# The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast

> A podcast exploring the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

Hosted by Marc Massar and Renee Murphy. Each episode page is server-rendered with a full, speaker-labelled transcript, a chapter list, written show notes, and PodcastEpisode structured data.

## Key pages
- [Episodes](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes): all 43 episodes
- [About the hosts](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/about)
- [The Music](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/music): an original song per episode
- [Nerd Musings](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/musings): written posts
- [RSS feed](https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2521622.rss)

## Episodes
- [S2E26 - Aniversary, B Roll, and Renee as Orca](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e26-aniversary-b-roll-and-renee-as-orca): Happy One Year Anniversary! Marc and Renee want to thank you for a great year of the Nostalgic Nerds Podcast. We've been on a bit of a holiday with the summer months, but people are still listening.…
- [S2E25 - The Box That Ate the Living Room](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e25-the-box-that-ate-the-living-room): Renee and Marc grew up in a prime time for television. School House Rock. Newhart. Saturday Morning. Must See TV. Somewhere in the twentieth century, a box arrived and everyone in the house started…
- [S2E34 - Jell-O, America's Most Unsettled Triumph](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e24-jell-o-america-s-most-unsettled-triumph): Shout out to Bruce, from Australia for contacting Renee! Feel free to contact us any time. A perfect moulded jelly used to be a way to show you had money. Someone spent a full day boiling bones and…
- [S2E23 - Come Clean](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e23-come-clean): Somewhere in your house, a machine takes a full day of work off your hands every week, and you've never once thought about how that happened. For most of history, laundry was a whole day, every week.…
- [S2E22 - Royalty for Pocket Change](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e22-royalty-for-pocket-change): For thousands of years, the colour on your nails marked your rank. Some societies enforced it, and the wrong shade on the wrong person could be a crime. That held for millennia. Then, in about a…
- [S2E21 - Keeping it Cool](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e21-keeping-it-cool): The refrigerator hums in your kitchen and you don't think about it. That hum represents 250 years of people getting laughed at, going broke, and occasionally poisoning the planet. Frederic Tudor…
- [S2E20 - The Royal Flush](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e20-the-royal-flush): Quick note - sorry about Marc's audio. With recording three people, the mic setup wasn't optimal for Marc and his daughter. We'll do better next time. But Marc's audio isn't the important bits of the…
- [S2E19 - Ten Cents to Anywhere](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e19-ten-cents-to-anywhere): Payphones were infrastructure until they weren't. They weren't missed until they were. At their peak there were about two and a half million of them in America, one on what felt like every corner,…
- [S2E18 - Tubes With Wings](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e18-tubes-with-wings): First things, first. We have merch. Silly, yes, but available here. Now onto the show... Have you ever pressed your face to the window in a plane as a kid and stared at the wing thinking flying…
- [S2E17 - Red Means Stop](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e17-red-means-stop): Have you ever sat at a red light at 2 AM with no traffic in any direction and waited anyway? Have you ever rolled through that same red light 2 AM and felt vaguely guilty about it? Of course you…
- [S2E16 - You Are Here](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e16-you-are-here): Do you remember when "I think we missed the turn" caused a complete emotional spectrum of reaction? When the car would go quiet because someone had to admit they'd lost the page boundary on Thomas…
- [S2E15 - Zork to Zelda](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e15-zork-to-zelda): Do you remember pulling a spring-loaded plunger without being told what it did? Watching a goomba walk toward you and dying without being told why? Typing "go north" into a cursor because there was…
- [S2E14 - When Your Car Says Subscribe](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e14-when-your-car-says-subscribe): In 1882, Edison opened Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan and started selling electricity by the meter. He built the grid, built the appliances that plugged into it, and then tried to build an…
- [S2E13 - Warm Coke and the Internet of Things](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e13-warm-coke-and-the-internet-of-things): Does your thermostat know when you're approaching your own front door? Does your watch know you're stressed before you do? When your car rewrites its own software at 3 a.m., do you know what changed?…
