Salute Friend

Yokoso!

Welcome to my Japanese Lessons.

Have you ever watched an old Japanese samurai movie on the late show? Chances are you thought that everyone was always angry at everyone else and spent a lot of time yelling in monotonous staccato tones. I felt the same way. It was all unintelligible blabber, not a real language. Well, guess what? It is actually possible to make some sense out of the nonsensical language that you hear on Japanese movies, etc. With a little understanding of how the language works, you will be on your way to sounding just like those yelling, sword-swinging samurai of yore.

What I would like to do is provide you with a basic understanding of the Japanese language. It is not meant to replace formal study at an institute of higher learning. Not everything can be covered, but I will do my best to provide language tips that will help you develop your Japanese language skills.

I will be working mainly with “conversational” Japanese in nature; something that you can use right away in certain situations. Learning to read and write can take years.

Of course in order to truly become fluent in any foreign language it is always desirable, if at all possible, to immerse oneself in the language and culture (like what I did - threw away a life in biotechnology for a brave new world). Coming to Japan will do wonders for your language ability if you ever have the chance. I understand that this is not feasible for most people, so I will strive to do my best to provide you with current lessons and examples for study.

Pronunciation in Japanese

Maybe you have recently had a phrase translated for you with the corresponding pronunciation written in roman characters. Or how about a tattoo in kanji (Japanese characters)? That is rather popular these days. But how do you pronounce it so it sounds close to natural? Fear not for help is on the way! In this lesson you will learn a bit about the history of the language and how the language sounds. So sit back, take out your notebook and enjoy the first lesson Japanese Lesson series.

Let’s get down to business.

In Japanese there is no clear stress on syllables in words as there is in English. A non-Japanese speaker would pronounce the city of Yokohama as “Yoko-HAA-ma” and the family name Yoshida as “Yo-SHEE-da”. In English, stress tends to be placed on the second last syllable of longer words. Not so in Japanese. All syllables are spoken with equal strength and length. A Japanese speaker would say “Yo-ko-ha-ma” and “Yo-shi-da” without stressing any parts.

Try saying the following words without putting any extra strength or stress on any of the syllables:

1. Yokohama 2. Kawasaki 3. Nagasaki 4. Hiroshima 5. Amerika

6. Osutoraria 7. koohii 8. Nippon 9. beesubooru 10. koppu

Some texts say that there are long and short syllables in the Japanese language. I disagree. In most cases the longer sound of a syllable is due simply to an extra vowel placed after the previous syllable. For example Tokyo is actually pronounced like To-u-kyo-u and Kyoto is Kyo-u-to (note here that the final to in Kyoto sounds shorter than the middle to but it is just because it lacks the additional u which makes the sound appear to be longer. Pronounced carefully, the “long” syllable takes twice as long to pronounce as the “short” syllable.

Practice these sounds:

1. biiru 2. biru 3. konpyuuta 4. konpyuutaa 5. koka koora

6. Toukyou 7. Kyouto 8. suteeki 9. ginkou 10. waapuro

There are five vowels in the Japanese language: A, I, U, E, O. These vowels have one sound apiece. Unlike the English “a” which can have the sounds found in cat, crawl, cape, the Japanese A sounds like the vowel found in the word cup. And as a matter of fact, all of the syllables in Japanese are very short and clipped (Suzuki sounds more like S’z'ki). Remember that whenever you see a vowel in a Japanese word it will always have the following sound:

Vowel: a i u e o
Sound: up heat soup left slope

Most consonants sound as they do in English with a few exceptions worth noting: K, G, S, Z, D, T, P, B do not have the puff of air that is associated with same consonants in English. The N is also a very unusual sound as it can actually take on four different sounds, depending on where it is found in the word.

If it precedes a vowel (as in no) it has the normal N sound found in English. Before t, ts, d, n, ch, j it also posses the normal n sound.

If it is found before p, b, m it takes on an m sound.

If it is found before k and g it sounds like ng as in finger.

If it is found at the end of a word, or before all other sounds, it has a nasal sound, similar to the French n as in pain (bread).

There is one other sound that we need to discuss. It is the most difficult sound for foreigners to pronounce correctly. It is the R sound. This sound is not found in the English language. It is a somewhere between the English L, D, R and is a rather short, chopped sound. In this case the tongue quickly flicks the roof of the mouth just in front of the soft upper pallette. This sound takes a lot of practice to get right and in order to pronounce it correctly you need to hear it to be able to reproduce it.

