Jimmy Buffett and The Estes Method

Posted on September 23, 2023 | 2 comments

Two things have been bouncing around my head over the past two weeks; Jimmy Buffett and  The Estes Method. At first glance, these two things have nothing to do with each other, or do they? 

Jimmy Buffett was a popular musician who filled the heads of millions and millions of boomers with his music celebrating the virtues of hanging out at the beach drinking margaritas. He is probably completely responsible for retirement communities like The Villages in Florida. I’m not looking to move to The Villages, but I enjoy his music, and I’m all in on his living at the beach fantasy.

The Estes Method: If you’re not familiar, it’s a technique created by paranormal investigators Karl Pfeiffer, Connor Randall and Michelle Tate. They created the technique aiming to more accurately capture communication from spirits. Previously paranormal investigators used “spirit boxes” to listen to what they hoped would be cogent auditory messages from the other side.

The “spirit box” is basically a radio that scans rapidly through A.M. and F.M. frequencies.

Paranormal investigators believe that otherworldly entities have the ability to manipulate and communicate through these radio signals. For the last two decades we’ve seen paranormal investigators listen to these static making machines and occasionally shout with joy when they hear what might be a word if you listen really hard. I’ve never been impressed by that. It could be any random word from a D.J. in Spokane bouncing off a satellite and accidentally reaching a random radio in Albuquerque.

What Conor, Karl, and Michelle did differently was to start having the person listening to the spirit box wear a blindfold and noise cancelling headphones to remove any outside noise or influence. Then they ask the “spirits” direct questions and hope to get relevant responses. In examples that you can see in Hellier and The Unbinding, they’ve had some surprising success.

So how does recently deceased musician Jimmy Buffett play into this? Some of you have already figured out where I’m going, maybe because you’re psychic, or just because you know how weird I am.

All of us who were fans of his music wish there were more Jimmy Buffett songs. Some tech heads are going to start making Jimmy Buffett knock off songs using A.I.  Not me! I’m going to collaborate on new songs with Jimmy using The Estes Method!

Here’s our first one:

Trudging through the snow, it’s miserable in Buffalo

I’m too tired to fight, I just need a flight

Three hours to paradise, I know fleeing life isn’t nice

But I just need sun and a rum drink with ice

That was all Jimmy. I heard it in the headphones. That’s all for now. Me and Jimmy will get back to work after we finish a game of beach volleyball and a couple margaritas! If you have an idea for a few more lines in the song, feel free to add them in the comments!

Have a great weekend! ~Phil (and Jimmy)

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McDonald’s, Let’s Share The Shakes! Shamrock Shakes for the UK!

Posted on September 6, 2023 | 2 comments

Dear Chris Kempczinski,

I am writing to you, the CEO of the McDonald’s Corporation,on behalf of my friends in the fine country we call England. Why am I, an American, taking up a cause for everyone in England? It’s because I like every single British person that I’ve ever met. Sure there is probably a fair amount of arses over there, but they are not the majority.

I’m not sure if you’re holding a grudge over that little colonial dust up a couple centuries back, but since then England has been a good friend to the United States. It’s time for you to drop that grudge and allow all the British McDonald’s customers to have the one thing they want, Shamrock Shakes. The States have them. Canada has them. Ireland has them. Why not fecking England?

What have the Brits ever done to you? From your picture I can see that you appear to be red headed, so it’s probable you have some Irish blood coursing through your veins. Are you possibly holding a grudge over The Troubles Ireland/England conflict that ended over twenty-five years ago? For cripes sake, drop that old grudge too and offer an olive branch. The Shamrock Shake in British McDonald’s would heal that old wound between the countries and bring people together.

There’s no downside. You would come out of this looking like a hero. Your England McDonalds would make even more money. You would be known all over the UK as the man who brought redemption and Shamrock Shakes to England.

So what’s it going to be Chris? A few sugary shakes in the UK, or infamy as the man who wouldn’t let the Brits have Shamrock Shakes? C’mon Chris, let’s share the shakes, let’s share the shakes, let’s share the shakes… I can hear the chant building across the land…let’s share the shakes!

To all my readers, I encourage you to share this letter to McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski on your social media until the clamor for British Shamrock shakes cannot be ignored. If you like a more personal approach you can copy and paste it into an email and send it directly to the CEO at his email:  chris.kempczinski@us.mcd.com 

Have a great day everyone! I hope you get your shakes!~Phil

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It’s The Great Pumpkin Spice Latte Charlie Brown!

