The BBN Podcast

The Belligerent Broadcast Network

Belligerent Broadcast Network (BBN) – No peace treaties. No sacred cows. No limits. Join Kyle and Nick as we cut through the noise of modern media with sharp satire, honest takes, and unfiltered commentary on current events, culture, and the absurdity we all live in. Smart, unapologetic, and always belligerent...this is the podcast for listeners who want truth, laughs, and a little chaos.

  1. 3d ago

    Your Brain Builds Your Reality | The Placebo & Nocebo Effect Part 2 | BBN Ep. 39

    What if the medicine isn't the only thing affecting how well the medicine works? Episode 39 has Kyle and Nick back in the Podcast Bunker to finish the rabbit hole we couldn't possibly squeeze into last week's two-hour episode: The Placebo & Nocebo Effect Part 2. But first, we crack open the Global Trash Can Report. We start 35,000 feet in the air with a Flydubai flight where an alleged altercation between crew members somehow ends with the aircraft safely back on the ground. Then Ukraine apparently creates the wartime version of DoorDash, using drones to deliver thousands of pounds of food and medical supplies into contested areas. Science brings us an amoeba capable of thriving around 145°F, once again reminding us that life finds a way. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people have been following a shark hanging around Busan, South Korea, apparently deciding open ocean life isn't for him anymore. North and South Korea are exchanging increasingly bizarre drone payloads, and then we close the lid with a discussion about a reported failed execution and the broader ethical and practical questions surrounding capital punishment protocols. After a Dubby Energy break, we're picking up exactly where Episode 38 ended. Can your doctor become part of the treatment? Think about two doctors. One says: Eh, try these. They might work. The other confidently explains your condition, treatment, what to expect, and what to do if anything changes. Same medication but would you experience the treatment differently? We explore how confidence, reassurance, bedside manner, expectations, packaging, and even the way medication is administered can influence our perception of treatment. Then things get really strange: Open-label placebos. Can you KNOW you're receiving a placebo, and still experience an effect? Kyle runs Nick through a thought experiment with predictably chaotic results and we eventually arrive at the idea underlying this entire two part series: Your brain constructs your experience from the information it receives. After a Deemed Fit break, we take it even further. Color. Taste. Smell. Our brains spend decades building associations between sensory cues and expected outcomes. Blue can feel calming. Red can signal energy or urgency. The appearance of medication can influence expectations before you've even swallowed it. Then there's smell. Grandma's cookies can instantly transport you back to childhood. A hospital, dentist's office, or doctor's office can trigger an emotional response before anyone even touches you. And an entire generation probably just needs one taste of artificial cherry medicine or that thick pink bubblegum-flavored prescription to become eight years old again. We explore taste, smell, caffeine, energy drinks, alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages, social cues, branding, packaging, and the expectations created by words like: Premium. Organic. Deluxe. Name Brand. How much does the label change the experience? How much does brand loyalty influence what we expect? And how much of what we experience is our brain predicting what should happen based on everything it has learned before? Placebo and nocebo aren't magic, and they're not substitutes for legitimate medical treatment. But after four hours down this rabbit hole, one thing becomes difficult to ignore: Your brain plays an enormous role in constructing the reality you experience. That's officially a wrap on our two-part Placebo/Nocebo deep dive. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod thebbnpod@gmail.com Dubby Energy 10% OFF: BBNhttps://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel 15% OFF: KYLESLOMINSKIhttps://deemedfit.co Like, follow, subscribe, leave us a review, and share BBN with someone who loves questioning everything. Every share helps our independent show grow.

    Your Brain Builds Your Reality | The Placebo & Nocebo Effect Part 2 | BBN Ep. 39
  2. Sep 30

