Episodes
A War Story, but Nice for a Change!
October 06, 2021 02:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MBIn this week's episode of the podcast, the Nerds return with two great topics: Extremophiles and the Brown-Stigler incident. Extremophile is a term covering a fairly broad swath of creatures. All of them can thrive in conditions originally thought to be completely inhospitable, and all of them are really, really cool! You'll have to listen to Jonah's topic to find out more, though. The Brown-Stigler incident is an oddity among tales from the war, but certainly a welcome one. I now love Ye Ol...
As Far South as You Can Go
August 29, 2021 18:00 - 27 minutes - 18.6 MBIn the 52nd episode of the Rambling Nerds podcast, Cirdan tells us about Team Fortress 2, a highly popular FPS from 2007. TF2 is a classic when it comes to team based shooters, but unfortunately, despite having a booming player base, it is currently in the roughest state is has ever been in thanks to an outdated anti-cheat, and an obscene amount of bots infesting lobbies. Later, Jonah teaches us about Antarctica, the southern-most point on the planet. Being one of the coldest and driest plac...
Cattle, the Supplier of Milk and the Source of Beef
August 24, 2021 18:00 - 35 minutes - 23.9 MBWelcome back to another episode of Rambling Nerds! This week, our episode opens up with Jonah telling us about cattle. While most people just know cattle for being humanities source of beef (and most milk), there is actually quite a bit more to the animals. This topic will go over everything, from their history and evolution, to the different types of cattle, and what each type is used for. Once we are done talking about cattle, Cirdan introduces us to Void Bastards, a survival roguelike s...
SWAT 4, an Old Gem
August 16, 2021 18:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MBWelcome to the 50th episode of Rambling Nerds! For this week, our episode opens with Cirdan telling us about SWAT 4, a realistic tactical shooter from 2005 that he believes offers one of the best tactical experiences around. When he is done with that, Jonah explains fertilizer, some of the history, uses and effects, and more! Trust us, there is a lot more behind fertilizer than one would think.
It's Payday
August 09, 2021 17:00 - 44 minutes - 30.8 MBYes, this episode is a day late. Yes, this may be due to Cirdan being dumb. In this weeks episode, Jonah gives us a look at keyboards. We get to learn about their history, their future, the different types, and how they work. Cirdan is just amazed that analog keyboards exist. Later, Cirdan talks about his most played game on steam, PAYDAY 2, an intense, high-energy 4 player coop shooter about a gang of dangerous criminals going on a crime spree through Washington D.C. LINKS THAT CIRDAN WAN...
Predicting the Weather
August 01, 2021 23:00 - 49 minutes - 32.8 MBThis week on the Rambling Nerds, Cirdan continues his talk on Ori by diving into the sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, a sequel that improves on many aspects of Blind Forest, but still falls short in some places. Afterwards, Jonah tells us about the basics and the history of weather prediction, and how we humans have managed to pull it off, as well as a quick glimpse into what me might expect from it in the future. Cirdan recommends listening to the following songs off the Ori soundtr...
Quantum Computing and Blind Forests
July 26, 2021 19:00 - 43 minutes - 28.8 MBIn this week's episode of the Rambling Nerds podcast, Jonah takes a deep dive into the world of quantum computers, and all the potential pros and cons that come along with them, while Cirdan is just sad that he can't have one set up in his basement. Afterwards, Cirdan shows us one of his new favorite games, Ori and the Blind Forest, an emotional game about love and sacrifice. The following are the songs Cirdan recommends listening to off the Ori soundtrack: Light of Nibel Restori...
The Topics May be Faster than Light, but Our Episode Releases Sure Aren't
July 19, 2021 23:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBAfter many months of no uploads, (due to irl stuff happening), we have finally returned, hopefully for good! In this weeks episode, Cirdan give us his opinions on the coop vs AI horde shooter "Deep Rock Galactic". Later, Jonah talks about faster than light travel, or superluminal travel, which was actually requested by a listener who emailed us! Cirdan would also like to apologize to any DRG players out there, as throughout the episode he referred to the enemies in the game as Chrysallids, ...
Return of the Nerds!