The following chart shows all the possible combinations of consonants and vowels in the Japanese Language. Note that in almost every case (except for n by itself) all consonants are followed by a vowel. This makes the language very easy to pronounce.

a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa wo n

i ki shi chi ni hi mi - ri - - -

u ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru - -

e ke se te ne he me - re - - -

o ko so to no ho mo yo ro - - -

There are some other sounds which are not quite as common, but are actually a slight variation of the main sounds.

They are the Secondary Sounds:

ga za da ba pa

gi ji - bi pi

gu zu - bu pu

ge ze de be pe

go zo do bo po

There are situations where two consonants are together with a vowel.

They produce the following Tertiary Sounds:

kya gya sha ja cha nya hya pya bya mya rya

kyu gyu shu ju chu nyu hyu pyu byu myu ryu

kyo gyo sho jo cho nyo hyo pyo byo myo ryo

Now that you are armed with the correct sounds for the language, why don’t you pull out your Japanese Name or Phrase and give the pronunciation a try? with a bit of practice you should be able to get the sounds just right.

One last thing to mention that I found really helps with getting the pronunciation right. Almost all of the sounds can be said without the use of the lips. Think of yourself as a ventriloquist, speaking from a puppet. Don’t move your lips, and keep them relaxed. It should help. And practice.

Here are a few simple sentences that you can use for pronunciation practice and begin to memorize for your future use:

Practice Sentences:

1. Watashi no namae wa Ken desu. (My name is Ken.)

2. Kono biiru wa ikura desu ka? (How much is this beer?)

3. Toire wa doko desuka? (Where is the toilet?)

4. Mata ne! (See you later!)

5. Ohisashiburi desu ne. (Long time no see.)

6. Ohayou gozaimasu. (Good morning.)

7. Konnichi wa. (Hello.)

8. Konban wa. (Good evening.)

9. Oyasumi nasai. (Good night.)

10. Koko wa doko desu ka? (Where am I now?)

—————————
The Culture Pocket: A Brief History of the Japanese Written Language

Most scholars believe that prior to the introduction of Kanji from China, there was no formal written language. No one is certain when the script first came to the islands but some believe that it could have been around the first century AD. In the early third century, artifacts have been recovered that depict some form of writing.

Kanji was first used as a system of writing sometime in the late 5th century or early 6th century. It is difficult to set an exact date because of the writings being based on the Chinese calendar which is difficult to interpret. More than likely, Chinese or Koreans who came to the islands to live began using the characters.

In the beginning kanji was more than likely used to represent sounds (phonetics) for loan words from other cultures. Also, the introduction of Buddhism into China and eventually Japan prompted translations of the scripts using the script. Buddhism probably had the greatest influence on the development of the language due to the huge influx of people from the mainland to build temples, translate documents, make statues, tiles, copy sutras, etc.

Around the seventh century it seems that the Japanese people began mastering the language themselves and started to do some work of their own. The language began to make some changes as it took on more than just a phonetic reproduction of foreign words (KUN reading). Eventually it began to be used to represent ideas and concepts.

Chinese and Japanese are completely different. In terms of structure, Chinese is actually closer to English than it is to Japanese. And yet, the Japanese, in their amazing ability to adapt things to their own ideas, were able to take the Chinese and add marks so that it would conform to the Japanese word order. Then the kanji began to take on a second reading, known as the ON reading, as mentioned above. It may be that the Korean language had influenced the development of the Japanese language as both have similar word orders and also use honorific auxiliaries.

In the Nara period (710-784) there was an explosion of Japanese literature. It seems that much of the oral tradition of passing on history was translated into script for the future generations. The language began to become more and more complex.

Hiragana began to be developed around the Nara period as well. It has its roots in the simplification of a cursive-style of writing kanji. This cursive style was mainly used privately among individuals to make notes, letters and other personal documents. For about 1400 years the hiragana had a very large set of letters. In 1900 it was standardized in brushwritten and woodblock-printed forms, mainly for artistic purposes. Because of this, hiragana tends to have a roundish, flowing style and shape.

Officials and scholars continued to use classical Chinese for their work for many hundred years. As the language developed, it became necessary to add notes next to the text to aid in the reading of the texts. This began in the Heian period (794-1192). Because space was limited, scholars began using a shorthand version of the kanji used for pronunciation. This was the beginning of Katakana. In the beginning it was not entirely different from hiragana but over time developed a more square appearance, more scholarly. Eventually the katakana script evolved such that it began to be used solely for writing foreign loan words, or concepts that did not exist in the native Japanese language.

Reference: Japanese Correspondence Course for JET Participants, 1993

- Cameron Switzer, Fukui, Japan

Cameron Switzer has lived and worked in Japan for over 15 years. He is fluent in the language, the culture and business.