    Placebo vs. Nocebo: Can Your Brain Change Your Body? | Part 1 | BBN Ep. 38

    What if your brain can change what your body actually feels? Episode 38 has Kyle and Nick back in the Podcast Bunker after another ridiculously busy week, and tonight's rabbit hole gets deep enough that we accidentally turn it into a two-parter. But first, we crack open the raging dumpster fire known as the Global Trash Can Report. We start with Iran and reports surrounding negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the conditions attached to those discussions, and the continuing conflict. Meanwhile, we're watching the consequences closer to home through oil, gasoline, and diesel prices. Could boots on the ground become another escalation? What would that accomplish? And where does this conflict realistically go from here? Then we leave geopolitics behind and head to Sicily, where Mount Etna is erupting and disrupting air travel. From there, things get considerably less depressing. We've got singing lemurs in Madagascar... And Alaska's annual competition to determine one extremely important question: WHO IS THE FATTEST BEAR? Finally, democracy tackling the issues that matter. 🐻 We slam the lid shut and take a Dubby Energy break before entering tonight's main topic: THE PLACEBO EFFECT. Most people associate placebos with medical trials, give one group the medication, give another an inactive treatment, and compare the results. But the deeper we go, the stranger it gets. Can believing that something will help actually change what your body experiences? We discuss weight-loss drugs, cannabis, pain management, migraines, sugar pills, generic versus name-brand medications, and experiences from our own lives that make us wonder just how powerful expectation can be. Because your body already contains some pretty impressive chemistry of its own. So what exactly happens when the brain believes treatment is coming? We dive into research surrounding pain, conditioning, expectations, and the relationship between your environment and how you perceive physical symptoms. Then we flip the coin over. PLACEBO vs. NOCEBO. Positive expectations can sometimes influence how we experience treatment. But negative expectations can influence us too. If someone tells you something is going to hurt, does it hurt more? If you're convinced, you'll experience a side effect, can that expectation influence what you feel? How much of our experience is the physical condition itself, and how much is the brain interpreting what's happening? That doesn't mean you can simply think yourself healthy. Medical conditions are real. Treatments affect different people differently. Mentality isn't a magical replacement for medicine, and believing you're cured doesn't automatically make you cured. But the relationship between the brain, expectations, pain, stress, conditioning, and the body is fascinating. And then we looked at the clock. MIDNIGHT. Two hours into recording... and we weren't even close to finished. 😂 So we're calling it. Episode 38 is officially Placebo/Nocebo: Part 1. Next week, Episode 39 takes us even deeper for Part 2. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBNhttps://www.dubby.gg 👕 Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKIhttps://deemedfit.co ⭐ Like, follow, subscribe, leave us a review, and share BBN with somebody who'd enjoy the rabbit hole. It genuinely helps a small independent show like ours grow.

    Placebo vs. Nocebo: Can Your Brain Change Your Body? | Part 1 | BBN Ep. 38
  3. Sep 23

    DON’T JINX IT! Superstitions, Lucky Rituals & Why We Believe | BBN Ep. 37

    Don't say it. Don't think it. And whatever you do... DON'T JINX IT. Episode 37 has Kyle and Nick back in the Podcast Bunker, and after the heavy subjects we've covered lately, we needed something a little more fun. But first, we crack open the raging dumpster fire known as the Global Trash Can Report. We start overseas with drones filling the skies around Moscow and discuss how modern warfare has evolved from tanks and soldiers to drones, fiber-optic control systems, cyberattacks, and increasingly remote battlefields. Then North Korea starts throwing missiles toward the ocean again, which gets us questioning nuclear weapons, where countries acquire the technology, and how much we actually know about what's happening behind closed borders. From there, naturally, we go to the Moon. We discuss reports of a massive asteroid impact and wonder what events like that could mean if humans eventually establish permanent infrastructure on the lunar surface. Then things get weird. Apparently cats have something resembling a piss passport, with urine carrying a ridiculous amount of identifying information. Thankfully humans don't authenticate ourselves that way. Imagine showing ID at the bar. 😳 After a Dubby Energy break, it's time for tonight's main event: DON'T JINX IT. Superstitions. Rituals. Curses. Traditions. Lucky objects. Human beings have believed in them across cultures for thousands of years, but why? We start with one of humanity's greatest survival tools: pattern recognition. Our brains desperately want cause and effect. When something works, we remember what we did beforehand. Do it again, get another good result, and suddenly you've got a ritual. Athletes might be the perfect example. Same meal. Same socks. Same warm-up. Same routine. Is it superstition, or does consistency actually improve performance? We explore the psychology behind lucky objects and why believing something gives you confidence might genuinely affect how you perform. Then come the classics: Knock on wood. Seven years of bad luck from a broken mirror. Walking under ladders. Bad things happening in threes. Black cats crossing your path, which Kyle strongly objects to because his black cat is awesome. And, of course, the heavyweight champion: Friday the 13th. After a Deemed Fit break, we tackle beginner's luck, including our own experiences on the disc golf course, before somehow wandering DEEP into left field. Maybe don't Google everything mentioned in this episode. It wasn't in the terms and conditions. 😂 Eventually Kyle drags us back to an interesting question: If enough people repeat a superstition for long enough... does it eventually become tradition? Weddings. Birthdays. Holidays. New Year's celebrations. Family traditions. Things that seem completely normal to us can look absolutely bizarre to someone from another culture, or even another family. We share some traditions from our own childhoods, talk about the superstitions we still subconsciously follow, and ask when harmless rituals can actually become a problem. Maybe there's something useful buried underneath all of it. Confidence matters. Mentality matters. And sometimes believing you're ready helps you actually become ready. Tell us your weirdest superstition, lucky object, family ritual, or New Year's tradition. We may eventually take this rabbit hole worldwide. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Dubby Energy — 10% OFF: BBNhttps://www.dubby.gg 👕 Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF: KYLESLOMINSKIhttps://deemedfit.co ⭐ Like, follow, subscribe, review, comment, and share BBN with somebody who'd enjoy the rabbit hole. Every share helps our independent show grow.

