Lately for a break from the AGW/Steele Horror Story series I’ve liked looking in on old YouTube videos.
There’s great ancient footage for the 20’ 30’ - heck even to the turn of the century.
Then there’s also the AmericanExperience PBS series, though highly saccharin, it’s still a pretty good show
telling all sorts of real life tales about real people getting through their days in a earthy heroic fashion.
Back when America was ripe for the plucking, take them with a grain of salt,
still they have the power to offer a glimpse into different eras.
They are great studies in humanity and individualism, human passion and ingenuity to keep sprinting forward.
Just finished watching one about the sinking of the RMS Republic, with a punchline I had to bring over here and share.
American Experience Rescue at Sea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkVOpueiJNEIt's about the beginnings of the wireless era, and one exciting chapter. The first time wireless was used to help a rescue vessel locate a sinking ship. All the human drama and determination culminating in a epic tale with Jack R. Binns the kid keeping the busted up Wireless transmitting and guiding in a rescue ship in heavy fog. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/remembering-jack-binns-heroic-radio-operator/?_r=0 Then Captain Inman Sealby a man of duty determined to go down with his ship. and when she finally went down, with him at the helm, she spit him out and the faithful captain bobbed to the surface and was rescued safe and sound. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rescue/peopleevents/pandeAMEX86.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2009/01/21/jack_binns_hero_feature.shtml Man, that caught my imagination. There are few souls who have walked through life with a greater experience then Captain Sealby's, imagine the sense of wonder that experience must have fostered in him regarding the mysteries of providence, and his place in the world, and such musings as he kept captaining ships across the oceans.