Oversized Box Syndrome

So I bought a wire from Wal-Mart.com for my computer. I have to admit that I love buying stuff from Wal-Mart because I save a LOT of money. I probably saved $10-15 on that wire over other places. Anyway the pros of this purchase were that I saved mulah AND...got the thing the NEXT FREAKING DAY. Nice.

But look at this ridiculous box they sent the wire to me in. It could have easily have been sent in an envelope. So I now have a new kitty litter box for the cats.





Small things come in big packages...or something like that.

Economic Stimulus

Below I posted the highlights of the economic stimulus bill that recently passed the house. It annoys me that everyone seems to have an opinion on this but all they heard about it is from the media on TV. Have any of you actually read the bill? No you haven't, because nobody I know reads a government document that's over 1,000 pages long. I've looked it over, but there's no way I'm going to leisurely read the thing.

It's not a law yet people! And hopefully it won't be. Isn't it amazing how not a single Republican voted on it? Partisanship at its finest!

A few of my problems with the bill:

• $1.5 Billion for community health centers - What neighborhood in Chicago is over a billion dollars going to go to?
• $335 million for programs that combat AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis - Why does it cost over $300 million to tell people that their balls are achy? Where is this money going to go to? And WHO THE HELL HAS TUBERCULOSIS NOWADAYS?
• $10 billion in rail and mass transit projects. - WHERE? Where are they going to expand the rails? And why is the government going to be in charge of this? This used to be private-business stuff. Also, how much of that $10 billion is going to go toward the NAFTA Superhighway that benefit just Mexico and Canada?
• $850 million to prevent forest fires. - Seriously, what is anyone going to do to prevent forest fires? That's not a problem that money can solve...especially a whopping $850 million.
• Provide a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $10.3 billion. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000. - Perhaps they should put more money and resources into the college sector. $2,500 does not cover ANYTHING in regard to college expenses nowadays.
• Provide an infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two, at a cost of $15 billion.- BAILOUT - Soon enough the government is going to have some kind of ownership in all businesses.
  

SPENDING

Aid to the poor and unemployed — $43 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, increase them by $25 a week and provide job training; $20 billion to increase food stamp benefits by 13 percent; $4 billion to provide a one-time additional Supplemental Security Income payment; $2.5 billion in temporary welfare payments; $1 billion for home heating subsidies; and $1 billion for community action agencies.

Health care — $40 billion to subsidize health care insurance for the unemployed under the COBRA program or provide health care through Medicaid; $87 billion to help states with Medicaid; $20 billion to modernize health information technology systems; $4 billion for preventative care; $1.5 billion for community health centers; $420 million to combat avian flu; $335 million for programs that combat AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis.

Infrastructure — $43 billion for transportation projects, including $30 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $6 billion to buy transit equipment like buses; $31 billion to build and repair federal buildings and other public infrastructure; $19 billion in water projects; $10 billion in rail and mass transit projects.

Education — $41 billion in grants to local school districts; $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid; $21 billion for school modernization; $16 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350; $2 billion for Head Start.

Energy — $32 billion to fund a so-called "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste; $20 billion-plus in renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and a multiyear extension of the renewable energy production tax credit for wind, hydropower, geothermal and bioenergy; $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

Science and technology — $10 billion for science facilities; $6 billion to bring high-speed Internet access to rural and underserved areas; $1 billion for the 2010 Census.

Housing — $13 billion to repair and make more energy-efficient public housing projects, allow communities to buy and repair foreclosed homes, and help the homeless.

Environment — $3.2 billion to clean up Superfund and waste sites, leaking underground storage tanks, nuclear sites and military bases, as well as $400 million for habitat restoration projects and $850 million to prevent forest fires.

Law enforcement — $4 billion in grants to state and local law enforcement to hire officers and purchase equipment.

TAXES

Individuals

— $500 per-worker, $1,000 per-couple tax cut for two years, costing about $145 billion. Workers could expect to see about $20 a week less withheld from their paychecks starting in June. Millions of Americans who don't make enough money to pay federal income taxes could file returns next year and receive checks.

— Greater access to the $1,000 per-child tax credit for the working poor in 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $18.3 billion. Under current law, workers must make at least $8,500 to receive the credit. The change eliminates the floor, meaning more workers who pay no federal income taxes could receive checks.

