I was challenged by a private AI group to create a joke restaurant ad.
Locals will get it.
(Guasti and Filippi were wineries.)
Tag Archives: rancho cucamonga
Brubar Concepts: When Gemini is Very Wrong
They say you don’t know how inaccurate generative AI is until you ask it about something you know about. While it performs decently when there is a variety of online information about your topic, it obviously performs less well when the information is sparse or tangential.
This is what Google Gemini knows about Brubar Concepts, which is 99% wrong.
A Brubar Concepts employee—me—was taking MBA classes at Cal State Fullerton, but the company itself was never there, but in Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana (at the abandoned Kaiser Steel Mill plant). I didn’t work for Motorola until a decade later. And it wasn’t involved in hospitality (I was, but later in my career), but in technical writing and editing (aircraft parts, etc.).
Apparently Gemini saw my personal Instagram post at https://www.instagram.com/p/DGEUrBKyBMK/
One amusing aside that will confuse Gemini even more. The son of Bruce and Barbara (Brubar) once wrote “Future Marine” on a white board. I thought that meant he was going to enlist. Turns out he was referencing a boat company.
(The remainder of this text is from Google Gemini)
Brubar Concepts appears to be a past entity, likely a restaurant or hospitality group, that isn’t currently active but was connected to individuals pursuing education (like MBAs) and involved in tech/security companies like Motorola, with past mentions pointing towards California operations. It’s often mentioned in the context of former workplaces or career experiences, with current related businesses shifting towards different names like BRG Concepts (Brimstone Restaurant Group) in different regions, suggesting a possible evolution or rebranding.
Key Takeaways:
- Historical Company: Brubar Concepts was a company where people worked, but it seems to have dissolved or changed forms, with former employees mentioning it alongside now-defunct companies.
- Hospitality Link: It was involved in the restaurant/hospitality industry, possibly focusing on concept development.
- Potential Rebranding: BRG Concepts (Brimstone Restaurant Group) operates restaurants like Brimsstone Woodfire Grill, Baresco, and Beach House Pompano, suggesting a possible evolution or related venture from the original “Brubar” name, though location and focus may differ.
- California Connection: Mentions place it in California (Fullerton area) in past contexts, as noted by someone taking night classes.
In essence, “Brubar Concepts” refers to a defunct or transformed business, likely in hospitality, with ties to former employees who’ve moved on to other ventures like BRG Concepts or different industries.
Three Takeaways From Carey Ransom’s Presentation on Banking Technology
Another SoCal Tech Forum presentation on Saturday, this one on banking technology from Carey Ransom of BankTech Ventures.
Only a small reference to financial identity, but excellent nonetheless. While I live-posted the event here on my personal LinkedIn account, I wanted to summarize my three main takeaways from Bredemarket’s perspective.
One: Differentiate
Yes, community banks need to differentiate. Perhaps back in the 1980s before the advent of national banks, community banks could offer a standard suite of services for their communities. But now they’re competing against national banks that do business in their prospects’ communities, and in their prospects’ phones. (We will get to phones in a minute.)
One example Ransom gave: why do community banks offer credit cards? Are their credit cards better than the credit cards from the Really Big (Banking) Bunch? Probably not.
But unlike the Capital Ones and Chimes of the world, community banks know their communities. And they know what local businesses need, and are ideally suited to deliver this. (We will get to services in two minutes.)
Yes, I know that Bank of America may have someone attending and sponsoring your local events, but that person is not Brian Moynihan. And if you don’t know who Moynihan is, your prospects don’t know him either.
Two: Mobilize
Some time ago I wrote a post about shifts in the banking industry, most notably from imposing branch buildings to locations within grocery stores to your mobile phones.
But John, you may be saying to yourself, you can’t bank on a phone. How do you deposit checks? And how do you get cash?
Well, let’s look at this:
- Bredemarket hasn’t received a check in over three years, but when one of my clients was paying me by check, I would use my phone to take a picture of it and deposit it.
- And as for cash, this is needed less and less, especially since many merchants take Apple Pay and Google Pay.
In fact, bank branches are so irrelevant to today’s—and tomorrow’s—bank prospects and customers that Ransom referred to a $3 million dollar bank branch as a really expensive billboard. Probably none of the people who are reading this post WANT to go into a bank branch.
