What we are, she says, are life's most painful metaphors. A study in the telescoping nature of malcontent that no theory could've encompassed. We're a living breathing example of our own hypocrisy, moment by moment drifting further and further from those things we once held sacred, we're the dream deferred, the generation who changed too quickly to be named. Born and raised by microchip moms and database dads who divorced citing infidelity, we're mistrustful, which is to say we've misplaced trust; or maybe it misplaced us. Either way somebody's lost, and the search party's been called off. We're powerful beyond belief through knowledge no classroom dared teach, but when someone puts on the right song, darling, we all sing along. We sought only what no one in there right mind would offer us: freedom. Freedom to believe in the strength and beauty of dreams only minds like ours could conceive.

She was right, though I didn't say it at the time, instead I let my back find the chair as her words tore through my mind. With so much time spent spinning in each others arms, I was hardly prepared to suddenly stand alone, accused, and guilty of every charge. Blindsided, I took time to take stock, let the situation sink in while no one talked. In silence I found the answers she had thrown so carelessly into the air, and I bent forward to tell her so, but all I could do was stare. This time she just smiled and twirled her finger through her hair like she knew what she was doing but didn't really care.

These were our first steps in this wilderness, I say, and our hearts were leaping out of our chests. We could barely breathe around these childish misconceptions regarding the altruistic nature of mankind; of loved ones and strangers alike. I've been a cynic, a critic of time passing across my shoulders, but I carry the only proof that my particular line of thinking ever existed. I'm the soul torch bearer of the things that only I've dared to dream, the things that only I've found on this walk through the dark, and I think I'm on to something. We were set front line on a war of the worst kind, a war of the mind. It's no wonder we all sing along, we all sing the same songs. I think sometimes we all need the same melody just to feel strong; just to keep moving on.

Everyone is looking for the right way to do this. Everyone is searching for their reasons and the things that drive them towards those things. Everyone has their chains as well, their shoulder weights and mountains to climb. The trick is that none of it means a thing. You'll live and die, and of only those two things can you be singly sure. Things will fall apart, miraculously appear, fly away, touch down, tear you down, lift you up, and repeat; in no particular order. Avoidance is naive, it's just fear; treading water for fear you won't swim in the right direction. The realization, once considered hopeless, of our isolation has become an enlightenment; almost a driving force. We have found ourselves independently united on the understanding that things could, should, and will be better. Not just for the sake of the power and beauty of our own dreams, but more so for the dreams of those we may never see. We're the generation that had the foresight to believe that dreams are a protect able right.

In the evening, our bodies found answers our minds couldn't find. We met our demons face to face and found the ground around the same time. Life's most painful metaphors, indeed, shaking in each others arms wondering what we're here for. We were discovering the never ending nature of forever by passing minutes with kisses and skin, rediscovering that which we had once been. Wrapped up in white cotton sheets she gave me reason to believe in the strength and beauty of dreams; dreams only minds like ours could conceive.

Recently while doing my usual work I came across this very useful information on Web Marketing Now that I felt might help many of my viewers a little further in their adventure with the Internet.

Most people are not too sure if they should or shouldn’t start a website, but I can say from my own personal experience they can be quite useful. Everyone remembers when they were a few years younger, especially my generation when the Internet first became big, everyone started buying those ghetto desktop computers with a ball on your keyboard as the mouse thinking of new things they could do online. It wasn’t till many years later I remember beginning trying out the Internet when my parents finally broke down and bought a computer that had a detached mouse. That was exciting when your only 10 years old getting to use something that seems a little high tech at that time.

So I decided that this article could help many people out into deciding whether or not they should start a website, or a blog as I have. The following link will take you to the Top 5 Reasons to Start a Web Site by Wilson Davalos. The information that has been included is very useful and surely made me decide to begin my very own website in the near future.

YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view, and share video clips. YouTube has become an enormously popular form of web 2.0 new media. A recent article in Wired cites an average of 65,000 uploads and 100 million videos viewed per day on YouTube (Godwin-Jones, 2007).

YouTube is increasingly being used by educators as a pedagogic resource for everything from newsworthy events from around the world to “slice-of-life” videos used to teach students within an ESL (English as a Second Language) course. From instructional videos to an online space to share student authored content.

Below are some specific examples of approaches to incorporating YouTube into the teaching and learning

experience:

􀂃 YouTube can be used to create a learning community where everyone has a voice, anyone can contribute, and the value lies equally within the creation of the content and the networks of learners that form around content discovered and shared. (adapted from Educause Learning Initiative, 2006);

􀂃 allow your students to create a short video as part of an assessment item instead of the traditional essay. Becoming involved in the creation of a video, “heightens a student's visual literacy, an important skill in today's electronic culture” (Educause Learning Initiative, 2006);

􀂃 YouTube allows the learner to experiment in new media to convey information and knowledge. “Many educators believe that the act of creating content, in virtually any form, is a valuable learning exercise” (Educause Learning Initiative, 2006);

􀂃 record a video of a guest presenter relevant to your content and use the YouTube comments feature to generate some discussion;

􀂃 pose a question at the end of class that can be considered from distinct viewpoints and ask your students to search for 2-3 video references relating to the different perspectives. The use of video as a part of an anticipatory set to promote discussion can be useful tool to engage with an audience already enamoured with the YouTube phenomenon;

􀂃 the use of video also has several advantages over graphic and textual media. E.g.: portrayal of concepts involving motion, the alteration of space and time; the observation of dangerous processes in a safe environment; dramatization of historical and complex events; demonstration of sequential processes the viewer can pause and review (Misanchuk, Schwier & Boling, 1996);

􀂃 to support language learning, at the end of one of your classes, decide on a particular topic and ask your students to search for short videos on this topic to watch it and create a difficult vocabulary guide;

Ask students to capture a series of video vignettes related to their work placement. This will provide a rich authentic resource both for current students and future use. One example this are the video vignettes described within Diane Skiba’s (2007) article, “Nursing Education 2.0 via YouTube;

􀂃 within higher education Jenkins, (2007) describes the ‘YouNiversity’ and suggests an intellectual network where students interact not only with professors, but with industry and the community;

􀂃 YouTube can be used as a virtual library to support classroom lectures by providing students with access to video clips. (Conway, 2006)

(reference)

(Other articles)

It seems as though every generation of people has some form of great art to show for posterity. In our country’s days of infancy, we had great orators like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine writing moving, powerful works of political content.
John Trumbull painted captivating scenes of the legendary battles of the Revolutionary War. Of course, these artists’ works were influenced by the struggle they fought through, trying to gain independence.

We are the John Grisham generation.

In the early 1800s, a uniquely American style began to form in the wake of the war of 1812. James Fenimore Cooper wrote “The Last of the Mohicans.” Edgar Allan Poe wrote stories like “The Masque of the Red Death” and crafted brilliant poetry like “The Raven.” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “Walden.”

All of these works? Absolutely influential to us as Americans.

We are the Hannah Montana generation.

Remember Mark Twain? Perhaps the single most celebrated American author? “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is read in countless high school English classes all over this great nation. He’s not alive any more. He can’t create any more great literature.

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson aren’t alive now, either. “Leaves of Grass” is a thing of the past. It’s an amazing collection of poetry, but the caliber that Whitman wrote at hasn’t been matched for years.

When most people think about poems these days, they quote Shel Silverstein.

We are the “Survivor” generation.

Greats like Upton Sinclair wrote masterpieces, namely “The Jungle” and “Oil!,” the latter of which influenced modern-day writer/directory Paul Thomas Anderson to direct “There Will Be Blood.”

Edith Wharton wrote “The Age of Innocence.” Georgia O’Keefe merged the real with the abstract to create powerful messages in her revolutionary paintings.

