Since the early days of primitive computing, humanity has pondered the possibilities of advanced computers ultimately taking over and rendering their creators irrelevant. Most of you will recognize the quote in the headline as originally spoken in the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It seems more relevant today than ever.

I've commented before on finding interesting posts on YouTube. Though marred by incessant commercial interruptions (I keep my TV's remote close enough to exit the promotions as soon as possible) that service's offerings cover endless topics: sports, history, current events, music, and much more...Several recent British documentaries, for example, covered the hazards found in English homes of different eras...I recently discovered another far more serious entry. Running for 86 minutes, The Maestro and the Cellist of Auschwitz (a German production with subtitles and translations where needed) covers the very different stories of two musicians during World War II...The maestro of the title here was Germany's Willhelm Furtwangler, arguably one of the most storied and feted symphonic and opera conductors of the 20th Century.

Part two of an interview did I did more than 25 years ago reveals that not everything has changed when it comes to home audio.

I was recently riffling through my collection of video discs, searching for one to use to use as a source in a review, when 2017's The Finest Hours dropped into my hands for the first time years. It's the true story of the nearly impossible rescue of an oil tanker, the SS Pendleton caught in a furious February 1952 nor'easter off Chatham Massachusetts on Cape Cod. It remains the most incredible small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bernie Webber and his small crew set out in a 32-foot boat to save the tanker's 32 surviving crewmen.