    DON’T JINX IT! Superstitions, Lucky Rituals & Why We Believe | BBN Ep. 37
  4. Sep 16

    9/11 & Charlie Kirk: Two Events That Changed America in Real Time | BBN Ep. 36

    Two events. Twenty-four years apart. Drastically different circumstances, but both witnessed by millions of people almost in real time. Episode 36 is different. No Global Trash Can Report. No warm-up. Kyle and Nick spend two hours in the Podcast Bunker examining 9/11 and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, two events that left America with grief, anger, unanswered questions, and endless debate. We begin on a normal Tuesday morning in 2001. Kyle and Nick were in third grade when televisions came on at school and the world changed in front of them. We revisit the attacks, the hijackers, intelligence failures, flight schools, airport security, the 9/11 Commission, Guantanamo Bay, and the enormous surveillance and national-security apparatus that followed. Then come the questions that have kept 9/11 conspiracy theories alive for 25 years. Could the attacks have been prevented? Why did intelligence agencies fail to connect the warnings? Why did the towers collapse the way they did? What happened with World Trade Center 7? What evidence exists surrounding the Pentagon impact, and what claims have been exaggerated online? Controlled demolition? False flag? Insurance motive? Catastrophic institutional failure? We separate what we know from what we question, and discuss why uncertainty surrounding major historical events can become fertile ground for conspiracy theories. After a Dubby Energy break, we remember one undeniable result of September 11: for a brief moment, Americans came together. Our condolences remain with every family affected by that day. Then we transition to free speech, political violence, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Regardless of whether you agreed with Kirk, his entire platform revolved around publicly debating ideas. Political disagreement should end with arguments, votes, and people walking away, not murder. We examine the publicly reported timeline, security arrangements, weapon and ballistic claims, the alleged shooter, evidence surrounding the scene, reported messages, and the theories that have exploded online since the assassination. Was the official account complete? Were security failures simply failures? Could another shooter have been involved? Do claims surrounding the weapon, recovered evidence, or foreign involvement withstand scrutiny? There are facts, allegations, coincidences, rumors, and unanswered questions, and those aren't the same thing. We also discuss Kirk's influence with younger voters, Turning Point USA, political funding, the increasingly bizarre culture surrounding American politics, and why serving in government went from a temporary public duty to a lifelong career. Two difficult subjects ultimately bring us back to themes that have followed BBN from the beginning: Follow the evidence. Follow the money. Question powerful institutions, but question the conspiracy theories too. Perspective matters. Twenty-five years after 9/11, questions remain. As more evidence surrounding Kirk's assassination becomes public, our understanding of that event may change too. We're now heard in 66 countries, and we can't thank you enough. Like, follow, subscribe, review, comment, and share the show. Every share helps an independent podcast like BBN reach people outside the algorithm. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Sponsors Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBN👉 https://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKI👉 https://deemedfit.co ⭐ Leave BBN a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and share Episode 36 with someone willing to question their own perspective.

