danny + law = dan(e)law

This week on Theory of Dragonball, we shall look at Goku’s subconscious desire for the destruction of Earth, driven in part by his Saiyan need for a challenge.

Goku (you know from Dragonball) was sent to Earth as a baby to annihilate the population and make the planet ready for sale. At some point after arriving he hits his head, his Saiyan destructive programming is scrambled, and he becomes a force for good. For the next 9000 episodes of Dragonball/Z/GT he is Earth’s mightiest defender.

Or is he?

From the outset it’s pretty clear that Goku’s Saiyan programming is never fully scrambled. Before Dragonball begins, Goku has (accidentally) killed his adopted grandfather. During a full moon, Saiyans turn into giant destructive apes. They can learn to control this transformed form, but young Saiyans - you know the ones most at risk for running amok - usually don’t have it under control. It was in this transformed state that Goku kills his grandfather. Goku never finds this out - or at least never puts two-and-two together. Even after seeing his own son transform (Why are there giant ape tracks all over the place?).

Secondly there’s Goku’s propensity to solve problems with his fists. This is in part because most of the obstacles in his way try to use violence and intimidation to get what they want. Goku severely outclasses them in many respects and beats them into the ground. But does this solve the problem for good? Nope.

Really - the Red Ribbon Army is destroyed in Dragonball. Only to return in Dragonball Z with seven incredibly powerful androids (#16, #17, #18, #19, #20, and Cell). In one timeline Goku dies of heart failure before the androids turn up. In the other timeline he gets killed fighting Cell, leaving his eleven-year-old son to finish the job. Goku essentially puts the fate of the entire world in the hands of his child who, throughout the series, has a propensity for choking and fucking things up.

In the third season of DBZ, Goku fights and practically defeats Frieza. Frieza is cut in half by his own errant attack and what does Goku do? Goku gives Frieza some of his own energy. And what does Frieza do? After Namek explodes he gets cybernetic implants and comes to Earth with the sole intention of exterminating all life before Goku makes it back. And Frieza would have succeeded if it wasn’t for Trunks’ timely arrival.

Goku ostensibly was being merciful to Frieza, but the real reason was simple; Goku had met the only being in the universe capable of matching his strength. Without Frieza, Goku had no one who could hope to test his might. Goku didn’t spare Frieza out of compassion, but out of his Saiyan need for a good challenge. 

Goku’s confrontations with his adversaries bring out his competitive Saiyan nature. He can’t resist a physical challenge. He was engineered to be an efficient killing machine that doesn’t back down from a fight. This trait is essential to the Saiyans’ martial prowess. Saiyans become stronger after every fight, and stronger still if they recover from the point of death. This is what drives Goku - he doesn’t really care about Earth or its people. He just wants to get stronger at any cost. That’s what Saiyans do. That’s what he is.

I’m not saying Goku is amoral - he clearly loves his family and his friends. But this love does not define him. These attachments are part of what he sees is his defining trait: his ever-expanding strength. His attachments just help make him stronger by giving him an anchor. He draws strength from the people around him.

Cooperation isn’t alien to Saiyans; they’re not psychopaths after all. But it’s a mistake to look at Goku’s “sensitive” side and conclude he’s just a dumb super strong guy. He’s not. His Saiyan nature continually asserts itself. The need to fight, to destroy is something inalienable from his nature. And it subconsciously manifests itself all the time. The result is that Goku is perfectly willing (and often does) put Earth at risk just so he can get a good fight.   

The result is that, despite no longer being evil, Goku is largely carrying out his Saiyan programming at a subsconscious level. 

TL;DR - Goku is subconsciously carrying out his initial mission to destroy Earth. I could totally write a DBZ dissertation because I am a giant loser.

sidatron:

danelaw:

sidatron:

In buying a new PC for myself for my bday, I was trying hard to figure out a way to get my external HD to work on both my Macbook and PC. In the end, my HD is now corrupt. All my pictures from the past 6 years and music from way before then.

I can’t remember if I emptied out the old HD that I replaced this past winter or not. It is in the states with my parents, so I need to wait until mom can check on her computer. It should have everything except, obviously, stuff since after I bought it. Knock on wood, cross your fingers, everything please.

Soju+Chilsung and D3 now. Keunseok is taking a nap. My 5min of incoherent bawling over what happened made him realize it was Fucking Serious in Sidney World. He is going to try to also see if we can get the info recovered by someone.

Halp.

Which hard drive is corrupt? The external or the internal?

Either way, this might help. I’m assuming it’s your PC that’s being weird. Though there’s actually no real reason this won’t work on a Mac. I’m also assuming you don’t have much experience with Linux, but if you use OSX then Linux will be pretty familiar to you.

1. Make a Linux boot CD. I use Ubuntu because it’s the easiest Linux distribution to handle - but if you have a favorite distro that has a live session (Debian does, and Solaris which isn’t actually Linux does too) use that
2. What I do is I power down my computer, use a hairpin to open the CD tray, place the disc inside, close the tray, and power up the computer
3. When the computer boots up it shouldn’t go to Windows, instead you should see a screen that says something to the effect of “Linux debian blah blah blah”
4. In a few minutes it will ask you if you want to install Ubuntu, or to try it out in a live session. Run the live session - it runs Ubuntu off the CD without ever touching the hard drive. No need to install Linux
5. A little while later you’ll come to a GUI screen that looks kind of like this
6. Ubuntu looks a lot like OSX in some ways. The brown folder icon is your file manager: all of your partitions/drives will be listed to the left of the file manager window and will probably be unmounted. Ubuntu will prompt you to mount drives before you can access them
7. You can also connect your peripherals/external hard drive in the live session. You can usually use the live session to move documents and stuff from a corrupted drive to an uncorrupted one 
8. Short of installing Linux or moving system files, you can’t hurt your computer with the live session
9. Once all your files are safe, just shut down. The next step is fixing the corruption.