Posted on September 2, 2023 | 20 comments

At this point, I’m not even sure people remember the Peanuts cartoons. Although, in doing “research” for this post I discovered that there was The Peanuts Movie in 2015. I’m sure that totally resonated with kids. Good grief, as Charlie Brown would say.

I was also going to name this “A Pumpkin Flavored Phil Factor”. It’s that time of year, again. Sigh.  It has begun. Pumpkin flavored everything is back in stores! WTH? Seriously, are pumpkins such a wonderful delicacy that we have to flavor EVERYTHING with them? Why pumpkin? Is there any other time of year where a flavor takes over the country for a couple months? Around the winter holidays why isn’t there nog flavored everything? Around St. Patrick’s Day we’ve got our Shamrock Shakes, but that’s about it. How about this? I’m going to give you a list of ten pumpkin flavored items below and you try to guess which one isn’t real.

1. SPAM

2. Twinkies

3. Donuts

4. Candy

5. Soda pop

6. Potato chips

7. Pasta

8. Cookies

9. Vodka

10. Hamburgers

Guess what? They all are real! That’s too much pumpkin flavored stuff. What’s next, pumpkin-flavored fish sandwiches at McDonald’s? This time of year it’s actually an effort not to accidentally eat something pumpkin flavored. This madness must end!

When I’m elected President, or Sexiest Man Alive, whichever comes first, I’m going to pass a law stating that any company that produces a pumpkin flavored food item has to have it approved through a special sub-committee and if it is just too stupid of an idea they will not be allowed to sell it. If you know of any other odd pumpkin flavored foods or drinks please share them in the comments.

As always, if you enjoy what you read at #ThePhilFactor and want to support my bid for President, or Sexiest Man Alive, please hit the Facebook share button.

Have a great weekend! ~Phil

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Throwback Thursday! The Poop at Home People

Posted on August 10, 2023 | 2 comments

This particular post was chosen because I’m on vacation pooping somewhere other than home.

(1/17/2015) Everybody poops. In fact, I would bet a fair number of you are doing it right now while reading this on your phone. If you are pooping, I bet you’re doing it at home. Am I right?

It was really tough to find a poop picture that I thought would get by the Facebook censors so I could promote this post. Oh the search terms I used to find these pictures! The NSA will probably laugh their constipated asses off when they review their Phil Factor log today.

This is a sensitive yet important topic that I want to be accessible to as many people as possible because this is a very serious subject that impacts millions of poople every day. I want poople to know that domesticus poopius is no reason to feel shamed or embarrassed. I want to bring pooping out into the light, into a public forum where we can all examine it without stigma.

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According to true fact statistics that I made up, at least 50% of you are poop at home people.  If you’re a poop-at-home-poople, or domesticus poopius, which is the medical name for this disorder, then you’ve been impacted by it’s limitations for your entire life. Am I right?

Reluctant to go out with friends if you haven’t pooped all day? You go as much as possible before a vacation because you know you might not go again for days. Discomfort at work because you won’t go there? Or maybe you’ll go, but only in one particular bathroom and only during a time when no one else is around?  Bloating and flatulence from the back-up in your bowels? These are all symptoms of this terrible, terrible condition.

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I don’t have this disorder. I can go anywhere. In fact, I’m doing it now. In a stall at LaGuardia airport while I write this on my phone. There’s a line outside the door, but I don’t care.  This is a problem for a lot of you, so let’s talk about it.  First, in order to fix the problem you have to understand the why.

Is it a fear of germs at public restrooms? Guess what? Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It’s essentially a giant condom you’re body is wearing to protect your insides from germs. It does a wonderful job of it, doesn’t it? The only disease you can really get from from a toilet seat is ringworm, and that’s not so bad is it?

Worried about others knowing that smell came from you? Who cares? We all do it. Even the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, and Taylor Swift poop, and I bet they stink really bad. (In doing my “research” I did find a list of Taylor Swift quotes and none of them were about poop, meaning it’s likely she has domesticus poopius and is embarrassed to speak or sing about it)

Domesticus Poopius is so prevalent it has even made it’s way into pop culture. Some of you may remember a Seinfeld episode where Kramer had to go and couldn’t get home in time and lost the urge, resulting in days long constipation. More recently there was a How I Met Your Mother episode in which Lily found a hotel charge on Marshall’s bank statement and she thought he was cheating until he admitted that he couldn’t get home in time so he got a hotel room so he could be comfortable pooping.

