I knew they were popular but I didn't realize it was literally every Christmas! Good GRAVY. Read more

I like to imagine the Wittelsbachs just spent several centuries brooding over the fact that it was bullshit that the Habsburgs got to be Holy Roman Emperors, sullenly collecting religious relics to show hey, they could be great defenders of the faith TOO, jeez. Read more

Good to know! Read more

And (not that this was his intention but still) Germany has made an assload of money off associated tourist money. Read more

I think most Americans tend to learn about the Austro-Hungarian Empire vis a vis WWI when, let's face it, they didn't make a great showing. (It was like swinging an ax into a log and poof, it's already been eaten by termites.) So a lot of the English-speaking world doesn't seem to realize how important the Habsburgs… Read more

Oh God, poor Juana. Read more

Thanks for the catch! Read more

Oh my God I forgot to mention the musical! (This is the kind of article where I learned so many wonderful things I might do another piece later that just rounds up all the delightful shit I couldn't fit.) Read more

Thanks for bringing this up because I forgot to note in the piece — the spelling was actually all over the place in the sources I was working with. Sisi predominated in letters from family members and the biographies, so I used it throughout, except in the title of the movie. Read more

Lotta great opportunities for cake and coffee in that town. Read more

Thank you! I do think there are many echoes between Marie Antoinette's and Sisi's stories, for sure. I think part of Sisi's problem was that she really was quite bright, but she had zero productive outlets for it (and didn't have the well-fuck-you-too-buddy attitude necessary to create outlets for herself, probably… Read more

Why thank you! I became super obsessed with this woman after seeing how super obsessed with her everyone was in Austria. My favorite illustration was actually while visiting the big palace in Innsbruck. Big cool baroque pile, lot of great information about Maria Theresa. But the big draw for the crowds of middle-aged… Read more

For anybody who'd like to read further: My two big sources were The Lonely Empress, by Joan Haslip, and The Reluctant Empress, by Brigitte Hamann. If you're curious about the Habsburgs more generally (and really they are FASCINATING, the most important royal family nobody gives a shit about anymore) check out The… Read more

Judging from the rest of the interview, that's exactly what he's trying to pull. But like Huckabee, I think the social conservative stuff is going to prevent him from pulling it off. Read more

lol you caught me Read more

God I feel like I'm cheating on Jamie from Outlander's butt right now Read more

I might find that more persuasive if colleges didn't already dump crazy stupid money into the dumbest things on Earth. Read more

i honestly can't breathe right now Read more

Yeah, and the IWPR report points out they're less likely to finish, and when they do, they're likely to have amassed more debt. Read more

Well, it's maybe not shocking, but I think it's still worth pointing out — for instance, do you know whether your college made any effort to accommodate those students with childcare? Read more