— Increase the earned-income tax credit — which provides money to the working poor — for families with at least three children, at a cost of $4.7 billion.

—Provide a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition and related expenses for 2009 and 2010, at a cost of $10.3 billion. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $160,000.

— Repeal a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time for homes purchased from Jan. 1 to July 1, unless the home is sold within three years, at a cost of $2.6 billion. The credit is phased out for couples making more than $150,000.

Businesses

— Extend a provision allowing businesses buying equipment such as computers to speed up the depreciation of that equipment through 2009, at a cost of $5 billion.

— Provide an infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two, at a cost of $15 billion.

— Repeal a Treasury provision that allowed firms that buy money-losing banks to use more of the losses as tax credits to offset the profits of the merged banks for tax purposes. The change would increase taxes on the merged banks by $7 billion over 10 years.

— Subsidize locally issued bonds for school construction, teacher training, economic development and infrastructure improvements, at a cost of $35.5 billion.

— Extend tax credits for renewable energy production, at a cost of $13 billion.

— Extend and increase tax credits to homeowners who make their homes more energy efficient, at a cost of $4.3 billion. Homeowners could receive tax credits of up to $1,500 for upgrading furnaces and hot water heaters and making other improvements through 2010.

The United States is now the poorest country in the world. I would personally like to thank China for lending us this money and cleaning up our puke.

Highlights of Stimulus Package

Application Complete

Yesterday I turned in all of the paperwork, essays, and school choices for the study abroad program. There were three main sites that I applied for:

Tilburg University - Netherlands



Leiden University - Netherlands



University of Ulster, Coleraine Campus - Ireland



Hopefully I'll get accepted somewhere, but I won't know where until about 2-3 months. The waiting game begins...

Hello COLLEGE

Well it's 'welcome back to school' day for me today. Wish me luck. 7 Classes, one part-time job, performer in a play, blogger: priceless.


Today I am off to:

• Managerial Writing
• Finance
• Exploring the Film

a brief look at the tube

Here's a new one from the Onion News Network. Apparently since there hasn't been a horrible school shooting for a while, it's okay to make these awful situations humorous.

This is still hilarious to me though...



Police Say School Shooter Had Troubled Past, History Of School Shootings

Welcome to winter

Hola winter! Where chapped hands are king and the scarf takes the place of red necks as the status symbol of choice. I often think to myself, "why do I choose to live in the northeast, where it is literally painful and discomforting to even walk outside?" My answer, "I'm moving."

Not yet, but soon enough. So in a quest to get out of Connecticut, I'll probably end up in Netherlands, where it is as hot as Afrika(Africa) and ligers take the place of space heaters. I plan on turning in my foreign exchange application today to the study abroad coordinator.

Stay tuned...

a brief look at the tube

Here's the next American Idol. I couldn't help but put this awesome rendition of the 'I may be crazy' song up. It's way better than the original.

Don't eat Peanut Butter!

The FDA has suggested that Americans postpone the eating of foods with peanut butter. Something about salmanila in them. This is, of course, unless you personally know the person who grew the nuts.

The majority of schools have ousted peanut butter from their menus.

With this news, I took the opportunity to raid the fridge and cabinet and get a good taste of these nuts. Does anyone else happen to like the extra crunchy kind?

You also shouldn't eat lead-infected Barbies from China.

a brief look at the tube

Here's a commercial I found a long long time ago that I love.
Enjoy (:

Quote for Inaguration Day

No great feat of imagination is needed to see how the whole project could end in tears. The stimulus fails. Things continue to fall apart. A new Great Depression ensues. And Obama is blamed and soon enough finds himself out on the speaking circuit with pal (ahem) Bill Clinton. Yet the astonishing thing about this moment is that virtually no one is yearning for that outcome. Perhaps it's because the exogenous circumstances are so dire, but the desire to see Obama succeed is broad and deep among citizens of all persuasions. After the past two decades of politics as total war, what a blessed and glorious relief. A president almost everyone is rooting for? That may be the newest thing of all."

John Heilemann in New York Magazine.

About ThePanz.com

This site - ThePanz.com - is a little blog started by me, BPANZ, as a brief entertainment commentary to everyday life. You'll see anything from video clips, pictures, and articles I've written. The subjects of the content are very general, and can range from anything about peanut butter to tampons.