Apparently there’s a Ted Talk about pooping at home. Here’s THE LINK . I haven’t watched it because I don’t want that in my browser history.

If you think about it, domesticus poopius is really an anxiety/fear based disorder. All toilets are basically the same, unless you’re in a third world country and have to squat over a trough. If you’re anywhere there’s indoor plumbing and you won’t poop, it’s because you’re fearful of something involved with the process.

Domesticus poopius is a mental disorder that can have real physical symptoms that are dangerous. I could go into a list from WebMD, but it would scare you about more that what your imagination might conjure up about holding in your poop too long. Guess what? Your imagination would be right, so go. Go freely and go anywhere it’s legal and appropriate! Free your mind and your bowels and never feel that shame again. If I was Oprah I’d say, “You get to poop, and you get to poop, and you get to poop. Everybody gets to poop!”

Well this has gone on long enough. Gotta go, if you know what I mean. If you want to save the life of a poop at home person please share this with them by hitting the Facebook, Twitter, or re-blog buttons below. Have a great Saturday! ~Phil

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Top Ten Tuesday! 10 Things I Won’t Eat

Posted on August 8, 2023 | 5 comments

Are you wondering how the title goes with that picture of a guinea pig? Read on! I’ve eaten some weird things in my life, but there are some things I just won’t touch. If I were to go on a reality show like Survivor or Naked and Afraid, I’d be fine with eating bugs and snakes. This may be tempting fate, but here are ten things I will never eat intentionally.

10. Mustard: I believe that this is a substance spawned in the bowels of hell. I put only ketchup on my hot dogs. I can throw up right now if I just think about mustard long enough. Moving on…

9. Onions: I’d rather eat broken glass. I can tolerate some onion powder in a dish, I’m OK with the flavor, but not the texture of onions in my mouth.

8. Other humans: Like I said, I may be tempting fate here, but cannibalism just seems to be in bad taste. Of course if my plane goes down in the Andes mountains and we run out of peanuts… As an aside, I was once told by a family historian that a couple hundred years ago some of my ancestors may have partaken in human flesh. They were in Canada and it was a tough winter. Surely, that’s understandable, right?

7. Brains: Not human of course. In many countries it’s not unusual to eat animal brains. The brain reportedly is the most nutritionally dense part of any animal. It just seems wrong. What if in some comic book type plot I suddenly starting thinking like and talking like the animal whose brain I ate? I’d probably fail as a zombie.

6. Seahorses: They’re served fried on a stick in China. I think they’re cute and have a look of intelligence. I hate eating cute animals.

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5. Guinea pig: Here’s the reason for the picture at the top of this article. Often eaten in South American countries. Umm…no thanks. I find them ugly when they’re alive. Why would I put them in my mouth?  Did you know that if you pick them up by their tail their eyes will pop out?

4. Kiviak: This one makes we want to puke just thinking about it. Kiviak is a traditional Inuit (Eskimo) food from Greenland. They take a seal, dead I hope, and stuff it with 500 birds, also dead I hope, and then bury it under the ground to ferment for months. It is said to help the Inuits combat vitamin deficiencies in their diet. Haven’t the Inuits ever heard of taking actual vitamins? Someone get them a wi-fi signal! (I was going to put a picture in for this one, but all the pictures of it were very off putting in the morning.

3. Deviled eggs: I eat hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried eggs and most any other kind of eggs. Won’t touch a deviled egg. It just looks wrong. Ugh, and adding the paprika on top makes it look wronger.

2. Smalahove: It’s sheeps head. They eat it in Norway. I’ll eat just about any animal, but at least take the face off first.

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1. Pickles: Of all the things on this list this is the one I would choose last if forced to. If I’m on a reality show and the challenge is to eat a pickle with mustard I bow out immediately no matter how much money is on the line. It’s the sour, awful vinegar. I can’t get past the smell. I held a pickle once but couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

So what foods are your kryptonite and why?

