The Gaming Den

Almaz wrote:"Decriminalize prostitution, but criminalize every other aspect" sounds a lot like the so-called "Nordic model" which has a tendency of maintaining the undesirable effect of driving sex work underground. Only a tiny sliver of locations, like Denmark, have pursued actual decriminalization.

There is a reason I offered 'heavily regulate' - I'm not a fan of criminalizing the rest of it, either. But decriminalizing the prostitution bit is incredibly important, because if you don't do that then the police are just de facto enforcers - they are another threat to the victim that keeps them trapped.

I would vastly prefer if employing prostitutes were a heavily regulated affair - the sort of thing that carried significant labor rights and triggered inspections.

Koumei wrote: What you then do is simply allow sex workers the same legal protections and rights as literally any other worker (or indeed, person). And I imagine there might already be laws you can basically use against trafficking under the headers of kidnapping, holding people against their will, and slavery of any kind.

Good luck with that since there also is plenty of trafficking/enslavement of people for non-sex work.

Fact is, if you have two nearby countries where one has a lot more money than the other, there will be plenty of people in the poorer coutry vulnerable to exploitation with promises of a better paying job in the other side.

And plenty of people in the richer country will happilly pay for cheaper services.

Blame the pimps and the trafickers, but lots of other people need to willingly giving them money too to keep the underground business running.

So the only real solution is improving the conditions of the poorer countries, otherwise you'll always have people vulnerable to exploitation, people ready to exploit them for profit, and people willing to pay for said exploitation.

The reverse is also true. Greece for example has legal prostitution, but saw a massive increase of illegal sex workers as the country's economy worsened (about 20 to 1). Not to mention the exploitation of refugees.

Stormfront close to shutting down as financial trouble rises

Apparently the founder's wife was paying the bills not covered by contributions, and they're losing membership as younger nazis prefer other sites.

Knowing Shrapnel, maybe this should go in NSFW news, but...

Hasbro is taking preorders for a hypothetical 2 ft tall War for Cybertron Unicron toy

(Hasbro has a site where they "crowdfund" stuff, but it's basically less "help us put the money together for this!" and more "If we make this ridiculous thing, will enough of you buy it to justify making it?")

Jesus fuck me that's sexy.

Forget Shrapnel . . I want that!

I am pretty sure there used to be a Thread about Science / Tech News somewhere but i can not find it . .
Anyways:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-en ... ic-spiders

Rice engineers get a grip with ‘necrobotic’ spiders
Lab manipulates dead spiders’ legs with a puff of air to serve as grabbers

HOUSTON - (July 25, 2022) - Spiders are amazing. They’re useful even when they’re dead.

Rice University mechanical engineers are showing how to repurpose deceased spiders as mechanical grippers that can blend into natural environments while picking up objects, like other insects, that outweigh them.

Could we maybe please fucking not? x.x

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01501-5

Scientists turn lead into gold
The transmuted metal only lasted a fraction of a second before it was obliterated but can tell researchers more about how atoms change.

Alchemy achieved. Kinda. Sorta.

I have this fuzzy, half-remembered memory from my childhood (80s) of my friend's mom (a chemist) saying that we can already turn lead into gold no problem, it's just that to obtain like $1 worth of gold, we would need to spend $100s on the resources to do it...now I need to go back and see if I can verify that memory...

phlapjackage wrote: ↑

Wed May 14, 2025 12:30 am

I have this fuzzy, half-remembered memory from my childhood (80s) of my friend's mom (a chemist) saying that we can already turn lead into gold no problem, it's just that to obtain like $1 worth of gold, we would need to spend $100s on the resources to do it...now I need to go back and see if I can verify that memory...

Your memory is true, all you need is using an atomic oven to knock 3 (I think) electrons off each atom of lead. It's something we all learn in middle school's basic Chemistry class. And yes, it's the opposite of cost-effective (at least, for now).