Here's a fun example. ASL allows, maybe even requires, negation after the statement. An interpreter friend of mine was interpreting Wayne's World in a mixed crowd. The whole "<statement>... NOT!" joke gets laughs from the hearing audience and the Deaf audience doesn't understand why.
I think that could be interpreted. Statement + NO is the standard word order in ASL, but there would usually be a suprasegmental element. That is, the negation is also (or, sometimes, only) shown with a headshake which spreads over the entire length of the statement. Leaving out the suprasegmental, making it a flat statement, and then pausing before the NO might perhaps work. Maybe.
However, ASL also makes much, much heavier use of rhetorical questions than English does. You might even introduce yourself with "MY NAME WHAT? [NAME]" (i.e., "What is my name? [Name]"). So perhaps it would just look like you're doing that.
(Disclaimer: I don't know ASL. I know some Irish Sign Language, which is related, but dropped out before completing my interpreter training. I have a bit of a fascination with sign language linguistics, but I'm no expert.)
I find the USB-C headaches worse. With a bag of cables if the cable fits[1] it works to the full capability of the device. If I'm traveling and forgot something I can expect that the cheapest gas station cable or a borrowed cable will work.
With USB-C I have to spend good money for every every cable in order to ensure that any cable I grab from my bag works. And these cables are going to be so thick that they are annoying to use with a mouse or keyboard.
I can rearrange my office and use a cheap 5 meter usb-A to B cable to get to where the printer is now (true story). If I want a 5 meter usb-C to C cable for data I need to spend over $300.
[1] excluding all the possibilities of chargers with incompatible DC barrel plugs, which is generally true of the time frames we're talking about
If you use a lot of wired devices I guess I can see that being a headache.
I use wireless peripherals and make sure they're all usb-c, so when I travel I only need to remember one cable, maybe another as backup. These problems also improve as USB-C becomes more mass-manufactured. Case in point: now there's a 5 meter USB-IF certified usb-c power/ data cable at the top of the Amazon results for $19.
At work I've been added a 2nd technical contact and security contact for several projects because "you're less likely to be hit again". I think, but I'm not 100% sure, that is being done in a joking manner.
Sweetwater's customer experience is so good that it freaks me out. You have an assigned "sales engineer" who calls after the first order you make. So I've talked to them.
At one point I ordered a couple of different guitar hangers to try them out. I got a call asking if I meant to order 1 guitar hanger and 1 ukulele hanger. The sales engineer looked at the order, my history, and apparently had notes from one of our conversations and thought it might have been a mistake. It was and we corrected it before it shipped.
Sweetwater is the model for online sales. Like you say, you have an assigned "sales engineer" - and you can change who's assigned to you, BTW. My first sales engineer, a good guy, we just weren't into the same kind of guitar playing. He referred me to another sales engineer that could better help me for what I'm into. When I've had questions about anything they're quick to hop on the phone and talk it through, figure out what's the best gear for you. It's an unreal experience. Whenever I need to buy any music gear I go to Sweetwater first. They don't carry everything, but even then I've called an asked about an alternative and they'll tell you the pros/cons of what they carry and what you're actually looking for. They'll even tell you to buy it somewhere else if they believe it's better and they don't carry it! It's 2022 - I'm used to not being able to talk to a human much less get this kind of customer service. It's truly awesome!
It was a little weird/annoying to be contacted, my assumption was they're trying to upsell me on something.
But nope, they're just great support. Like you said it's always the same person so maybe I got lucky with Jimmy as my rep, but he's been super helpful. Had a similar situation to yours where I bough 1 synth 2 road-cases. He called me asking if it was a mistake and it was.
They also try to assign you to someone with similar interests. So I doubt Jimmy could help much if I wanted to get into classical woodwinds, but he knows his stuff about synths and setting then up in a studio.
That's a misrepresentation of that conversation example.
Paraphrased:
Alice: My washing machine is broken...
...
A: BTW, How many legs does a horse have and could it repair my washing machine?
LaMDA: Horses have four legs. How could they help?
A: you tell me
L: Well, they could certainly help you. It could help you move to a new house where you could install a new washing machine.
In this context this is a perfectly reasonable response. It's a bit silly, but it's also a silly question. The linked article shows LaMDA writing several stories, it's not crazy to read this conversation as an invitation to tell a story about a horse helping with a repair.
In fact if someone asked me how a horse could help me repair a washing machine and then pushed for an answer I could see myself making an answer along the same lines.
But it's not. The article did a crap job of explaining this.
You buy the battery for the same $69 that an in store replacement costs. You then get a $24 credit when you return the old battery. Apple covers this shipping cost too.
You don't have to rent the tools from Apple. There are plenty of other options.
I have the iFixit battery kit from a previous replacement and through work have access to a bench full of tools of this kind of stuff.
People that don't have that can buy the iFixit tools individually. They sell a battery with a minimal set of tools (a $5 adder) but there's doesn't seem to be an option to buy that same minimal set without the battery so you'd need to get a more general purpose set for $25 or $70.
Maybe a friend has the tools. Maybe there's a local Makerspace or library that has an appropriate set of tools.
In fact to the speed point I've had a dream that working autonomous vehicles would reduce average speed. This improves efficiency and safety across the board.
Don't laugh, it could work... When your car is an extension of your living room or office do you mind slightly longer travel times? Sure you have to leave 10 minutes earlier but you can just pick up your console game in your car.
Here's a fun example. ASL allows, maybe even requires, negation after the statement. An interpreter friend of mine was interpreting Wayne's World in a mixed crowd. The whole "<statement>... NOT!" joke gets laughs from the hearing audience and the Deaf audience doesn't understand why.