[Daf Yomi] Zevachim perek 6-8
Dec. 6th, 2025 05:40 pmMy notes on these. Still not much to say but it's been, quite frankly, better than Nashim.
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Billing itself as "the world's first and only museum dedicated to the wonder that is vinegar," the International Vinegar Museum first opened its doors in 1999 as a way to bring tourism to the tiny town of Roslyn, South Dakota. Located in the town's former auditorium, built in the 1930s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the museum is the work of local vinegar enthusiast Lawrence "The Vinegar Man" Diggs.
Visitors can see and taste different vinegars from around the world, learn how vinegar is made and its many uses, and even see paper and ceramic made out of vinegar. Additionally, the museum hosts a Vinegar Festival every year, with a parade, tastings, cooking demonstrations, and a contest to crown the Vinegar Queen and "Royal Quart".
Part I: The Absent World. The planet vanishes, but her people go on.
Part II: An Archaeology of Loss. The world-death left a scar in spacetime, and a void in the heart of the Federation.
Part III: Time and Darkness. In which Ambassador Spock fires unexpected shots.

Montenegro’s submarine tunnels, or bunkers, are channels dug out of cliff walls in the Bay of Kotor (on the northern coast of the Luštica Peninsula, near the village of Rose) built by the Yugoslav Army for the purpose of concealing submarines and small warships from satellites or spy planes.
Three such tunnels were constructed, intended as protection from air raids. A submarine would have entered a tunnel while submerged and surface completely once inside. With an average depth of about 90 feet and a maximum depth of over 200 feet, the Bay of Kotor offered an ideal location to such hide vessels of marine warfare.
Each tunnel is cut about 300 feet deep into the cliff side with a water depth of around 30 feet. Once camouflaged with phony rocks which have since deteriorated, the tunnel entrances are now easy to see from a distance. They were abandoned around the time of the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, being too small for today's larger submarines.
Boat operators from multiple locations along the Bay of Kotor offer boat trips to view, and possibly swim in, several features including these tunnels. Smaller your boats are able to enter the tunnel, and depending on the type of tour you take it may possible to swim inside or walk along the sides.
angelofthenorth gave me my birthday presents today! I thanked her and said I was surprised because it's not my birthday yet. But V and I always have a joint party - after their birthday and before mine - and that's today.
She sensibly pointed out that they won't see me for my birthday, as I'll be off doing family xmas things by then.
So, yeah, why not, today's my birthday.

Staying true to its tagline, Blossom Book House has books that are old, rare and new. Located in the heart of the city, the bookstore stands sandwiched between rows of shops, unassuming to onlookers.
Established at the turn of the millennium by Mayi Gowda, who quit his job to start selling books on the side of the road, the store has expanded from a quaint 200-square-foot space to a 4,000-square-foot store that now occupies two buildings. It stands today as a sanctuary for bibliophiles who visit from all over the city.
Piles of old and new books line the walls of the store right from the entrance. Dozens of pre-loved, dog-eared books can be found among them, with annotations scribbled in the margins by students and dedications from friends, family, and lovers. But fret not, there are plenty of new books too, with many specials and bestsellers featured right at the entrance.
Nestled between many books occasionally lie rare second-hand editions. From well-worn classics starting at times from 60 rupees to obscure titles you may never have heard of, the bookstore has it all. Plus, the staff are always willing help locate a specific volume or edition.

On the corner of a 19th-century palace in the old town of Valencia, right by Calle del Miracle, a giant stone bat clings to the wall.
The bat (rat penat in Valencian) isn’t just a whimsical decoration. According to legend, on the eve of a decisive battle in the 13th century, as King James I prepared to reconquer Valencia from the Saracens, a bat is said to have landed on his tent, awakening him and his army to warn of an ambush. As victory followed and James was known as "The Conqueror", the animal became a symbol of good fortune, and has crowned the city’s coat of arms, soccer jerseys, and numerous souvenirs tourists buy every day.
The building itself, the Palacio de los Barones de Alacuás, was built in the mid-1800s as the residence of the wealthy Trénor family. It sits on foundations that go back centuries, once part of the Hospital of Saint John’s medieval complex.
In 2003, after decades of decline, architect Salvador Vila Ferrer restored the palace, which now serves as the headquarters of Lo Rat Penat, a society founded in 1878 to preserve and promote the Valencian language and traditions.
The society takes its name from the city's mascot, lo rat penat — “the winged rat,” or bat. If the connection wasn't already obvious, an oversized sculpture calls attention to the façade — the bat that draws passersby to look up, created by Valencian sculptor Nassio.

Some outsider artists (untrained artists sometimes known as folk or visionary artists) create in obscurity, only to have their work discovered late in life or following their death. This however was not true of Gregory Warmack (1948-2012), who called himself Mr. Imagination. Gallerist Jeanine Taylor recalls Warmack claiming he slept under the family’s kitchen table as a child because his bedroom was so full of art. (Another ‘memory wall’ is located outside of Taylor’s Florida gallery).
Warmack sold his art at street fairs in the 1970s and had his first solo gallery exhibition in 1983, in Chicago, where he grew up and lived until 2001. He worked in a variety of forms, influenced by African and Egyptian masks and dress, and using repurposed materials. His art was exhibited during his lifetime at prominent institutions throughout the United States, as well as in Venice and Paris. Commissions include the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and various locations of the House of Blues, the chain music venue. Several pieces are part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
It is therefore unsurprising that Mr. Imagination was invited in 1999 to be a teaching artist in residence at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), in Winston-Salem. (Warmack had previously taught at Lehigh University, which resulted in the Stolfo Sculpture Garden.)
As a remembrance of his time in the central North Carolina city, Mr. Imagination transformed a 55-foot wall next to the city’s transportation center into what he called the Memory Wall of Love and Peace. He asked local residents to donate whatever they chose to be embedded in the façade; hundreds of keepsakes, artifacts, miscellany. Warmack sculpted semi-abstract concrete birds and other figures for the top of the four-foot-high wall.
The assemblage deteriorated over the next two decades due to exposure to the weather and vandalism. In 2021, with funding from the city and SECCA, the Memory Wall was restored and made more sustainable by a team of artists. With photos from 1999 as a guide, damaged and missing sculptures were repaired or recreated, and the wall was repainted where necessary. Now restored, the Memory Wall of Love and Peace enshrines not just Warmack’s time in Winston-Salem, but also what the community chose to have forever fixed in place.