Have a great Tuesday! ~Phil

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Disney IS For Adults

Posted on August 7, 2023 | 2 comments

Picture credit: Walt Disney World and CNN

That picture above may be your worst nightmare. When most  people think of theme parks, they think of screaming kids, long lines, frying in the summer sun, and really expensive vacations. Disney World does have all of those things. But that’s not all they have…

My wife and I are what are called “Disney Adults“. We actually go on vacations to Disney parks without taking children. When my kids were young, we did take them to Disney a couple times, and do you know what? It’s more fun without them!

At least three times a year you can find us in one of the Disney Parks. In fact, I’m going this week. To be clear, I’m not staying in the Disney park for the whole week. They do a sweep after close to get any stragglers out. How do I know this…?

NOT a picture of me.                                                Pic credit: KnowYourMeme.com

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Why? Just why would grown adults without kids spend a day at a Disney World instead of a beach in The Bahamas?” For one, you don’t need a passport. Two, the Disney owned resorts are just as beautiful as anything you can find in the Caribbean.

How about a Tahitian overwater villa with a beach? And guess what, someone will bring you margaritas while you tan.  Don’t love the beach scene? Go to Epcot!

Yeah, back when I was a kid, and when I took my kids, when I heard Epcot, my first thought was that someone was going to try to educate us about different countries. Yes, there are some fun rides at Epcot. If you just want to be laid back rather than trying to hold your eyeballs in on some roller coaster, try the ride Soarin’. That’s a laid back, fun ride.

My secret is to use the indoor rides as breaks from the hot sun. Other Epcot laid back rides that are nicely air-conditioned are: Soarin’, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, Frozen Ever After, Living With The Land, Gran Fiesta and Journey into Imagination with Figment. The two in that last sentence that are italicized are rides so laid back that you’ll be in danger of dozing off while on the them.

As an adult, Epcot is not a theme park. What it is, is one of most epic walking pub crawls ever! You can eat and drink your way around the world all day. Most of the restaurants/bars  open at 11:00 a.m.

You can challenge yourself, as many have, to drink one cocktail, beer, or glass of wine in each of the 11 countries in Epcot. But don’t limit yourself to just drinks! Epcot has over 50 places to eat which includes, food carts, quick service restaurants, and full-on sit down restaurants. And, as anyone will tell you, start at Mexico and while you’re there, get some nachos, quesadillas, or anything they make there. It’s all good and you should put something in your stomach before drinking. It will slow down your buzz.

If you’re a wine fan, you’ve got to hit the Weinkeller in Germany for plenty of choices of fine wines, including the option to get a wine flight!

Pic credit DisneyFoodBlog

Disney Springs! If you’re not familiar, Disney Springs is the shopping, eating, drinking, entertainment center that is a must see if you are visiting Disney as an adult. Don’t bring the kids because they’ll want you to buy them something they see every ten seconds. Of course, the same could be said about my wife.

Pic from KingdomMagicTravel.com

Disney Springs truly is a theme park for adults. There are more than 60 places to eat and drink at Disney Springs and my wife and I are eating and drinking our way through our list of them each time we go to Disney World. We have our favorites that we repeat, but we’re hitting new ones each time we go. I’m guessing we may be up to forty or so after the next trip. These restaurants aren’t your typical theme park places to eat. Some are world class, run by famous chefs kind of restaurants. My favorite is Raglan Road, an awesome Irish pub with live music and Irish dancing. The food is great and I had a great beer from Iceland there once. If you love Irish stuff, they’ve got a great gift shop.

Disney Springs is not just eating and drinking. There’s spectacular shopping where you can find Disney themed knick-knacks, items, movie themed toys, and several high end clothing stores that have nothing to do with the Disney brand. You can also find a couple athletic clothing stores as well as a Harley Davidson store.

One of my favorite places is the House of Blues. It’s a restaurant, store and performance venue attracting well known bands from all over the world. Their gift shop is pretty cool.

Another different way to entertain yourself while at Disney Springs is Splitsville Luxury Lanes. It’s a bowling alley and a restaurant. Also, if you want to have some great movie snacks and get out of the heat, there is the wonderful air conditioning of AMC Dine-In Disney Springs theater. You can sit in your seat and order your meal from wait staff and it will be brought to you shortly while you watch the movie.