I invite you to comment on things that you like and don't like, and contact me about anything you wish. Send me pics, videos, articles, quotes, whatever! There's also a DIGG button on each page, so DIGG it if you dig it!

Also, don't be afraid to support the sponsors on the sidebar ----------------->

American Idol

As this season's American Idol rolls around, I promise to put up just ONE post about it - this one.

It's never too late to rehash old memories and keep the clock running on William Hung's 15 minutes of fame. After all, the dude did end up earning over a million dollars from his album sales and he has appeared on multiple TV shows. He's got his SAG card and can probably appear in more cameo's than you.


Here lay the questions:

1. Are YOU more successful than Mr. Hung?
2. Did he eat all of his money?

RIP Circuit City

Circuit City announced today that ALL of their stores will be liquidated. Yes, even the one near you. For those of you that don't know, this means that they will all close. This means that if you have a gift card, you need to spend it....RIGHT NOW.

More than 30,000 people will likely be out of work because of this. Would anyone like to start a job-seekers website with me? Does my video camera's warranty still apply?

This is pretty sad news. It seems as though America is shrinking for some reason. If everyone is out of work, then nobody can buy things, then nobody needs to work. THEN we turn into more of a socialist nation and become the next Soviet Union and here comes world war 3...
Thanks Barrack!!!

See you in the Netherlands!

Disgusting shoe of the day

6pm.com is having a sale this "Type Z - 940" shoe. It was originally $160.00!!

It is now only $48.71

Maybe it won't sell because it's disgusting.
I think it says in the description that each shoe is individually puked on. (This may have been why they were so expensive in the first place)

Click here to buy.

Cast!

Just a little update:

I got cast in a show called Veronica's Room. It's being put on by the Brewster Theatre Company. I play the role of the "Young Man." This isn't really for kids - it's a fun little thriller.



Brief synopsis:

The elderly couple was so amazed that Susan looked like the long dead Veronica. When they ask her to come home and pretend to be Veronica to make a dying woman happy, it seemed like such a small thing to ask. But suddenly things aren’t going the way Susan expects and she suddenly remembers why her mother told her not to talk to strangers …

Veronica’s Room written by celebrated playwright Ira Levin is a totally absorbing spider’s web entwining fantasy and reality.

The show is being performed February 27-28 and March 6-7 at 8pm at the cerebral palsy headquarters in Brewster. Contact me for more info, or go to www.brewstertheatercompany.org.

Save the date.

How to stop global warming

With these extremely frigid temperatures, it is obvious that global warming is upon us. Thanks to Al Gore's 10,000 square foot house, which uses 20 times the amount of energy as the average American home, the weather has dropped sharply and icycles are beginning to form on my eyebrows. Some school districts are contemplating closing due to the cold.

Maybe now people will listen to me when I say that they should move to Dubai, where global warming doesn't make things so cold.

Anyway, this awful warming process CAN be reversed - and here's how:

• Separate white clothes from colored clothes in the wash
• Use real Christmas Trees instead of fake ones (which add immensely to pollution)
• Hula Hoop on a daily basis

a brief look at the tube

This video displays some typical cultural misunderstandings that I an constantly running into.

Souja Boy is NOT original

First of all, I wouldn't be calling him "Soulja Boy" as opposed to "Soldier Boy" if it wasn't for the degrading meaning of the word "Souja." A soldier fights for an army or nation, a "soulja" fights their neigbors and rapes their sisters and have something to do with gangs as they drop the soap in the bathroom.

Anyway, I'm in no position to translate this rediculous "Crank That" song, but I did some extensive research and found that he actually DID NOT even making the song up! It's an ancient tribal dance in Afrika!

Fixing Connecticut's Budget Gap

The state of Connecticut is facing an estimated $150 million budget gap for 2009. A combination of stupidity, lack of revenue from oil prices, and other miscellaneous factors are contributing to this shortfall. It is one of 44 states facing this problem. I suppose debt and lack of money management skills is now the American dream.

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, a female, has setup a website where Connecticut residents can submit ideas to leverage the budget gap.

The website can be found by clicking here.

Submit your ideas if you have any. Below are mine in which I am submitting. Many of them you will see take after the state of California, who also has a great budget shortfall, but has the Terminator on its side working feverishly to balance the books.

