GS should probably pare back the number of forums. The website doesn't have enough regular users to keep all of them active.

To start with, there is no real point to any of the Platforms forums anymore. Many of them sit dead for weeks at a time.

Sports bar, Streamers, Political, Polls, Giveaways and Ask the Mods are likewise pointless. Idk, maybe keep Political since I don't want to read through pages of that in Off-Topic.

If everything was condensed down to Games, Off-Topic, Feedback, and maaaaybe Retro Gaming, it would make all of the forums more active. Of course the only place most people go to is System Wars, so keep that I guess.

Probably not going to happen. But seriously, why keep around so many forums?

I spent most of yesterday inside, since there was another snowstorm. I slept a lot. At one point I stepped outside to clean off my car, but it didn't really look as bad as I was expecting. I'll probably go out for a little and see how much has changed since last night.

Today I've got a little paperwork to fill out. Aside from that, just have to get to sleep by a certain time. Tomorrow I have another job interview.

I really kind of hate everyone and everything anymore. I'm beyond frustrated with everything. I've been a pretty reasonable man for all of these years, and I still can't seem to figure out where to meet decent people who are on my wavelength. I'm tired of being the friend that drives people around because they don't have a car, or the friend who nobody really invites to hang out because they've got a little sub-clique going on. I'm sick of walking outside of my apartment and having strangers laugh at me and critique me.

God I don't want it to be this way in my 40's yet.

@speeny: By raid battles, I mean the Dynamax battles that take place at the holes in the wild area where bright lights shoot out of into the sky. To begin with the online co-op seldom worked and it's usually easier to go it alone with NPC partners the game pairs you up with. The game lets you select any pokemon you have to battle the monster with. And it comes down to basically using whatever generic elemental move is strong against your opponent. The Gigantimax temporary event pokemon never showed up for me when I bothered doing the raid battles either. But I came across some rare pokemon really early in the game that way.

I didn't mind the level thing too much, since it's kind of there to tell you where you can and can't go. But it doesn't make much sense because you'll have low level monsters right next to some high level ones, in a spot you might not be aware of until later on. I think it's more stupid that you can't catch a higher level pokemon until you have the next badge, and it's usually impossible to catch something unless you have a pokemon of its level or higher in your party.

@davillain-:That is pretty awful lol.

@thehig1: I think you have the right idea about things. It's unfortunate, but I am not so sure most of our peers can be trusted to look at things fairly and impartially. At least you took things seriously.

I'm liking a lot of these answers. I was curious what would come to mind for a lot of people, and there are some pretty varied responses I hadn't considered as possibilities already.

@Master_Live: Uncle Phil is a pretty good answer. I mean heck, the guy was a great parent even for being an uncle lol. I think it's been so long since I watched the Simpsons that I don't have a great memory of examples of Marge's parenting moments. Alfred is another great answer, that's a pretty devoted butler.

@SOedipus: Why did you say that name!? lol.

Aunt May I can certainly agree with, though it might be more fair to say that Peter is equally as much her caretaker, depending on what Spider-man universe we're considering. The Matthews and the Tanners are again some pretty good examples of parents. William Russ had some great scenes on Boy Meets World. Actually that brings up yet another possible parental character with Mr. Feeny.

@br0kenrabbit: Mufasa is an interesting example, it kind of brings the "King and Prince" element into the parental relationship. I don't think I've ever sat and watched the Secret of NIMH, but Mrs. Brisby was also the protagonist of that movie as well right? The Bradys, I guess that is also a good answer, though it has been so long since I've sat and watched an episode so I can't remember exact examples of how the parents handled situations. Weirdly, I probably would sit and watch an episode these days if it popped on TV lol. Andy Taylor is a really good answer also.

@uninspiredcup: This is along the lines of an answer I'd expect from a true Scotsman, lol.

@heathen75: The thing I like about the Bundys is that the whole family will come together if they feel threatened enough by some other family, and like beat them up or something lol.

Admittedly I haven't watched enough of Raising Hope or Malcolm in the Middle to know how the parents were. I always remembered Bryan Cranston's character being a bit strange on MitM, but that's going from childhood memory.

Red and Kitty are good answers. I watched a lot of episodes of TSS these past few months, and while my parents were never really like the Formans, I did find myself relating to a few situations with them and Eric, and even Lauri.

