[news & production-notes] Season 14 bumper issue! (14.7-14.10) (Patreon)

(Wow this is late! OK, lesson learned: I must make sure that season finales don't coincide with Christmas again omg)

HELLO lovely people! Sorry for the delay with the last 3 production notes, it's been a wild time. Lots to get through, not just about the episodes, but at the end, about season 15 and PLANS:

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14.7

Nia's gigantic antenna was tuned for the low-frequency 7MHZ band, and those antennas are no joke! Her new repaired radio will have to be smaller, but clever-er!

I'd been thinking about Seth's loss of bodily autonomy plot line for a while, and I finally wrote it in this season. It's been hinted at previously, but hit home in this episode. I hope it wasn't too upsetting! My heart was racing, recording it!

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14.8

The inverse square law of propagation in 3d space means that at very, very close proximities, even a tiny signal can get through! This causes crosstalk problems in circuits, of course, but Seth used it to hear the repeater!

IVAN's thinking that he's "Autocorrect trained on a dead man's ravings" may or may not be true, but it's a good way to think about the current AI/GPT hype" Autocorrect can make valid sentences, but we don't expect them to contain much wisdom.

The set-up for Nia's direct solar happens in this episode: The Council, like many of us, assume electrical devices must be digital, not analogue. There is another way...

Much of the harvest festival imagery comes from my own experience visiting Copenhagen, a decade ago, during deep winter. I remember cosy fires, warming street food, and snow on the frozen canals! Once I financially recover from that trip, I'd love to go again! I'm so pleased with Lyosha's teenage romance story. He deserves a break!

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14.9

Finally, DIRECT SOLAR!

I must cite my sources, Low-tech magazine ran this back in August, https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/08/direct-solar-power-off-grid-without-batteries/

and I found it SO inspiring! It's just as Nia explains in the show: analogue electronics (or digital ones retrofitted to be analogue) can handle direct solar just fine, no expensive batteries which can cost 90% of a systems long-term maintenance costs.

MOONBOUNCE!

It took me SO LONG to figure out how long the moon would be visible in the sky for both Usuaia and Svalbard, it's not something that most people care about!

All the information you could possibly need is here https://rsgb.org/main/technical/space-satellites/moonbounce/ if you're interested.

I hope one day to try a Moonbounce, but I think I'll need a bigger antenna :-)

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14. 10

Nia's plans to bridge the Novamediterran network directly to the southern hemisphere set us up for season 15! And would you look at that, the Molly Hughes II has returned, just in time...

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# UPDATES!

## Season 15

Lost Terminal returns on the 5th of February, I've begun planning this week and starting writing next week, I'm so excited. I plan not to write just another voyage like we've had before, it'll be very different!

## Untitled Non-Fiction Podcast Announcement

I'm planning my first non-fiction talking-heads podcast. My friend Robin and I will talk about audio and video production, productivity, technology, social politics, and environmentalism in this new show. He's a very smart chap, and a good foil for me. I hope you'll enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at my production process, and we all might learn a little about environmentalism from Robin! I always learn more when he and I chat IRL. I'll shout about that closer to the time.

## The Phosphene Catalogue

Recording finishes this week, and I'm editing episode 1 TODAY. I released teaser #1 earlier this week and will cross-post it into the main Lost Terminal feed today! Subscribe over at https://phosphenecatalogue.com

## AMIGA Special Seasons Changing Format

It's finally official: Thanks to everyone who replied to https://www.patreon.com/posts/question-future-94462375 I'm going to be testing a new format for the AMIGA special episodes (more details at the above link). These bonus episodes will be read by Seth, but features stories from his archive. I'll produce the first of these before season 15 drops, so look out for it if you're subscribed to AMIGA and higher tiers!

## Thanks

Thank you all so much for your support, I couldn't make the show in the way I want without you! Talk to you soon <3