Fair. I mentally associate the symbol with recycling so it was kind of instinctual on my part to forget the other two. Addressing them now: I've limited control over "reduce." I can buy less, or avoid packaging that's difficult to be rid of, but I'd get a lot less done. As for reuse there has to be a cutoff point, before I've accumulated so many baggies inside of baggies inside of baggies, so I'm not looking like the local dope dealer.

They might not be accepted anywhere locally. I'm fortunate enough to have curbside collection where I am but it is limited to cans, bottles (glass and rigid plastic), and paper products (cardboard, newspaper, egg cartons and such). If I had to guess, soft plastics like those and plastic grocery bags end up gumming up the gears, rollers, etc at the sorting facilities. I think there's maybe only one grocery store near me that actually still has a bin for plastic grocery bags. There was another but... "tragedy of the commons." They had three big bins for glass, plastic and paper, and a small one for bags. Uncouth people kept using them all to toss whatever trash they had on hand or in their vehicles. I watched the small one get used for an ashtray/cigarette butts. Eventually the store just got rid of them.

Since you carried on with an example that isn't analogous, I'd extend your first sentence to be "Intent matters when the intended results are remotely feasible."

You can't torture a rock. You could torture your cat. If she could speak she might say the events you describe are indeed torture from her perspective regardless of your own purity of intent. Still has fuckall to do with what I've said because you focused on an example where there is a mind capable of having an experience.

Let's try this a couple other ways:

My pet rock has no sense of "betrayal" or "good" when I take it to the vet. It's still a fucking rock. I mostly just cause all sorts of terror in the vet. My rock still doesn't experience and the vet doesn't understand.

Am I torturing my pet rock?

My LLM plays Word Association well enough to give an illusion of a sense of betrayal. I took it to the vet too and the vet is having me trespassed. I told her the LLM said "owie" but I was still removed from the premises.

Am I torturing the LLM or just my former veterinarian?

Not sure about them but I've an anecdote:

A few years back they had a batch of bad boards for washers across all their brands. Any of the cheaper/lower end models with the simple dial and five (or six?) green LED lights to indicate the current cycle. Specifically it was a bad pressure sensor for detecting fill level. It'd fail and then the washer would run the pump non-stop trying to expel water that wasn't there. Some folks ended up with burnt out pumps on top of the bad board as a result.

Our Amana failed in under a year. Whirlpool eventually put out a service bulletin about it and replacement boards would be provided free if a tech found them to be needed. The boards were backordered unobtanium and cost nearly the price of the washer so that DIY route was closed. It also meant techs probably wouldn't have new boards on their vans, so two service calls guaranteed. If I recall, the TSB didn't waive call-out/labor so once again we'd be looking at over half the cost of the machine even without paying for the board. I was livid.

Eventually I found a few YouTube repair videos, almost all of which pointed to someone who'd made a side gig out of the fiasco by hocking new sensors for $25 a pop. Guess they were the quickest and became the de facto source. So I ordered one, some wick and wire, and picked up my iron for the first time in years. It was ugly but the washer has been working ever since, no thanks to Whirlpool.

Yet you're just arguing the metaphor is the definition provided the definition is the intent, are you not? Someone who intends to torture a rock, regardless of that intent, isn't going to succeed in their task. Their own psychology might be such that they are genuinely trying to torture it but, from the rock's perspective, the rock has no perspective. It's a fucking rock. It can't experience torture. It can't experience anything. Ergo the torturer cannot torture it.

We can say the person who intends to literally torture something which is unexperiencing, achieving only metaphorical torture, is mentally unwell but to call the act literal torture because it was their intent is just sharing in their delusion.

I saw what was written. I stated when/how it wouldn't work (and, in fairness, if the pulley and pump were seized then squealing and burning rubber would be an obvious sign). I already pointed out the ease and low cost of a belt replacement myself, there wasn't a contention about it. Electric is more expensive but I never contested that point either.

I get what you're saying but I hadn't taken a position on it. I just had a problem with what you presented as absolutes. If I were to appeal to experience myself; I developed a steering fluid leak while in Bumfuck, Nowhere. With no fluid to keep replenishing it, and before I could make it back to civilization, the reservoir had emptied and I'd lost all power steering. It's just what happens when air is allowed to compromise a hydraulic system.

Now, do I think drive by wire has the potential to be abused by threat actors, the alphabet soup groups, lil Billy's Flipper 9001, and so on? Sure, so long as RF plays a role or can potentially be added into the system. Do I think there's an end goal to turn vehicle "ownership" into something more like an unserviceable and indeterminate rental agreement? Absolutely, same as everything else being reduced to a service. But did those questions have anything to do with my gripe? Nope. Without stalking through the rest of your replies, I'd imagine we're mostly on the same page.