Pic from SplitsvilleLanes.com

In Orlando, depending on where you choose to stay, you may have access to Disney transportation to the parks. There are buses, water taxis, and the Disney Skyliner. To use these transportation options you’ll have to stay at a Disney resort or a Disney affiliated hotel. The Swan and Dolphin are Marriott owned hotels that are affiliated with Disney World. Both are great hotels. If you stay at them you can walk to Epcot in about 5-10 minutes. If you don’t like hoofing it, you can easily grab a water taxi in front of your hotel. There’s also a Doubletree Hotel within walking distance of Disney Springs or you can get a free Disney bus ride to Epcot. That will save you money over the Disney resorts. I’ve stayed there. It’s a very good hotel.

Disney Boardwalk. Pic credit: DisneyFoodBlog

A nice advantage of staying at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels is the Disney Boardwalk. It is a boardwalk type area around a lagoon. On one side is a couple Disney resorts, but on the other side there are restaurants/bars, (including a dueling piano bar and a dance hall), souvenir shops and food and drink carts.

Lastly I’ll comment on Disneyland. Disneyland is just 500 acres, while Disney World is about 40 square miles. Both are excellent, but because of size, Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, doesn’t have the extraordinary amount of choices. Also, unless you live in Anaheim, you’ll have to brave the traffic on the California highways, which sometimes can add a lot of time to your day getting there and back. Don’t get me wrong, I like Disney Land. Their Marvel Avengers campus is really awesome, as is the Star Wars area. But if you’re adults who don’t need themed rides and restaurant, then Disney World is the better choice for an adult vacation.

Despite this being a relatively long blog post, don’t just take my word for it. Hit THIS LINK and scroll past the sponsored Disney ad and read the plethora of blogs and websites saying what I’m saying. This is only the tip of the iceberg…

If you happen to see me at any of the aforementioned places this week, feel free to say Hi! ~Phil

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Psychic Predictions for the 21st Century and Beyond

Posted on August 5, 2023 | Leave a comment

Yes, of course that’s me

Usually I only do psychic predictions year by year, but lately some visions of the distant future have been appearing in my brain.

Michel de Nostredame, aka Nostradamus, a French pharmacist, doctor, astrologer and future seeing psychic is renown for his cool name and predictions of the distant future. That’s never really been my thing, but lately I’ve been seeing glimpses of a future that may be very different than we might think. So, as a psychic, I’d like to leave a legacy like #Nostradamus did. Should I call myself Philstradamus from now on? Who am I kidding The Phil Factor is a great #psychic name!

Prediction #1: Aliens! In the not too distant future, the human race will learn to communicate with #aliens AND we will discover that the visitors in UFO/UAP spacecraft are not aliens. They are humans from the future. Physicists will discover that time travel is possible and the aliens are evolved humans from the future returning to learn about their history in much the same way that we do archeological digs. 

If he was really psychic, he’d have known what a tragic fashion choice that hair was

Prediction #2: Parallel universes? Prediction number one may be slightly wrong. The aliens might be time traveling humans from the future, OR the present.  We (and when I say we, I mean physicists) will discover that there are actually #parallel universes, and occasionally the fabric of reality between two universes wears thin or develops a hole, and things like UFOs and strange cryptid creatures may slip through and get stuck in our universe. 

Prediction #3 Is it time to move?  Weather phenomena, aka #climate change, will continue to result in more and more areas of the world becoming inhabitable to humans. Several countries will reinvest in their neglected space exploration programs in an effort to find places where the human race can survive. The first will be an attempt to set up a permanent base on the moon with regular ‘shuttles’ to and from Earth. It will be first manned by only NASA/military personnel, but will eventually begin to work in civilians. 

Image from Bloomberg

Prediction #4 What becomes of Russia? Sadly #Russia will eventually win this never ending war in #Ukraine, but not long after, Vladimir Putin will pass away under suspicious circumstances that will never be clear to the western media. Following a Russian cheer similar to “Ding dong the witch is dead,” the Russian government, at the urging of it’s citizens and the United Nations, will begin to craft itself  into a democracy over the next few decades, and Ukraine will be restored whole as a sovereign nation.

Image from People Magazine

Prediction #5 The Royal Family Look, I enjoy the soap opera that the British royals have put on forever, but by the end of this century they will be phased out. People will care less and less about bloodlines and more and more about breadlines. Normally I might throw in a few jokes about the royal family being aliens, but I’m making serious predictions here. Although, if #King Chuck lives as long as his mum, we may want to check to see if they really are aliens. 