To visit his personal site, please go to http://www.japanippon.com/ where you can learn a lot about life in Japan and have a great time while doing it!

If you would like to continue studying the Free! Japanese Lessons, please visit:
http://www.japanippon.com/japanese/classroom.htm/ today.

For assistance regarding business related to Japan, please visit Cameron’s business site, Intrmarket Solutions, at:
http://www.intrmarketsolutions.com/ today.

If you yourself are an impassioned author, natural writer or possibly a small enterprise hopeful to report innovative thoughts or possibly make some mark upon this extreme world then more traditional publishing may regularly be a stumbling post to revealing your carefully crafted innermost ideas and concerns out and about, into the public eye. Take heed the crestfallen, there are sharp digital and online options existing which can take the grief, burning distress and some of the exasperating guesswork out of broadcasting your textual labours. No revelation you will probably be delighted to hear that one may circumvent those wretched editors, sub-editors and self-important publishers through undertaking your own confident actions toward broadcasting your own works.

So you have an out of this world piece that you have been working tremendously hard on for years, or possibly highly indispensable facts which you just know folks would sell their homes to hold. One could possibly have intriguing information from a research report, or probably even an assortment of imaginative photographs, special pictures or additional ingenious artworks that you would like to have assembled as a collection of inspired works to exhibit one’s artistic endowment or to get priceless exposure to the quality services you provide and get your specialist products acknowledgment. How about just having your comment regarding those things that really upset you; people, contrived politics, vacillating society, shallow culture and sharing your firm opinions with other likeminded individuals.

Currently you might find yourself in an amazing situation where it is likely that you have put in the exceptionally hard labour and have got the produce; a piece of innovative work that is uncommonly beneficial, however, you might will still need to consult with a publisher and persuade them that your lovingly created pieces are also worthy to be forever immortalised in print. Alas this will probably generally be the end of the line for many naturally talented authors, wordsmiths, poets, scribes, reporters and biographers. Even if the publisher has been able to be convinced another frustrating tripping post might well be brought to the fore. This elevated charges of all all of the extras; editors, designers and other resources necessary to convert a marvellous plan into a fulfilled reality can fall just outside of what it is possible that you feel is affordable or you could may not be able to give good reason for the fee.

The money entailed in broadcasting is not the only prevention or testing trippingq block, for many the turn around times for traditional publishing are much too long. This is often the case in the instance of stories, data or information that is particularly fresh, relating to hot trends or topics and could usually devalue as time passes and the limited window of opening for effect starts to disappear.

Modern technology comes to the rescue once again, offering you a fast track alternative method. In our chaotic, technologically advanced crazy world an enormous array of services that have commonly been offered offline are also fast making the systematic migration into the insubstantial chic online world, making the services far more obtainable to any who needs to use them and often at a great deal smaller cost to the user too. Clever digital publishing is just one of these services and it provides you, the prodigious young author with the capability to publish your works yourself without the annoying wait and charges associated with the more “historical” mediums. To self publish online digital services are a fantastic place to start.

Digital publishing should also provide you flexibility you might be hopeful for in terms of the simplicity of renewing information, data or even adding entire divisions to an already published work. Then there are also the developing appeal of rich media such as; interactive applications, animations, videos and widgets. With an online or digitally published inspired work this flexibility is fully achievable and a broad range of extras and rich media are easily integrated into the magazine, article, or e-book.

In summary, a prodigious composer, small research creative enterprise or photographic studio no longer needs to kiss up to publishers or hold up a small bank to see their creation out and about in the marketplace. We live in today’s clever digital age and today’s outrageous world of digital has come to rescue to help you realise your broadcasting dreams.

The latest great thing in home theater displays is the emergence of 1080p resolution displays. p stands for progressive, which means the screen fills all at once at 1/60th of a second, versus i for interlaced, which means every other line, then the other half of the full picture, each field displaying at 1/30th of a second.

At this time, there is no source for broadcast 1080p programming. Instead, we have 1080i: two interlaced fields make a frame, at 1/30th second for each field.

Finger it out!

Take your fingers and spread them apart. That’s a crude example of interlaced. When you bring the hands together, you combine both fields and you get the whole picture (one frame). It happens fast enough that you don’t notice the effect unless there’s motion on the screen, then you might see a difference in the smoothness of the motion.

Progressive is all the fingers at once. 720p is fewer pixels, faster: 1/60th second per frame.

1080 = 1920 x 1080 pixels | 720 = 1280 x 720 pixels

Till recently, HDTVs were either 720p or 1080i. Most TV transmissions were 1080i. I believe ABC adopted 720p because it would have shown sports with better pictures. I also remember back when Panasonic Broadcast underwrote ABC (as 720p) - or at least Monday Night Football. Fox and ESPN now also do 720P. The others are 1080i.

