daf bit: Bava Metzia 47

The g'mara is in the midst of a discussion of items that can be used to acquire other items. (The best-known case of this is probably the wedding ring, with which the husband acquires the wife. As I understand it, this is why there is a halachic problem with double-ring ceremonies; she gives him a ring in exchange for a ring, instead of her wedding vow in exchange for a ring.) On today's daf there is a discussion of barter. Rabbi Adda ben Ahaba said: Come and hear: A man is standing in the market with a cow and his neighbor asks why, and he says "I need an ass". The neighbor says "I have an ass I will give you for your cow. What is the value of your cow?" So much. "What is the value of your ass?" So much. If the neighbor takes possession of the cow and the ass dies before the first man can take possession, the deal is cancelled -- both parts of the exchange are required. Rabba disagrees, saying that title is acquired when one party takes possession. (47a)

I presume, though it's not discussed here, that Rabba would say that the neighbor must pay the value of the ass (or the cow?), else he would be unlawfully withholding payment. But I don't know if that's how the law really works.

TiVo update

I don't understand why some things along the way didn't work, but I found a set of wiring that gets signal to the TV. (DTV box to TiVo works with the connector that has a pin in the middle that you screw on; what's that called? But doesn't work with composite video. TiVo to TV works with S-video (trumping DVD player) or composite video, but the latter only to the connectors on the front of the TV. Beats me why; the connectors on the back of the TV were supporting a VCR without problems before.)

There isn't a way to program the TiVo to know about digital channels, though. With the DTV box turned on and the TiVo manually set to channel 3, I get the signal I expect (and can change channels on the DTV box). The tech-support person I spoke with tonight told me that this will not work tomorrow, though I'm not sure why that should be. (I stressed that I was not talking about analog broadcasts.) We'll know soon enough, and there's still a VCR in the system to pick up Saturday night's Pushing Daisies. If it does work, I've got the functionality of my VCR on a hard drive instead of on tape, which is a win.

The support person told me that because my box (Philips series 1) will not work post-transition, I qualify for a special deal: a new TiVo for $99 and a lifetime contract for $299 (or $12.95/month with a 3-year commitment, but that'd be dumb). The support person couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me whether a TiVo can work without a contract. Without a contract can I manually program recordings (like with a VCR), forgoing the friendly advice, searches, and directory listings? Or is a TiVo without a service contract just a brick? (Or would it work but I'd hate it for some reason?) The $99 box with the digital tuner, Netflix interface, and whatever else comes with it sounds interesting; I'm not so sure about the service contract. (TiVo evangelists, that's your cue. :-) )