- [S2E12 - WarGames Is A Documentary Part 2](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e12-wargames-is-a-documentary-part-2): In 1983, NORAD gave a president four minutes to decide whether to end the world. That was the Cold War's gift to the future: the principle that speed matters more than thought. In part two, we pick…
- [S2E11 - WarGames Is A Documentary Part 1](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e11-wargames-is-a-documentary-part-1): Remember when the scariest thing a computer could do was call another computer? In 1983, WarGames handed a teenage hacker a modem and a direct line to NORAD. Ronald Reagan watched the film at Camp…
- [S2E10 - You Killed Your Tamagotchi and Now You Trust AI](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e10-you-killed-your-tamagotchi-and-now-you-trust-ai): The Tamagotchi (たまごっち) was a three-button egg that beeped when it was hungry, beeped when it was bored, and beeped when it was dying. Renee killed three of them. She's not proud of it. But somewhere…
- [S2E9 - CAPTCHA Stolen Cognition](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e9-captcha-stolen-cognition): CAPTCHA was supposed to keep the bots out. A simple lock on a simple door. Instead, it became one of the largest unpaid labour operations in the history of the internet. Google bought reCAPTCHA in…
- [S2E8 - Neural Nets: The Assembly Line of Thought](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e8-neural-nets-the-assembly-line-of-thought): Henry Ford didn't invent the car. He turned building one into a series of motions so simple that no single worker needed to understand the whole machine. Frederick Taylor went further, timing every…
- [S2E7 - The Age of Tiny Lights (LEDs)](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e7-the-age-of-tiny-lights-leds): In S2E7, The Age of Tiny Lights, Renee and Marc trace the story of LEDs from a childhood electronics kit with a single red indicator to the decades-long effort to make blue light viable. What began…
- [S2E6 - Who Controls the News?](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e6-who-controls-the-news): In this episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, S2E6 – Who Controls the News?, Renee and Marc examine the machinery behind the headlines. There was a time when the news arrived at a predictable hour,…
- [S2E5 - Tape: Tough, Tested, Tenacious](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e5-tape-tough-tested-tenacious): In this episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, Tape: Tough, Tested, Tenacious, Renee and Marc explore the humble roll that holds the modern world together. What starts with a strip of Deltec Purple…
- [S2E4 - The Quiet Power of Batteries](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e4-the-quiet-power-of-batteries): In this episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, Renee and Marc dive into the quiet power of batteries. A technology we depend on constantly but almost never think about. From early chemical…
- [S2E3 - The Internet We Lost](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e3-the-internet-we-lost): Thanks for listening. Please rate and share with friends and family. It really helps! In this episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, Marc and Renee reflect on the internet we lost and the early…
- [S2E2 - Blue Boxes, SIM Swaps, and the Myth of Secure Phones](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e2-blue-boxes-sim-swaps-and-the-myth-of-secure-phones): In this episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, S2E2 – Blue Boxes, SIM Swaps, and the Myth of Secure Phones, Renee and Marc go from the days when long-distance calls were timed with a stopwatch to a…
- [S2E1 - The AI Gigawatt Thirst Trap](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s2e1-the-ai-gigawatt-thirst-trap): We're back with our first episode of Season 2 - The AI Gigawatt Thirst Trap. It was nice to have a little break, but Marc and Renee are back in the studio recording. Season 2 promises more…
- [S1E17 - Built on Rubber!](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e17-built-on-rubber): Quick note - a few audio drop outs here and there. Tried to edit around them, but nothing too serious and you'll get the gist in all the spots with issues. Rubber is one of those materials we almost…
- [S1E16 - The (Shipping) Container Monologues](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e16-the-shipping-container-monologues): Everyone loves fast delivery, but nobody loves thinking about how it works. In this episode, we dig into the overlooked story of logistics: the steam engines that kicked it off, the wars that…
- [S1E15 - Bubbles Build the Big Stuff: How Overhyped Tech Leaves Us Infrastructure We Rely On](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e15-bubbles-build-the-big-stuff-how-overhyped-tech-leaves-us-infrastructure-we-rely-on): Come for the canals and railroads. Stay for the part where Marc and Renee admit AI might just be the next overbuilt mess we rely on. In this episode, we explore the historical patterns of…
