John Bredesen
Yes, a bit clickbait-y on the title. It isn’t so much as exposed and illustrated. This isn’t a secret to anyone who looks into it.
A walk thru, in simple terms, of the fundamental components of AI. Running on old iron. You need a bit of tech background to enjoy this.
One of Joyce’s great-aunts past earlier this year. We had a Memorial for her in June. Lots of extended family was up at Itasca State Park. The visitation the night before the Memorial was very nice. Lots of stories, laughter, and tears. It was good for those grieving and for those a little further away.
A question that I have been pondering for several years relates to Memorials and Funerals.
Why don’t we write the funeral stuff before people die and read it to them when they are alive and can appreciate it? It is rare that people don’t say nice things, so why not say it to their face while they are alive?
I realize that if I think this is a good idea, I should do it myself and so far, I haven’t. But it is something to thing about. And do something about.
I was researching the number of car companies over time for an update to my IT books. I asked Gemini for some numbers and it gave me the below table. I presume that the numbers are off, but from the verification I did, they aren’t far off and are certainly correct from an order of magnitude point of view.
There was a time when everyone with any mechanical skill went into the car making business. Then the shakeout happened and the all went away.
The same is happening in AI. Anyone who can make a prompt and knows how to fiddle with software has a grand idea for a business. There are probably hundreds of companies that are create software tools to support AI work.
The majority of these companies will fail. They will go under or get bought by a few big companies.
Owning a car from a company that has gone out of business is not a bad thing. You can still put gas in it and drive it. But software (that is probably running on a subscription) is a different thing and when that company goes under, you likely won’t be able to run the software anymore.
Be careful.
| Year / Benchmark | Active Producing Companies | Primary Industrial Dynamics & Key Events |
| 1890 | 2 | Early experimental workshops; pre-commercial phase. |
| 1895 | 10 | Duryea Motor Wagon Company founded; commercial auto production begins. |
| 1900 | ~100 | Rapid entry of steam, electric, and gasoline car builders. |
| 1905 | ~250 | High growth in localized machine shops and carriage conversion firms. |
| 1909 | ~500+ | Historical peak of active corporate entrants; peak market fragmentation. |
| 1913 | ~300 | Ford introduces the moving assembly line; start of scale-driven shakeout. |
| 1918 | ~150 | World War I industrial conversion and capital consolidation. |
| 1921 | 88 | Post-WWI economic recession; 88 active car producing firms verified. |
| 1925 | 60 | Rapid market dominance by Ford, GM, and newly formed Chrysler. |
| 1927 | 44 | Industrial shakeout cuts active producing firms in half within six years. |
| 1932 | 25 | Great Depression eliminates luxury boutique and mid-tier firms. |
| 1939 | 18 | Pre-WWII consolidation; survival restricted to Big Three and top independents. |
| 1942–1945 | 0 (civilian) | Total wartime manufacturing conversion to military materiel. |
| 1948 | 15 | Postwar resurgence; Tucker Corporation produces the Tucker 48. |
| 1954 | 10 | Postwar price war triggers AMC and Studebaker-Packard mergers. |
| 1960 | 7 | Market dominated by GM, Ford, Chrysler, AMC, and Studebaker. |
| 1966 | 5 | Studebaker terminates auto production; Big Three and AMC remain. |
| 1975 | 6 | Emergence of specialized low-volume sports car and component builders. |
| 1985 | 12 | Growth of specialty hypercar/kit builders (Saleen, Callaway, Vector). |
| 1995 | 18 | Expansion of specialty sports car manufacturers and electric pioneers. |
| 2005 | 28 | Early electric vehicle startup phase; Tesla founded in 2003. |
| 2015 | 42 | Influx of venture capital for electric, autonomous, and commercial startups. |
| 2026 | 55+ | Active market split between legacy multinationals and specialized EV builders |
At the last couple of jobs I had, I had a concept of interim trash. This was mainly in Outlook as there wasn’t much actual trash. Instead of deleting messages I didn’t need, I created an Outlook folder called “Keep 6 Months” and moved everything there. Well, not everything, if it was a legit email that I know I would want, I would move it to an appropriate folder.
But most emails are the kind I probably won’t need, but maybe will. And the time frame for “maybe will” is short, less than 6 months.”
So I created that folder and put a rule on it to delete any emails older than 6 months. I did need to pull out an email from time to time, but mostly I didn’t and I could “delete” far more aggressively. Most project emails and reports could go there.
I do the same with boxes that new stuff comes in. If I need to return it for some reason, I will need the original box. I have a place downstairs where I put all the boxes and once or twice a year, I go through and dispose of them.
Setting up a temporary spot where (1) after a certain length of time it gets deleted, and (2) is out of the way means that you end us deleting or getting rid of far more than if you keep stuff “just in case.”
Had to run errands the other morning. There is a coffee shop near the post office that also sells old school candy and amazing chocolate delights. I was having a weak moment anyway and had driven by the new donut shop, but they aren’t open every day. I was going to get a cup of coffee (dark black, no milk or anything) and a pastry at this place because I couldn’t get my donut fix at the donut shop.
But they didn’t have any.
So I stood there, staring at the display of chocolate items. Now, I know a little bit about this place. The chocolates are made by the shop owner’s grandmother who stands a shade over 4ft tall if she was wearing heels. She is from the old country (which may be Oakdale, MN for all I know) and she believes that healthy and chocolate are two words that are completely incompatible no matter what the scolds tell us.
So I kept staring at the display.
I have seen chocolate covered Twinkies. Mostly at cheap chocolate places. I’m not surprised to hear there are flavored Twinkies. Everything has multiple flavors. The combination of banana Twinkies and excellent chocolate was too good to pass up.
Then, as I am standing there, I see the latte sign. Minnesota State Fair Mini-Donut Latte. Vanilla and Cinnamon. Oh my. I changed from a boring coffee order to this and it is glorious.
There was no good reason for any of this but, damn, it was tasty.
And the Minnesota State Fair (the best in the country) is coming up this week. Now I’m in the mood.
