daf bit: Bava Kama 32

The mishna teaches: if two people are passing each other on the street, either one walking and the other running or both running, and they collide and someone is injured, neither one is liable. Why are both cases stated? If there is no liability when one is walking, then surely there would be no liability if both are running! And how can there be no liability when just one is running -- he's doing something unusual so it's on him, right? The g'mara concludes that the case of one walker and one runner occurs on erev Shabbat before sunset, when running is acceptable behavior, while if they collide on a weekday the runner is liable to the walker. Why is running on erev Shabbat permissible? L'cha dodi likrat kallah -- come let us go and greet the [Shabbat] bride. Rabbi Yannai used to instead stand and say "come thou, oh queen". (32a-b)

This mishna follows one about collisions when one person is walking in front of another, e.g. if the log I'm carrying breaks the pot you're carrying. The rules there are what I expected: if you hit from behind you're liable, unless the guy in front stopped suddenly, unless he warned you he was doing so.

applied physics

Dear certain drivers I had the misfortune to be near today: Write "momentum is not always bad" 500 times or until you learn that on icy uphill stretches there is such a thing as "minimum speed", whichever comes second. Having to plan around your antics is a PITA. Thank you.

Driving this morning was "interesting". Nothing had been plowed when I headed out to the morning minyan, which wasn't too surprising (barely past sunrise). Nothing in my neighborhood had been plowed an hour later either, which was cranky-making. They had managed to plow in Greenfield and the south side, but Forbes Avenue (Forbes Avenue!) and Beacon Avenue were untouched when I left for work. I got up Beacon with a running start, but I had to delay until someone got out of the way and that made the guy behind me initially cranky. I think he figured it out as he followed me up, though; that looked like a wave at the top of the hill.

I got stuck on the way to minyan. I could see that I was going to have to stop on a slight incline; I had enough warning to try to aim for the least-bad spot, and it would have worked if someone hadn't decided to pull up right behind me (so no "roll back slightly" option). When traffic moved I couldn't go forward, and I had to wait for the guy behind me to conclude that I wasn't going anywhere and back up himself before I could move. I was wondering if perhaps my tires are just crap (how are Hondas for that in general? it's not age; the car only has 4000 miles), but on the way back later I saw two accidents in that block, so maybe not. On the other hand, I did some unexpected sliding in other places. I think of myself as an average driver; there are undoubtedly things I could learn that would help in situations like this, but I think I mostly do ok.

Things were better tonight, but parts of Beacon still hadn't been plowed. I guess they're just waiting for next week's thaw.