Earthblog

In an age when technology seems so woven into every part of our being, it’s perhaps no surprise that Kelsey Noyes, a 22-year-old respiratory therapist, has a hard time sleeping at night.

“I hear everything all night; ambulances, traffic, the humming of the building I hate being a light sleeper,” Noyes says.

University of Calgary communication Professor Marcia Epstein is currently researching the effects that noise has on our basic human functions. She’s been listening to the soundscape in environments that are natural and made by people and notes the effect that sound is having.

Some Hawkwood residents get low or no signal

Four months into what was supposed to be a model pilot project for wireless communities in Canada, some residents in Calgary's northwest said they are wondering what the fuss was all about.

"Personally, I'm a little frustrated, a little disappointed," said Hawkwood Community Association president, Kevan Newman.

Newman said he started out hopeful when wireless provider GoNaeco launched a free wireless Internet service for the community of Hawkwood in December 2009.

It plagues our email daily, turning our inboxes into a mess of annoying lies from advertisers and con artists trying to sell you the latest idea on how you can get rich.

It is spam.

“We consider spam to be unsolicited messages that are sent to our users by people they don’t know,” said Web Systems Administrator of Mount Royal University, Jonathan Stade. He added, “The more politically correct term is unsolicited bulk email.”

User comments on news stories add both insight and vitriol to the online mix

A massive fire guts a 159-unit condo building in southwest Calgary. Remarkably, no one is hurt and all the pets inside were rescued, but more than 300 people are left homeless.

On the local Calgary Herald website, hundreds of comments are posted to the story. Concerned residents ask where to make clothing donations for those affected or express their sympathy. And then there’s this: