Hanging by nails…

Howard Owens (found through Instapundit) is cool! First of all (and on the serious side) his statements about blogging are as optimistic as I hope they are correct. These are real gems of wisdom:

....if newspapers don't develop effective blog-related strategies, they'll lose credibility and market share.…..
….What excites me most about the Web is how it subverts centralized power. It is too hard — and I think will remain hard — for centralized power to completely control the flow of information and communication among people.
I see us heading toward greater freedom, not less, the world over, and the Internet is a big part of that trend.

On the subject of spam (near and dear to my heart) Owens really gets going. (I touched on the penile variety in an earlier blog):

…hope that something can be done about spam — spam is probably the biggest threat to the future of the internet.
….It is the one thing that can and does drive people away. It sucks resources and makes it hard for legitimate companies to do the things they need to do to stay in business. I don't want to lock spammers up. I want to shoot them. Summary executions. I'm voting for that legislation.

I think I should be allowed a little latitude as a new blogger, so I'll take this one step further. While shooting of spammers would provide a deterrent (at least as to the individual spammer who is shot) I think it would be better for society to make a public example out of these people.

I propose a very modest, classical solution to the problem. An old idea, really. I am sure everyone has heard of it.

CRUCIFIXION

Spammers could simply be crucified along the highways, just the way the Romans did it. As in the good old days of public crucifixions along the Via Appia, here the modern Al Gore Information Superhighway could be seamlessly linked to live crucifixions via strategic web cams, viewable at anti-spam websites, where we could watch the spammers die (and other spammers could witness the fates of their comrades). What a deterrent!

A real "Pilate Program!"

Needless to say, no libertarian would seriously propose that the government get involved in such cruel punishments (which obviously violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution), and I am not doing that. Let's keep it in the private sector where it belongs. Spammers flooded the world with shoddy advertisements during their lives, and it is only fair that their deaths be advertising spectacles -- the tackier the better! "Your corporate message and logo HERE! on THIS CROSS!" (Buy as many crosses as you can afford!) "Another spammer nailed courtesy of SnuffNet.com!" Securely fastened with "Palm Pilate" brand "finishing nails" -- as seen on the Internet!

On a final note is this friendly reminder: A very big conference is coming up, folks! Make your reservations now, and nail things down later!

Link to the conference courtesy of Rand Simberg, indirectly via this guy.