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It seems you can't avoid renewable energy debates: "Argyll & Bute Council has rejected plans for a fixed link across the Cuan Sound between the island of Luing and the neighbouring island of Seil, which is already connected to the mainland by the famous Bridge Over the Atlantic.

A feasibility study commissioned to assess the viability of building a bridge combined with a tidal power generation scheme across the Cuan Sound last year concluded that the project would not be financially viable for the Council to proceed with. Instead, the Council has confirmed plans to build new slipways for the existing ferry service this summer using ÂŁ1.65 million already allocated for the work by the Scottish Executive which must be spent by the end of the current financial year.

Despite the Council's decision, the Luing Fixed Link Action Group (FLAG) is determined to continue lobbying for a fixed link for the island arguing that the money allocated for the new slipways should be invested in a bridge instead."

What thinks you Luingeans/Seilors?

A news story from this morning, which I add as grist to your (wind) mill...

'A hike in prices which could have hit wind, wave and tidal power development in Scotland is to be limited. UK Energy Minister Mike O'Brien will outline plans on Tuesday for a cap on charges in the islands when Scotland joins the National Grid next month.

From 1 April electricity supply will no longer be controlled by the major Scottish generating companies but there were fears from people opposing wind-farm development that the cost of getting the energy from ‘source to outlet’ would prove prohibitive.

O’Brien said: “We're ensuring, at this early stage, that remote location does not stand in the way of attracting the necessary investment”.

Here’s some Island Blogging housekeeping in response to comments from a couple of you.

Three quick things:



Photos:

We want definitely more photos from everyone. If you have problems or questions you can email us for more instructions. For photos there is a file size restriction of 100k. That means you have to reduce the size of the image. It should be easy enough.



You can do this in two ways.



Go to ‘Image’ from the drop-down, then Image Size. Reduce your image to – say – 500 pixels in width. Then choose ‘Save for Web’ from the dropdown. On the right hand side there is a button for ‘Quality’ and you can vary the size of your image before saving. Experiment with these two options and you should be able to save large images under 100 k.



Obviously there's a hundred ways to skin a cat (sorry Ming)anyone else got tips for saving photos?



Wordage

Currently each post is limited to 250 words – though his is about to be fixed so you can post as many as you like. In the meantime the ‘fix’ is just to post your entry in two posts.



Download Times

We’ve had some feedback that people are finding the new Gallery slow to load. Is anyone else having this problem?

This is from the Scottish Islands Network: "As part of the European Small Islands Network Inter-Island Exchange Project (ESIN IIEP), an information exchange visit to the island of Utö in South-West Finland is taking place from Wednesday 6 – Friday 8 April 2005 (apologies for the late notice of this visit, but the plans have only just been finalised).

This visit is based on the project theme of Marine Related Developments and participants will find out about the Sea Biosphere Reserve which incorporates an Archipelago National Park. New fishing industry projects and an overview of the activities of the Institute of Fishery and the Environment in Finland will also be presented. Locals living on the host island of Utö will also be providing an overview of the main issues facing their community – which is a former military base.

Funding is available through the ESIN IIEP Project to help subsidise community group representatives to participate in this island exchange visit to Finland. For more information about how to take part in this exchange visit, please contact me by email in the first instance (please note that priority will be given to representatives from community groups or organisations currently working in the field of marine related development)."

For more e-mail Lisa Stephen at: info@scottishislands.org.uk

I see

Only three admittedly, but why not put in for it? They are looking for people to cover the election. Any big-mouths out there?

“The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything,” wrote Oscar Wilde in The Soul of Man Under Socialism, “except what is worth knowing.”

...so writes Allan Brown in the Sunday Times. "Unconstrained by the need to be interesting in any way whatsoever, blogs are the background radiation of the intellectual realm, the white noise of the collective unconscious, scrolling out their narratives whether anybody wishes to read them or not."

Mr Brown however is fascinating read "Joe Bloggs" - brilliant - how did he come up with that!?

Richard at is looking for input on what to do with the site.

"Argyll & Bute have decided to fund the digital community for a another year, which is great news - especially if you need your NAIDC computer fixed.

But there are also choices to be made regarding the website, the forum and their future. That along with what you would like the digital community to do for you over the next year is what we need to talk about.

Please visit the forum topic on the subject which explains things in more detail and post a comment, no matter what it is. If you've forgotten your password and joined via the website I'll probably have saved, if not it will be in your email archive somewhere (search for messages from "ezboard").

If you can't be bothered with that, just email me, I really want to hear from everybody!"

You can get Richard at: richard@2000friends.co.uk

Or visit

Easter is round the corner and here is a call for all bloggers out there to contribute to a special Easter Gallery.

We're looking for the best images of Easter Eggs and Egg Races, signs of Spring or other festive or eastery images posted to your own blogs over the holiday weekend.

We'll put these all in a special gallery and the winners will get an appropriately chocolatey prize...sent out on Tuesday.

Extra points will be given to submissions showing artistic creativity, kids stuff, lambs (and general cuteness), as well as signs that the long winter may be near an end...

Just trying to update various bits of the site and noticed in our I wrote: "Blogging has become a huge phenomenon in the last couple of years. At the beginning of 1999 only 23 blogs were listed, now there are over a million and a half."

According to this report, slightly scarily titled "State of The Blogosphere, March 2005, Part 1: Growth of Blogs" there are now nearer 8 million with 40,000 more a day!!!

Depressing? Exciting? Not sure. Think I need to switch off the computer and lie down in a dark room for a few days.