We are the “Scary Movie” generation.

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby,” what is hailed as one of the greatest American works of literature ever. It is frequently cited as a perfect example of the Great American Novel by historians and authors alike.

In that same period, Ernest Hemingway took his experiences as an ambulance driver in World War I and formed them into “A Farewell to Arms” and “The Sun Also Rises.” In that very same period, William Faulkner used the past American conscience of the Deep South to write “The Sound and the Fury.” Orson Welles wrote and directed “Citizen Kane.”

We are the Perez Hilton generation.

Even as recently as the ’70s, artists like Jimi Hendrix and Paul Simon were creating revolutionary music that would influence the people of the future.

The Cold War and the feminist movement influenced artists like The Beach Boys to create albums like “Pet Sounds” and Stanley Kubrick to direct “Dr. Strangelove.”

I guess poring over the collective past of America’s culture is pointless unless it has a meaning, right?

All of the artists I’ve mentioned in this short rant have experienced a common conflict or change in their lives. Hemingway and Fitzgerald lived in the World War I era, Kubrick was influenced by the Cold War and Sinclair was part of western expansion.

What is it about us today?

Do we really live in a time period in this world that the best-selling books are the Harry Potter series?

Those books, quite frankly, are for 8-year-olds.

Is it a purely simple situation of garbage in, garbage out? Do we lack something that has forced us to struggle, to come together as a nation and change?

Sept. 11 was a tragic event that should have influenced us as Americans to take a step back and gain perspective on the world around us, but all it influenced was Toby Keith to yell about putting a boot in someone’s ass, and the money-grubbing dregs of society to crank out “I’m an American” bumper stickers to make a quick buck.

Seven years later, where are we? What have we learned? Can we uphold the legacy of our great nation, or will we fall flat on our collective faces?

As a not-so-proud member of the society that created “Pop-Up Video” and “Girls Gone Wild,” I’m afraid to find out.

By IAN HOOPES
Editor
ihoopes@ius.edu

DESCARGA

http://www.mediafire.com/?vtchikgkgzt

i have been moved by our lead pastor and His wife's passion to see this generation experience a for real revival and move of god on another level. you can hear it in their prayers, their conversation and their passion. today our pastor preached a message in chapel at our christian school about courage...i wept at how courageous first century believers were with their faith. Sunday he preached a message called maintain the flame and pressed people that we need to transfer what was deposited in us! if we don't pass on what was deposited in us, todays generation will grow up weak, powerless and void of a true pentecostal encounter. we need people that are simply willing to give their life to see God move in a powerful way!

Arthur Wallace said this...."The best thing you can do with your life is to find out what God is doing in your generation and give your life to it!"

More than just thoughts tonight....

 1. Baton Rouge       27. Juneau
 2. Indianapolis      28. Lincoln
 3. Columbus          29. Raleigh
 4. Montgomery        30. Madison
 5. Helena            31. Olympia
 6. Denver            32. Phoenix
 7. Boise             33. Lansing
 8. Austin            34. Honolulu
 9. Boston            35. Jackson
10. Albany            36. Springfield
11. Tallahassee       37. Columbia
 - Washington, D.C.   38. Annapolis
12. Santa Fe
13. Nashville         39. Cheyenne
                      40. Salt Lake City
14. Trenton           41. Atlanta
15. Jefferson         42. Bismarck
16. Richmond          43. Frankfort
17. Pierre            44. Salem
18. Harrisburg        45. Little Rock
19. Augusta           46. Des Moines
20. Providence        47. Sacramento
21. Dover             48. Oklahoma City
22. Concord           49. Charleston
23. Montpelier        50. Carson City
24. Hartford
25. Topeka
26. St. Paul

The Revolutionary Generation is upon us.  They are brilliant, innovative, radically different, and they need to be engaged in a positive manner.  They are easily caught up in the things of this world, however if we can engage them in the Word of God, and challenge them to live a life of holiness they will do things that we have never seen before. Awesome things could be accomplished for the Kingdom of God.