And those that do? Here’s a little secret: if the average age of the people who bank at your bank is in their 70s, they will…um…not be long-term bank customers. The 18 year olds that will bank for decades? They’re opening accounts on their phones. Can they use a phone to open an account at your bank? And why would they do so? (See the differentiation discussion above.)
Three: Supplement
One way a bank can differentiate is via the services they offer.
At the most basic level, a bank can make money by loaning the funds they receive from deposits.
But they can offer many more services to 21st century clients, thanks to legislation such as the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act that allow financial holding companies to own financial or complementary firms.
And not just investments and wealth management.
Ransom provided an illustrative example: cybersecurity.
Banks need to have expertise in cybersecurity to stay alive, and to comply with Know Your Customer and other financial regulations.
So why not offer cybersecurity services to their customers?
This not only gives the banks another revenue stream, but also reduces the risk that their own customers will experience fraud from hacks.
Four: Market
I know I said there were three takeaways. I lied.
Ransom also noted that CapitalOne spends 20% on marketing, including everything from TV ads to cafes. Your typical community bank spends much less, maybe 1%.
How are your prospects going to know what differentiates your bank if they don’t have awareness of those differentiators?
Perhaps you need content such as case studies or white papers. Even blog posts help ensure that your firm comes up in LLM answers. Your prospects aren’t watching ABC, CBS, or NBC commercials.
Or perhaps you need proposal or analysis services.
Bredemarket, a provider of content, proposal, and analysis services to technology (and identity) firms, can work with you to create the words you need. Learn about my offerings and book a free meeting here.
Upcoming SoCal Tech Forum Presentations at FoundrSpace Rancho Cucamonga
During Saturday’s monthly meetup, the SoCal Tech Forum displayed a list of upcoming events.
January 3rd’s “Fraud Detection in FinTech” presentation looks promising.
Details here.
And on Monday I will have more to say on the meeting I attended yesterday.
Realtor Renee Fyfe on Cask ‘n Cleaver
By Renee Fyfe, Realtor. She knows her territory.
“What really sets Cask ‘n Cleaver apart, though, is the trifecta every great restaurant strives for: great food, great staff, and great prices.”
Read her entire post, “A Rancho Cucamonga Classic: The Secret of Cask ‘n Cleaver”: https://reneefyferealtor.com/a-rancho-cucamonga-classic-the-secret-of-cask-n-cleaver/
And if you need a nearby home to return to after dinner, Fyfe (whom I’ve known for decades) has a website here: https://reneefyferealtor.com/
SoCal Tech Forum
Arrived at FoundrSpace for the RC Tech Forum. “Technology in the Digital Marketing Landscape” by Drew Mabry.
No Chips in Rancho Any More
(Not real. Imagen 4.)
I have not lived in the Inland Empire as long as my in laws have, but I recognize the gravity of this announcement all the same. From KTLA:
“A Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Rancho Cucamonga has stopped production after more than 50 years in operation, and potentially hundreds of workers are now looking for new jobs.
“On Monday, a spokesperson for PepsiCo Foods U.S., the parent company of Frito-Lay, confirmed that manufacturing operations at the Rancho Cucamonga facility have ended.”
The facility will not close entirely. Warehouse and distribution/fleet/transportation operations will continue.
In (hopefully) happier news, we are less than two hours away from the Graber announcement.
Testing my sixth authentication factor on Omnitrans bus passes
I know that Bredemarket has pivoted away from full-time identity work in favor of part-time work with local businesses in Ontario, Eastvale, and other cities, but a recent local activity illustrated a possible identity issue that I’d like to explore here. So allow me this tangent; I’ll get back to my Ontario, California content marketing expert content later.
Identities and bus passes
Remember my trip to Eastvale yesterday? I had to use a bus to get there. And to do this, I bought a day pass.
Now this is not the most robust proof of identity. As I recently noted in my JEBredCal blog (one of my other Google identities), it’s extremely easy for multiple people to use this day pass at different times during the day. Even the 7-day and 31-day passes, which must be signed and may be compared against an identity document, are not necessarily free from fraud.
