Yes, these are better drawings of what I was trying to convey in the hex-grid post starting with this drawing:
Through to this drawing:
Florian’s description is easier to understand.
Ignoring the regular vs the irregular array difference - I see that there is nothing that constrains a (hyper) column to a fixed location. Considering the irregular column this is even more important. The span of a column is based on the winner of the local competition and could move around with no real center.
In the early sensory cortex the column location is attached to the sensory fibers which are relatively sparse in comparison to the cortical cells. As you move of the hierarchy this is no longer an anchor to hyper-column formation.
The inhibitory cells are a continuous fabric with no column preference. The inhibition is a roughly circular zone of action around a given basket cell.
I strongly agree that the column competition runs at the gamma rate.
I would very much like to hear @FFiebig comments on my hex-grid post.