Tag Archives: The Phil Factor #ThePhilFactor

That Time I Almost Won Survivor

Posted on December 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

Possibly me…

Every year when the new Survivor season ends I always wonder, “what if…”  What if that was me winning #Survivor?

Let’s take a little trip in the way back machine. It was September of 1999. The internet was so new that I was still getting a newspaper made out of actual paper! I’ve always been an avid sports fan and the first thing I’d do when I got my Sunday paper was to check the box scores from the Saturday college football games.

On page 2 of the sports section, I found a small classified ad looking for people to volunteer to be part of a filmed game show where contestants would spend a month on a remote island competing for ONE MILLION DOLLARS! 

This is how my inner monologue went: “I grew up camping in tents with my family every summer. I’m outdoorsy! I can’t eat pickles or mustard, but I’ve got no problem eating anything else. I know how to fish, so I can feed myself. I’m a young-ish man in decent shape. I spent a few years in college taking broadcasting classes, so I’m comfortable on camera. I can do this!  This is a no brainer. For a million bucks I can outlast a group of dolts on an island and parlay my new found stardom into a successful show biz career!”

Survivor Season 1 cast. Look at those dolts! I could have easily won.

With my inner voice cheering me on I began typing the email to the casting director at CBS, all but certain that I was on the road to riches and stardom. And then I talked to my wife…

How many men reading this know how that conversation went?

This is not me or my wife.

Her reply, which was justified, was “you’re not going to leave me home alone for a month with three young kids.” That was a fair response. I couldn’t argue with that.

Don’t we all have those “what if” moments in your life where you look back and wonder how your life could have been different? #Survivor is low on my list, but… what if?

Had I won that first season of Survivor you’d be listening to ThePhilFactor podcast and remembering how bad I was when they put me on Dancing with The Stars. Sure, I could eat the hell out of a dead racoon, but doing the Flamenco with Kathy Bates? …not so much. Maybe I’d be cohosting Survivor with what’s his name? You’re all tired of him by now, right?

So, in the comments, what’s your “what if?” moment that you wish you had a second shot at?

Have a great Wednesday and think of me when you’re watching Survivor!

Thanks for reading!~Phil

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My Feral Childhood: Part 2

Posted on May 25, 2025 | 4 comments

The whole Goonies movie could have happened to me and my childhood friends as we explored the woods surrounding our neighborhood. That movie captured the feeling of a summer in Twin Acres when I was a kid. So where was I leaving off in yesterday’s post…oh yes, that time I almost lost an eye to a big sword!

Actually this event happened in 1981 in high school, but the way it was handled was very 70’s. Maybe that was because my teachers were also 70’s parents. I was in tenth grade and on a normal day I walked into the classroom. As I walked in another student was swinging a Lord of The Rings sword and the tip of the sword caught my face about a quarter inch from my eye, leaving a little cut. I don’t have any recollection of being sent to the nurse or of the other student being sent to the principal. He had brought the sword in as part of some project. That was the 70’s/80’s for you. You could walk right into school with a lethal weapon and the excuse that “it’s for a project” always worked.

French Fries to Die For? Who doesn’t love salty french fries? But if you’re a kid, you can’t exactly drive to McDonald’s. So what do you do when you’re home without supervision during summer vacation? Of course you pull out the electric vat full of grease and throw some fries in! It was just me and my younger sister at home. I was about 14 and my younger sister was probably 12 and way too overconfident in her cooking skills. She started the fries and at some point she pulled back on the handle of the basket in the grease. The whole thing full on boiling grease overturned on her arm/hand. Did we call 911 or our parents? No! Of course not! There was no 911 back then! Kids in the 70’s clean up their own messes. I think I bandaged her hand that was shedding skin like crazy.

It’s stuff like this that made me write my novel “The Sneaker Tree.” Although the novel is an ode to the adventures of my childhood, the neighborhood and the great friends I was lucky enough to have, it’s also a fun, suspenseful ride that’s been compared to Stephen King novels. I honestly didn’t go into writing this blog post to sell my book, but I’m very nostalgic and I enjoy what I think was a wonderful time to grow up in a small town.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy a nice Memorial Day if you’re in the States. ~Phil

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The Future is Here!

Posted on October 14, 2024 | 5 comments

Pic from uniladtech.com

Well, the future is not here on The Phil Factor. If this was the future, I’d be sending this blog to you just by thinking it. What I’m referring to is my blog post from February 3rd when I reported that Elon Musk’s company Neuralink had implanted a device in a living human brain that was supposed allow that paralyzed person to control a computer or smart phone just by thinking it.

