Merch ending (for now) + some updates

Hi all, hope you're doing well! I'm going to be turning off the merch at the end of the month... this is mostly because I need to spend time updating it, making new designs, improving the shipping efficiency... a bit of work that I've been avoiding. So there will be more cool things in the future (and patreon will be the first to see them!) but if you have always wanted a shirt but haven't got around to it, now is your moment! You can't get anything after the 31st of August!
You can use the code 'PatreonAugust' to get 15% off the whole order too ( https://explosionsandfire.shop/discount/PatreonAugust ). No guarantees that the embroidery logo shirt will return... they used to make some in Australia but recently the supplier has stopped doing that so any Aus shirts ship from the US... I'm not sure I can handle that level of inefficiency.... but also my priority is making the damn video, so that merch work will have to wait.

Anyway, some other general updates!

•  I'm still editing together the Fluorine video from Germany. Attached is a picture of some PtF6, the compound with the highest oxidation potential even, and it has slightly filled a strange glassware setup made to recreate an old experiment..... This Ex&F video (where we also make FOOF!) should be out in September.

• There's also a 'smelling fluorine' video that will probably come out on Extract&Ire... it was filmed to be a damn 'short' but it is just not going to edit down into 1 minute - which I'm sure a lot of you would agree is for the best, as a sensible 4 minute video is often nicer than a hyper-edited 1 minute nonsense-pace vertical-screen clip.

• uhh there's a boring admin update about Patreon in that they are closing down the 'charge per creation' way of charging, and are forcing everyone to go to 'pay per month'. This is a bit upsetting, as the 'per month' charge was never what I set this up for, it always felt much nicer for you and for me if you were charged per video, especially given how long it takes to make the videos. They'll force me to change sometime next year, but are already putting a lot of pressure on, so I might have to change before the next video. I'll do a post about it once I've figured out how to best do this change, but I was thinking that you would get charged if I either uploaded an Ex&F or an Extract&Ire video in that month.
  
  If you have strong opinions about this, please let me know. Its easy to say 'move to another platform' but really I've been on patreon for so many years and there's lots of you here now! It is a bit of a rude move by Patreon, but I had no idea that this 'per creation' model was so out-dated, you haven't even been able to make an account of this type for years, and this account has more-or-less been 'grandfathered in'. So it'll be a bit of a mess converting it, but I hope noone feels I'm trying to rip you off!.

• Ok one last boring point: I've been collecting USD, as that was really the only currency you could work in when I set up this account. But I get paid in AUD to like, buy groceries. So if you donated in AUD, I have a currency conversion free to convert it to USD, and then a second fee to convert it back into AUD. They're only small fees, but seeing as every currency gets converted at least once, it does feel like possibly the biggest waste of money in the world. Turns out- Patreon now accepts donations in AUD (as of a few years ago...). So when I do this whole Patreon shake-up for the monthly-vs-creation change, the tiers will also end up being in AUD, which might change the amounts a bit, as the tiers should still be whole numbers (but 1USD = 1.5AUD roughly). Anyway, boring admin stuff that might be confusing for you but is just so I send less of your money into the void and can spend it on chemicals.

• The next Extractions&Ire project is on making CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals by a mechanosynthesis method. Should be cool but might be a small mini-series, as I've got to make the PbBr2 and CsBr precursors... and HBr to make the CsBr... So a bit of work. I'll hopefully start on the actual chemistry late this week.

Thanks!!

Tom

Ex&Fire