    9/11 & Charlie Kirk: Two Events That Changed America in Real Time | BBN Ep. 36
  5. Sep 10

    Synthetic DNA, Surveillance & Is the System Rigged? | BBN Ep. 35 ft. Don

    Don is back in the Podcast Bunker! Every time he's back in town, we know we're in for a good one, and Episode 35 takes us from global conflicts and space telescopes to synthetic DNA, surveillance, money, martial arts and somehow... the chemical composition of air. Basically, a normal night at BBN. We open the Global Trash Can Report with the conflicts that have forced both Don and Kyle to rethink international travel plans. Russia and Ukraine are reportedly talking again, with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meeting Vladimir Putin before traveling to Kyiv. Could diplomacy finally produce something tangible, or are we watching another chapter of negotiations that go nowhere? Then we wander into education, the 40-hour workweek, conformity, creativity, college, professional sports, and why sometimes ONE opportunity is enough to completely change someone's life. Take your shots when they appear. We eventually make it to space, where NASA just launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Think James Webb's wide-angle cousin. That leads us into Voyager, deep-space communication, the Moon, and the absurd distances humans can communicate across. After a Dubby Energy break, and a Labor Day shoutout to everyone out there keeping the machine running, we head down tonight's biggest rabbit hole: What happens when humans start rewriting biology? Synthetic DNA. Expanded genetic alphabets. mRNA technology. Genetic engineering. COVID-era questions. Medical ethics. Where does treatment end and human modification begin? From there we move into another technology rapidly changing society: mass surveillance. Flock cameras, facial recognition, data collection, privacy, and cities with staggering numbers of cameras watching public spaces. At what point does security become surveillance? That somehow takes us through insurance, elections, political marketing, taxes, sales tactics and the financial game being played at levels most ordinary people never experience. Two sides of the coin are still attached to the same coin. Then come data centers. Why build enormous facilities beside freshwater resources? Could offshore data centers work? What about orbital data centers? How much junk can we realistically put around Earth before we've created a 17,000-MPH landfill above our heads? After a Deemed Fit break, we get personal, being the black sheep of the family, changing traditions, and how families evolve as generations come and go. Then Nick sighs. And somehow we're discussing whether humans actually breathe oxygen. Don't ask. 🤣 From there it's CTE, football, hockey, MMA, boxing and the difference between martial arts in competition versus fighting in an uncontrolled environment. Kyle brings years of combat-sports experience into the conversation as we discuss technique, control, staying calm, and why losing your temper may be the fastest way to lose control of a dangerous situation. Finally, Nick brings up the Lindsay Clancy case. We only briefly touch it because none of us had enough information in front of us to pretend we knew all the answers, and sometimes “we don't know yet” is the most responsible answer. Episode 35 is completely all over the map. But this is the Belligerent Broadcast Network. That's kind of the point. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Sponsors Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBN👉 https://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKI👉 https://deemedfit.co ⭐ Like, follow, subscribe, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and send the show to somebody who belongs in the BBN rabbit hole. Every share helps our independent show grow.

    Synthetic DNA, Surveillance & Is the System Rigged? | BBN Ep. 35 ft. Don
  6. Sep 3

    Why Do Humans Play? AI Swarms, Cyber Warfare & The Psychology of Competition | BBN Ep. 34