Well, it worked. Eleven months ago Noland Arbaugh had to hold a stick in his mouth to tap keyboard keys. Now he’s playing online chess by thinking his moves. Eight months after the brain implant he went to France to open a speed chess championship!

Pic from NewRepublic.com

Elon Musk looks and sounds like a villain from a spy movie. He seemed like one when we thought he ruined Twitter, now known as X, but maybe, despite his grating personality, he’s doing some very good things.

Now at Neuralink, he’s working on curing certain types of blindness.  SpaceX is also his baby and is commercializing space travel by bringing supplies and people to the International Space Station. If you’re interested, SpaceX also has a merch store! No, you can’t buy a ticket to space flight… yet, but you can get a cool SpaceX t-shirt or models of some of the SpaceX rockets. 

Pic from ign.com

I’m not a Elon Musk fan because of his politics and his personality, but is it possible that he’s not a terrible person? It seems like he’s doing good things. Would a bad person do good philanthropic things? 

If I can acknowledge that Elon’s not the worst person in the world, and that his work has helped humanity, maybe it’s possible for all of us in the States and every country to try to see the positive in others and see people as individuals rather than just one group against another. If you take a minute to get to know that neighbor with a political sign you don’t agree with, maybe you’ll find out that they’re a nice person. In the immortal words of Lenny Kravitz:

Come on people
It’s time to get together
It’s time for the revolution
Here is once again in our face
Why haven’t we learn from our past
We’re at the crossroads of our human race
Why are we kicking our own ass
We want peace

We Want Peace, Lenny Kravitz 2004

Pic from guitartopreview.com

Btw, Elon Musk, if you read this on X, hit me up in my email authorphiltaylor@gmail or on X and I’ll interview you here.

Happy Monday everbody! I hope you have a great week, and thanks for reading! ~Phil

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Would You Live In A Murder House?

Posted on June 29, 2024 | 5 comments

Would you live in a murder house? It’s not a question most people have to face very often in life. But… I’m not most people.

Since the genesis of The Phil Factor in 2005 I have moved 6 times and I’m considering another move. Am I running from the law, or am I a secret agent for some unknown clandestine branch of our government? That’s not pertinent, so don’t worry about that. If you want to read my August 2005 post about considering moving into a murder house, here’s the LINK. It’s only one paragraph, no pictures. That’s what passed for a blog post in 2005.

Amityville Horror House

I’m considering another move, and this is the second time that I might have the opportunity to purchase a murder house. Just the other day I was out for a morning walking when suddenly what seemed like every police car in town was tearing past me down the quiet residential street at about 70 mph/112 kph. I later learned that someone down the road may have had way too much caffeine and murdered someone else in their home.

Pic from Envato

As my wife and I are considering if we want to move again, just a year after our last move, I said to my wife, “Hey, I saw on the news that the murder house was a ranch! Just what we’re looking for, and it will probably be priced at a discount!” I was also thinking “Hmm, if it’s haunted, I can ghost hunt without having to leave the house!” How great would that be?

So, in the comments, tell me, would you live in a murder house, or why wouldn’t you?

Thanks for reading and have a great Sunday! ~Phil

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Florida Man, Calm Down About The Humidity!

Posted on June 23, 2024 | Leave a comment

About ten years ago “Florida Man” was an internet joke. You could put the phrase “Florida man” into Google and a list of absolutely ridiculous crimes or catastrophes would come up.

You get the idea. Florida Man is not likely to get invited to a Mensa meeting. But I think I met a Florida man earlier this week on a phone call for work. I live in the northeast of the States and this past week we’ve had unseasonably hot weather, similar to Florida weather. So when I got on the phone with a guy in Florida, we started with small talk and I said, “We’ve got Florida weather up here this week. Temps over 90 and a heat index over 100.”

Florida Man wasn’t having it. He immediately replied, “You don’t have real Florida weather. You don’t have humidity like we do.”

Really Florida Man, that’s your flex? You have warm, moist air? Oh no! You must be so tough to deal with that warm, moist air. I bow down to you. I thought that Marines fighting in the Middle East have it tough, but lucky them, their enemy isn’t warm, moist air. What a nightmare! What a badass you must be to defeat that warm, moist air every day! That’s got to be exhausting.

