There was a question about the Habsburg Empire in the mix that I wanted to answer but it just kept spinning out of control and I had to skip it. Sorry! But maybe on some rainy day we’ll get a post about it holding together and “the martians” turning Austria-Hungary into the scientific superpower of the 20th century.

Until then, on to more pressing matters like Star Trek and the quality of governance in Illinois.

Nathan Johnson: Sometime in the next few years we have to decide where to send the kid (and hoped-for future kids) to school. The schools where we live don't have a great reputation, blah blah blah. I think I know (from your writing, not because I am living in the bushes outside your house) that your son goes to the public school in your area. You may have already written this up somewhere, but could I ask if there is some body of work or book or school of thought that affected how you approached that decision? I gather things are going fine; do you attribute that to the facto…