In 1608 a Dutch spectacle maker put two lenses in a tube to spot enemy ships, and the government wouldn’t even give him a patent. Four hundred years later the same idea is a ten-billion-dollar gold mirror a million miles from home, catching light older than the Earth. Renee and Marc follow the glass from Galileo to Webb: telescopes held up with string, a mirror polished perfectly to the wrong shape, and Renee’s forty-year grudge against a smudge.

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

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For this week's episode Marc and Renee look to the sky. Big fans of telescopes and astronomy the Nerds run through the history and future of astronomical instruments. Humble beginnings as tools for naval intelligence to instruments that peer into the very beginning of time.

So, our song this week is about that longing to see farther that you can with your eye and the desire to see the heavenly bodies more clearly. Lyrics below.

[Verse 1]
Lay me down in the cool night grass
Mama gazing way up high
That one's a world just like ours
Just a light up in the sky

[Pre-Chorus]
Only little lights
Only tiny sparks
Twinkle through the night
Hiding in the dark

[Chorus]
I want to see farther (see farther)
Farther than the eye
I want to see clearer (see clearer)
Clear across the sky

[Verse 2]
Held the glass up to my eye
Jupiter came swimming in
Four small moons were at his side
Saturn wore a silver ring

[Pre-Chorus]
Oh, I never knew
All that waited there
Hiding in the blue
Hanging in the air

[Chorus]
I want to see farther (see farther)
Farther than the eye
I want to see clearer (see clearer)
Clear across the sky

[Bridge]
Every light I'm looking at
Left before my mama's day
Some of them burned out and gone
Still they're shining down my way
Lookin' back (lookin' back)
A long, long way

[Final Chorus - key change]
I want to see farther (see farther)
Farther, far away
I want to see clearer (see clearer)
Clear to yesterday

[Outro]
Farther (farther)
Farther than the eye

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

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Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.

A secret radar valve crossed the Atlantic in 1940, a candy bar melted in an engineer’s pocket, and the first microwave oven weighed 750 pounds and needed its own plumbing. Fifty years later it was a $200 box in nine out of ten kitchens. Marc and Renee get into the magnetron, a radio telescope tricked by somebody’s lunch, and a brother who set his hair on fire with a paper towel. And, after eighty years, why your leftovers are still cold in the middle.

Shout out to Tom for correcting us on some pigeon facts from the storage episode. We talk about that and thank Tom at the end of the show after the outro. Here's a link to a film he worked on about microfilm. https://www.tombessoir.com/microfilm

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.

Tomorrow's episode is all about the microwave...where it came from and where it's headed. But, as modern and convenient as the microwave is...sometimes it just leave your food cold in the middle. Have a listen to the episode's song and see if you can relate. The sadness, the disappointment, the frustration. The edges are too hot and the middle of that mystery burrito is still cold.

Lyrics below.

[Verse 1]
Took it from the freezer
Laid it on the plate
Watched it turnin' in the light
Lord, I could not wait

[Verse 2]
Bell rang out like Sunday
Steam rose to the sky
Edges hot as lava, Lord
Tears came to my eye

[Pre-Chorus]
Then I took a bite
And it wasn't right

[Chorus]
Cold in the middle (cold in the middle)
Cold, Lord, cold
Lava round the edges
And the middle's just like ice
They told me it was modern
They told me it was fast
I had it on the highest
I had it on full blast

[Verse 3]
Mama's stove took an hour
Grandma's took all day
Came out warm the whole way through
Now it's gone away

[Pre-Chorus]
Then I took a bite
And it wasn't right

[Chorus]
Cold in the middle (cold in the middle)
Cold, Lord, cold
Lava round the edges
And the middle's just like ice
They told me it was modern
They told me it was fast
I had it on the highest
I had it on full blast

[Bridge]
Two more minutes (two more minutes)
Stir it round again
Two more minutes (two more minutes)
Lord, I don't know when
Edges gettin' harder
Middle still won't give
Two more minutes
That's the way I live

[Final Chorus]
Cold in the middle (cold in the middle)
Cold, Lord, cold
Lava round the edges
And the middle's just like ice
They told me it was modern
They told me it was fast
I had it on the highest
I had it on full blast

[Outro - fading]
Two more minutes (two more minutes)
Two more minutes (two more minutes)
[beep]
Still cold

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

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Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.