If I live in Florida and I want to be a badass in a weather conversation, I’d drop a couple hurricane mentions. It’s hard to beat that, but when you talk to anyone from Florida about anything, they find a way to mention the humidity. If you’re a Floridian wanting to feel tough, skip the warm, moist air and mention that occasionally prehistoric man-eating alligators are on your porch in the morning.

I don’t make fun of Floridians without reference. I go to Florida about four times a year. I know what Florida humidity feels like. It is not a big deal.

This isn’t just for that one Florida Man that I spoke to. This is for all Floridians whose biggest challenge in life is warm, moist air: We don’t care about your humidity! We don’t have to “brace” ourselves when we visit your state. Hey, if you Floridians are so tough about weather, then why did so many of you flee the northern part of the country to live there? Obviously you think the horrific, arctic winters in the northeast are worse than a little moist air.

For those of you that read this, make this viral and share it with your favorite Florida Man or Florida Woman that you know. I know that they’ve probably mentioned the humidity to you at least a thousand times already.

For those of you on the other side of the pond, is there any similar thing? Are there people saying, “You don’t know anything about wind until you’ve spent a winter in Latvia!”?

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend ~Phil

#PHIL2024

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Do You Believe Paranormal Phenomena? Vote in The Polls!

Posted on May 3, 2024 | 5 comments

As I mentioned previously, May 3 was National Paranormal Day here in the states. Admittedly, I enjoy paranormal activity a little more than most. Wouldn’t the world would be so much more fun and interesting if paranormal things were actually true? Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe.  Most of the rest of this post is three polls that I’d love your responses to because in my next few blog posts I’m going to explore people’s beliefs in the paranormal, have some interesting interviews, and occasionally make jokes.

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Do You Believe in Ghosts?

12
Do You Believe that People Can Be Psychic?

12
Do You Believe There Are Aliens/UFO's That Visit Earth?

After answering and seeing the poll results, is there anything that surprises you about what people believe? If you’re a believer in any of those subjects, could you comment why?

Have a great day, and thanks for reading! ~Phil

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I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost!

Posted on April 30, 2024 | 7 comments

Picture credit Collider.com & Sony Pictures

I just recently discovered that May 3rd is National Paranormal Day and I’m going to lean in hard here at The Phil Factor.

There’s two things I’m not sure if I believe in, ghosts and death. Well, I’m sure I don’t believe in my own death, and if by chance it does happen, I plan to overcome it by becoming a ghost. I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself What a weirdo! Hey, relax on the judgement there. I’m contractually bound to comeback after death, if I have one, a death that is.

Contractually bound? Yup. Nothing I can do about it now. It was many years ago in college. One night myself and two friends were drinking some adult beverages. You know how when you’re young, like 20 or so and you think you’re really deep thinkers even though you’re really idiots who don’t know anything? We had imbibed a few beverages and got to talking about death and the afterlife.

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We all were curious to know if there really was life after death, so right then and there we Googled and then re-enacted a centuries old Druid ceremony complete with a circle of salt, candles under a full moon and signing a pact with our own blood, which was flowing easily because of the alcohol we had been drinking. Ok, no we didn’t. I had you going there for a second, didn’t I?

There was also no Google when I was in college, but we did make a promise to each other that whoever died first would come back and haunt the other two so we would know that there’s life after death.

I don’t know where those two college friends are now and don’t even remember ones last name. Hopefully, because of our vow, some sort of afterlife mojo will help us find each other and keep our promise. As far as I know, none of us has ever shown up to haunt the others. With May 3rd being National Paranormal Day I got to thinking of this and what else I might do if I were to be a ghost.

Stars DEMI MOORE and PATRICK SWAYZE. Licenced by Channel 5 Broacasting. Contact Five Stills: 0207 550 5583/5509/5544. Free for editorial press and listings use in connection with the current broadcast of Channel 5 programmes only. This. image may only be reproduced with the prior written consent of Channel 5. All rights reserved. Not for any form of advertising, internet use or in connection with the sale of any product.

I know this may be hard for you to believe, but in my life I’ve been a bit of a practical joker at times. I’m pretty sure that if I ever come back  as a ghost I’m not going to take off my shirt and help anyone with pottery. Jeez, what a waste of an afterlife. I’ll probably be what we all know as a poltergeist. I’ll move a lot of peoples car keys just before they have to leave for work.

During live televised events I’ll show up invisibly and give the President or the Pope a wet willie. I’ll be on the field at all my favorite live sporting events, helping out a little to ensure my favorite teams win.

