"Simba-sama made it to 2026, but just barely. It matters. His real name was just Simba, but he was wise, so it made sense to add 'sama,' an honorific signifying high rank and wisdom, to that name." https://ofb.biz/sa1384
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Open for Business
@ofb@mastodon.faithtree.social
mastodon 4.7.3Open for Business (ISSN 2153-5469) is the magazine of ideas, culture, technology and politics. Est. October 5, 2001. Twitter: @ofbmag
Tags for Fediverse tools: #Searchable #fedi22
36 Followers
10 Following
35 Posts
Joined February 02, 2023
Web Site:
. @kettingerjason@threads.net: "I can remember #MandyPatinkin in various movies of the week on broadcast TV when I was small. Let me say that I definitely grew up with his work, and if it could be said that I love him in a real way, I do." https://ofb.biz/sa1411
.@kettingerjason@threads.net: "A Farewell To Arms is about as positive as Hemingway is going to get. Frederic Henry is the American protagonist wounded while serving as an ambulance driver. A lieutenant in the Italian army, he lets us see World War I through his eyes." https://ofb.biz/sa1409
. @kettingerjason@threads.net writes "Pastor @trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social has already written about this in light of another assassination attempt on either President Trump [...] Many people are unhealthily and dangerously angry, and it seems like it’s getting worse." https://ofb.biz/sa1417
Our Editor-in-Chief writes on the gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. https://ofb.biz/sa1415 @ofb@mastodon.faithtree.social
"If you’ve been conscious at all the last 10 years or so, it’s been pretty tough in #politics. Many people think they cannot have a conversation across the political aisle, so to speak, without harming or ending friendships, and even family relationships." https://ofb.biz/sa1403
“Two esoteric programming events bubbled up this past week. If you’re not into #computerScience, they may appear irrelevant to you. They’re not. The arcane managed to bring to life our pressing questions about whether #AI can create or is a regurgitation machine.” https://reviews.ofb.biz/sa1401
#DonaldKnuth #Claude #Chardet #Python #Creativity #PromptEngineering #Philosophy
Dennis E. Powell writes about an ugly #scam: "Instead of describing how well my cool new Starlink-based phone-internet setup is coming together, I'm obligated to detail how I fell for a swindle so obvious that there's no escaping the fact that my mind must have got disengaged for a while." https://ofb.biz/sa1400
This week, @trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social writes, “A few hours away from me you can visit Silver Dollar City — a scenic, wooded theme park in the Ozark Mountains where craftspeople blow glass and mill flour 19th-century style. It’s charming and memorable. It’s also not the way I buy glassware or food normally.” How does that help us understand #AI today? https://ofb.biz/sa1397
The writer Ernest Hemingway lived alongside the avatar of the same, through some of the most consequential times in history. @kettingerjason@threads.net reflects on this #AshWednesday. https://ofb.biz/sa1395
"Hook, the absolutely star-studded film directed by Stephen Spielberg, has received mixed reviews from critics since its release in 1991. I still can’t figure out why." https://ofb.biz/sa1383
“Ahead of Christmas, I heard a lot of ads for a company that digitizes old photos and videos [to keep them secure],” @trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social writes. But security is an elusive thing with data and with life. https://ofb.biz/sa1381 #TwelveDaysOfChristmas #NewYear2026 #Christianity #Jesus
Dennis E. Powell writes, “Just over a year ago I got my #Unicomp #ModelM Mini, a newly manufactured version of what is in my estimation the best computer keyboard ever, the #IBM Model M #SSK. […] I wrote a bit about it at the time. It is the only keyboard I have used since then. It has been a delight.”https://ofb.biz/sa1382
Christmas Day has passed, but the Twelve Days of Christmas are just beginning and our @trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social has just the thing for you to help savor the time ahead. https://ofb.biz/sa1379
#TwelveDaysOfChristmas #Christmas #Epiphany #Christianity #Devotional #BibleStudy
Dennis E. Powell reflects re: #POTUS, etc.: “The last week has been like one of those bizarre times in which you notice that nothing makes any sense, so you must be having a dream. With that realization, you awaken. Except that for the last week, it has been no dream.” https://ofb.biz/sa1378
“One of my all time favorite brands is Metadot’s #DasKeyboard. They typically don’t include all the bells and whistles, but they are built _so well_. But what if a Das Keyboard had all the current extras?” #MechanicalKeyboard #QMK #Via https://reviews.ofb.biz/sa1377
Dennis E. Powell reflects that 35 years ago, #RIME and #BBS es felt like modern marvels. Today, technology delivers news of a Japanese "mega quake" threat at the speed of light. That can be both helpful and cause for more worrying. https://ofb.biz/sa1376
Dennis E. Powell reflects on the year that already feels long: ”Are you happy with 2026, now that the first month is almost half over? Me neither.” #Venezuela #Greenland #ICE #DonaldTrump #JDVance #MarcoRubio https://ofb.biz/sa1386
@kettingerjason@threads.net: "The gala which precedes the tournament is not a ball, but exhibition tennis, which featured legends Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter, and 2022 women’s champion Ashleigh Barty..." https://ofb.biz/sa1391
#Tennis #RogerFederer #AndreAgassi #PatrickRafter #AshleighBarty
Powell: "It was among the most welcome phone calls I've ever made. I was calling to tell Frontier or Verizon or whatever it is they currently call themselves that after 21 years ... I was done with what in my estimation is the worst phone company ever." https://ofb.biz/sa1402
.@trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social on #Budweiser's #SuperBowl triumph amid #AI backlash: "I get it: it’s beautifully filmed and feels good when so much is angry, ugly or both. It is also real to a surprising degree [...] filmed with cameras, not constructed with computers." https://ofb.biz/sa1393
#MikeTomlin, head coach of the venerable Pittsburgh #Steelers for the last 19 years, has resigned. He coached them to a Super Bowl championship after the 2008 season, and represented the #AFC in the #SuperBowl after the 2010 season. https://ofb.biz/sa1385
Dennis E. Powell: "Over the last few years, as frequent readers here know, I’ve taken interest in the lovely, even cute, Japanese culture." https://ofb.biz/sa1416
Haffner writes: “[Leland Vittert] was talking about the Iran war, but [he could have been talking] about our society generally, a society that has forgotten the necessary task of persuasion on matters that matter." https://ofb.biz/sa1419
Dennis E. Powell: "It needed to be done, but the adults hadn’t done it, so I thought I would.
"The result was a useful lesson. One that was painful both to me, who was guilty, and to many others, who weren’t. I never would have supposed that many years later it would become the kind of mistake the president of the United States would repeat on a much larger scale." https://ofb.biz/sa1414
The latest #TestyTim review: “#Satechi is a long-running name in stylish computer accessories, but one that comes to mind for, say, a Thunderbolt hub, not a #MechanicalKeyboard. The SM3 is a strong argument the time has come for them to be a part of the keyboard discussion.” https://reviews.ofb.biz/sa1375
Dennis E. Powell writes, "If the art form known as #anime received the attention and credit it deserves, you would already have heard of a series called 'The Holy Grail of Eris,' or in romaji Japanese, Erisu no Seihai." https://ofb.biz/sa1413
Dennis E. Powell writes, "The mood in the CBS Radio Networks newsroom was grim, depressing, and tense. [...] Many, including longtime employees who didn’t accept the buyouts (or ones who for some reason weren’t offered them), were laid off, never to return." https://ofb.biz/sa1406
Dennis E. Powell writes, “Has there ever been a less Christmas-y Advent? I sure can't remember one. Even during times of great sadness and crisis, we've always allowed -- I daresay welcomed -- the season to comfort and encourage us.” https://ofb.biz/sa1380
#Christmas #Advent #News #2025 #WorldNews #politics #ChristmasMemories #TwelveDaysOfChristmas
.@trbutler@mastodon.faithtree.social writes "My internet is reliable. Reliable at going down at 7 p.m. every Monday night for years. That’s unfortunate given that I preach a livestreamed sermon every week at that time." https://ofb.biz/sa1412
Dennis E. Powell writes, "After experimentation I've come to the conclusion that #Starlink is actually *underselling* how good its system is. As to its price . . . that seems oddly fluid, and not in a good way." https://ofb.biz/sa1398
Dennis E. Powell: "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it was obvious, wanted to be as far away from this stinker as he could get. He didn't, it seemed, want to be soiled with whatever the Secretary of Defense had been rolling in." https://ofb.biz/sa1410
Dennis E. Powell: "You might have heard of an article published by Reuters late last week in which after extensive research and what I guess they’d call shoe-leather detective work they identified the famous British stencil-graffiti artist known as ‘#Banksy.'" https://ofb.biz/sa1404