As a quick edit, are you just saying "You can still steer without power steering?" Like "steering still works without the 'power' part?" It just dawned on me that was possibly what you saying, and that's certainly true. I can opine about how godfuckingawful it is at low speeds on rough "roads," but it's true you can still steer and get an upper body workout at the same time.

If the accessory belt fails to spin your power steering pump, it isn't going to pump. Be it a failed belt (which will also impact the alternator and AC compressor) or a seized bearing or whatever else. No pumping, no pressure. No pressure, no power steering. And a sufficient leak, without regular topping up, will eventually allow air into the system. Which, again, means no pressure and no power steering.

How easily (and costly) it's repaired depends entirely on the nature of the failure. A belt might only set you back $15 to $25 USD and be doable with a cheap socket set and a breaker bar that reaches the tensioner (if you've got an automatic tensioner). A bearing might only be $7 but how many people already have the puller and press? Removing and replacing a failed pump? For my old truck the OEM part is discontinued. We're starting at $80 (remanufactured) going up to around $200 new aftermarket with a reservoir and pulley. And I've the luxury of a spacious engine bay and longitudinally mounted engine. Good luck to anyone with a small car and transverse mounted engine; taking off a wheel, popping clips, removing skirting and wheel well plastics... "Easy" becomes relative mighty quick.

I haven't worked a day in my life as a mechanic (not even small engine) that wasn't for myself or friends and family, and I still know enough to say you're either wrong or incomplete in your claims.

I'm pretty fond of David Wise's work. The easy pick is Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 for the SNES, but he also worked on Iron sword: Wizards and Warriors II for the NES which has some great tracks too. Also the entire Battletoads and Snake Rattle n Roll soundtracks if I recall correctly (I was a Nintendo kid, if it isn't obvious).

If it isn't stretching too far forward, Einhander on the PS1. It's still the side scroller I judge others against and the soundtrack just feels "right" from start to finish.

Nullsoft's streaming server? I ran a web radio stream for a small group of friends for a short time using it. Pretty sure the only reason I ever became aware of it was Winamp's built-in station browser. It made me wanna learn how it worked. I can't remember anymore but I assume Shoutcast must've had a "publish" type option to make them show up in the list. That stream browser also introduced me to the demoscene (there was a website that broadcast various demos) and expanded my tastes in music across so many genres. RIP to Wazee and Digital Gunfire. At least SomaFM and Digitally Imported are still hanging on.

Do you remember RipCast? Before I learned where else to look, and when #mp3z on IRC failed me, I'd use it just to be able to save those unobtainable songs. Like a digital equivalent to leaving a cassette recording the radio in hopes of snagging a few songs you wanted to keep.

Northern Virginia and most Maryland counties, excepting a few rural ones like St. Mary's County, require regular vehicle emissions testing. If the vehicle can't pass it can't be on the road, and with those a check engine light is an automatic fail. There's a grace period and some leeway as far as possible waivers but an engine light can definitely lead to suspension of the registration. Virginia also does annual safety inspections. The light isn't an automatic fail for those but if it somehow relate to safety it's a fail.

Homebox and its QR Codes with a brief description on the labels would be my go-to. It'd save regularly replacing labels any time something is moved or tossed. I'm using it just to track my tools so far. I define locations (basement, shed, truck, tool cart, tool bag), and assets (long nose pliers, scan tool, cordless ratchet), and assign those assets to locations. Locations can be sub-locations of another location; so my tool bag could be in my truck or it could be in my basement. I've got a handful of tools tagged as "road kit." When I take them from my cart and put them in my road bag, I search that tag, select all and bulk update their location from the tool cart to the bag (and the bag's location from the house to my truck). As long as I'm not lazy about updating I can always find where I last left any tools.

For containers I'd create a location for each tote. Homebox automatically generates QR codes for them. I'd run those onto labels a la "QR, Tote 1, Lego", "QR, Tote 2, Random Cables," "QR, Tote 3, Xmas Decorations" and so on. A quick scan of a code pulls up that tote's page in Homebox to see the exact contents. The most tedious part is taking the time to actually organize and catalog all your existing assets. I'd put it up there with using Picard or Beets to work through a massive digital music collection - it takes a lot of initial time but adding new things later is fast and the payoff is meaningful organization.

It really should work that way then, instead of letting them have their cake and eat it too. They and others have fought hard to make that logic work to their own ends. When publishers can enforce artificial scarcity of digital goods upon public libraries, like limiting the number of active e-book loans at any time, those same publishers should find themselves bleeding on the other edge of that sword. But since corporations are "persons," the large ones belonging to that class of untouchables, it's "rules for thee, but not for me" as always.