploration (#MMX) mission later this fiscal year. There's been a couple of failed launches, so we're all watching slightly anxiously 😅 The payload this time is payload for rocket performance verification, and some small satellites. https://www.youtube.com/live/HSiaGTea1rc

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  My kanji app has given me a whole story in three vocabulary words.

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  Do you chew them or…? 🧐

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  It’s Showa Day (a national holiday) in Japan, and I ran into a dance festival. I think these are normally performed in summer, but nowadays April is close enough! Performers played drums and flutes and the half-moon straw hats are called “amigasa” (編笠).

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  Ready to take a deep dive into the science from humanity's three asteroid sample return missions: Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, and OSIRIS-REx? 🪨🛰️ Written for non-geophysicists (like me!), and those new to the field who don't yet ask to "pass the halite" at the dinner table, this review takes you on a whirlwind tour of the three missions and what was found when the samples crashed back to Earth: My review paper for the journal of Contemporary Physics: https://arxiv.or...

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  Withdrawing a huge wad of cash and causally handing it over at a convenience store to pay my property tax bill in Japan remains… a little weird. Here is a hundred thousand yen… oh, and I’ll take this can of coke too.

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  Anyone have a good (and cheap) conference platform for online/hybrid meetings? I really want the talks streamed into the platform, rather than using a separate app like Zoom, to keep everyone together for talks, questions, and discussion. Budget is uncertain, so we were considering "Discord", but the new age verification (needed for "stage access") could be a barrier.

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  There’s a lot of people at the medical clinic this morning and they all seem to know each other 🧐 Was there a giant party last week in which everyone got Covid? … might stand outside 😅

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  Received an email inviting me to submit a “virtual feature” for a writers’ convention. After MANY messages, I realised that I’d be paying to be the content which seems… bold… and opposite to most events. I guess this is a paid advert but DUDE! Next time lead with “surprise, you’re the sponsor.”

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  A …slightly surprisingly… beautiful day in the Peak District. We walked across to Tideswell which my watch declared “moderate” exercise because it was slacking off on my wrist.

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  Visit to Biddulph Grange Garden, a @National Trust property with beautiful Victorian gardens populated by plant specimens from around the world originally collected by James Bateman in the 1800s 🪴 Here I am, trying to avoid falling into a pond in the Chinese garden as my aunt takes a photo 😂

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  An egg. Oh yes.

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  This telephone box still actually has a working telephone, but has also been invaded by a little library 📚

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  Bottoms up! 🦆

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  Received a package via Evri with the requisite email showing a photo of the parcel at delivery. …that photo showed the parcel in the delivery person’s car chilling next to their kid like it was on a day out. And I gained a new appreciation for people who follow orders without ever asking… why.

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  Is it absolutely ridiculous to buy frozen baked potatoes? Yes. Are they delicious and perfectly cooked after five minutes in the microwave? Also yes.