spacepup

I shared multiple articles and studies from a few sources since he specifically asked. People can, and should, make their own conclusions based upon their own research and consulting with their doctors. Personally, I have no concerns about consuming tofu in moderation (like anything else). If someone comes to a different conclusion, they obviously don't have to eat it and that's fine.

As for all the comments about a vegetarian diet - one can eat healthy, and one can eat extremely poorly. One can completely overeat calories, and one can keep within reasonable limits. Vegetarian definitely doesn't necessarily mean healthy, as you could eat chips and french fries all day every day and be vegetarian bot not healthy. Personally, I'm vegetarian but try to keep a very balanced, healthy diet. On the subject of protein, it certainly is possible to get all the protein you need on a vegetarian diet. You have to work at it and make sure you are getting enough protein, and ideally complete proteins and the amino acids your body needs. I think there may be a misconception that a vegetarian diet means you eat a plate of vegetables every meal, which would be severely lacking in proteins and have many nutritional deficiencies. In my case, it's a mostly plant-based diet full of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, grains, proteins, etc. I tend to eat a decent amount of soy, lentils, beans, etc. The takeaway should be, having a healthy diet full of the nutrition you need isn't so much about whether you are vegetarian, vegan, or not, but rather, making sure you have a balanced diet that gives you most of the things your body needs without any significant deficiencies - and this can be done on any number of diets and preferences.

Article from American Cancer Society about Soy: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/soy-and-cancer-risk-our-experts-advice.html "So far, the evidence does not point to any dangers from eating soy in people, and the health benefits appear to outweigh any potential risk. In fact, there is growing evidence that eating traditional soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, edamame, miso, and soymilk may lower the risk of breast cancer, especially among Asian women. Soy foods are excellent sources of protein, especially when they replace other, less healthy foods such as animal fats and red or processed meats. Soy foods have been linked to lower rates of heart disease and may even help lower cholesterol." American Institute for Cancer Research: https://www.aicr.org/resources/blog/soy-and-cancer-myths-and-misconceptions/ "Myth: Eating soy foods raise your risk for breast cancer. Fact: Soy foods are safe for women and provide fiber, a cancer-fighter." Mayo Clinic: Will eating soy increase my risk of breast cancer? https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/soy-breast-cancer-risk/faq-20120377#:~:text=It was once thought that,tofu%2C soy milk and edamame. "It was once thought that soy foods increase the risk of breast cancer. However, eating a moderate amount of soy foods does not increase risk of breast cancer — or other types of cancer. A moderate amount is one to two servings a day of whole-soy foods, such as tofu, soy milk and edamame." National Library of Medicine Article: The Science of Soy: What Do We Really Know? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480510/ Presents a more conservative analysis but board and inconclusive - prompts more research essentially. Article: Tofu intake is inversely associated with risk of breast cancer: A meta-analysis of observational studies https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226745 "our findings suggest an inverse dose-response association between tofu intake and risk of breast cancer" I could go on and on, but it seems the concept of tofu giving you estrogen (in the ways we think of it) and causing negative health effects has vastly been debunked, and there are many benefits to increasing soy in one's diet, *especially* as a replacement for other types of proteins. In my own personal situation, I eat a decent amount of tofu - sometimes several times a week - as I am vegetarian, and so far all the health effects of my diet have been very positive for me. ----- Edit: I will add though, that it is always important for each person to talk with their doctor and/or other professionals about stuff like this, and determine if something is right for you, or something you should worry about. There could be exception scenarios where maybe it isn't good for someone - I have no idea. My main point is that broadly dismissing it as dangerous is probably overly dismissive when it can be a great protein alternative.

I watched the video and I do have some constructive criticism / feedback for you. I promise I'm not trying to just put you down or attack, but, the oddly prolonged section toward the beginning where you are highlighting yourself hopping into the Porsche and driving down to the store, feels completely irrelevant to the topic of the video, and more than that, it feels extremely show-boaty to me, to the point that if you weren't a member here and I wasn't trying to view to check it out and provide feedback, I would have stopped right there and not continued with the video. I would maybe watch a video like this to check out about a store, but I am immediately put off by the very obvious showing off the Porsche. Maybe other people are into that sort of thing or impressed by it, but I'm more impressed by someone's knowledge about games or collection they've spent a long time acquiring, than how much money they have or the fancy car they are driving.

