(no subject)

I have tickets to see Josh Ritter Sunday night. I am debating skipping it because of COVID-19. So far the concert isn't cancelled, though other dates on his tour have been cancelled. Murmrr's capacity is 700, it's right in downtown Brooklyn, it's probably not a great idea. And I've seen Ritter perform a half dozen times, and I'll probably see him again, so skipping is probably the wise choice. In the scheme of what's going on with the virus around the world, missing a concert isn't a big deal, but it's still disappointing.

Edit: Concert postponed to September. So no need to feel bad.

(no subject)

Purimgifts authors are revealed!

I wrote, for the first time since I was a teenager apparently, Star Wars fanfic.

Lando Calrissian Sends Out the Call: I (369 words) by seekingferret
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Wedge Antilles
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:

Wedge Antilles gets Lando Calrissian's call.

Lando Calrissian Sends Out the Call: II (387 words) by seekingferret
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zorii Bliss
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2
Summary:

Zorii Bliss gets Lando Calrissian's call.

Lando Calrissian Sends Out the Call: III (322 words) by seekingferret
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Hera Syndulla, Jacen Syndulla
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3
Summary:

Jacen Syndulla gets Lando Calrissian's call.

Lando Calrissian sends out the call is one of the most baffling omissions from Episode IX. The appearance of the Galaxy Fleet is unsatisfying because it's badly emotionally motivated. A similar call went out at the end of Episide VIII, what happened differently this time? What did Lando Calrissian do? Or what about the circumstances was different?

In these three ficlets, I argue it was a little of both. Lando may have been unusually stirring in his oratory, but also the presence of the Emperor on Exegol, and the subsequent Imperial atrocities in Episode IX, offer additional motivations to various members of the Galaxy Fleet.

I was subtly influenced in writing by the Purim story. I throw in a couple of more explicit winks- the 127 Core planets, for example, but mostly it's thematic. These are stories about wrestling with a choice like Esther's choice. Do I risk myself to stand up for justice, when my efforts will be for naught if others don't stand up alongside me? Or do I sit on the sidelines hoping to stay safe, knowing I will bear some responsibility if evil triumphs?



Thank you to ariestess, who wrote my lovely trio of Leia ficlets.

Cocktail Menu for Surviving the Pandemic

SoCo Distancing

Quarantini

Cover Vermouth

Port Closure

Corona

Maseches Shabbos Daf 6

Daf 6

Most of the daf is the bringing and analysis of a fundamental baraisa that lays out, more clearly than the Mishna, some of the basic principles of this subject, particularly what the different types of Domain there are with regards to carrying on Shabbos, and what their laws are. The baraisa teaches that there are four types of Domain, and gives examples.

1. Private domain. This is an area at least 4 tefachim by 4 tefachim, with a height of at least ten tefachim, which is fully enclosed. (The OU says a tefach is about 3 inches: https://www.ou.org/judaism-101/glossary/tefach/) So... a foot by a foot by about three feet high? Tiny.

2. A public domain. The examples given are a highway or a busy road or an open plaza. It seems to be an area which is not only open to the public but regularly traveled. Later in the page another baraisa is given which teaches that a desert is also a public domain, but it immediately clarifies that what that means is that when the Israelites were wandering in the Sinai, where the desert was the big open area that they all frequently traveled in, it was a public domain, but if someone just wandered off to the Negev it wouldn't have that status.

3. A karmelit, which is an area that is neither a public domain nor a private domain. The examples given are the sea, an open field, certain partially enclosed areas. Because they don't Biblically meet either category, one is patur for transporting from one to either a Public Domain or a Private Domain, meaning one is Biblically exempt, but Rabbinically liable in both directions, they sort of Rabbinically take on all the stricter laws of both public domain and private domain, but because it's Rabbinical there's all sorts of wiggle room in exigent circumstances. I'm not sure how this applies to the sea, I know if you're on a long sea voyage on Shabbos it's somehow okay. Hopefully more on this later.

4. Exempt areas. Basically, if an area is less than 4 tefachim across, or less then 10 tefachim high, and in some other circumstances where there's ambiguity but also the area is so tiny it barely has any status on its own, then it takes on all the leniencies instead of all the stringencies. The example given is a the threshold to a home, if it is ambiguous whether you are inside or outside. Because it's so small and ambiguous, if someone passes an object to you from outside, neither of you is chayav.