The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast

Renee Murphy, Marc Massar

5.0 (3)
TECHNOLOGY

The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, where we take a deep dive into geek culture, tech evolution, and the impact of the past on today’s digital world.

5D AGO

S2E3 - The Internet We Lost

Send us a text 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 promise of a global commons that rewarded curiosity, wit, and genuine insight. They explore how identity, scale, and memory shaped early online communities, why empathy felt possible in smaller spaces, and how engagement-driven incentives quietly rewired behaviour as the internet grew. What emerged wasn’t the place many of us hoped for, but an environment optimised for attention, outrage, and monetised conflict. A place that’s now deeply resistant to change. This isn’t nostalgia for dial-up speeds or blinking cursors (there's some of that). It’s a reckoning with what we were trying to build, what we actually built, and what it might take to do better next time. Featuring the episode companion song "GeoCities (You Let Me Be Ugly)" Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

1h 6m
5D AGO · BONUS

GeoCities (You Let Me Be Ugly) S2E3 Bonus Track

Send us a text Ok, nerds. If you're a consistent listener, you know we've been creating companion songs to the episodes. This episode's song is a longing lament to one of the Internet's lost loves - GeoCities. GeoCities was where the ugly world wide web was born. And it's gone. So, enjoy a little love lost song about a piece of the Internet We Lost. Here's the lyrics: [verse 1] I built you out of borrowed code Midnight blue and blinking gold Every page a little wrong But you never said I was wrong [verse 2] Frames inside of frames inside Hit counters climbing with my pride Comic Sans and broken plans You never laughed, you held my hands [pre-chorus] Before the feeds, before the noise Before the numbers found my voice Before the crowd became the point [chorus] You let me be ugly You let me be real Before the world told me How I should feel No polish, no promise No need to explain You let me be ugly And I loved you the same [verse 3] Neighborhoods along the way Strangers waving, come and stay Under construction, always was But no one asked me what I was [pre-chorus] Before the likes, before the reach Before the metrics learned to teach Before we sold what we could feel [chorus] You let me be ugly You let me be real Before the world told me How I should feel No polish, no promise No need to explain You let me be ugly And I loved you the same [bridge] Then everyone came And the doors stayed wide The rooms got louder Nowhere to hide You didn’t leave me You just dissolved Buried in noise Nothing resolved [final chorus] You let me be ugly You let me be kind Before the whole world Wanted my mind If I build you again It won’t look the same But I miss how you loved me Before the game [outro] Just a dead link now In archive light But you felt like home On a dial-up night Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

3 min
JAN 22

S2E2 - Blue Boxes, SIM Swaps, and the Myth of Secure Phones

Send us a text 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 world where your phone number quietly doubles as your identity. Along the way, they unpack Blue Boxes, SIM swaps, eSIMs, SS7, and why modern phone “security” is mostly about trust… and who the network feels like believing today. Spoiler: it’s not a bug. It’s a feature… from 1975. Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

51 min
JAN 22 · BONUS

The Long Distance Blues (S2E2 Bonus)

Send us a text S2E2 - Blue Boxes, SIM Swaps, and the Myth of Secure Phones In this week's episode, Renee and Marc dial through the history of telecom fraud and hacking. But more importantly we even talk about some things you can do to protect yourself. Here's a companion song for the episode. The Long Distance Blues [Verse 1] Mama said “Keep it short Every minute costs a dime” Clock on the wall Second hand Watching every line Static on the wire Voice coming through Paid a little piece of me Every time I talked to you [Verse 2] Now the line stays open Day and night Doesn’t cost a thing To say “you alright?” But somewhere past the dial tone Past the copper and the truth The line learned how to travel Without asking me or you [Chorus] Got the long distance blues But the distance ain’t the miles It’s the space between the promise And the voice I don’t know now Used to pay in quarters Used to hear it click Now it’s free as falling water And twice as hard to fix [Verse 3] Didn’t hear it break Didn’t hear it bend Just one day The voice on the other end Wasn’t quite where I left it Wasn’t quite mine Like a train that keeps on rolling Long after it left the line [Bridge] Old switches humming In a locked back room Built for a world That was smaller Soon Trust was the tariff Distance the fee Now the bill comes due Somewhere I can’t see [Final Chorus] Got the long distance blues But the distance ain’t the miles It’s the space between the promise And the voice I don’t know now Used to pay in quarters Used to hear it click Now it’s free as falling water And twice as hard to fix [Outro] Used to count the minutes Now I count on trust Funny how the cheap things Cost us the most Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

