Phil Feller
@philfeller.bsky.social
IT professional and scholar of 19th century American political culture. Currently working on a microhistory of the 1855 Know Nothing triumph, part of a project exploring the continuation of antebellum republican thought into the Progressive Era.
I’ve realized one life goal: playing the NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle on air.
www.npr.org/2025/11/16/g...
www.npr.org/2025/11/16/g...
Sunday Puzzle: Name's the Same
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with Phil Feller of Durham, North Carolina, and Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
www.npr.org
November 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I’ve realized one life goal: playing the NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle on air.
www.npr.org/2025/11/16/g...
www.npr.org/2025/11/16/g...
You’ve probably seen that xAI launched Grokipedia, its LLM-created alternative to Wikipedia. I looked at its article on the Know Nothings, and it didn’t take long to find a problem. It made an unconventional claim, and the provided citation failed to support it.
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grokipedia.com/page/Know_No...
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grokipedia.com/page/Know_No...
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing, more formally the American Party from 1855 onward, was a nativist political movement and party active in the United States from the 1840s through the 1850s, distinguished by its vehe...
grokipedia.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:29 PM
You’ve probably seen that xAI launched Grokipedia, its LLM-created alternative to Wikipedia. I looked at its article on the Know Nothings, and it didn’t take long to find a problem. It made an unconventional claim, and the provided citation failed to support it.
1/ 🗃️
grokipedia.com/page/Know_No...
1/ 🗃️
grokipedia.com/page/Know_No...
I’ve suspected that right-wing fascination with René Girard might come from reading his theory of mimetic desire through the lens of Carl Schmitt. In the specific case of Peter Thiel, that seems to be the case.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession
Thirty years ago, a peace-loving Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the apocalyptic theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. They’ve been a road map for the billionaire ever since.
www.wired.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I’ve suspected that right-wing fascination with René Girard might come from reading his theory of mimetic desire through the lens of Carl Schmitt. In the specific case of Peter Thiel, that seems to be the case.
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
www.wired.com/story/the-re...
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.
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August 16, 2025 at 9:15 PM
If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.
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I’m in Lancaster, PA, for the weekend, and I discovered that our Airbnb has a famous neighbor.
#skystorians
#skystorians
July 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I’m in Lancaster, PA, for the weekend, and I discovered that our Airbnb has a famous neighbor.
#skystorians
#skystorians
Reposted by Phil Feller
"This Bill Will Return Us to an Era of Economic Chaos" www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/o...
Opinion | This Bill Will Return Us to an Era of Economic Chaos
www.nytimes.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
"This Bill Will Return Us to an Era of Economic Chaos" www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/o...
Historians have been discussing the NYT piece about AI and history writing, and I largely agree with what they’ve written about it. However, there’s one part to it that I haven’t seen discussed: the way that academic historian Mark Humphries uses AI.
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#skystorians
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#skystorians
🗃️ Fellow historians, if you’re going to read that NYT piece, do so carefully. See my thread:
This is some bleak shit. Historians literally outsourcing the creative and research process to a thieving algorithm ripping off the IP of their own fellow-historians.
Says everything that they’re doing it from a Google office.
Hacks. They should be ashamed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
Says everything that they’re doing it from a Google office.
Hacks. They should be ashamed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
June 16, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Historians have been discussing the NYT piece about AI and history writing, and I largely agree with what they’ve written about it. However, there’s one part to it that I haven’t seen discussed: the way that academic historian Mark Humphries uses AI.
1/
#skystorians
1/
#skystorians
This thread provides smart analysis of the civic symbolism encoded into previous military parades through DC and the one planned for today. #skystorians
Some thoughts about the military parade in my hometown of Washington DC today -- specifically, the route. Military parades in DC are quite rare. But when they happen, they have always begun, symbolically and geographically, at the Capitol and moved outward. 1/
June 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
This thread provides smart analysis of the civic symbolism encoded into previous military parades through DC and the one planned for today. #skystorians
UNC Press notes two recent events that it worries may signal attempts to silence its authors’ voices. Most recently, a scheduled talk to U. S. Attorneys about lawyers’ role in Nazi Germany was abruptly canceled before an outcry led to its reinstatement.
uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/a...
#skystorians
uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/a...
#skystorians
Academic Freedom and Open Discourse - UNC Press Blog
For over 100 years UNC Press has championed the principles of academic freedom, open discourse, and the free exchange of ideas—values essential to a democratic society and the pursuit of knowledge. R...
uncpressblog.com
February 11, 2025 at 1:25 PM
UNC Press notes two recent events that it worries may signal attempts to silence its authors’ voices. Most recently, a scheduled talk to U. S. Attorneys about lawyers’ role in Nazi Germany was abruptly canceled before an outcry led to its reinstatement.
uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/a...
#skystorians
uncpressblog.com/2025/01/31/a...
#skystorians