Roseanne and Dan Connor are, again, pretty great answers. Actually, they remind me a bit of my own parents, and my childhood. While the Bundys are definitely the extreme end of poverty lol, I always felt like Roseanne was a show that captured the lower-middle class well in the 90's. And I think for me that is kind of what family was like, a little sarcastic and goofy at times but always loving.

@Ovirew: Well, to respond to my own question the very first person that came to my mind when I asked myself this question was Pa Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. In particular, from the TV show, played by Michael Landon.

I think as an actor, Landon did a great job capturing the qualities and image of a strong and loving father, and I guess that has always kind of been the idealized image I've had in my head of what a great parent would be.

The very first answer I got to this question, before I decided to ask it here, was one that was also kind of unexpected for me. A friend named Dr. Glassman from The Good Doctor. Now I've never really watched the show, but I decided to check out some clips to better understand my friend's reasoning. The show is about an autistic, young doctor. Dr. Glassman is his superior and runs the hospital where he works, and they are not related. While the main character is already pretty good at his job, what Dr. Glassman offers him isn't so much professional knowledge, as it is life knowledge and soft skills. It brings the parent/guardian dynamic to the mentor role in an interesting way.

I had thought about a few other answers that nobody has mentioned so far, but I'll kind of wait and see if anybody else names them. I held off on providing my own answer right away because I wanted to see where other people went with their answers, I didn't want to influence anyone's thinking with this question.

@speeny: I remember X/Y had Pokemon Aime' or something like that it was called. It let you interact with your Pokemon, pet it and stuff I think.

I think both of your posts describe the mixed feelings the overall game produces. You'll like some things about it, but find other things really disappointing.

Like you mentioned the wild area, I thought it was alright but I thought those raid battles were so stupid and gimmicky. If the entire world map was a wild area with cities in between, that would have been more amazing than the tiny places you do visit in the world. But then idk, again the wild area is just kind of static and not really that massive or full of exploration. It feels like a big zoo where the animals roam free. And it's based on this idea that the game is better for shoving a couple of hundred pokemon into it - it isn't, in fact that just helps justify the streamlined systems and mediocre development effort.

Nay. It'll just be people losing more privileges.

All government has to do is set curfews and limit where you can go and what you can do in self-driving cars, and pretty soon you are a prisoner to your city. You want to stop off at the little creek down the hill? Too bad, the closest stop is X number of miles away from that. You want to visit the park? It closes in an hour, you won't make it, choose a different destination. And it will be like highways with tolls, just way worse.

But hey, people won't die in auto accidents unless there are computer malfunctions I guess. Oh yeah, one less way you can choose to kill yourself lol. Unless you're somebody like Epstein...

KFC. I'm not really stuck on Popeye's, I mean I'll go there on occasion for something different, but I don't really care for cajun-style stuff.

I haven't tried Chik-Fil-A yet, but the commercials are pretty tempting.

I think it's funny that people would blame Trump for Iran downing a Ukranian jet. But some Canadian CEO did just that:

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/i-am-livid-maple-leaf-foods-ceo-spouts-off-against-us-over-iran-crash-032943031.html

That's kind of like if I punched some guy that attacked one of my friends, and then in response his friends attack....an innocent bystander that they think is a friend of mine. Annnnnd, then someone goes off on me, blaming me for the whole mess.

@RSM-HQ: I actually did not get to play much of Sun and Moon. I think the roster did create some pretty interesting new pokemon, and I even liked the ultra beasts - I know a lot of people didn't. Also thought it was cool how the main legendaries came to be.

I think just my early impressions of the game were a little weak. And I also have been more critical of Pokemon sequels on the same system - after being disappointed with the Ruby and Sapphire remakes using the X/Y systems, I was a little wary of Sun/Moon since I didn't get into Black and White as much as I did Diamond and Pearl. I also had this whole situation where I bought the game for me and this girl I was seeing, and the girl broke up with me after that, so I kind of associated that situation with the game a little.

I think you hit the nail on the head about why I kind of give X and Y a free pass, the development going towards the 3D models and whatnot. But yeah, it's pretty inexcusable how rushed the games have gotten in recent years.