    Sorry, this one is a little late guys, Kyles computer went down, and deleayed the edit session, but we wont leave you without your weekly dose of the BBN! Episode 34 starts with Kyle and Nick discovering that apparently we're not as young as we used to be after a LONG round of disc golf. Shoutout to the pros competing at the World Championships in Milford, Michigan this week, you guys make those distances look way easier than they are. Then we open the lid on the Global Trash Can Report. Politics kicks us off with a conversation about leadership, patriotism, and why wanting new leadership doesn't mean rooting against the country. Regardless of who's in office, we want America to succeed. Then warfare enters a completely different battlefield. We've gone from armies marching at each other with muskets to nations potentially attacking power grids, water systems, banking, and communications without firing a shot. We dive into reports of AI swarm hacking, zero-day exploits, and Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks targeting American infrastructure. And seriously... they had to call it a swarm? Not a herd? A gang? A gaggle? A SWARM. Can increasingly autonomous AI actually be contained? From there we FOLLOW THE MONEY into Venezuela, oil, infrastructure investment, and potential deals surrounding crude exports before Trump apparently destroys generations of Michigan education by renaming Lake Ontario. Forget HOMES. Apparently the Great Lakes now spell SHAME. 🤣 Sorry, every Michigan elementary-school teacher. We talk Canada, tariffs, Taiwan, cyber warfare, intelligence agencies, and why restrictions on hiring may be shrinking the talent pool available to fight increasingly sophisticated digital threats. Then we close the Trash Can Report with something much more important: A dude launched himself roughly 60 feet into the air and landed 10 flips on a trampoline. Because apparently nine wasn't enough. After a Dubby Energy break, that sends us directly into the main topic: Why do humans play? Why do we throw discs at baskets, hit balls into holes, catch fish just to release them, hunt when grocery stores exist, eat 70 hot dogs competitively, or launch ourselves into the atmosphere trying to break records? On paper, some of it makes absolutely no sense. Yet play seems deeply embedded in us, and we're not alone. Animals play too. We bring it back to disc golf and why even a terrible day on the course with your friends can still beat a good day at work. Then comes the bigger question: Did keeping score ruin playing? Competition can motivate us to become faster, stronger, and better. World records give humans something seemingly impossible to chase. But when does healthy competition become obsession? After a Deemed Fit break, we debate participation trophies, team competition versus individual achievement, hyper-fixation, and why everything you enjoy doesn't need to become a business, side hustle, or another thing you have to dominate. Sometimes you're allowed to do something simply because it's fun. Let people enjoy things. Push yourself. Chase records. Compete. Try to win. But remember: your opponent isn't your enemy. Everybody has bad days. Respect the people beside you, keep improving, and occasionally forget the scoreboard altogether. Sometimes you should just play. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Sponsors Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBN👉 https://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKI👉 https://deemedfit.co ⭐ Like, follow, subscribe, leave us a review, and share BBN with a friend. It genuinely helps a small independent show like ours grow.

    Why Do Humans Play? AI Swarms, Cyber Warfare & The Psychology of Competition | BBN Ep. 34
  7. Aug 26

    The Invisible Machine Keeping Civilization Alive | Power Grids, Bitcoin Whales & What Happens When It Stops? | BBN Ep. 3

    Episode 33 has Kyle and Nick back in the Podcast Bunker, and this week we're talking about something most of us never notice, until it stops working. But first, we open the lid on the Global Trash Can Report. Nearly 200 earthquakes around the Pacific Ring of Fire in seven days gets us wondering just how much the planet moves beneath our feet while everyday life carries on above it. Naturally, Nick gets us sidetracked into genies, the Mayan calendar, the Higgs boson, and whether 2012 represented the end of the world, the end of an age... or whether the Mayans simply got tired of making calendars thousands of years into the future. Then we follow the money. A Bitcoin whale moves hundreds of millions of dollars, other massive wallets are shifting crypto, and ETFs, futures, and institutional money have completely changed the market. Meanwhile, gold, silver, and other precious metals are ripping higher while the dollar continues raising questions about purchasing power. Could the U.S. revalue its official gold reserves and completely shake up the global financial system? That sends Nick directly into the Anunnaki gold-mining alien rabbit hole. Because of course it does. After a Dubby Energy break, we finally reach tonight's main topic: THE INVISIBLE MACHINE. Eight billion people wake up every day expecting electricity, water, communications, transportation, banking, food, fuel, GPS, internet, and thousands of other interconnected systems to simply... work. And somehow, most of the time, they do. Electricity may be the master key. Power generation has to constantly balance massive changes in demand while an enormous network of plants, substations, transformers, sensors, transmission lines, computers, and people keeps everything synchronized. What happens when one piece fails? We revisit massive blackouts and ask a question we'd never really considered: What powers the power plant when the power goes out? Because even a coal plant needs transportation, communications, signals, fuel deliveries, functioning equipment, and dozens of other systems supporting it. Suddenly you realize how many things had to work correctly just for us to record this podcast. Then we look at grid demand, factories, EVs, renewable energy, utility rate hikes, peak-hour pricing, and whether our infrastructure can realistically handle where technology is heading. And that leads to the uncomfortable thought experiment: What if the grid actually went down? 24 hours? Annoying. 72 hours? Things start getting serious. One week? Now we're talking food, fuel, refrigeration, banking, communications, GPS, transportation, medical needs, water systems, and millions of people trying to figure out how to function without technology they've depended on their entire lives. A month? Nick's officially going full bug-out mode. After a Deemed Fit break, we come back to the bigger question: What is the weakest link in the invisible machine civilization depends on? The more we talked about it, the more impressive the entire system became. We spend a lot of time complaining when something breaks. Maybe occasionally we should appreciate how much doesn't break—and the millions of people working behind the scenes every day to keep it that way. Balance is everything. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Sponsors Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBN👉 https://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKI👉 https://deemedfit.co ⭐ Like, follow, subscribe, leave a review, and share BBN with someone who'd enjoy the rabbit hole. Every share helps an independent show like ours grow.

