Sometimes You Only Need One

A tech journalist, writing on their personal social channels, noted that they recently bought a laptop bag luggage strap…and was immediately added to the company’s mailing list.

Because when you buy one laptop bag luggage strap, you obviously need seven more.

Google Gemini.

But it’s really bad when you buy a refrigerator and the seller thinks you want more of THOSE.

Don’t Lose Prospects in 2026

The end of the old year means the beginning of a new one.

Start the year off right by acting to fill your content gaps. Click below and schedule a free meeting with Bredemarket to address your content needs, and how Bredemarket can help ensure your visibility.

AI and Human Clarinet Detection Failure: At Least There Were No Sax Or Violins

From Dangerous Minds:

“A school in Florida was forced into shutdown after an AI-based weapon detection system mistakenly triggered an entire campus lockdown by mistaking a clarinet for a firearm.”

The software was ZeroEyes, and it allows for human review for protection against a false positive. But in this case (like the Maryland chip case) the humans failed to discern that the “gun” wasn’t a gun.

While this may be a failure of AI weapons detection software, it is also a failure of the human reviewers.

Cool Ranch Can Kill: AI-powered, Human-verified False Gun Detection

Have you ever seen that popular movie where the silent loner student suddenly stands up in the school cafeteria and threatens his classmates with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos?

I guess that movie hasn’t been made yet…but it could be.

“After football practice Monday night, Taki Allen chatted with friends outside Kenwood High School while munching on Cool Ranch Doritos. When he finished his snack he put the bag in his pocket. Minutes later, several police officers pulled up, pointed their guns at him and yelled for him to get on the ground, he said.”

So why did Taki (I’ll get to his name later) receive police attention?

“The false alarm was triggered by Baltimore County Public Schools’ AI-powered gun-detection system, Omnilert.”

Yes, it…um…appears that the AI-powered system thought the Doritos bag was a gun.

“In this case, Omnilert’s monitoring team reviewed an image of “what appeared to be a firearm” on the person at Kenwood Monday night, said Blake Mitchell, a spokesperson for Omnilert.

“”Because the image closely resembled a gun being held, it was verified and forwarded to the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) safety team within seconds for their assessment and decision-making,” he wrote in an email.”

Although not explicitly stated, it appears that the image was sent for human review…and the human thought it was a gun also.

So how can a Cool Ranch Doritos bag look like a gun? Let’s see the picture.

“Mitchell [noted] that their privacy policy prevents them from sharing the image.”

And if the image is deleted from the system, no one will be able to see it.

Well how convenient?

Personally, I do not fear that Cool Ranch Doritos will kill me. But when the guy is named Taki, who knows what Takis “full-on flavor” chips can do.

Google Gemini.

Soup Is Not Good Robotics

Did you hear about the secret recording about Campbell’s Soup?

“I don’t want to eat a…piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer, do you?”

Well, soup is good food, and Martin Bally is now unemployed.

“After a review, we believe the voice on the recording is in fact Martin Bally. The comments were vulgar, offensive and false, and we apologize for the hurt they have caused. This behavior does not reflect our values and the culture of our company, and we will not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances. As of November 25, Mr. Bally is no longer employed by the company.“

https://www.thecampbellscompany.com/newsroom/news/company-statement-on-the-garza-lawsuit-and-alleged-audio-recording/

Campbell’s lawyers also felt the need to officially state that its chicken is not 3D printed. Because some people will believe anything.

Grok.

The Birthday…of Carl Benz

Carl Benz was born on this date on 25 November 1844.

So what?

In 1883, Benz again found financial helpers and set up Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik. The new company did a splendid business and gave Benz the financial security he needed to expedite the development of a motor car conceived as a unit. For his newly developed Benz Patent Motor Car, in 1886 he was granted patent No. 37 435 – the birth certificate of the automobile.

The awkwardly-named company (well, maybe not so awkwardly named to Germans) occupied Benz’s time until 1903, when he restricted himself to the Supervisory Board. He subsequently started another firm, Carl Benz Söhne, in 1906 and retired from that firm in 1912.

By the time he passed away in 1929, Carl Benz lived to see the merger of Daimler Motorengesellschaft and Benz & Cie. (the 1899 rename of Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik) to form Daimler-Benz AG. The cars produced by the merged company were called “Mercedes-Benz.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

Four Colors, Compact

When I was growing up some time ago, application of multiple colors to a piece of paper was performed by hand.

  • If young children wanted to create a crayon picture with four colors, they would grab four crayons.
  • If someone was painting, they would get four colors of paint.
  • But if someone were practicing penmanship, they would only need a single pen.

Yes, a single pen that wrote in red, green, blue, and black.

The BIC 4-Color Pen.

“The BIC 4-Color Pen was ingeniously crafted to allow the user to switch between ink colors without the need to swap pens. This was made possible due to a singular mechanism, employing precision springs, that helped in selecting the color of choice. Constructed from durable technical plastics, the pen could endure countless color changes.”

And the clicking sound and feel was enjoyable.

(Picture source: https://us.bic.com/en_us/bic-4-color-original-retractable-ball-pen-assorted-12-pack.html )