[chimeracoder]

> not to pick on a specific belief system, but it's quite interesting the lengths people go to follow the letter but not the spirit of things.

That's not the way observant Jewish people look at it at all. You're assuming that these workarounds are not "following the spirit", but according to them, the workarounds are as much a part of the spirit of the law as the law itself.

[tamaharbor]

Tell that to your nearest Eruv.

[seigando]

There's no reason for that to not be the case.