Moose Jaw -
We've apparently come to a place in time where a glitch in cyberspace is almost cause for panic.
With Shaw's Internet service down Tuesday morning, this business was thrown into turmoil. No doubt, others who use Shaw's service found themselves scrambling as well.
We are fortunate in that most of the copy we use is either written by staff or comes from Canadian Press - a wire service we receive by satellite, not Internet. But that's not to say we were not blocked from other sources we deem vital - such as e-mail.
By Wednesday morning, our computers were hit and miss: some people could access the Internet while others had to go looking elsewhere to make their connections.
As much as an episode such as this might make us nostalgic for snail-mail, the reality is that not many places dealing with the media put stamp to envelope anymore. Nope, it's usually fax or e-mail.
So our reliance on an outside provider has shifted from Canada Post to Shaw Communications. Neither is infallible as past experience has taught us.
But imagine all the Internet chatter and e-mails that couldn't move for six whole hours Tuesday. One wonders if Facebook or Twitter noticed the absence of some Moose Javians that morning. Probably not.