3 min
JAN 16

S2E1 - The AI Gigawatt Thirst Trap

Send us a text 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 infrastructure, more laughs, more music, and more nerdiness. In our very first episode of Season 1, we talked about AI’s growing appetite for electricity. This time, we turn to something even more fundamental: water. From rivers that powered early industry to modern data centres that use millions of gallons to stay cool, we explore how scaling technology has always depended on scaling water. Along the way, we look at what actually happens to that water, why residential bills are rising, and what the future might hold when digital infrastructure runs up against very physical limits. Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

34 min
JAN 16 · BONUS

The AI Gigawatt Thirst Trap (S2E1 Bonus)

Send us a text The first song for season 2 - The AI Gigawatt Thirst Trap In our very first episode, we talked about electricity usage in the new class of gigawatt data centres. But we also wanted to talk about the other resource that is being slurped up by data centres...water. So, here's Season 2's song to go along with our first Season 2 episode. Hope you enjoy it. [Verse 1] Got a warehouse full of brain cells Thinkin’ fifteen moves ahead But the smartest thing I’m learnin’ Is it really just wants to be fed Not on likes or your attention Not on gold or on a map It’s droolin’ for a sprinkler system Welcome to the AI thirst trap (hey!) [Chorus] So thirsty Sippin’ on the coolant Guzzle, chug, glug Yeah, it’s overdo it So thirsty Can’t stop, won’t nap Every drip drop drip It’s an AI thirst trap (so thirsty, so thirsty) [Verse 2] Little metal mind in a hoodie Sweatin’ ones and zeros out Somebody get this box a beverage It’s about to short from the drought Fans spin like tiny hurricanes Still it needs that chilly tap It’s beggin’ for a backstage water What a diva of a data rack [Chorus] So thirsty Sippin’ on the coolant Guzzle, chug, glug Yeah, it’s overdo it So thirsty Can’t stop, won’t nap Every drip drop drip It’s an AI thirst trap (keep pourin’, keep pourin’) [Bridge] Ice pack server Cold towel tower It studies climate Then takes a power shower Smartest thing ever Can’t read a map? But it knows one word: “Water…? Water…?” (slurp!) [Chorus] So thirsty Sippin’ on the coolant Guzzle, chug, glug Yeah, it’s overdo it So thirsty Click, hum, clap Every drip drop drip It’s an AI thirst trap So thirsty Brain on tap Baby that big smart box Just a big ol’ thirst trap Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

3 min
12/20/2025 · BONUS

Elastic Hearts (Oh, Vulcanised Rubber)

Send us a text Elastic Hears (Oh, Vulcanised Rubber) [Verse] Born from heat and sulfur’s kiss A miracle we can’t dismiss Tougher than the strongest thread Holds the world where we tread [Chorus] Oh vulcanised rubber you keep us alive Stretching and snapping you help us survive From tires to soles to seals that don't break You're the bond in the world we make [Verse 2] Rain won’t rot you fire won’t win You’re the armor on which we spin Bridges hold and engines hum You’re the reason we overcome [Prechorus] You bend but you never let go Holding tight through the highs and lows [Chorus] Oh vulcanised rubber you keep us alive Stretching and snapping you help us survive From tires to soles to seals that don't break You're the bond in the world we make [Bridge] Unseen hero under our feet From jungle sap to industrial beat You’re the silent pulse that keeps time In every bounce and every climb Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

2 min
12/19/2025

S1E17 - Built on Rubber!

Send us a text 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 never think about, right up until it fails. From tyres and medical gloves to seals, gaskets, and global logistics, modern life quietly depends on a substance that still comes, quite literally, from trees. In this episode, Renee and Marc trace the unlikely journey of rubber from indigenous use in the Amazon, through the boom and collapse of Brazil’s rubber economy, to the accidental discovery of vulcanisation and the rise of a global industry built on a single species of tree. Along the way, they explore the colonial economics and ethical costs of the rubber boom, the fragility of today’s supply chains, and why the world remains dangerously dependent on Southeast Asian plantations. Drawing on firsthand experience touring rubber plantations in Thailand and research into modern alternatives, the conversation moves from tree sap to tyres to the future of latex itself. From aircraft tyres and hospitals to dandelions, desert shrubs, and genetically engineered crops, the episode looks at how rubber is being reinvented before its weaknesses become unavoidable. Disruption to natural rubber could trigger cascading failures across medicine, sanitation, and global trade, this episode asks a simple question with unsettling implications: what happens when the quiet material holding everything together disappears? Featuring the song "Elastic Hearts" Join Renee and Marc as they discuss tech topics with a view on their nostalgic pasts in tech that help them understand today's challenges and tomorrow's potential. email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

27 min

5

out of 5

3 Ratings

The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast, where we take a deep dive into geek culture, tech evolution, and the impact of the past on today’s digital world.

Creator

Renee Murphy, Marc Massar
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

28
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast
Show Website

The Nostalgic Nerds Podcast