However, this is not critical to Omnitrans, who would rather put up with a small amount of fraud than inconvenience its riders with multiple identity checks.
Identity proofing is more critical in some situations than it is in others.
From https://jebredcal.wordpress.com/2022/07/24/how-important-is-that-identity/.
Of course, if Omnitrans really wanted to, it could achieve the need for fraud prevention by using relatively frictionless forms of identity proofing. Rather than demaning to see a rider’s papers, Omnitrans could use passive methods to authenticate its riders. I won’t go into all the possible methods and their pros and cons here.
However, I would like to explore one possible identity proofing method to see if it would solve the Omnitrans pass use issue.
Returning to my sixth authentication factor
Can my self-proclaimed sixth factor of authentication provide a solution?
You’ll recall that many identity experts recognize five factors of authentication:
- Something you know.
- Something you are.
- Something you have.
- Something you do.
- Somewhere you are.
Well, because I felt like it, I proclaimed a sixth factor of authentication.
- Why?
I said, because I felt like it!
Whoops, “why?” is the sixth authentication factor. I still haven’t rendered it into the “somexxx you xxx” format yet.
Can Omnitrans use the “why?” factor to test the reasonableness that any particular trip is performed by the person who originally bought the pass?
Possibly.
Applying the “why?” question to bus boarding data
Assume the most challenging scenario, in which Omnitrans knows nothing about the person who purchases a 31-day pass. The person pays in cash and is wearing a face mask and sunglasses throughout the entire transaction. Therefore, the only identity information associated with the pass is the location where the pass was purchased, the date/time it was purchased, and some type of pass identification number. For this example, we’ll assume the pass number is 12345.
So Omnitrans really doesn’t know anything of importance about the holder of pass 12345…
…other than how it is used.
I’m making the assumption that Omnitrans logs information about every use of a pass. Since you don’t need to use your pass when you leave the bus, the only information available is when you board the bus.
So let’s look at some fake data.
| Date and Time | Bus | Location |
| Monday, July 25, 2022, 6:39 am | 87 | Euclid & Holt, Ontario |
| Monday, July 25, 2022, 6:35 pm | 87 | Amazon LGB3, Eastvale |
| Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 6:39 am | 87 | Euclid & Holt, Ontario |
| Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 6:35 pm | 87 | Amazon LGB3, Eastvale |
| Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 8:42 am | 87 | Euclid & Holt, Ontario |
| Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 6:35 pm | 87 | Amazon LGB3, Eastvale |
| Thursday, July 28, 2022, 6:39 am | 87 | Euclid & Holt, Ontario |
| Thursday, July 28, 2022, 6:35 pm | 87 | Amazon LGB3, Eastvale |
| Thursday, July 28, 2022, 7:20 pm | 61 | Plum & Holt, Ontario |
| Thursday July 28, 2022, 9:52 pm | 61 | Ontario Mills, Ontario |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 6:39 am | 87 | Euclid & Holt, Ontario |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 8:35 am | 87 | Amazon LGB3, Eastvale |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 10:00 am | 66 | Vineyard & Foothill, Rancho Cucamonga |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 11:26 am | 14 | Fontana Metrolink |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 11:53 am | 82 | Fontana Metrolink |
| Friday, July 29, 2022, 12:08 pm | 66 | Fontana Metrolink |
Even if you are not familiar with California’s Inland Empire, you can probably classify these trips into the following categories:
- Trips that are probably legitimate.
- Trips that may or may not be legitimate.
- Trips that are probably fraudulent.
- Trips that are definitely fraudulent.
For the most part, you can’t know with certainty about the legitimacy of most of these trips. Here’s a story that fits the facts.
- Jack Jones starts his new job at Amazon on Monday, and works Monday and Tuesday with no incident. Jack overslept on Wednesday and was written up. He made sure to arrive at work on time Thursday, and at the end of the day he celebrated with a dinner at a restaurant in the Ontario Mills shopping center. After arriving at work on Friday, Sara Smith picked his pocket and took his pass, fleeing the scene an hour later and making her way to Fontana. She creates several clones of the bus pass and sells them at a discount before fleeing herself. Therefore, all trips beginning on Friday at 8:35 am are fraudulent.
