diff --git a/src/reports.c b/src/reports.c
index 8e91bd3da..1182f89c9 100644
--- a/src/reports.c
+++ b/src/reports.c
@@ -2147,23 +2147,6 @@ static void eval_int36(struct opstack **stack, const void *userdata)
 
 /*** END MESSAGE RENDERING ***/
 
-#include <util/nrmessage.h>
-
-static void log_orders(const struct message *msg)
-{
-    char buffer[4096];
-    int i;
-
-    for (i = 0; i != msg->type->nparameters; ++i) {
-        if (msg->type->types[i]->copy == &var_copy_order) {
-            const char *section = nr_section(msg);
-            nr_render(msg, default_locale, buffer, sizeof(buffer), NULL);
-            log_debug("MESSAGE [%s]: %s\n", section, buffer);
-            break;
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 int stream_printf(struct stream * out, const char *format, ...)
 {
     va_list args;
@@ -2226,8 +2209,6 @@ void register_reports(void)
     register_argtype("items", var_free_resources, var_copy_items, VAR_VOIDPTR);
     register_argtype("regions", var_free_regions, NULL, VAR_VOIDPTR);
 
-    msg_log_create = &log_orders;
-
     /* register functions that turn message contents to readable strings */
     add_function("alliance", &eval_alliance);
     add_function("region", &eval_region);
diff --git a/src/util/translation.c b/src/util/translation.c
index fb89a5af9..290e28c16 100644
--- a/src/util/translation.c
+++ b/src/util/translation.c
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ void opstack_push(opstack ** stackp, variant data)
  ** static buffer malloc
  **/
 
-#define BBUFSIZE 0x20000
+#define BBUFSIZE 0x10000
 static struct {
     char *begin;
     char *end;
@@ -81,16 +81,13 @@ static struct {
 
 char *balloc(size_t size)
 {
-    static int init = 0;          /* STATIC_XCALL: used across calls */
+    static int init = 0;
     if (!init) {
         init = 1;
         buffer.current = buffer.begin = malloc(BBUFSIZE * sizeof(char));
         buffer.end = buffer.begin + BBUFSIZE;
     }
-    if (buffer.current + size > buffer.end) {
-        /* out of memory! */
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    assert(buffer.current + size <= buffer.end || !"balloc is out of memory");
     buffer.last = buffer.current;
     buffer.current += size;
     return buffer.last;
@@ -99,6 +96,7 @@ char *balloc(size_t size)
 void bfree(char *c)
 /* only release this memory if it was part of the last allocation
  * that's a joke, but who cares.
+ * I'm afraid I don't get the joke.
  */
 {
     if (c >= buffer.last && c < buffer.current)