Professor Bob's "Fun with Historical Stuff"

     So Professor Bob was sitting at home earlier watching The Trailer Park Boys. There is an episode that reminded  me of a historical story. So you can thank Canadian TV for this one.      In the entire history of the Presidency there has only been one occasion where a President became a widower and remarried while in office. That President was Woodrow Wilson. Wilson's first wife Ellen passed in 1914 during his first term after battling Brights Disease which caused renal failure. Wilson met a woman the next spring named Edith Bolling Galt, herself a widow. After approximately nine months of courtship, the two were wed in December 1915.     The secret courtship and fast wedding on the heels of the death of Ellen Wilson made for harsh gossip in Washington. Rumors were abound that the two had been engaged in an affair while Ellen Wilson was still alive and that the president and the widow Galt killed the first lady to get her out of the way so they could be married. Eventually,

     Sometimes it is hard to trace the origins of older melodies. Until the early 19th century there were not strict copyright laws on music. For instance one of the reasons that Mozart died broke and was buried in a pauper grave was because he was unable to copyright his intellectual property. However a generation later, Ludwig van Beethoven was able to and defended his compositions with vigor. He was able to live and die with much more change in his pocket because of this. So that brings us to the story of where the tune we know as "God Save the King/Queen" or "My Country Tis of Thee" came from.    Well as I mentioned, without copyrights we are left with a somewhat muddled puzzle. Some pieces of music going back to the early 17th century share similarities with the tune...there is an old Scot carol that is said to be the earliest piece with similar note progression as well as a tune by John Bull. However, the accepted story says the piece seems to be most simila

     Well this is not a story, but just a blurb about one of the coolest places I have been in some time. If you are a person who loves motorcycles or just dig vintage styling, then the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa Iowa is a place you should check out. I visited there on February 13th and was very impressed by what they have going on there. You get to see a wide variety of bikes from many countries and across many eras. You especially get a rich appreciation for the early years of American motorcycle manufacturing which was very diverse unlike today. I have included a TON of pictures and even a few videos for your enjoyment. Be warned, I am a TERRIBLE videographer, and on one clip I say "ya know" an annoying amount of times. That was because there was a photographer setting up a photo shoot near me and looking at me like I was crazy, which caused me some social anxiety. I don't think she noticed my small handheld Nikon at first.     Mid 60&