I absolutely loved this movie. I think it's prob too soon after for me to say it is 10/10 top 10 type material so I gave it a high 9. BUT, I really really really liked this movie. It is wacky, serious, ridiculous, hilarious, emotional, and Michelle Yeoh is fantastic in it. It was way better than I expected and I would absolutely recommend it.

I remember, at the time, thinking the FMV scenes were very nice, as well as the music in the game. It had a very nice soundtrack. I also liked the Triple Triad game which Reed mentioned, I remember having a lot of fun with that. Honestly, while I didn't like it as much as several others in the series, I still enjoyed the game and don't think it's as awful as some portray it, especially at the time of its release. It was a very successful game both in Japan and also in the US. Compared to some other FF games, maybe it wasn't amazing, but compared to a lot of other mediocre RPGs out there, it certainly wasn't bad, IMO.

Hey there, if you still have these I'd be willing to pay shipping for them. Edit: oops, I just saw the date. Well, if you have em lemme know hah

This one is really difficult for me to rate. I bought it right when it came out, and played through and beat it. At that time in my life, I enjoyed it well enough, and liked the visuals, music (especially), and overall didn't have a ton of other new games at the time and was super into RPGs. I loved Final Fantasy and was pretty open minded. I've only beaten the game once, and never really had much interest in going back and playing through it again, but I don't think it's a "bad" game. I definitely had some criticisms and I really didn't like the draw system. Unfortunately, it's also overshadowed by the game before and also after it. I loved 7 and I LOVED 9, and while I enjoyed 8, it just didn't quite stick with me like the others. Having said all that, I don't regret playing through it and I would have to say I enjoyed the game. I just don't know how I would rate it!

I'll also add that it really depends on the game and genre. Even for earlier games, I found myself using the manuals much more often for strategy or puzzle type games, or anything with unique or new mechanics. Or for fighting games. But for your run of the mill platformer, I never really found myself needing to read through the manual. I mostly used them for reference as needed.

If I'm being actually honest - no. Back in the day, sure I read parts of them, like NES for example. But really, after NES, I usually didn't read through the manual unless I needed to reference something or had trouble. Especially beginning with PS1 and beyond, most games did a pretty good job of explaining what you needed to know. PS2 is my favorite console of all time and I love the games and have hundreds. Yet, if I'm being honest, I've probably actually "read" maybe 1% of the manuals. Now, I love perusing them for entertainment / interest sake at times, but in terms of actually reading them cover to cover, it's just not something I typically do. People like to complain about the lack of manuals in newer games, but practically speaking, I doubt the majority of the mass-gaming consumers they are targeting, actually care that much.

I want to add another comment, which is... I think most of the community knows that we care very much about fostering, building, and supporting a good community here of people with similar interests. We want this to be a place that is supportive, fun, interesting, educational, entertaining and more. We all got together to build and support VGS after the collapse of NA because we felt very seriously that there was a need for this community to continue. I believe I can speak for the entire staff in saying that we sincerely want to do right by the community to help continue something that started so many years ago. We wanted to take the best things about NA and expand on them, while trying to learn from some of the mistakes and things people didn't like. Did we get it perfectly right? Of course not. Are we 100% perfect in handling every single situation? Of course not. We are volunteers and we are doing our best to maintain this forum and the community in a way that keeps it thriving. It is I N C R E D I B L Y difficult, to find the right balance of keeping things on track and positive, while also allowing people individual freedom and not making people feel like they are silenced, or that minority opinions are unwelcome, etc. We encounter these challenges all the time, and are always working to find that balance. There are often situations where a decision we make will please one side and absolutely piss off the other, and times when there is seemingly no compromise that different sides will find agreeable and reasonable. I ask and implore people, to please just try to be understanding and also supportive of the same ideals of the community, and to have fun but not to completely troll or be negative. To discuss and debate and argue, but without getting nasty. We WANT to be mostly hands off with the community and just let things go, without over-moderating. We are trying really hard to do all these things, and support many different goals and many different voices and perspectives. Regardless of what any of you think about how we handled any particular scenario, I hope you understand and believe that we are doing what we can to make this place succeed and provide a forum for the community to continue to discuss the things they care about, as well as the things they find interesting and fun.

@fcgamer Can you please stop sharing pictures of roaches across the forum? I believe that most users here don't want to see that. And no, this is not an edict or me silencing voices. This is coming from me not as an admin but as another person, just asking you to please not do that. Back on topic to the thread, we are absolutely not going to have voting for locking threads, as that in and of itself would probably turn into more conflict. Those threads were locked for very good reason, especially the random argumentation on a FS thread after it was settled.

