Hey Phileas, did you know France is a mess too?

Hey Phileas, did you know France is a mess too?

Author: NotPatrick October 10, 2025 Duration: 44:34

Hey Phileas, Patrick talks to us about a very interesting event, Michael talks about baseball in Japan with some life lessons learned, and Alec talks about being an ex-pat, what it means, and how he feels about it.


If you're interested in becoming an AWESOME contributor please fill out this form: ➡️➡️ https://forms.gle/KJdRRqh4ngERAu7G7 ⬅️⬅️


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Patrick

I'm on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/notpatrick.com

Come chat on Discord: https://notpatrick.com/discord/


The Phileas Club 195 - Hey Phileas, did you know France is a mess too?


Contributors:


Patrick does podcasts for a living and hails from France (and often Finland) with his wonderful wife and two kids.


Michael Westbay is a software developer living in Yokohama, Japan. He's lived in Japan for a total of 38 years, where he and his wife, Margarita, raised two wonderful children. Besides programming, Michael really enjoys Japanese baseball. He started writing about Japanese baseball on the Internet in 1995 and continues to manage a sports database for not only Japanese baseball, but also Korean and Taiwanese professional leagues. He helped people visiting Japan get tickets for 9 years (after which the Yomiuri Giants, who originally suggested that he get tickets through their Fan Club for early access, decided to shut the business down). He still helps people get tickets on their own via a shared Google Sheet.


You can find him by his handle, Westbaystars (a combination of Westbay and BayStars -- the local Yokohama professional baseball team) in most places, though he's not really active on the socials.


Alec is a middle-class white American dude originally from the suburbs of Chicago. He moved to the French/Swiss border almost exactly 3 years ago to do PhD research at CERN, and now lives with his wife in Clermont-Ferrand on a research contract. He moved knowing no French and expecting to be there for just one year, but for so many reasons he decided to stay there permanently.


And the superlative Bruce Woodward produces the show!


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


Every week, The Phileas Club gathers a panel of guests from different corners of the globe to tear apart the headlines. This isn't a dry recitation of events; it's a living room conversation that spans continents. You'll hear firsthand accounts of what's actually dominating the discourse in their home countries-from serious political shifts and cultural debates to the bizarre local story that's captured everyone's attention. Hosted by NotPatrick, the discussions are as unpredictable as the news itself, often weaving between insightful analysis and lighthearted, silly tangents. The result is a unique lens on current affairs, where international perspectives collide, sometimes with heat, always with a human touch. By focusing on the people behind the news, this podcast transforms global understanding from a concept into a series of compelling, relatable dialogues. It’s for anyone who finds traditional news coverage too distant and wants to feel the texture of what's happening elsewhere, served through genuine conversation and occasional friendly chaos. Tune in to hear the world argue, explain, and laugh its way through another week.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

The Phileas Club
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