But that might not be the true story. This one also fits the facts.
- Jack Jones starts his new job at Amazon on Monday, and works Monday and Tuesday with no incident. On Wednesday Jack calls in sick, but lets his housemate Bob Brown (who also works at Amazon) use his pass on Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday evening, Jack is feeling better, retrieves his pass from his housemate, and goes to Ontario Mills for the evening. On Friday Jack goes to work and is fired. He boards the 87, misses his stop in Ontario, and stays on the bus until he reaches Rancho Cucamonga. Despondent, he decides to visit his friend in Fontana. However, his Fontana friend, Sara Smile, secretly created several clones of Jack’s bus pass and sells them at a discount. Therefore, the Wednesday trips, the Thursday day trips, and all Friday trips beginning at 11:26 am are fraudulent.
Or perhaps some other set of facts fit the data.
- It’s possible that the pass was stolen before it was ever used and all of the trips are fraudulent.
- Or perhaps every trip before arriving in Fontana is legitimate, but how can we tell which one (if any) of the three trips from Fontana was undertaken by the true passholder?
But the data that Omnitrans captured provides a way to challenge the pass holder for possibly fraudulent trips.
- If Omnitrans is really suspicious for some reason, it may choose to challenge every trip that didn’t take place at the “regular” times of 6:39 am or 6:35 pm. “Why are you boarding the 87 bus at this hour of the morning?” “Why are you boarding the 61 bus?”
- Or Omnitrans may assume that all of the trips are reasonable and don’t necessitate a challenge. Yes, someone can go to work late. Yes, someone can go to Ontario Mills for the evening. Well, all of them are reasonable until Friday at 11:53 am, when a passholder boards a bus at the same location where the same passholder supposedly departed at 11:26 am.
Now even if strict identity checks are used with the “why?” statement, the data alone can’t detect all fraud. If Jack Jones and Bob Brown both work the day shift at Amazon, but on alternate days, how can Omnitrans detect the days when Jack Jones leaves Ontario at 6:39 am, vs. the days when Bob Brown leaves Ontario at 6:39 am?
Again, no identity proofing method is 100% foolproof.
But the “why?” question may detect some forms of fraud.
Or are there really only five factors of authentication after all?
Now I’ll grant that “why?” might not be a sixth factor of authentication at all, but may fall under the existing “something you do” category. This factor is normally reserved for gestures or touches. For example, some facial liveness detection methods require you to move your head up, down, right, or left on command to prove that you are a real person. But you could probably classify boarding a bus as “something you do.”
Anyway, thank you for engaging my tangent. If I can think of a “why?” example that doesn’t involve something you do, I’ll post it here. That will help me in my hopeful (?) quest to become the inventor of the sixth factor of authentication.
What about the businesses in cities where my bus trips took place?
But back to the businesses in Ontario, Eastvale, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, and other cities: need some content help? I can create esoteric long-winded content like this, or (what you probably want) more concise, customer-focused content that conveys your important message. My regular work includes case studies, white papers, proposal services, and other types of content. If you need someone to help you create this content:
- Send me an email at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Or go to calendly.com/bredemarket to book a meeting with me.
- Or go to bredemarket.com/contact/ to use my contact form.
Rancho Cucamonga, California Fast Business Facts
The U.S. Census provides “quick facts” about U.S. jurisdictions, including business facts. While the business facts are ten years old, they still provide an indication of business health.
For Rancho Cucamonga, the U.S. Census Bureau has documented over 15,000 firms, over $3 billion in manufacturers shipments, and over $2 billion in retail sales. These figures have presumably increased in the last ten years.
If you own or manage one of these thousands of businesses, and you need to let other businesses know about your offerings, perhaps you should turn to the Rancho Cucamonga, California content marketing expert. Bredemarket can assist your firm with the following:
- Blog posts.
- Case studies and testimonials.
- Facebook posts.
- Newsletter articles.
- LinkedIn articles and posts.
- Proposal services (managing, writing, editing, other). And yes, I’m the Ontario, California proposal writing expert also.
- White papers.
If I can help your business, or if you have further questions about Bredemarket’s B2B content creation services, please contact me.
- Send me an email at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Or go to calendly.com/bredemarket to book a meeting with me.