Ubuntu has some pretty powerful diagnostic tools in the live session.  You can just use the SMART thing to check your drives’ health. You can also use it to fix errors (if they are fixable). With Ubuntu you usually don’t have to go into Terminal/command line, but even so, the learning curve isn’t too high.

Hope this helps!

My hero!!!

It’s the external HD that is corrupt. It will show up as a drive on my PC (saying it is corrupt & needs to be formatted) but won’t show up at all on my Mac. Another friend suggested I use Scalpel, which needs Linux. Thank you for the step-by-step, I’m going to give this a go during this weekend~

No prob! Adding this since I was assuming (1) it was Windows being problematic, and (2) you might have tried this already. In case you haven’t, and for anyone who is watching:

In OSX, inside your Applications -> Utilities folder there should be a Disk Utility program that allows you to diagnose (and repair) the problem a little better than Windows’ disk utility thing. Your external might show up there even if it doesn’t actually mount. OSX and Linux descend from the same parent, so you might make a breakthrough there.

Good luck! Let us all know how it works out. 

sidatron:

In buying a new PC for myself for my bday, I was trying hard to figure out a way to get my external HD to work on both my Macbook and PC. In the end, my HD is now corrupt. All my pictures from the past 6 years and music from way before then.

I can’t remember if I emptied out the old HD that I replaced this past winter or not. It is in the states with my parents, so I need to wait until mom can check on her computer. It should have everything except, obviously, stuff since after I bought it. Knock on wood, cross your fingers, everything please.

Soju+Chilsung and D3 now. Keunseok is taking a nap. My 5min of incoherent bawling over what happened made him realize it was Fucking Serious in Sidney World. He is going to try to also see if we can get the info recovered by someone.

Halp.

Which hard drive is corrupt? The external or the internal?

Either way, this might help. I’m assuming it’s your PC that’s being weird. Though there’s actually no real reason this won’t work on a Mac. I’m also assuming you don’t have much experience with Linux, but if you use OSX then Linux will be pretty familiar to you.

1. Make a Linux boot CD. I use Ubuntu because it’s the easiest Linux distribution to handle - but if you have a favorite distro that has a live session (Debian does, and Solaris which isn’t actually Linux does too) use that
2. What I do is I power down my computer, use a hairpin to open the CD tray, place the disc inside, close the tray, and power up the computer
3. When the computer boots up it shouldn’t go to Windows, instead you should see a screen that says something to the effect of “Linux debian blah blah blah”
4. In a few minutes it will ask you if you want to install Ubuntu, or to try it out in a live session. Run the live session - it runs Ubuntu off the CD without ever touching the hard drive. No need to install Linux
5. A little while later you’ll come to a GUI screen that looks kind of like this
6. Ubuntu looks a lot like OSX in some ways. The brown folder icon is your file manager: all of your partitions/drives will be listed to the left of the file manager window and will probably be unmounted. Ubuntu will prompt you to mount drives before you can access them
7. You can also connect your peripherals/external hard drive in the live session. You can usually use the live session to move documents and stuff from a corrupted drive to an uncorrupted one 
8. Short of installing Linux or moving system files, you can’t hurt your computer with the live session
9. Once all your files are safe, just shut down. The next step is fixing the corruption.

Ubuntu has some pretty powerful diagnostic tools in the live session.  You can just use the SMART thing to check your drives’ health. You can also use it to fix errors (if they are fixable). With Ubuntu you usually don’t have to go into Terminal/command line, but even so, the learning curve isn’t too high.

Hope this helps!

Or The Song of the Cheerful (But Slightly Sarcastic) Jesus.

I’m the queerest young fellow that ever was heard.

My mother’s a Jew; my father’s a Bird

With Joseph the Joiner I cannot agree

So ‘Here’s to Disciples and Calvary.’

If anyone thinks that I amn’t divine,

He gets no free drinks when I’m making the wine

But have to drink water and wish it were plain

That I make when the wine becomes water again.

My methods are new and are causing surprise:

To make the blind see I throw dust in their eyes

To signify merely there must be a cod

If the Commons will enter the Kingdom of God

Now you know I don’t swim and you know I don’t skate

I came down to the ferry one day and was late.

So I walked on the water and all cried, in faith!

For a Jewman it’s better than having to bathe.

Whenever I enter in triumph and pass

You will find that my triumph is due to an ass

(And public support is a grand sinecure

When you once get the public to pity the poor.)

Then give up your cabin and ask them for bread

And they’ll give you a stone habitation instead

With fine grounds to walk in and raincoat to wear

And the Sheep will be naked before you’ll go bare.

The more men are wretched the more you will rule

But thunder out ‘Sinner’ to each bloody fool;

For the Kingdom of God (that’s within you) begins

When you once make a fellow acknowledge he sins.

Rebellion anticipates timely by ‘Hope,’

And stories of Judas and Peter the Pope

And you’ll find that you’ll never be left in the lurch

By children of Sorrows and Mother the Church

Goodbye, now, goodbye, you are sure to be fed

You will come on My Grave when I rise from the Dead

What’s bred in the bone cannot fail me to fly

And Olivet’s breezy—Goodbye now Goodbye.

metheliving:

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

— Earthsea