Wont you please just consider the difference you can make in a child's life, and apply yourself to it.  If you don't think you would make a difference, you’re wrong.  Teens just want to be accepted, loved, and listened to.  We all have ears to hear, and arms to hold.

Parents, you have a huge role to play in your kid’s life.  Be there for them, and partner with me as we direct them in the paths of righteousness.

Be in prayer always for our teens.  Make this a priority in your prayer life.

I'm going to be starting a new series called "Revolution" around the first of the year, and it would make a big difference if you would start praying now that we might make an impact in their lives in 2009.

They eschew violence, but are seething with anger. They are Indian Kashmir's new generation of radicalized separatists who are proving a huge challenge to New Delhi by spurring the biggest demonstrations against India in two decades.

"The older generation is tired." said Zaffar, a 23 year-old student in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, in a street under curfew where dozens of heavily armed police patrolled. "Our generation has understood what the problem is..."

Protests by hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris in the last month highlight how a younger generation who know little but war are taking the lead and radicalizing a separatist movement that had tentatively talked peace with New Delhi...

A row over land for Hindu pilgrims suddenly snowballed into protests by hundreds of thousands of people that reminded old-timers of the start of a revolt against Indian rule in 1989.

Police reacted, killing at least 35 protesters in the Muslim Kashmir Valley. At least a thousand people have been wounded. The government says police were fired upon. They say agitators hijacked protests and that ordinary Kashmiris were marginalized.

For many Kashmiris, the crackdown was a travesty.

Separatist leaders, including the main separatist alliance All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference which renounces militant violence, also feel burned after talks with New Delhi.

"Moderates were made into a bunch of jokers," Lone said. "The credibility of the institution of dialogue was eroded, perhaps irreversibly."

Truly interesting article - frankly, more depth than I expect from the usual workmanlike product cranked out for mass media by Reuters.

No doubt - and no wonder - the children of conflict have to take over.

I first began following Rosetta about a year ago. One scan through her blog's homepage, and you will say, "She. is. impressive." That's what I did. And so did Avi Kaplan, a Harvard student who emailed me to nominate Rosetta for the Blogger Neighborhood. If you have someone you want to nominate, contact me at socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.

Enjoy reading below and discover why Rosetta is definitely on her way.

******************

Blog Name: Perspectives From the Pipeline, observations on the nonprofit sector from the next generation

Blog Topics: nonprofits and leadership

About the Author: Rosetta Thurman is an emerging nonprofit leader of color sharing career advice, management resources and fresh ideas to inspire others to lead. Rosetta is a writer/consultant/fundraiser and has been quoted in articles about the nonprofit sector in the Washington Post, Nonprofit Quarterly, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Rosetta is also an Adjunct Professor teaching nonprofit management and leadership at Trinity University in DC.

If you could live on any street, what would that street be named and why?  Renaissance Boulevard.  I think we are in a time of great opportunity for young people to renew our responsibility to our communities.  It's a very rich time in our history where we have the chance to lend all of our talent & skills to a movement, any movement that will create change.

Who would be your dream real-life neighbor? Nikki Giovanni, my favorite poet.  I think I would be inspired every day just by living next door to a literary genius.

What first prompted you to blog?  I felt that my generation's voice was being ignored in the nonprofit sector, as if our opinions didn't matter in discussions about the future of this sector that we will inherit. At first, I started Perspectives From the Pipeline as a learning experience for me as a young nonprofit professional to formulate my thoughts about the nonprofit sector.

As a member of the "next generation" of nonprofit leaders, I saw many challenges for our sector as well as many new ideas for solving them. Unfortunately, when people my age speak up, few people listen.  I write about nonprofit leadership and organizational issues to help others think more critically about their careers & day to day work. My goal is to bridge the gap between challenges and solutions within the nonprofit sector, especially as they relate to the younger workforce and nonprofit leaders of color.

