Category Archives: ESL Links

Opera Software is to include IBM’s embedded speech recognition technology ViaVoice in the next version of its Web browser. Web users will be able to navigate, request information and complete Web forms by speaking, which should offer added convenience as … Continue reading →

Graphic by APAK Yet another article explaining and extoling RSS, this one by BoingBoing’s Cory Doctrow in the current issue of Wired magazine. Unfortunately, RSS is a perfect example of something which, like certain Asian massage techniques, is almost impossible … Continue reading →

World financial markets and intelligence agencies around the world are jittery this week, although no one wants to come right out and say why, other than the usual mealy mouthed mumbling about "security concerns". However, the Dowbrigade’s highly placed sources … Continue reading →

WASHINGTON (AP) – Medicare will have to begin dipping into its trust fund this year to keep up with expenditures and will go broke by 2019 without changes in a program that is swelling because of rising health costs, trustees … Continue reading →

They called it "the blob that ate the Black Sea." And now the world’s most dangerous American biological export — a jellyfish about the size of a man’s hand — has moved east and is devouring the Caspian Sea. This … Continue reading →

The Dowbrigade, like the Redhead, has long been a fan of the daily crossword in the Boston Globe.  Frankly, the main reason for this is that the crosswords in the New York Times are just too damn hard. You practically … Continue reading →

It’s been too long since the Dowbrigade has visited Holland, one of the most beautiful and enlightened countries on the planet. This picture appeared today on Adam Curry’s Weblog, and it all came back to me like a dream of … Continue reading →

This may explain why the Dowbrigade sold his 19-year-old son down the river for a song after Game 7 of the ALCS last October. PITTSBURGH – Seemingly incidental emotions can influence the prices at which individuals buy and sell goods, … Continue reading →

The accompanying photos were forwarded by an ESL teacher in Japan. He reports that the latest fashion craze among young Japanese women are these print skirts, which appear to be see-through but actually are designs printed on the fabric. While … Continue reading →

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, makes a joke about a rumor that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry had a plastic surgery, holding photos of Kerry, left, and pop star Michael Jackson during the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in … Continue reading →

Damn head cold.  We discovered it upon being awoken from our afternoon nap on Friday, just in time to make dinner with the Cyber-Mom and Executive Brother, as well as three nieces and a step-Dad at the Japanese steak house … Continue reading →

illustration by Aaron Meshon In spite of the impression the Dowbrigade may have given in his slashing condemnation of the practice, home schooling is making inroads not only in the heartland, but even in liberal Massachusetts, and not only at … Continue reading →