On this most pandering of holidays, dedicated to the fear of Nat Turner, we celebrate diversity:
Juneteenth
Slipsticks
For those in technical fields some large number of decades ago, slide rules were THE means of calculation.
No calculators, no PCs, no smart phones, no AI.
Recall (maybe) that slide rules work on the basic principle that adding logarithms is the equivalent of multiplication:
log(A x B) = log A + log B
log (A/B) = log A – log B
log Ac = c log A
Calculators got rid of that principle; Boolean (binary) logic was more conducive to electronic implementation (aka “digital” stuff).
And it’s been that way since … since roughly 1970.
But here now in 2026, AI and quantum computing are the current rage. And Nvidia is the king of the heap in providing the chips that drive that effort. If you have any investments in a ETF or mutual fund, you likely own shares of Nvidia – among if not the largest company in the world with a capitalization of over $5Trillion (1000 times 1 billion) – larger than all but 3 or 4 countries. (Elon Musk himself is now worth about $1T)
This just came over my transom:
A new company is challenging Nvidia … by implementing the electronic slide-rule methodology of using logarithms; binary logic systems have gotten too unwieldy. This is big if they can pull it off.
Tensordyne claims its 72-chip system can run large LLMs four times as fast using 20% of the power of Nvidia’s GB300 system. The “secret” behind the outsized efficiency of the new device is how it does matrix multiplication, the main math of AI. It takes advantage of the fact that the logarithm of A times B equals the logarithm of A plus the logarithm of B.
“We’ve turned multipliers into adders,” explains Gilles Backhus, a Tensordyne founder and vice president of AI. Adders are smaller and more energy-efficient logic circuits than those that do multiplication, he says. So Napier can pack more compute into a smaller area and still save on power.
Can’t help it – this is the kind of stuff that captures my interest.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Off CO92 outside Crawford, Colorado – which incidentally, is where Joe Cocker spent his last years. No, I never met him.
Oregon to California and New York:
Here – hold my beer.
I see an article on ZeroHedge by Tyler Durden:
“New Oregon Initiative Would Criminalize Hunting, Fishing And Farming“
This has been in the local news recently seeing as the state line is right over there … and it’s heavy ranch and farming country (and desert as well to be fair). Going to be fun, fishing by boat from the Snake River.
One side you fix yourself a meal; the other, the county fixes it for you.
One segment:
“Leftist activists have adopted the age-old mantra that the “squeaky wheel gets the oil”; but imagine a wheel that never gets enough oil? Imagine a movement specifically designed to keep society constantly on egg shells, trying to figure out different ways to satisfy that squeaky wheel so it will finally shut up?
One eventually has to ask the obvious question: Why don’t we simply throw that insufferable wheel in the garbage?“
“If passed, the law would effectively criminalize the entire meat production base for the state under “animal cruelty” statutes.“
[Final sentence]
“This is why the majority of Americans distrust and despise vegans: It not because they’ve chosen a different lifestyle, it’s because they are obsessed with forcing that lifestyle on everyone else.“
Two things I noted:
1) Tyler Durden is a pseudonym: This “feels” like it was written by AI … or equally “flat”, a committee.
2) Not just vegans
Rocks
… with a few cows
Blogger
Seems to be on the warpath the past few days.
This message is getting to be common:
Sorry, the blog at variouswebsites.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.
It’s one reason this site is on WordPress.
Tunesday: King Crimson – Epitaph
A sample of some obscure – and maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s medley selection: King Crimson – “Epitaph” 1969
From the 1969 album “In The Court Of The Crimson King“, the cut was released as a single in 1976.
King Crimson was a 5-man band formed in London in 1968. “In The Court Of The Crimson King” was their first and most successful album. The original band broke up and personnel fluctuated during the recording of the band’s 2nd and 3rd LPs: “In The Wake Of Poseidon” and “Lizard“. One of those changes in personnel was with Greg Lake (bass, vocals), who because of the band’s uncertain future, teamed up with Keith Emerson of Nice and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster to form Emerson, Lake, and Palmer after recording Poseidon.
In Case You Were All Wondering
Larry Lambert over at Virtual Mirage posted a picture of me preparing posts for New American Digest.
Enjoy … 🙂
Little America
Proving it’s possible to be in the middle of nowhere even on a modern interstate, roughly halfway between Green River and Fort Bridger in Wyoming off I-80, sits a motel with gas. Or what used to be just a motel with gas. Perhaps the only motel with gas in the country with its own zip code (82929) and listed as a census-designated place (pop. 68).
Stephen Covey was herding sheep as a boy in the 1890s and got lost in a blizzard. Forced to make camp in 50mph winds and -40° temperatures, he recalled dearly wishing for shelter of some kind. In 1929, Covey saw photos of Admiral Byrd’s Little America camp in Antarctica. Recalling his time as a boy, he returned to the place he camped in 1934 and built a 12-cabin motel with two gas pumps. He added a cocktail lounge with small cafe for travellers along the Lincoln Highway which would eventually become US30, then I-80. It was named “Little America” because Covey felt the comparison with Byrd’s Antarctica station was valid: a place of shelter in the midst of a (at times) frozen, desolate wasteland.
It was Robert Holding that turned Covey’s Little America into the empire it is today. The stop was struggling financially, the facility was isolated and staff was hard to hire and keep. Covey offered Holding and his wife the opportunity to manage the place. They accepted and moved into a small apartment on the grounds. Winter weather caused frequent closures of I-80 (still does), stranding travellers literally on their doorstep. The Holdings chose to concentrate on quality and volume rather than taking advantage of those caught in the frequent road closures.
Building on the Antarctica inspiration, penguins were chosen as the facility mascot. Billboards were placed 100s of miles away, reminding travellers that an oasis in nowhere awaited them. Large ice cream cones were a staple in the advertisements; originally a dime until inflation caused a rise in price to 50¢ (I believe the price has now increased to 75¢ but still a value for the money).
Gasoline sales were so successful, the Holdings bought their own refinery in Casper and in 1976, they bought out Sinclair. In 1979, a massive blizzard stranded 500 people. The hotel rooms were full, every spare mattress and blanket was pulled from storage and lined the hallways. The kitchen stayed open, serving coffee and soup to all regardless of payment.
TheAt one time, the stop had the largest number of gas pumps in the world with 55 pumps.
Robert Holding died in 2013 holding a personal worth of over $3billion
The billboard penguins have been removed, the facility evolved into Grand America Hotels & Resorts consisting of a chain of 8 facilities. The original site now has over 140 hotel rooms but still only has 55 gas pumps.
The company is still owned by the holding family but like many successful ventures, quality and service got in the way of profits.
Pay Up
Stole this from MidwestChick‘s place:
At least they’re telling the truth instead of some nonsense like “Safety” or “For the Children”.
You have to pay a fee for permission to drive effectively – a license so to speak, billed upon usage. But you’re only allowed a certain number of fees paid before you get a time out until your fee count resets.
I assume this is Aurora, Colorado so I have to believe those that posted this sign didn’t realize the message.