There’s some strange things goin on right now on which I’d like to briefly opine. I must also add that while I’ll be continuing to write for Insider, my presence on this blog will likely diminish over the course of the next few months as I personally have to re-evaluate my time commitments and priorities. My engineering advisor thinks so, too. I’m very thankful to the growing number of readers that visit Insider on a daily basis, and I hope that you will continue reading, as the site will still be updated regularly by my fellow colleagues. So, that was awkward. On with the post: here’s some things that have caught my eye this week.

Cornell International Affairs Review’s blog, Diplomacist, is off to a good start. A lot of blogs come and go, but at this point, it appears the foreign policy-focused blog has plenty of material and room to grow, the two biggest catalysts for successful blogs. Diplomacist has shown off a wide range of authors and perspectives. As many Cornell students – Daily Stun writers, Review and Progressive writers, activists, minorities – often bloviate about their hopes for “increased dialogue” on national topics, it’ll be interesting to see how they utilize the forum that Diplomacist offers. Even. If. Some posts. Have. A lot. Of sentences.

In other blog news, Brokman’s back! And pissed off about a lot of stuff.  OneCornell, the short-lived blog Andrew Brokman ’11 began last fall largely as a megaphone for his anti-discrimination resolution, is now up-and-running again. He blames the hiatus on… the Student Assembly (mutiny!). Originally designed to be ‘Cornell’s first online newspaper,’ Brokman has since cast off the Rupert Murdoch aspirations for a more TMZ-ish approach to covering Cornell’s student governance – except picture Harvey Levin being mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore. Whether he’s still angry about Skorton O’Neal dominating the paint on Res.44′s court, his failed presidential run, or the fact that Day Hall doesn’t want to tell him if Susan Murphy gets a paid lunch, it’s apparent he’s seeking some justice from…someone. So, to get even, he’s written about a camera-less camera bag and a guy he doesn’t like in the SA – he’s even taken some pain to get to work on Windows Movie Maker (see image) to make sure you’re not confused about who’s not happy. Cause it’s Brokman. And don’t you forget it. Brokman is a very smart guy with a lot of ideas. OneCornell has the potential to save us all from contemplating harakiri during an SA meeting by providing transparency via an inside scoop. I hope the great idea doesn’t go to waste.

In even MORE blog news, via MetaEzra, this is kinda entertaining, especially for incoming Cornellians. Even more especially if you’re into the whole ‘Big Red arrows’ scene. I would have loved to have found this during my summer before coming, as it’s one of the few regularly updated and lively first-person narrative blogs.

Not news: Cody Gault still hates Christians, but at least at this point he’s weaning his own audience of thoughtful people off of his column. Perhaps one of those ex-readers could ask him which religion isn’t based in some form of creationism?

Townies are about to shoot a lot of deer. So that’s pretty cool. Can’t wait for venison night at RPCC.

Institutional racism was enacted against the Greek community today. How do I know it was racist? “There wasn’t much publicity about the intention to cut these courses,” said the President of Hellenic Students Association to the Daily Sun today. So obviously David Skorton hates Greek people. This community of small students (minority?) will now find it considerably more difficult to immerse themselves in Greek culture, literature, anthropology, and music, according to Jeffrey Rusten, director of Department of Classics. As a mature response, Rusten promptly penned a poisonous letter signed by Poseidon himself to the Sun and quit his position, then took it back! Ahaaa, nah, he didn’t. He basically just said funding cuts suck. Associate Dean of Fraternity Affairs Travis Apgar quickly showed support for the funding cut, saying “we’re not here to advocate for a dry campus or a dry Greek language, we’re just trying to be safe.” Fraternity members then rebutted, saying the study of Greek would just be pushed into unsafe areas like dorms and Collegetown.

Nelly for Slope Day? Ya, I guess he made a song recently.