…there’s some potentially big news in the history of J’s Notes coming this weekend. I’m not going to say much until it’s a sure thing but stay tuned.

So I’m trying to work out a Top Five J’s Notes posts but I’ve run into a bit of a problem. Well, a couple. One, pictures that I used in some of my better posts (like my post on an Anti-War protest in DC) are gone, maybe for good. Two, well, I can’t think of five great posts, honestly. Maybe it’s because I bore myself. Maybe it’s because I really don’t have five great posts. Or maybe I’ve got so many great posts that I just can’t narrow it down.

Yeah.

So, I turn to you all, my three readers, and I ask, what has been the best J’s Notes has offered?

I give a few things I’ve found so far that just sing to me (but these aren’t guaranteed to be on the final list):

Person + Bow Tie = Dork (1/21/03)
Blogging and Identity (6/18/02)
Speak Loudly and Watch For That Big Stick (9/27/02)
The Weekend (Or: How Jason Got Into A Fight At The Comic Shop) (12/31/01)

Because it’s cheap and good publicity, I think.

Which is now a respectable 25.

Pretty big, it seems.

Along the same lines, you can also find out how many atoms of Jesus you eat every day.

But it’s not much:

The Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors today approved a 5 percent increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate and graduate students for the 2005-2006 academic year. The total cost of education, including tuition, fees, student housing and dining plans, will increase 3.1 percent over the previous year.

Tuition and fees for full-time, undergraduate Virginia students was set at $5,385 for the upcoming academic year, an increase of $247. Out-of-state students will pay $17,440, which represents an increase of less than 1 percent. Room charges for typical university housing will increase by 3.1 percent, with no increase in board rates.

Total costs for a full-time, in-state, undergraduate student living on campus will be $12,427 for the upcoming academic year, while an out-of-state student will pay $24,482.

Personally, I don’t mind this. At $5,385 a year, VCU’s tuition is still pretty cheap comparatively. My disappointment is with the student body, mainly the Student Government and student paper, The Commonwealth Times. Not a peep from either of them. And considering the current SGA administration (and the last one, at that) rode into office saying they wanted to push for LOWER tuition rates, well, someone’s asleep at the wheel here. And the CT hasn’t even mention it, when this press release is dated April 14th, two weeks and four issues ago.

Thanks, pal:

Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan… is chief justice of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judicial Council.

…

“If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so,” says Luhaidan in Arabic on the tape.

He warns Iraq is risky because “evil satellites and drone aircraft” watch the borders. But he says going is religiously permissible.

“The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war,” says Luhaidan.

While I’m sure this doesn’t represent the full opinion of the Saudi royal family, well, it’s still troubling.

Coming May 9th: Huffington versus the world. Or something like that.

2008 Presidential Poll Where it’s Giuliani versus a slew of folks, including Virginia’s own George Allen.

“Happy slapping”?

In one video clip, labelled Bitch Slap, a youth approaches a woman at a bus stop and punches her in the face. In another, Knockout Punch, a group of boys wearing uniforms are shown leading another boy across an unidentified school playground before flooring him with a single blow to the head.

In a third, Bank Job, a teenager is seen assaulting a hole-in-the-wall customer while another youth grabs the money he has just withdrawn from the cash machine.

Welcome to the disturbing world of the “happy slappers” - a youth craze in which groups of teenagers armed with camera phones slap or mug unsuspecting children or passersby while capturing the attacks on 3g technology.

If it weren’t for exams, I’d probably try and make it out to BlogNashville.

Lee Walton vs. Shaq

Make a quarter a ring.

Bacon Wrapped Breadsticks

Bad, gay agenda. Bad! “I don’t look at it as censorship,” says State Representative Gerald Allen. “I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children.”

Bad, yarmulkes. Bad! “My rights are violated and stuff, and I think its stupid,” Michael told Action News.

You might be a Catholic if… You say, “Holy Mary” more than a Hindu says, “Holy cow!”. Ha ha!

Radio Freemason

The Darth Side: Memoirs Of A Monster

…you’ll just try and keep them off the ballot. From the 33rd District:

Some tactics employed by May and Powers have included appealing the certification of Oprison’s petition signatures on meritless charges and threatening civil lawsuits and criminal action against Oprison and his campaign manager if the campaign proceeds.

The May campaign’s actions have even gone as far as calling the Loudoun County registrar of voters in an effort to prevent Chris’s campaign manager, a college student, from registering to vote.

Now, this comes from a press release from the Oprison campaign, so there’s certainly a wee bit of spin involved, but I would like to know a bit more on this.

So I pulled an all-nighter last night to make some progress on this reading for my paper. And during the night I decided that perhaps I needed a change. So I shaved my head.

Before:

After:

Damn, I’m smooth. But I wasn’t for most of the night. You see, when I started out on this venture the shaver died about a third of the way through. So, while the thing recharged, I looked more like this:

During:

Needless to say I didn’t go out.

Now all I need is Angelina Jolie and the transformation is complete!

Wait… what was I talking about?

The Theocrats Are Losing

I’m simply not persuaded by the argument that there is a burgeoning “Theocracy” in the United States. You can tell the Social Conservatives are losing by the very battles they are fighting. Almost without exception, they are doing rear-guard duty. I mean, we’ve got partial nudity on prime-time television, and gay marriage on the radar.

That’s one hell of a long way from the 1940s-50s, where even married TV characters had separate beds, and the question was not whether homosexuals deserved marriage, but whether they deserved a lobotomy. We may feel strongly about arguments like the 10 Commandments statue, Intelligent Design in schools, and Janet Jackson’s nipple, but the fact that we’re arguing about these should indicate just how secular our government has become. 50 years ago, we were putting God into the Pledge of Allegiance, Intelligent Design would have been a big step forward for (creationism-dominated) science classes, and TV stations would have refused to show Janet Jackson from the forehead down.

Here here.

…IS MADE OF PEOPLE! PEEEEEPOOOLLLLLLEEEEEE!!!!

Craigslist + Google Maps = Sweet way to find housing

(via YourTotalSite)

I’m kinda with this guy:

You are the media. I am the media. Blogs are a fixture in the mainstream. So when you decry the “MSM” as an imaginary villain, I know I’m done with your site.

Since e-mail makes me dumb, maybe TV can help counteract.