04 June 2003

Band-aid patchwork of Irish social problems BAWNTAMEENA E1 -- There are clusters of drunks along the river that runs through Thurles, where the local people know there are problems when you try to pass laws to remove problems. Ireland fought marital breakdown by outlawing divorce. When I arrived in Dublin, Irish law dealt with sexual promiscuity by banning condoms. Irish authorities combat homelessness by arresting addicts on the streets. The latest band-aid for society is to enact laws making it illegal to be drunk or to serve drink to someone who is drunk. x_ref17

03 June 2003

Global piracy down but Irish rate appallaing BBC -- Global piracy of business programs is down but the amount it costs software makers has gone up. Meanwhile, the Business Software Alliance says software piracy in Ireland is appalling. BBC: "Software piracy on the wane" Matthew Clark: "Irish software piracy is appalling." x_ref153

Spam growth in the 'hood TMTM -- Tony Bowden received more than 15,000 spams in May 2003. That's as depressing as my getting an average of 320 unwanted e-mails each day. Tony expects to hit nearly 20,000 spams in June. It's good he can depend on Spam Assassin to handle most of this unwanted flow. Tony Bowden: Spam growth x_ref1482