daf bit: Bava Kama 60

The mishna discusses liability in the case of one who sets a fire (and the thorns nearby catch, and then the stacks of corn). Commenting on this in the g'mara, Rabbi Shmuel ben Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: calamity comes upon the world only when there are wicked people in the world, but it always begins with the righteous. When does fire break out? When there are thorns nearby. Rabbi Yosef added: once permission has been granted to the Destroyer [I assume this is the angel of death], he does not distinguish between righteous and wicked, and, further, he begins with the righteous, as it says: I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. (60a)

(I have to wonder, in saying that the righteous are consumed first, whether the rabbis are engaging in exegesis -- drawing meaning from the text -- or eisegesis -- reading meaning into it based on the many martyrs and victims of foreign conquest.)

The g'mara goes on to discuss safe travel practices to avoid bumping into the Destroyer. When there is a famine in the city the Destroyer walks boldly down the center of the road so you should stick to the sides, but when all is well he has to slink around beside the road so you should walk in the center. I wouldn't have thought that trying to dodge the Destroyer would do any good.

request for minor LJ support

Dear LazyWeb,

LJ seems to have made a change today that makes single-entry pages in the default style too wide for my preferred browser-window size. Specifically, the links at the bottom are in 5 columns (that's fine) (About, Help, Legal, Store, LJ Labs), and then over on the right is a drop-down list to change languages, with "current version: v46" under it. That last column of content is what's making the page too wide. I do not care very much about it.

Do I have any readers who have both the know-how and the inclination to write me something that will move, or remove, that drop-down? I'm using Firefox v2 (not 3 yet) and have GreaseMonkey installed already. I'm using Vertigo (not Horizon), if that makes a difference. Sticking it at the bottom of one of the five other columns, or just eliminating it, would fix my problem.

Thanks! (Yes, I will learn GreaseMonkey someday, perhaps even soon, but this is painful now.)