Nearly a decade ago now my friend Amanda and I had the idea to start a rowing (or ‘crew’) club at our high school. Or rather, our fathers had the idea, to which we were willing accomplices. We pieced together a team of friends, and managed to compete in some local events with the city clubs. Amanda and I graduated, but our Dads kept on, and within a few years, the club had become bigger than the high school band, owned a number of it’s own boats, and spawned the creation of several other high school clubs and the Eastern Virginia Scholastic Rowing Association.

Not without battles, though. The two main battles are with the schools - as to whether it should count as a sport; and with the city - regarding locations for the kids to row. If you thought national politics involved a lot of behind-the-scenes action and plotting, you know nothing of local politics. It’s the old problem of ‘the lower the stakes the more vicious the battle.’ The main problem? With some of the most extensive waterways in Virginia, there are only a few places in the area of the high school that meet the minimum requirements needed for the boats. That is, the minimum technical requirements. None of them, it appears can overcome the hurdle of social and political requirements. The main dissenters are a group that call themselves the Shorehaven Civic League. The city park that borders their neighbourhood is an ideal location for a boathouse and launch facility. It’s right next to the high school, and the water is calm and long. What the real opposition is seems to change from year to year. ‘The kids will be too loud,’ was one of the first complaints, though they seemed to forget that the boats themselves make no noise other than a soft splash when the oars enter the water - the same can’t be said for the myraid jet skis and pleasure craft that the homeowners themselves use. Through the years they have gone through many others that mainly bespeak a lack of understanding about the sport, both in terms of the way it’s done and of the social/cultural/physical benefits it has on the students. The Virginian Pilot, the local newspaper, has an article in today’s Beacon discussing the issue and giving a rather balanced view to the whole thing (click here for a PDF, copyright Virginian Pilot).

This week is the big week at the James Martin Institute. On the second birthday of the Institute, we are hosting our first World Forum on Science and Civilization, a 4-day affair with over 50 speakers and well over 200 delegates. The topic for the forum is ‘Tomorrow’s People: The challenge of technologies for life extension and enhancement’, and will include discussion on how technologies may help us life longer, stronger, healthier lives. It will do so, however, by critically examining whether these advances are ones we want, and who ‘we’ are. It will advance questions on whether we are able to govern the pace of technological development.

Two keys aspects for those of you reading this (i.e. online) are that all of the Plenary sessions will be webcasted, and any and all discussion is encouraged via the online discussion board. We’re planning on having a monitor in the Entrance Hall of the business school that will be displaying the most current posts from the board as a way to integrate virtual and physical realities.

I should also mention that I will be helping to produce a Daily News Brief on the events of the Forum. It will be available by 11pm GMT every night on the Forum homepage. Take a look at Issue 0. Nifty, eh?

I am just about to leave Vienna as I write this. It’s been a fantastic fortnight, both for research and for relaxation (the DPhils R&R). I have put up all of the pictures under the Hilary 2006 section of 2D-Manifestations, so go have a look and comment if you like!

I’ll be writing a Journal recounting all my exploits on the plane, so look for that tomorrow.