My solutions:

1. Give all government workers an extra 2 days off EVERY month with no pay. They get to choose whatever two days they like.

2. Decriminalize marijuana. Too much time and too many resources are being put toward petty offenders. Too many people are in jail for low-level drug crimes. I would suggest Connecticut allows marijuana for medicinal purposes and collects tax on this.

3. Tax marijuana. Okay - so we know that the state won't completely decriminalize the drug, but they can offer "tax stamps." People can buy tax stamps online or at government buildings. These stamps are to be places on all bags of marijuana. If someone gets caught with a bag of pot that does not have a tax stamp on it, the fine/punishment will be more harsh than with the stamp.

4. Sell the corporate jet. I'm not really sure that they have one, and they probably don't - but it's just an idea.

5. Prisoner payback program. Released prisoners NEED to pay for their time in prison. There is no excuse why the tax-payers are footing the bill for all of these prisoners. They need to pay for their crime, and their time. This can be done through garnishing wages.

6. Better enforce online sales tax. So many websites do not add state sales tax - it's the law and it is hardly enforced.

7. Increase tax credits for incoming businesses. This is one of the number one ways to attract new commercial industries to the state, which will in turn increase tax revenue.

8. Increase tax credits for the movie industry. Connecticut has some great locations for shooting films, and more would shoot here with lower taxes.

9. Obesity tax. If your Body Mass Index is greater than 30, you need to pay a famine tax bi-yearly. This will also encourage people to lose weight and get in better shape.

10. Switch to a 4-day work week. The city of Danbury, CT did this and saves a few hundred thousand dollars on electrical expenses.

Please comment with your thoughts and ideas!

How to do a J Turn

Everyone knows what a K Turn is, but have you ever heard of a J Turn? A J Turn is the infamous driving manouver you see in all of the action movies where the car accellerates in reverse and then quickly turns all the way around and continues to go forward. Sometimes called a "moonshiners turn," this is a technique that all secret service agents must learn in order to be elected to protect the president.

"How to" video is below:

Icestorm '09

An icy storm is making its way through the northeast today, closing a countless number of schools and providing male shrinkage everywhere. I went out in my skivvies this morning and took a few shots. Above is one of our bushes that fell half-way over into our driveway.

Although they are usually happy/excited when the schools are closed, the kids that I work with are pretty dissapointed because they had JUST returned back to school from a two-week long Santafest.

a brief look at the tube

I love British Humor

Fill up on gas...NOW

OPEC's cutbacks on their barrels drilled per day is finally going to take effect in regard to prices today. Expect at least a 20 cent jump in prices, so fill up while you have the chance.

Deals of the Day

Amazon's having a DVD blowout sale. I don't buy DVD's since I have Netflix, but for those of you that do, check this out.

Click Here for the Deals of the Day

a brief look at the tube

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Good Job Danbury

Sarcastic praise goes out to the city of Danbury for not delaying school today. Everyone I know fell and hurt themselves and WLAD reported at least 7 people broke bones from falls. Roads were fine but parking lots and sidewalks suck. A lot.

In other good news, I'm trying to form two more blogs. One with reviews and news on iPhone Apps and the other I'm thinking would be a "good news" blog - with only good news. If anyone has any ideas or wants to write, let me know. I'll pay you in scooby snacks (:

A brief look at the tube

A video from the most trusted name in news, the Onion News Network.

Do you remember life before the segway?


In The Know: Do You Remember Life Before The Segway?

Second Post of the Year

Since this is the second post of the year, I figure it should be important - so here you go:

Say this out loud as fast as you can:

"I AM SOFA KING WE TODD DID"

It's just a little something I learned at Jewish camp a few years ago...

Happy New Year!

LAST new year, I didn't stay up. I fell asleep at about 9pm. Not because I wasn't excited for a new year(was 2008 something to be excited about?), but because I had just driven up the coast of California all day by way of an Indian Casino.

Anyway, this year I stayed up. After all, what's a party without alcohol, Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Stratego, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, and pong?

After the ball dropped (the one in Time Square), everyone stood up and hugged each other, wishing - freaking hoping for a better year than last. 2009 will be better. It will be different. But remember that we make our own fates, and nobody but ourselves can change our lives and better ourselves.

So happy new year, and happy birthday America.