I get up and go to the university to listen to Steve Chu talk about energy. He is very good. When asked about fusion, he say, “In the past fusion scientists always said that fusion was only 40 years away. Since ITER there has been a change, they now say it is only 50 years away.” Ho, ho.

I rush back home to start trip to San Francisco. There should have been a cab waiting but like, there isn’t.  I wait. My head is swirling with missed flights, missed connections and general trip FUBAR. The cab shows at 11:10. My flight leaves at 12:20. The airport is an hour’s drive away. This leaves something like 10 mins to check in and board. Of course, this being Japan, everything works out just fine but I am definitely getting too old for this kind of thing.

Phew

Still the same day, get to San Francisco at 10:00 am. Tomomi is on the same flight and Ben picks us up in the truck. It is an incredibly beautiful day so we go for a drive around the sites.

Golden Gate!

Ben and Tomomi on Lombard.

I take the 21 bus to the conference. San Francisco has excellent public transport.

I eat a delicious Spicy Tuna Sandwich on the bus. This is only half of it.

Heavy hitters in the world of science communication, with breaking news on JFK ass.