[Avodah] Explaining boneh/electricity to a non-religious person

[David Riceman]

Micha Berger wrote:
> Second, anything that almost inevitably sparks, even lo nikha lei, would
> be bishul. That would include AC switches, many motors, etc...
>   
What if the sparks are too small to be seen with the naked eye?
> Fourth, a radio, MP3 player, cell phone or TV are possibly within the
> gezeira against keli zemer, since they're adjustable and can play music.
>   
Does this apply even if the adjusting is not inherently assur? This 
seems like circular reasoning.  OTOH I had understood the issur against 
klei zemer to apply even to instruments which are not routinely tuned by 
players (pianos fall into that category), and there is an additional 
issur of hashma'as kol independent of music.

David Riceman