May 05, 2021 00:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MBAfter an unintentional hiatus caused by multiple recording problems and a real-life situation, we're finally putting out the 45th episode. On May the 4th, no less! How nerdy is that? In this spectacular instalment of the podcast, Cirdan reviews the recent port of Republic Commando for PS4 and Switch, then Jonah talks about Alan Turing, the great mathematician, cryptologist, mathematical biologist, etc. You name it, there's a good chance this guy did it and did it well.
When I say "Intruder Alert": Alexa: Covers the objective in explosives!
April 06, 2021 01:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBThere are some pretty major differences between Superboss Games' first-person shooter and Amazon Echo routines, but covering the objective in explosives is absolutely a tactic people use in Intruder. It's an awesome game with great communication, tactical gameplay, and... holes in the roof of the bathroom? Learn about all that and more in Cirdan's topic. Jonah's topic is the final episode in his mini-series about the history of the various concert band instrument, and he thinks it was better...
Instrument History Continued - Bassoon, Saxophone, String Bass
March 24, 2021 00:00 - 23 minutes - 15.8 MBThis episode is a slight change of pace from our normal episode length, since neither of us picked a very long topic, but it's always nice to have some variety. It's also the second episode in Jonah's small series of episode going over a brief history of some of the instruments found in a concert band. It's not necessary to listen to the previous week to understand this one, but it also won't hurt. This week, he finishes off the woodwinds with the bassoon and saxophone, then continues to the...
Clarinet = Human, Recorder = Monke
March 16, 2021 01:00 - 44 minutes - 30.7 MBAre you confused by the title? Good. To find out what it is, you'll have to listen to this episode, in which we discuss the history of 3 concert band instruments - the clarinet among them. Before that, though, we get a re-review of Hollow Knight, Cirdan's new favorite game. Since the previous review, he's put over 50 more hours into the game, allowing him to give a whole new perspective on this modern masterpiece. One of the best parts of Hollow Knight is the soundtrack, which you can find a...
MEGA Topic: XCOM 2
March 10, 2021 01:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBThe Rambling Nerds present... (Drumroll, please!): The first ever Mega Topic! Instead of our usual two topics per episode, we've created one massive topic about a game we can both talk about, that being XCOM 2. We've being playing a campaign together in our spare time and have been having a lot of fun with it, so we thought we'd share our thoughts and experiences with you! XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game set in a future where you, as the commander of a military group called XCOM, try to...
5D Chess and Cattails
February 23, 2021 01:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MB5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel and Cattails are both video games. That is the only thing they have in common, but that does still technically make this a double video game episode. 2D chess apparently wasn't hard enough for Conor Petersen, so he decided to create a chess variant with some new dimensions: Turn and Timeline. Does that sound confusing? It is! Have fun. Cattails, on the other hand, is a 2D, top-down RPG where you play as a member of a faction of wild cats. You'll spend you...
Airships - A Thing of the Past or a Part of the Future?
February 09, 2021 03:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MBIf you're into tactical games, first person shooters, games where no two rounds are ever the same, or for some strange reason even just games that are set in Bangladesh, Zero Hour could be the game for you. It's got all the stuff just mentioned, and more! If you're intrigued by this description, good! Zero Hour is Cirdan's topic today, so you can look forward to a detailed explanation of the game there. After that comes airships. Today, the most publicized stories about airships are those a...
Insurgency? Sandstorm: Insurgency? Insurgency: Sandstorm? It's too much for Jonah's brain.
February 03, 2021 01:00 - 36 minutes - 25.4 MBIf you guessed Insurgency: Sandstorm as the Cirdan's topic for this episode, well done! Sadly, there's no prize except the knowledge that you're doing better than Jonah on this. Insurgency: Sandstorm is the sequel to Insurgency, a first-person shooter which has been covered on the podcast before, in the episode titled "Game-Changing Thruster? Elaborate Hoax? Just what is the EmDrive?". We recommend listening to that episode before listening to this one, since the parts of Insurgency: Sandsto...
UFOs? Hopping Cults? Hedgehogs? - The Scoop on Crop Circles
January 20, 2021 01:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBCrop circles look really cool. They also appear out of nowhere and have no scientific explanation, making them a popular focus for fringe theorists and New Age groups. This episode, Jonah gives a more scientific look at crop circles, demystifying some of the weirder ideas about them in the process. Also in this episode is Cirdan's review of Brass Brigade, a third person shooter centered around massive, incredibly configurable bot battles. You may have noticed this episode is a day late. Here...
