Phil Taylor's Blog: The Phil Factor, page 169

The Slab City Tree of Souls (Soles?)

Two nights ago I was on Twitter and posted a tweet that simply said “The Sneaker Tree.” That was it. No explanation or context. Just those three words.

Within minutes @pkninjaz, Jazmin, a complete stranger from the other side of the country sent me the picture above. It is a picture of the Slab City, California shoe tree known as the Tree of Souls.

There are trees like this all over the country and the world. They’ve existed for decades and no one knows how or why they started. Do you know of a...

Fame! I’m Gonna Live Forever!

“When I was a kid I wanted the world and everything inside. Now that I am older I just want friends to come along for the ride.I used to dream of being famous, being the one everyone loved. Everything that I have now is more than enough.” ~ from the song “I Won’t Grow Up” byNothing Personal

The current age of social media has made everyone famous for 15 minutes, even if it is only among our peer group. When I was a kid our everyday accomplishments often went unknown to the world and we dreamed...

Throwback Thursdays! The Miss Penitentiary Pageant (11/25/2005)

I think when I posted this one in 2005 and re-posted it again today that I did so just because I like the joke in the last line.

(11/25/2005) I read that the Miss Penitentiary 2005 trophy was awarded today. Yes, this was a real news item. Apparently in South America they have this pageant to “boost the inmates self-esteem.” It sure is nice to know that someone is worrying about the criminals feeling badly about themselves. Isn’t the point of prison to make people feel badly? What do you suppos...

If I Said Reading The Phil Factor Made You Smarter, Would You Pay Me?

Lumosity.com commercials are everywhere lately. Whether I’m listening to the radio or watching TV, anytime that I’m try to get vapid, mind-numbing entertainment the people from Lumosity intrude, telling me that I need to play video games to be smarter. First of all, “Lumosity” isn’t even a word. I checked. The Lumosity folks may tell you that they’re so smart that they create new words. Yeah, you know who else creates words when they can’t think of something? Little kids.

Hmmm…let’s take a loo...

Throwback Thursdays! The Church of Phil (Nov. 7, 2005)

I chose this post because I originally posted it on this exact day 8 years ago.

Let’s step into the Way Back Machine and return to last Monday. It was Halloween. I took my adorable little boys Trick or Treating. That adorable little tradition where we encourage them to put on masks and accost complete strangers in their homes for candy. We also throw in a threat (trick) if they don’t cough up the goods. It sounds like the little tikes are being trained to rob banks. Most of the kids seem to be...

Inspirational Interview with Indie Author Lorenzo Victory!

Hi Lorenzo and welcome to The Phil Factor. I appreciate you taking the time to talk about your book and answer some questions. For those of you not yet familiar with Lorenzo he is the first-time author of the recently released book Anything is Possible: Thought Provoking Quotes to Inspire Your Mind. As a child Lorenzo was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis which presented him with obstacles throughout life. In spite of this Lorenzo grew up to have a successful banking career and recently retire...

Twitter People vs. Facebook People

Since 2004 Facebook is the brand name associated with social media. Twitter has been something of a much maligned younger sibling in the social media world since it stumbled home drunk two years later. That is the difference between Facebook people and Twitter people.

On Facebook everyone is a polished, Cosby Show/Brady Bunch version of themselves. On Twitter everyone seems to be the sarcastic, hungover, Jackassversion of themselves.

There’s a chance Mark Zuckerberg will sue me for using the wo...

Throwback Thursdays! Daylight Stupid Time

This post is appropriate as we all turn our clocks back this weekend. My idea of eliminating Daylight Savings Time first appeared in an Oct. 2006 post about my proposed “Phil Laws.” I expounded on the idea more fully in Nov. 2010.

When I’m elected President, or Sexiest Man Alive, whichever comes first, I’m going to pass a law getting rid of Daylight Savings Time. I don’t know if other countries do this, and I know that all of the states in the U.S. don’t abide by it. Daylight Savings time is w...

Cleanliness is Next To…Phil?

I had to travel for work this past week and as usual that almost always is the genesis for a good blog post. This week was no different.

I used to always ask for an exit row seat when I flew because they have more room due to the door there. It was like getting first class leg room for free. Unfortunately about two years ago the airlines caught on and started charging extra for the exit row seats. I completely disagree with this policy. Not just because they ruined my little scam, but because...

Throwback Thursdays! Everybody’s Working for the Weekend (9/8/2006)

I may or may not have posed for the album cover below. Of course I was only a small child when it came out, but I still have those red leather pants.

(Sept. 8, 2006)The musical reference in the title is so embarrassingly cheesy that I’m not even going to ask anyone to identify it. I’d like to pretend that it was just a coincidence that I chose those words, that I don’t really have that song running through my head. I’d like to pretend that I don’t know the rest of the lyrics. Sadly however, no...