Do you even html bro? This person came here for the htmls and you are letting them down, shame...

@Tanooki I hate to drag this out further here - but since you brought it up and I want NO confusion here. You did not receive warning points for reporting an issue. You received warning points for attacking him back the way you did. I issued 2 points because you have a history of negative language and attacking back, and it needs to stop. You are not destined to be banned if you simply stop with the negativity and aggressive behavior, including namecalling - and I don't care who started something. If you have further concerns, please bring them up with staff directly and let's stop derailing this thread.

Similarly - this ^ is NOT the way to respond to situations if someone does something you don't like. Report a problem with a user and let us handle, but open attacks and insults are not ok either. Now, let's get back on track.

Sounds like you had a great one! Congrats on the 40 wooo!

I'm glad to hear you are already getting some professional help and that you've discussed the issue. I wonder though, do they have complete information about the particular 'things' that make you happy when they say "keep doing what makes you happy?" I mean, broadly speaking, it may be decent advice, but if what makes someone happy is stealing narcotics from the pharmacy every other week and selling them to minors, it is, well, bad advice in that context. I'm not trying to equate that situation with yours, but merely stating that "do what makes you happy" is a sorta complicated piece of advice. In reality, obviously anyone can do so, but with potential consequences based on the action. It sounds like there are some deeper issues as you've discussed, and that is understandable. But it sounds like your coping mechanisms for dealing with those issues, involve other people and potentially hurting them. I hope that you can continue to work with your counselor about developing other mechanisms for managing with those addictions and challenges, that are less likely to involve or hurt others. I'm glad to see you acknowledge here that you do believe you have such an addiction, when earlier in the thread you stated you didn't. That shows some self-reflection and analysis, and admitting the reality of the situation. Being addicted to something doesn't make you a bad person - a lot of people struggle with addiction - but it is a constant battle of managing those addictions and working on improving yourself, as well as developing some other coping mechanisms. And taking personal responsibility for one's actions and consequences as a result of addiction, is also important. Working on this 'problem' is not going to be easy. Of course it's complicated. You basically have emotional and/or physical relationships with multiple people, and you can't just 'fix' that situation in a day. But I do think it's important that you work on the situation, because you know this is heading for trouble and you posting here about it reveals just that.

I smile at myself cause 3 is a personal best hahahah. But that’s ok, I’ve played lots of other games not on the list also, which was a separate goal - play more games, buy less games.

Musta missed it. Happy belated birthday @JamesRobot! Hope you had a great one!

The other thing I forgot to mention - and this is more anecdotal and personalized, but still - back when the wii was popular, my nephew was at a great young age for enjoying video games. I have very very fond memories of playing wii games with him - mario kart, tennis, bowling, a bunch of the lego games, and many more. Hours of quality time with my nephew, which are more important and memorable for me than most other gaming experiences. The Wii was extremely accessible for him, and allowed us both to enjoy content together in a new way. For that, I'll always be grateful to the wii and the many hours of great fun and bonding time. Sure there are tons of shovelware games, but there were also some really good games that I enjoyed a lot, like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime trilogy, Xenoblade, and several others. I particularly enjoyed Okami and Trauma Center, which I felt used the motion controls pretty well, among some others. All in all, it isn't my favorite system of all time (that is hands down PS2 ), but, I had lots of fun with it and don't seem to have *near* the negative emotion toward it as a system like many others.

Currently watching Hilda on Netflix, it's quite cute and I like it. Haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to at some point.

^ This is my most anticipated game of the year. Backed it and SUPER excited for it!

From a historical standpoint, the Wii was wildly successful for Nintendo, which I'm sure was quite welcome as Nintendo most definitely wasn't really king of the console wars during the GameCube era. It certainly made Nintendo a lot of money which undoubtedly helped their future. The other thing it did was brought a lot of mainstream people into gaming. It's hard to really evaluate or analyze where all those people went from there, but it definitely had a big impact to the broader gaming market, in ways we can't fully quantify now. I know there are a lot of people in modding communities who are *still* super into the Wii, because it is so versatile for modding, homebrew, and all sorts of other things. Coupled with the fact that it is super easy to get a console, it brings a lot of value for them. I don't find myself going back and playing Wii games often, but I think it had a very big impact to the industry, in a few different ways.

No texting and biking please, but you are allowed to use voice dictation. I'm sure that will be fun to read!

Sorry folks, Werewolf is cancelled, but you are invited to join the bike gang with Jeevan!