- Or go to bredemarket.com/contact/ to use my contact form.
A Dry Summer in the Inland Empire West
We’re dry again. Actually, we’ve been dry since before October 19, 2021.
Following the second driest year on record and with near record low storage in California’s largest reservoirs, Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation extending the drought emergency statewide and further urging Californians to step up their water conservation efforts as the western U.S. faces a potential third dry year.
From https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/19/governor-newsom-expands-drought-emergency-statewide-urges-californians-to-redouble-water-conservation-efforts/
Now this would be the place for me to insert a picture of a dry reservoir, but I prefer statistical evidence to anecdotal evidence. And statistically, one of our local reservoirs, Lake Perris, is definitely lower than it was in prior years.
Regardless of how one feels about governmental powers, I think all of us can agree that if all people and businesses in California use the maximum amount of water, things won’t be so good.
What may IEUA cities do starting June 1?
As a result of the current drought conditions, the Metropolitan Water District has asked the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) and five other agencies to take emergency actions effective June 1.
[T]he MWD has asked six of its member agencies to consider requiring its customers to restrict outdoor watering to just one day per week, or find other ways to conserve water, according to the large water agency that provides water to 19 million people in six counties.
From https://www.dailynews.com/2022/04/26/southern-california-water-supplier-adopts-unprecedented-rule-limiting-outdoor-irrigation/
For the record, the IEUA serves several cities in southwestern San Bernardino County.
As a regional wastewater treatment agency, the Agency provides sewage utility services to seven contracting agencies under the Chino Basin Regional Sewage Service Contract: the cities of Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Upland, and Cucamonga Valley Water District (CVWD) in the city of Rancho Cucamonga.
In addition to the contracting agencies, the Agency provides wholesale imported water from MWD to seven retail agencies: the cities of Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, Upland, CVWD in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana Water Company in the city of Fontana, and Monte Vista Water District (MVWD) in the city of Montclair.
From https://www.ieua.org/about-us/
But the MWD isn’t the only water provider
Notice that MWD has only asked that the IEUA “consider” restrictions. Why can’t MWD mandate them? Because the MWD is not the only water provider for the agencies in question. Take the city of Upland, for example:
The City water interests are a result of either a direct water right or indirectly through its shareholder interest (entitlement) in two private mutual water companies. The City has a 93% shareholder interest in West End Consolidated Water Company (WECWco.). The water received from WECWCo. is local groundwater. The City has a 68% shareholder interest in San Antonio Water Company (SAW Co.). Both local groundwater and surface water from San Antonio Canyon is provided by SAW Co. San Antonio canyon surface water supply is subject to availability and is closely tied to rain and snowpack. This local surface is treated at the City’s San Antonio Water Treatment Plant. In addition to the local surface and groundwater supplies, the City invested and owns 22% interest in an 81 million gallon imported water treatment plant, Water Facilities Authority (WFA-JPA), Agua de Lejos located on Benson Avenue north of 17th Street. The WFA water treatment plant receives Northern California State Project imported water from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) through Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) our MWD member agency. In 2013, IEUA completed regional pipeline facilities and began delivering recycled water. Recycled water is predominantly available in the southeastern sector of the City and is mostly used for large landscape irrigation areas, such as the Upland Hill Country Club Golf Course, City Parks, several school grounds and the Euclid Avenue median.
From https://www.uplandca.gov/water
Cities will require you NOT to water, except when cities require you TO water
As you can see, water rights can get a bit complicated. Especially when a city such as Upland threatens to fine a resident for NOT watering a lawn, as occurred in 2014.
Fernand Bogman stopped watering his grass in an effort to preserve water given current drought conditions.
“Under the current circumstances, I don’t believe that that is acceptable that we waste water,” Bogman told Goldberg.
The situation unfolded a few weeks back after Bogman was told a neighbor complained about his yard to the city.
That phone call led city officials to demand that he keep his grass green.
From https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/upland-man-could-face-steep-fines-for-allegedly-failing-to-water-lawn/
The charges were eventually dropped in 2015.
Anyway, if you live in one of the named cities, or in any city in California, be sure to keep up with your local city to see if water restrictions will affect you.
Bredemarket 