Rainbow Six.. Three: Raven Shield?
January 05, 2021 00:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBIf you've spent time in the world of shooter games, you've probably heard about a game called Rainbow Six Siege. What you might not have heard of, though, is its predecessor, Rainbow Six Three: Raven Shield. This episode, Cirdan takes us back to the start of its life in 2003 and gives his thoughts on this old, but excellent game. This week's other topic is compilers in general, but primarily one compiler called LLVM. It's quite a nerdy topic, but hopefully still an understandable and interes...
Bread: A Non-Illustrated History
December 21, 2020 21:00 - 33 minutes - 23.4 MBHave you ever considered that for a large portion of your life, a loaf of bread has been watching you? It's a staple food in almost every culture, and yet it's easily overlooked. This episode, Jonah shines the spotlight on bread, going through its history from 800 000 years ago to about the time of the Roman Empire. It ends somewhere anticlimactically there, because there are no more major advancements in the field of bread after that point. Prior to that, Cirdan reviews Vigor, a shooter/sur...
Oct 31 = Dec 25
December 14, 2020 22:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBFun fact: 31 in base 8 is the same as 25 in base 10, a statement generally written in the form Oct 31 = Dec 25. Cirdan, clearly embracing this sentiment, has chosen a horror game called Phasmophobia as his topic. Jonah, pretty far on the other side of the topic spectrum, gives a comparison of Godot and Unity, two popular game engines. This is an important message from Jonah: I do not enjoy learning from videos. Whenever possible, I use written tutorials, which is probably why until today, I ...
Source Control: A Developer's Best Friend
December 07, 2020 23:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBThis week, Cirdan leads us through the multiplayer element of the game Bannerlord. If you missed last episode, where he talks about the singleplayer element, we recommend you listen to that first. I wanted to call this episode Mount & Blade II: Electric Boogaloo, but since we already had an episode with a similar title, I decided to restrain myself. Following that, Jonah gives a somewhat technical, but hopefully still interesting explanation of techniques used by professional teams of develo...
Mount & Blade II: A Buggy Masterpiece
December 01, 2020 01:00 - 43 minutes - 29.8 MBThe coronavirus is influencing a lot of things in our world, and among them is Jonah's topic for this episode, vaccines. This includes what they do, how they do it, types of vaccines, and more. After that comes Cirdan's topic, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. This is an incredibly cool game set in a completely dynamic medieval world where you can pretty much do whatever you want. It also happens to be full to the brim with bugs, but players agree it's still one of the best medieval games out th...
Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion
November 24, 2020 00:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBIn this episode of the podcast, Cirdan gives his review of a game called Hollow Knight, a game which he loves playing and thinks you would too. One of the best parts of this game is the soundtrack, which you can find at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjpMCu2JRc . After that, Jonah talks about Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion. Please note that at one point, he says something along the lines of "The second law actually doesn't say this will happen", but means "The third law actually...
Door Kickers 2: It Actually Contains Kicking Of Doors!
November 16, 2020 23:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBDoor Kickers 2, a top-down strategic game. You'd think it has nothing to do with kicking doors. At least, that's what Jonah thought. That assumption is false. As Cirdan tells us, there is a significant amount of door kicking involved. Prior to that, Jonah teaches us about the basics of 3D, which in this case refers to the realm of 3-dimensional images created using software, by walking you through the steps required to make an animated movie.
Ogres Have Layers; So Does Fear!
November 09, 2020 01:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBFor the first time possibly ever, Cirdan and Jonah are both talking about video games. Cirdan's game of choice is Layers of Fear 2, a horror game set on an abandoned cruise ship. Jonah will give a review of something quite different, a game called Kingdoms and Castles. Kingdoms and Castles is a medieval city-building game. I, Jonah forgot to do my show notes for this episode, and thus my topic sounds fairly awful. I did record another version of it by myself afterwards that sounds quite a bi...
The Wikipedia of Online Maps
October 26, 2020 01:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBPretty much what the title says, and Cirdan talks about Ravenfield. I can't write a good description :(
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam - Should you play it?
October 19, 2020 02:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBIn the 27th episode of the podcast, the Nerds discuss the game Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, and a few programming languages that don't merit their own topic but are worth mentioning nonetheless. I'm not sure if Cirdan edited this out, but if I say "According to the TIOBE index, Visual Basic is the 6th most popular programming language, right after Visual Basic", I meant to say C# rather than Visual Basic a second time.