Image from Quora.com

Prediction #6 Us and them? In the distant future, sometime after 2060, the Earth will be split into two kinds of people. There will be the Techies, who embrace all that technology brings us, sometimes to the point that they give up their autonomy to the A.I. machines. The second kind of people will be the Green Earthers. They will shun most technology, with the exception of solar electricity and will try to live their lives the way people did before technology controlled everything. 

Just because I usually make jokes, that doesn’t mean that I can’t be serious about these #psychicpredictions. Psychics can have a sense of humor too! In the comments, I’d love to know you’re thoughts on these predictions.

Have a great Saturday! ~The Phil Factor!

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Scotland: The Florida of the United Kingdom?

Posted on August 3, 2023 | 3 comments

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I sit here on a beach in America on the tailgate of my pickup truck gazing out across an ocean.  I’m not sure which one, but because I’m in America, it must be the biggest one. I feel secure because I have a beer in one hand, a gun in the other, and beef jerky in the other. I also feel secure because Scotland is on the other side of this great big ocean. I’m not sure what Scotland is, but I’m pretty sure it’s not good. I watched Braveheart for the first time last night. It’s a documentary about Scottish culture.

Knowing me, you may be thinking that I’m about to write a sarcastic, mocking piece about the fine country of Scotland. Wait, country? Is Scotland a real full-fledged country or is it just an odd redneck region of England the way Florida is in the United States? As I said, you probably think I’m going to make fun of Scotland, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m 1/4 Scottish, so it would be blasphemy to degrade my own heritage.

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Rather than highlight the oddities that make up the whole of Scottish culture, I thought it might be more educational to highlight the ignorant beliefs that us ‘Mericans have about the Scots. So to do some research, I recently decided to visit the delightful island nation of Scotland. Ok, I didn’t, but if the Scottish board of tourism wants to sponsor me I’ll be happy to write a factually accurate piece on Scottish culture.

Scotland is an island: Shame on you my fellow ‘Muricans! Ireland has their own island while Scotland is a landlocked few acres surrounded entirely castle walls.

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Donald Trump is not Scottish: Guess what everyone, Donald Trumps mum was Scottish. Considering that Scots are often thought to be an aggressive bunch, that explains a lot about the Donald. It also gives us a place to deport him to.

Scottish men only wear kilts: That’s not true. They also wear high socks with their kilts.

The Loch Ness Monster is just a myth: Ha! Check out this picture taken two weeks ago:

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This is what all Scottish men do for a living: 

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We don’t know why they toss logs, or how they make a living at it, but they do. When I visited I spent half my time outdoors looking up to ensure I wasn’t killed by a flying log. Sadly, two in my party were lost, and that was just at dinner in the hotel.

Every building in Scotland is an old castle: Ok, this one’s true.

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Mel Gibson is their President: You Americans are idiots. The Scots don’t have a President. Mel is their king. Yes, because Mel was in Braveheart, Americans think he’s Scottish.

Scots don’t subscribe to The Phil Factor: That can’t be true, can it?

You’ve been a wonderful audience. Drive safely. Thanks for reading! ~Phil

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Who Are You? Who, Who? I Really Wanna Know

Posted on July 31, 2023 | 6 comments

The Who song quoted in the title was very apropos for our high school reunion weekend for two reasons. 1. The Who was the first concert that I ever went to, and 2. We had a high school graduating class of nearly 500 students and I thought that I knew and could put a name to a face for every one of them. Maybe I could back in the day, but…

Before we all got our name tags on, as I mingled and moved about the bar Friday night, occasionally popping into groups of former classmates, I’d hear the same question. People all over the room wanted to say “Who are you? to so many people. Is it because we are getting old? No, of course not. It’s because we were drinking! We’ll officially be old at our reunion in ten years. We’re not there yet.

“Count your age by friends, not years. Count life by smiles, not tears.” ~John Lennon

This was definitely a weekend of counting our age by friends. I’ve never been any where with so many smiles and hugs before. Even if we hadn’t seen each other in decades, everyone was greeted as if they were best friends just returning from vacation. And that is how I like to think of my high school graduating class. We’ve just taken vacations from the people who were like family during the five days a week that comprised every week of our 19 school years together.