If you customized your own license plate, what would it say and why? OnMyWay.  Because my favorite quote from poet Carl Sandburg illustrates how I live my life. "I'm an idealist.  I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way." 

What would you gift to a new neighbor as the perfect welcoming gift?  A three-layer red velvet cake.

If you were planning the next block party, what entertainment would you plan?  A big concert with Jill Scott and Kanye West.  A Soul Train line.  All-you-can-eat crabs. And a Taboo marathon. 

What's your favorite blog post and why?

Of mine: because we don't talk enough about the values that brought us to nonprofit work, Real Talk: Why I Work in the Nonprofit Sector. And from Seth Godin, Because we all need inspiration to make the leap to greatness.

What's one lesson you've learned from blogging? I found that blogging gave me a way to speak to the issues I care about and influence others in the process.  On the internet, you can have such a huge reach, and impact on people who may not have given you a second thought otherwise.  I learned that people want to hear the truth, and they will support social media and online community if it's real and authentic.

Past Blogger Neighbors Include:

• Osocio @ Osocio, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Beth Kanter @ Beth’s Blog, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Beth Dunn @ Small Dots, nominated by Beth Kanter
• Len Edgerly @ LenEdgerly.com, nominated by Beth Dunn
• Stacey Monk @ Epic Change, nominated by the Twitter-verse
• Jason Dick @ A Small Change, nominated by Stacey Monk
• Roger Carr @ Everyday Giving, nominated by Jason Dick
• Andre Blackman @ Pulse & Signal, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Laura Stockman @ 25 Days to Make a Difference, nominated by Roger Carr
• Karama Neal @ So What Can I Do?, nominated by the Carnival of Change
• Julie Zauzmer @ 52 Ways to Change the World, nominated by Karama Neal
• Vanessa Mason @ Subject to Change, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Stephanie Gulley @ HeyStephanie.com, nominated by Vanessa Mason
• Aaron Ferster @ EPA’s Greenversations, nominated by SocialButterfly
• Julia Barry @ New Moon Media, nominated by the YPulse Conference
• Rosetta Thurman @ Perspectives from the Pipeline, nominated by Avi Kaplan 

*************************

This continuous weekly series highlights different blogs and their respective bloggers in the blogosphere neighborhood. Following the great Mr. Rogers, who tells us to ‘Get to know your neighbor,’ this series introduces us to our blogger neighbors, making for a more unified, collaborative voice for the social sector. Like to nominate someone or be featured yourself? Contact me @ socialbutterfly4change@gmail.com.

I concluded that post by saying:

With increasing environmental awareness, and the loss of land to the dams and reservoirs such schemes demand, it’s much more difficult to find a site that meets all the criteria of terrain that is both suitable for damming to create a reservoir that will hold sufficient water at the required elevation, and is acceptable in terms of the losses that will be incurred as a result of the consequent flooding.

This thought is confirmed by Scottish and Southern Energy, which has said it considers Glendoe to be the last large scale hydro power scheme that will ever be built in the UK as environmental constraints makes it harder to find suitable land for such developments to be created in the future.

Maybe a signal that the last scheme of this size (100 MW) has been built, but perhaps the future will see more serious consideration being given to smaller schemes that can provide local power without the impact associated with the grander constructions of the past.

Today, the Forum for Renewable Energy Development said an extra 650MW of hydro power could be produced by hundreds of small projects. That would be enough to power about 600,000 homes, and is about half the amount of installed hydro capacity which already exists in Scotland. With its ambitious scheme to see Scotland generate 50% of its electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, the Scottish Government was quick to jump on this, and say hydro was vital to meeting green energy targets

Installed hydro-electric capacity in Scotland is already 1,379 MW, said to be 6% of the country's total electricity requirement.