Vampyrs. No, that's not a typo.
October 12, 2020 07:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBThis week on the podcast, Cirdan shines the spotlight on a game called Vampyr, about a British man who turns into a vampire. Sounds boring? It's not. Technically, Jonah talks about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript before that, but that's so short a topic it's barely worth mentioning.
Soccer, but with cars. We C you are confused.
October 04, 2020 21:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBSoccer is one of the most ubiquitous sports on the planet. That is, soccer with feet. Soccer with cars, on the other hand, is another matter entirely. This week, Cirdan introduces us to Rocket League, a game where you play soccer, but with cars. After that, Jonah gives us a rundown on C, as in the programming language. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was hoping for 23 more episodes about the alphabet. Also, Cirdan is now editing the podcast, so it might sound a little different.
A Call to Arms for Coding
September 28, 2020 22:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBThis week, Jonah gives us a basic rundown of coding and coding languages. Additionally, Cirdan tells us about Call to Arms, the spiritual successor to Men of War and one of his favorite shooters/RTS.
Game-Changing Thruster? Elaborate Hoax? - Just what is the EmDrive?
September 22, 2020 01:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBIn this week's episode, Jonah introduces us to the EmDrive, a seemingly physics-defying thruster with the potential to revolutionize space travel as we know it. Before that, though, Cirdan gives his review of an old and somewhat forgotten masterpiece, the first-person shooter Insurgency.
Satellites and Secret Laboratories
September 14, 2020 22:00 - 39 minutes - 26.9 MBThis week on Rambling Nerds, Jonah will be telling us about Starlink Internet, a project that aims to get WI-FI on all parts of the earth through the use of low-orbit satellites. Then, Cirdan tells us about a very unique game that he loves, SCP: Secret Laboratory.
A Wild Guest Has Appeared! Guest Uses Chilean Civil War!
September 07, 2020 21:00 - 38 minutes - 26.8 MBYes, that's right folks, this week we have our first guest, Lukas! This means that this is our first ever episode to feature 3 topics, with Jonah talking about zero-gravity planes, Cirdan talking about Battlefront 2 Autoplayers, and Lukas talking about, you "guest" it (haha much laughter), the Chilean Civil War! Also, here's the link to the video of weightless cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9XtK6R1QAk
The Exposure Triangle
September 01, 2020 02:00 - 22 minutes - 15.5 MBIn this week's episode of Rambling Nerds, Jonah goes full photographer on us and explains the exposure triangle, which allows photographers to control the brightness of their photos! After we finish with that, Cirdan has a rather short, but still somewhat interesting talk about guerilla warfare, to help explain his topic from our previous episode.
Murder... What? Murder Dolphins?
August 25, 2020 02:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MBNo, folks, the title did not deceive you, since today's episode gets pretty wacky as we talk about the United States Navy Marine Mammal Program, which, obviously, leads to a discussion of murder dolphins because clearly, murder dolphins are a logical thing to be discussing. But first, we take a look at Hiroo Onada, the Japanese soldier who kept fighting 29 years after the end of WWII. We also had to record twice, because Jonah did a smart. Note from Jonah: It was OBS leave me alone :l
Soda Bottle Battleships and BOINC
August 13, 2020 22:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MBWe hope you're ready, this weeks episode of Rambling Nerds is gonna be a spicy... wait, no... a FIZZY one! Our first topic today is the time when PepsiCo owned an ex-Soviet naval fleet. Afterwards, Jonah brings us on a computing adventure with the second topic, BOINC (Berkely Open Infrastructure for Network Computing)!
Massive Freaking Spaceships and Efficient Freaking Bicycles
August 11, 2020 01:00 - 28 minutes - 19.5 MBThis week on Rambling Nerds, Jonah discusses the most efficient forms of travel; bikes and trains. But before this, Cirdan talks about two of his favorite things; MASSIVE SPACESHIPS and explosions, in the form of a fun little game known as Dreadnought.
Tiny Demons
August 04, 2020 00:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MBThis week, Jonah takes us a journey through physics by explaining Maxwell's Demon, a tiny little creature that completely ruins our understanding of everything. Then, we sit back and relax, hopefully confusion free, as Cirdan talks about the WWI shooter, Battlefield 1.