“You don’t have to have anything in common with people you’ve known since you were five. With old friends, you’ve got your whole life in common.” ~Lyle Lovett 

That Lyle Lovett quote hit me Saturday night at the formal reunion dinner when I was sitting at a table with some old friends and one of them said to me that in the weeks leading up to the reunion he found a class picture from kindergarten, when we were four or five years old, that included him, myself and a classmate of ours who had passed away. It had never occurred to me before that I had known this guy almost my entire life.

“Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been” ~Jimmy Buffett

Yes, there were more wrinkles than the last time I saw all of you, but there were also more smiles too.

I have to give a big shout-out to the committee that organized our reunion. I’ve heard about other peoples reunions, and nothing compares with what these women did. Months of planning, effort and time turned into two nights that were enjoyed and memorable for so many people. Your efforts are appreciated by all. Because of our wonderful planning committee, we all know that we again beat our rival high school across town who chose to have their reunion the same night.

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I chose to be stupid with my old friends. As I said, it was a 1980’s themed reunion, so of course we had to have an air guitar contest, which I happened to win. Thank you to Kym who caught the shot of me jumping off the chair!

All the fun and camaraderie were great, but I want everyone in my high school graduating class to know this next part. Back when we were in school, we did something good without even knowing it. There was one person at the reunion festivities, whom I shall not name, that came up to talk me. That person said that they had transferred to our school for their senior year after having spent their previous years in another school district.

This person said that at their previous school, everyone was in cliques. Most people at this persons school only socialized with the people just like them. The jocks hung out with the jocks. The band people with other band people and so on and so on. This person felt like they weren’t allowed to fit in at their previous school. This person said that when they came to our school, it was like a whole other world. They described feeling welcomed and wanted by everyone regardless what their interests or groups were.

“They have accepted me as an individual, as a personality, as an entity. I belong! I am important! I am somebody!” ~author Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice

We did that. That’s who we are. Even if we don’t know “Who are you? Who, who?” we’re going to welcome you into our world.

It was wonderful seeing all of you this weekend, and I’m proud to call you my friends forever. ~Phil

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Posted in Humor, Uncategorized

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Good News! UFO’s Are Real! (Maybe Bigfoot too)

Posted on July 29, 2023 | 3 comments

In case you weren’t following the news closely this past week, it seems as if the government is acknowledging that unidentified flying objects, UFO’s, or unidentified anomalous phenomena  (UAPs) are kind of a real thing. First of all government, we’ve called them UFO’s for at least 70 years. Why do you have to go trying to change the name just because you’re admitting that they exist now? I’m betting that the United States government is actually trying to find a way to make them pay taxes.

This past week a former military intelligence officer and two former fighter pilots told the United States House of Representatives that they are being lied to about UFO’s. The military intelligence officer reported discovering  “a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program” during the course of his work examining classified programs. He said he was denied access to those programs when he requested it, and accused the military of misappropriating funds to shield these operations from congressional oversight. He later said he had interviewed officials who had direct knowledge of aircraft with “nonhuman” origins, and that so-called “biologics” were recovered from some craft. (last paragraph credit to CBS.com)

The two fighter pilots gave first hand accounts of UFOs that they saw first hand in the sky.

This comes as no surprise to most of us right? What? Our government lied to us? That’s crazy, right?

There’s two interesting parts to this. The “reverse engineering program” means that the government is trying to figure out the alien technology and build their own stuff with it.

The second interesting part is the “biologics” that were recovered. The “biologics” were probably not houseplants, right?  They recovered actual aliens!

I’m not going to go on, but this admission by the government makes past 10 year old me very happy.

Also, this past Wednesday, 76 year old renowned psychic Uri Geller posted on Instagram “Friends, Bigfoot, traditionally, is viewed as a simple creature of the woods while UFOs are considered sophisticated visitors from outer space. Yet, could there be a connection between the two? I believe, yes. Please let me know if you ever witnessed a Bigfoot type of creature and if you believe there is an alien connection.”

First of all, shout out to 76 year old Uri for rocking the social media. He’s active on Twitter too. Anywho, as they say, keep your eyes on the  sky, because you never know when Bigfoot might fly by in a UFO. In the comments, I’d love to hear what you think about the UFO stuff and Uri Gellers theory.

Have a great Saturday and thanks for reading! ~Phil

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