The first thing ever scanned at a supermarket checkout was a 67-cent pack of Juicy Fruit, in Troy, Ohio, in 1974. Now barcodes get scanned ten billion times a day, the price sticker is long gone, and the price on the shelf may soon depend on who's buying.

Renee and Marc cover freight-car grime, grease pencils, the mark of the beast, and the smart cart that still wants you to hold everything up to the light.

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.

What would the barcode say to you if it could talk? Would it wax poetic on its journey through the consumer landscape? Would it tell you all about the hands it passed through?

No. It wouldn't. It's a barcode. Lyrics below.

[Verse 1]
I'm on the milk and the morning bread
I'm on the pills beside your bed
You carry me through every door
You never looked at me before

[Pre-Chorus]
There's so much in me
Waitin' to come free
Just shine on me

[Chorus]
When the light hits me (when the light)
Gonna tell you all I know
Every mile and every hand
Everywhere I've had to go
When the light hits me

[Verse 2]
I rode a truck from Tennessee
I waited weeks in Aisle Three
I've seen the loading dock at dawn
I know the hands that passed me on

[Pre-Chorus]
There's so much in me
Waitin' to come free
Just shine on me

[Chorus]
When the light hits me (when the light)
Gonna tell you all I know
Every mile and every hand
Everywhere I've had to go
When the light hits me

[Bridge]
Here it comes
I see it red
Everything
I never said
Closer now
It's findin' me
Oh, this is it
Now you'll see

[Final Chorus]
When the light hits me (when the light)
Gonna tell you all I know
Every mile and every hand
Everywhere I've had to go
When the light hits me
When the light hits me

[outro]
Oh (oh)
Seven, two, four (seven, two, four)
One, oh, six (one, oh, six)
Eight, three, nine (eight, three, nine)
One... five

[Outro - spoken]
Huh.
...I thought there'd be more.

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

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For centuries, even millennia, the price of storing important information has gone down as technology advances make each generation obsolete.

That was mostly true until the last couple of years. Storage prices have increased drastically and it's the first time this has happened in the mechanical storage era. This generation of storage is more expensive today than it was last year.

Renee and Marc, always students of history, decided to take a look into the history of storage. From clay, to papyrus, to parchment, to sticks, and beyond into the modern era.

Grab a frosty beverage and relax as we briefly tour the history of storing information. And losing some of it too.

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Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.

This week's episode is all about storage. And one of the things Renee and Marc cover is reuse.

Have you ever taped over a sentimental moment? Ever lost a wedding video by recording The Price is Right over the top? That's what this week's song is all about.

Tune in tomorrow for our chat on storage, but enjoy that awkward moment when you realise you lost a precious memory forever. Lyrics below.

[Verse 1]
Had to find a tape tonight
Didn't have a second spare
Grabbed the one that caught my sight
Never saw your writin' there

[Pre-Chorus]
Pushed it in
Pressed record
Walked away
Never thought no more

[Chorus]
Taped over (taped over)
Lord, I taped over
Every word we said that day
Every promise gone away
Taped over (taped over)
And I can't get it back

[Verse 2]
Came our wedding day again
Poured us both a glass of wine
Put it on at half past ten
Lady screamin', "That one's mine!"

[Pre-Chorus]
Bells all ring
Wheel goes round
Crowd goes wild
Come on, come on down

[Chorus]
Taped over (taped over)
Lord, I taped over
Every word we said that day
Every promise gone away
Taped over (taped over)
And I can't get it back

[Bridge]
Your daddy's toast
Your sister's song
The first slow dance
We got all wrong
Your grandma's tears
The second row
Now nothin' left
To ever show

[Final Chorus]
Taped over (taped over)
Lord, I taped over
Every word we said that day
Every promise gone away
Taped over (taped over)
And there ain't no gettin' it back

We'd love to hear from you. Click here to give us ideas on new episodes.

Join Renee and Marc as they discuss the history of technology, and what it teaches us about now.

email us at nostalgicnerdspodcast@gmail.com

Come visit us at https://www.nostalgicnerdspodcast.com/episodes or wherever you get your podcasts.

Merch is available on the site too. It helps cover the cost of the podcast.