Rogue Squadron Book Club
July 27, 2020 21:00 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBIn Episode #15 of Rambling Nerds, Jonah will be talking about a really cool book series, The Belgariad, and why he would recommend we read it. We will also listen to Cirdan telling us about Star Wars Squadrons, an upcoming game. And of course, the day after the episode was recorded, more info came out, making some of what's in Cirdan's topic outdated.
Permaculture and Pathways
July 20, 2020 21:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThis week in Rambling Nerds, Jonah introduces us to permaculture. Additionally, we have Cirdan talking about one of his new favorite games to play, Pathway!
Sorry, Internet Issues
June 30, 2020 16:00 - 2 seconds - 76.3 KBWe will be taking a temporary hiatus from podcasting for this week and the 2 that follow, due to internet troubles and Jonah being on vacation. Sorry about that!
Jonah rambles on GPUs
June 22, 2020 21:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThis week on the Rambling Nerds podcast, Cirdan has a strange tale to tell from the Second World War. Later, Jonah continues his computer talks, today focusing on GPUs. Note from Jonah: I ran out of time for the editing on this episode due to forces beyond my control, so I didn't get all the way through and Cirdan's words are cut off at the end in some parts. I apologize for the mishap, and I hope that you will still be able to enjoy the podcast.
Should you play Valorant? (spoiler: YES)
June 13, 2020 15:00 - 40 minutes - 28.1 MBIn this week's episode of Rambling Nerds, Jonah continues his talks about computers, this time focusing on HDDs and SSDs. After, Cirdan does a quick review of the new team-based shooter Valorant.
01000011 01010000 01010101 01110011
June 07, 2020 15:00 - 40 minutes - 28.2 MBIn this week's episode, the nerds take a look at CPUs, and discuss how they work. We also get to hear a strange tale, one of a military which has accidentally invaded its neighbor 5 times. (Excuse the title, Jonah requested it be in binary.)
Dungeoning and Dragoning... Part 2!
May 30, 2020 00:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBIn this week's very exciting episode, Jonah will teach us about some quantum weirdness, and will leave you either very interested, or VERY confused. Then, we take a second look at the misadventures of Reel, Frank, Shael, Erinol and The Cleric, in the continuation of our DnD campaign! Note from Jonah: I said some things about entropy that were very wrong, please ignore them.
Giant Robots and Gravitational Waves... What Could Go Wrong?
May 25, 2020 15:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBIn this week's episode, Cirdan tells us about the action packed, thrill-filled, high-octane FPS that is Titanfall 2, and why it deserves a bit more attention then it's getting. In the meantime, Jonah gives us our weekly dose of SCIENCE! (This time he teaches us about neutron stars, black holes, and gravitational waves.)
RIP Battlefront 2
May 18, 2020 16:00 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MBAs Cirdan mentioned in the last episode, today he will be talking about the cancellation of Star Wars Battlefront 2, and getting mad at the developers for this, in his opinion, STUPID idea. But before we get to that, Jonah will teach us about general relativity.
Fast or slow, will we ever know?
May 11, 2020 15:00 - 24 minutes - 16.9 MBIn this week's episode of Rambling Nerds, Jonah leaves us all thoroughly bamboozled by explaining to us that the faster we go, the slower we go? Cirdan doesn't understand. Neither will you. But, before we get to that, Cirdan wishes to ramble on about his favorite blasters from Star Wars, the DLT-19, and F-11D. Note from Jonah: I said some stuff that was incorrect about special relativity. If you are travelling at 90% of lightspeed, it will look to everyone else as if you are travelling at 90...
Laws of Thermodynamics 2: Electric Boogaloo
May 04, 2020 15:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBIn this episode of Rambling Nerds, Jonah continues his explication of the laws of thermodynamics, this time talking about the 3rd law. Later, the nerds have a ton of trouble trying to summarize their D&D campaign, as they find it very difficult to stay on topic.
Deception and the Laws of Thermodynamics
April 27, 2020 16:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MBIn the fourth episode of Rambling Nerds, Cirdan, being the war-history lover that he is, talks about Operation Fortitude, an allied deception in WWII. In the meantime, Jonah talks about the laws of thermodynamics, which gets Cirdan scared about the end of the world. Another VERY normal episode, yes yes.