Report author Nick Forrest, a director of consultants Nick Forrest Associates, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that although Scotland had greater potential for wind power, hydro had the benefit of not having the visual impact of wind farms, and was more reliable as a source of energy.

That's almost a word-for-word quote of what I wrote yesterday - where's my cheque? :-)

Funny, when I say say that everyone shakes their head and says "tut-tut", and someone calls the men in white coats - as if I'm some sort of mad heretic refusing to worship at the altar of the holy god of wind power.

Following on almost exactly from my advice, he went on to say:

We are talking about enough to power perhaps 600,000 houses - more than enough to power Edinburgh, say, so it is a lot. This is not talking about flooding gigantic valleys like the Three Gorges project in China, it is not looking at more Glendoe projects, this is starting from the ground up, what we call small hydro.It tends to be up to 10MW, so you do not need to flood a valley. In some cases the model did look at storage schemes, but most of these are what we call run of river - you would be using a weir and relying on the fall of the water down a hillside, so the impact can be very, very minimal.

The Scottish Government has set a target of generating 50% of the country's electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020, with a target of 31% by 2011.

Welcoming the report, David Williams, chief executive of the British Hydropower Association, said: "Hydropower has long been the "quiet" renewable and this will stimulate development of new projects of all sizes in a country which has already embraced the benign and significant role of this technology."

I'm only kidding about the cheque, of course (but it would be a nice surprise) however, it does go towards proving the old saying that It's not what you know, but who you know.

Man spricht natürlich vom 4. nano mit Widescreen-Video und einer dem 2G ähnelnden Form. Außerdem soll der nächste iPod touch (mit GPS??) unter 200€ kosten (das kleinste Modell [aktuell 8 GB]).

There are things to love and hate about every time period. For example, I love the Regency era for their appreciation of literature and aesthetics and romance; I hate it for their views on social class. I love the 1940s and 50s for their wholesomeness -- Hollywood was full of class, family was emphasized; I hate it for the wars, the narrow-mindedness, and the structure. These are just a few minor examples of what I mean -- every era has something I could look back on and wonder what it would be like, just like every era has their dark side where I'm suddenly grateful for where I am and how far we've come.  Only, how far have we come?

I love this new millenium because I appreciate the advancements in technology and open-mindedness. I hate it because we've lost respect -- for ourselves and for each other. 

I sat down with my parents this weekend to watch "Across the Universe" -- the 2007 movie directed by Julie Taymor that is billed as a romance set to the music of The Beatles against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. I loved the music, I loved the storyline, and I found it ingenious how they worked the storyline around the music. My mom and dad grew up in New York, I thought, and my mom loved The Beatles -- maybe they'll love it, too.

Although I had seen the movie two different times in the past week, it wasn't until I watched it with my parents that I understood the full scope of it, how, although they, too, loved it, it would be so different for them. It wasn't until I sat down with them that I really saw the parallels in how much the past affects the present.

"You don't understand, Susan," Mom said to me, tears in her eyes. "This was our life. We lived this." And she shook her head and lamented, "when will we learn?"

I had loved the movie for the music, for the story. For a second, I wished that I had lived back then, where everything seemed so easy, where you could take that chance and go to New York City, where you could share an apartment with six other people, knowing that they were your second family.  Where music had soul and words had meaning and you felt like you really could change the world.

But then I watched my parents watch the movie, and I realized that it wasn't just a movie, another time, to them. This was a memory. A memory that could so easily translate to the present.

I read about history for the stories they tell, for what we can learn. I write about the good, forgetting, or perhaps purposefully ignoring, the bad. Maybe I need to learn to be content with what I have, instead of always looking for something more. Maybe if we all treated history as a memory, we could learn and change the world.