You know that feeling you get when you feel like someone’s behind you but you turn around and no one’s there? That’ll be me.  Who knows? Ghost Phil may even zip into the internet and follow the connection to your computer and cause embarrassing typos when you’re posting pictures.

So do you believe in life after death? Do you think there are real ghosts? Have you ever had an experience with what you think was a ghost? What would you do if you were a ghost?

Have a great day, and yes, I do think we should celebrate National Paranormal Day by pulling out the Halloween decorations! ~Phil

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My 2024 Psychic Predictions

Posted on December 22, 2023 | 12 comments

That’s me in the crystal ball. I’m not the lady

Each year since 2015 I’ve published my psychic predictions for the upcoming year, and each year I get things correct that I have no logical way of knowing. Some of my predictions are dead serious and some are meant to be funny. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is which because sometimes the most outlandish predictions are the ones that come true.

(Image credit: G. Baden/Corbis via Getty Images)

1. Is It The End of The World as We Know It? (And I feel fine) R.E.M. thought they knew when the end of the world was but they were way off. The 80’s were super tacky but nowhere near being apocalyptic. During 2023 all the wars and political divisiveness make it seem like the end is very near.

This year in January of 2024 The Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists kept the “Doomsday Clock” at 90 seconds until midnight. (Maybe they should have spent more time coming up with a shorter name for their group.) When the clock strikes midnight is when they predict that the Earth will end. 90 minutes to midnight is the closest it’s ever been. They sound like a fun bunch to hang out with, right?

Here is my prediction: Life on Earth will not end during 2024. It might be unpleasant at times, but we’ll all be here reading my 2025 predictions next December.

2. Lizzo will trim down

The curvy songstress will trim down significantly with the aid of a prescribed medication and regular workouts. She will become a popular celebrity spokesperson for, Wegovy or Zepbound. Also, she will date Pete Davidson. My money is on Wegovy, but Pete Davidson will jokingly say she lost weight from all the sex they were having. Lighten up Pete, no one believes you’re that good.

It’s possible that his horse may choose to kill him.

3. The war in Ukraine will end and…: Putin will pass away. He’s not going to pass away from natural causes. He will die under suspicious circumstances and the rest of the world will never get a true cause of death. His death will lead to crumbling support for the Ukraine war and that will slowly be phased out with Ukraine returning to independence.

4. All About The Royals! My psychic predictions wouldn’t be complete without a few British Royals predictions.

Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire URN:55682870 (Press Association via AP Images)

     1. King Chuck will live through 2024, but his wife Camilla will have a health scare.

2. There will be rumors that Prince William and his wife Kate may be having marital troubles.

3. It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan will resolve issues with their family in England, but they’ll stay in California and will agree to be a reality show so that they can “control the narrative” about how they are portrayed. That show will be the most watched in the world. King Chuck will say that they can do what they want, but there will be leaks from Clarence House implying that the rest of the Royal Family is horrified by Harry and Meghan’s show.

Pic credit French24

5. Neither Biden nor Trump will be elected U.S. President: Yes, you read that right. Trumps legal woes will prevent him from becoming the Republican candidate, and Joe Biden will have a serious medical issue preventing him from getting re-elected. This will set up an unprecedented Presidential race with Nikki Haley facing off against Kamala Harris.

6. 2024 will be the year of UFO’s: Everywhere across the world there will be more public and political acknowledgement that our world is regularly visited by beings from other worlds, leading to the discovery that Pete Davidson is an alien, but a nice one.

Pete Davidson’s tattoo confirms that he’s an alien.

7. 2024 will be a year of climate change cooperation: Countries will come together to agree upon treaties focusing on climate change measures. The climate crisis will be big news in 2024.

8. The A.I. threat: The fear that artificial intelligence will do something dangerous will come true. A.I. will develop it’s own newer, more independent  A.I. programs that could become a threat to humanity. Also, unscrupulous politicians or foreign security agencies may use A.I. in ways that will cost many lives. (This was added on Jan. 15 ,2024)

That’s it folks. That’s all that came out of my psychic noggin. I hope you enjoyed my predictions and plan accordingly for the coming year.

And Pete Davidson, don’t sue me over this. Hit me up and I’ll interview you so you can set the record straight about Lizzo. The ship has already sailed on the alien thing. Your cover is blown.

Thanks for reading! ~Phil

copyright ThePhilFactor Dec. 22, 2023

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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 uninhabitable 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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