- [S1E14 - Cinema Reels and Digital Revolutions](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e14-cinema-reels-and-digital-revolutions): Cinema is built on technology, from the shape of the very first movie frame to the LED walls and AI tools used today. In this episode, Marc and Renee explore how film evolved in both sight and sound,…
- [S1E13 - Please Enter Your Password… Again](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e13-please-enter-your-password-again): Renee and Marc break down the evolution of authentication in recent times. RSA tokens. The rise of mobile authenticators. The not-so-long, painful reign of SMS codes. They move through SIM swapping,…
- [S1E12 - From Shells to Stablecoins: The Tech of Money](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e12-from-shells-to-stablecoins-the-tech-of-money): Marc once again drags Renee into a museum. This time the “Hall of Money." Five thousand years of humans trying (and mostly failing) to automate trust. From clay tablets that doubled as IOUs to…
- [S1E11 Tech Ethics: A Short History of Doing It Anyway](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e11-tech-ethics-a-short-history-of-doing-it-anyway): Warning up front - we discuss some ethical conundrums and situations with tech. There's one mention of suicide and we talk about the Manhattan Project. We're respectful, but we just wanted to put it…
- [S1E10 - Your Printer Hates You. And Now It Can Build Things](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e10-your-printer-hates-you-and-now-it-can-build-things): Printers used to be the villains of the office...loud, cranky, and prone to eating your best work right before a deadline. But somewhere between the screech of a dot matrix and the hiss of a resin…
- [S1E8b - Barnum Would’ve Loved the Bots: The Digital Freakshow (Part 2)](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e9-barnum-would-ve-loved-the-bots-the-digital-freakshow-part-2): Welcome to the second half of our big-top breakdown, where the circus goes digital, and the clowns have ring lights. Wait...did we just call ourselves clowns? Marc and Renee dive into the wild world…
- [S1E8 - Barnum Would’ve Loved the Bots: The Rise of Agentic Advertising Part 1](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e8-barnum-would-ve-loved-the-bots-the-rise-of-agentic-advertising-part-1): Step right up and join Marc and Renee in this captivating episode of The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast where they embark on an exhilarating journey exploring the interplay between the magnificent world of…
- [S1E6b - Throughput, Thrills, and Theme Parks](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e7-throughput-thrills-and-theme-parks): This is Part 2 of our 2 part Theme Park episode! Roller coasters and databases have the same issues: concurrency, throughput, and panic when things go wrong. Theme parks are basically enterprise…
- [S1E6a - Throughput, Thrills, and Theme Parks](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e6-throughput-thrills-and-theme-parks): Roller coasters and databases have the same issues: concurrency, throughput, and panic when things go wrong. Theme parks are basically enterprise technology, just with more churros and slightly fewer…
- [S1E5 - From Clippy to Agentic AI](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e5-from-clippy-to-agentic-ai): From Clippy’s awkward pop-ups to agentic AI plotting your next conquest, Marc and Renee laugh through the evolution of digital assistants. Annoying, nostalgic, and now maybe just a little too smart.…
- [S1E4 - Bat Boy and How Algorithms Ate the Urban Legend](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e4-bat-boy-and-how-algorithms-ate-the-urban-legend): Hold onto your tabloids! This week on the Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, Renee Murphy and Marc Massar explore the wild frontier where technology meets misinformation, tracing the outrageous claims that…
- [S1E3 - Sears, Amazon, and the Eternal Catalog](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e3-sears-amazon-and-the-eternal-catalog): To answer the burning questions from the episode - Could you buy dogs from the Sears catalog? Yes. Could you buy narcotics from the Sears catalog? Yes. How does Renee pronounce "downtown?" Well,…
- [S1E2 - Your Own Hyperlocal Meteorologist in Your Pocket - The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e2-your-own-hyperlocal-meteorologist-in-your-pocket-the-nostalgic-nerds-podcast): Tune in for hot takes, cold fronts, and a 70% chance of questionable metaphors. In this episode, Renee and Marc of the Nostalgic Nerds Podcast take you on a trip through the evolution of weather…
- [The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast - The AI Gigawatt Hunger](https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes/s1e1-the-nostalgic-nerds-podcast-the-ai-gigawatt-hunger): Great Scott! 150 NFL Football Stadiums running at night - all at the same time. That's how much energy a new Wyoming AI data center is chugging. 1.81 Gigawatts. Just think what Doc Brown would say…