When I was growing up my family always planted a garden. Even when we lived in the middle of Fresno. When we moved to Visalia my maternal Grandmother passed away and Papa came to live with us. My Dad and Papa were very close. Papa was like a mentor toward my Dad. I remember we planted a really big garden that year.
Planting day was always a big deal. A family project to plant tomatoes, squash( zucchini, yellow crookneck, coyote ) carrots, honeydew and cantaloupe melons, leaf lettuce and chard, okra, cucumbers, onions (green, red and yellow), peppers, and of course beans and black-eyed peas.
The beans and peas were always my special item to plant. I would soak them over night in water to give them a head start. Sometimes my mom would plant a row too. My plants always grew better and had more beans on them tho. My Papa said it was because my Granny's green thumb had skipped a generation. My Mom said it was because I talked to my plants more then hers.
My Dad, Papa and I were the ones to water and weed the garden. The men would stand, arm propped on a hoe waiting for the water in the ditch to reach them. If needed, they'd be ready to dam a gopher hole or shore up the ditch walls. I would pluck a few green beans and pass them out to munch on. Or pull a carrot from the warm earth wash it with the water hose and Umm..Umm... nothing better! I remember Papa commenting that there was nothing like watching your garden grow.
I would always have to mark a tomato as mine so it wouldn't get picked too soon. Every body picked the tomatoes too early IMO. Dad said that if you waited too long the bugs or birds would get them. I say let the birds and bugs have a bite, they know when a tomato is at it's best! They don't eat that much anyway.
Papa was only with us for about a year before passing on. Mom said he missed Granny too much to stay on earth any longer. That was the first time I saw my Daddy cry.
Years later when I stopped at his house on summer evenings, Dad would be out in the garden. Sometimes sitting, sometimes leaning with one arm propped up on the hoe watering. If I asked 'Whats up?' He would answer 'Nothing, just watching the garden grow.

Thank you Kristi for sharing your great story!

Construction of the plant was started at the beginning of 2006 by then prime minister Tony Blair, when he triggered the first tunnel blasting, and the scheme is due to start delivering power to 250,000 homes by 2009. Water to the station will be carried by a tunnel over 8 kilometres long, and wide enough to drive a double-decker bus through.

Superstitious workers (if my bigoted reader is still watching, many of them were Polish) placed an icon of Saint Barbara - the patron saint of miners as well as artillery gunners and mathematicians - near or inside the tunnel as work began over two years ago.

Eager to make best use of the opportunity and get some sound-bites into the news, Mr Salmond said: "I am delighted to be involved in marking this major milestone in this ambitious project, which will utilise Scotland's natural resources for the creation of clean renewable energy. The Scottish Government has set an ambitious target to generate 50% of our electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020. Today hydro energy continues to be an important source of power, but if we are to achieve our ambition of making Scotland the green energy capital of Europe we must realise the potential of our huge untapped water resources."

Remarkable, perhaps being in the midst of a group of hardened hydro power engineers made him think twice about making some salutation to the holy god of wind power on this occasion. Power produced at Glendoe will be equivalent to a £100 million 50-turbine wind farm (and won't stop working whenever there is too much or too little wind).

Seriously though, having had a look at the history and development of hydro power in Scotland, it was interesting to learn that until the price of power started to rise, it was probably relatively true to say that all the prime locations for hydro power schemes in Scotland had been harvested in the period up to the late 1950s.

With increasing environmental awareness, and the loss of land to the dams and reservoirs such schemes demand, it's much more difficult to find a site that meets all the criteria of terrain that is both suitable for damming to create a reservoir that will hold sufficient water at the required elevation, and is acceptable in terms of the losses that will be incurred as a result of the consequent flooding.

This thought is confirmed by Scottish and Southern Energy, which has said it considers Glendoe to be the last large scale hydro power scheme that will ever be built in the UK as environmental constraints makes it harder to find suitable land for such developments to be created in the future.

Maybe a signal that the last scheme of this size (100 MW) has been built, but perhaps the future will see more serious consideration being given to smaller schemes that can provide local power without the impact associated with the grander constructions of the past.