    The Invisible Machine Keeping Civilization Alive | Power Grids, Bitcoin Whales & What Happens When It Stops? | BBN Ep. 3
  8. Aug 19

    Are We Old?! Growing Up Before the Internet, Lost Childhood Memories & What Comes Next | BBN Ep. 32

    Episode 32 lands on Kyle’s 33rd birthday and somehow both BBN hosts had their birthdays fall on Sunday, the exact day we chose to record this show. What are the odds? Before the birthday nostalgia begins, we crack open the Global Trash Can Report. Ukraine is deep-striking Russian infrastructure, Gaza is devastated, and the Iran conflict remains trapped in another apparent stalemate. We question rumors circulating about conditions aboard U.S. aircraft carriers before finally getting some potentially GOOD news: North and South Korea discussing reducing tensions. After more than 70 years under an armistice, could we actually see movement toward lasting peace? Then China gives us an AI use Kyle can finally get behind: robots being deployed for dangerous emergency-response jobs like firefighting. Trash can closed. Set it on fire. After a Dubby Energy break, we're going back in time. If you grew up in the '90s or 2000s, this episode is for you. Dial-up internet. AOL. AIM. Internet minutes on CDs. Family computer rooms. MySpace. Burning CDs. MP3 players. iPods. The Zune. Sketchy LimeWire downloads that gave the family computer every digital STD imaginable. Remember buying an entire $20 CD because you liked ONE song? Or carrying a portable CD player while riding your bike and hitting one bump that made it skip for the next two miles? We reminisce about recording songs off the radio, custom voicemail greetings, bootleg gas-station DVDs, memorizing everyone's phone numbers, and the lost art of making the perfect burned CD for the girl you liked. Then smartphones changed everything. Every teacher told us, “You won't always have a calculator in your pocket.” Well... turns out we got a calculator, camera, GPS, calendar, encyclopedia, music library, television, computer, and your mom's phone number in there. But did all that technology actually make us smarter? After a Deemed Fit break, the nostalgia continues. Blockbuster. Weekend trips to the video store. Late fees. Physical video games. And the days when $20 could actually buy you an entire night of entertainment. Now it feels like stepping off the porch costs $100. That sends us into inflation, grocery prices, gas prices, the declining purchasing power of a dollar, and modern gaming—where $79.99 gets you a download that consumes half your hard drive instead of a physical copy you actually own. Who remembers 1-800-COLLECT? Kyle eventually gives Nick the official “Are We Old?” test. The verdict? Yeah... apparently we're old. 🤣 But we're also incredibly grateful we grew up during one of the strangest transitions in human history: childhood before the internet and adulthood completely surrounded by it. We experienced both worlds. So put the phone down sometimes. Go somewhere. Make memories. Be stupid with your friends. Experience life firsthand instead of watching it through a screen. Those moments don't come back. We've seen what changed during our first 33 years. What will the next 33 look like? Thanks for spending Kyle’s birthday with us. Stay curious. Stay skeptical.Don't outsource your thinking. 🎧 Listen: https://bit.ly/BBNpod 📲 Follow BBN:Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebbnpodInstagram: https://instagram.com/thebbnpodX: https://x.com/thebbnpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@thebbnpod 📩 thebbnpod@gmail.com ⚡ Sponsors Dubby Energy — 10% OFF with code BBN👉 https://www.dubby.gg Deemed Fit Apparel — 15% OFF with code KYLESLOMINSKI👉 https://deemedfit.co ⭐ If this episode brought back some memories, tell us one thing from your childhood that doesn't exist anymore. Like, follow, subscribe, share BBN with a friend, and leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge difference for a small independent show like ours.

    Are We Old?! Growing Up Before the Internet, Lost Childhood Memories & What Comes Next | BBN Ep. 32

About

Belligerent Broadcast Network (BBN) – No peace treaties. No sacred cows. No limits. Join Kyle and Nick as we cut through the noise of modern media with sharp satire, honest takes, and unfiltered commentary on current events, culture, and the absurdity we all live in. Smart, unapologetic, and always belligerent...this is the podcast for listeners who want truth, laughs, and a little chaos.