The new 1080p sets don’t have the front end circuitry to actually receive that resolution. But, again, nothing is transmitting that res anyway. What the advantage is, is how these sets show 1080i - they have the pixel count to do it without trouble. They deinterlace the transmission and present it full frame without throwing away any detail. A 720p set has to downconvert a 1080i signal. In that downconversion you can lose some detail.

(BUT) OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?

But there’s a more important issue - can you really see the difference in resolution between 1080i and 1080p? Tests of visual acuity to determine the resolution required of a television transmission system by the BBC’s J.O. Drewery and R. Salmon determined that at 9 feet, a 50 inch screen at 720p’s resolution will give you all the resolution you can see! At 9 feet, a 56 incher needs 1080i to avoid seeing the pixel structure.
If you sit farther or closer, you may need more resolution.

1080i vs 720p: MOTION CHANGES EVERYTHING

Motion is different issue. If you want to see motion clearly, then live action 720p is what looks best, compared to 1080i. Here’s why: the information content of 720p is about the same as 1080i, though what it lacks in spatial resolution, it makes up for in temporal resolution (because the picture is at 1/60th of a second, not 1/30th x 2.) On 1080i, this would show as flickered or jagged edges on bright horizontal objects (like in the background of a camera pan.)

The good news? As the retailers hawk 1080p, you might find a killer deal on a 720p set and not give up anything in what I’ll call ‘effective’ picture quality to get it.

Bob Wood cuts through confusion and technical detail to offer a clear guide: what you need to know to shop wisely; how to then maximize the performance of your Home Theater system. His website, http://www.GreatHomeTheater.com has been called “refreshingly easy to understand!”

It’s undeniable that a well placed and mounted samurai sword or samurai sword set looks fantastic and an ads character to any room of the home, but is it worth spending upwards of $650 on such a sword or sword set? This all depends on your reasons for buying a samurai sword.

If you are merely purchasing a samurai sword for display purposes and positioning it as a focal point in a room then you certainly don’t need to spend anything like the amount suggested above, you can just go for a relatively cheap manufactured replica with the necessary sword stand. Sword stands come in a variety of applications - table standing, wall mounted or single standing sword stands. How you display your samurai sword or set is up to you, although I personally think they look fantastic on the wall above the fireplace. It gives the room a real atmosphere.

If you’re interested in martial arts however, buying a quality forged blade is an absolute must, both for safety in the Dojo and simply because it will be required for cutting. Handling swords is extremely dangerous alone, never mind trying to cut through objects and swing about a manufactured replica not meant for that purpose.

The Paul Chen range of practical Katanas is a brilliant start to your samurai sword martial arts career, and come in a variety of flavours - the popular Katana, Wakizashi and of course the Tanto. These blades are designed for cutting and are extremely sharp - always seek proper training when it comes to handling swords of any kind.

Article by Nick Johnson, visit his website on samurai swords for more information on samurai swords

One of the “I don’t want to talk about it” subject for owners of a home theater, is the receiver and subwoofer crossover setup.

One of the complicated things to do when you buy a home theater setting the
speakers and crossover menu. Ok, first you must know that you just have to make
one adjustment, you just need to make the adjustment in the receiver system and
not in the subwoofer system like I was doing it the first time that I setup my first
home theater; a waste of time.

Please don’t forget to turn the subwoofer on before starting with the setup and
putting it in 80 Hz crossover frequency.

When you are doing the setup in the receiver you’ll see in the screen of your TV a
question regarding wether you have a subwoofer running and what crossover
frequency you want to use (many people just told that me the their receivers didn’t
give them a choice of frequency, that they only have the factory set at 80 Hz. that’s
ok). like this the receiver will route all the deep bass frequencies below 80 Hz to the
subwoofer via the subwoofer out jack from the receiver.

Note: Before you continue, remember if your receiver has 100 Hz and no other
choice, you have to use that instead of the 80 Hz that I was explaining before, I only
put 80 Hz because it’s the most common in most applications.

Ok, I was telling you, I recommend to experiment with all the settings, mix them all
and see which settings is better for your room, depending of the size, you can
select the large settings on your receiver for the front speakers ( the main ones) and
small settings for the subwoofer and the surround sound speakers, like this the
sounds with frequencies above 80 Hz will go to the front speakers and the sounds
with frequencies below 80 Hz are going to the sub and the surround sound
speakers. But remember, please, be a child!!! experiment with the frequencies and
see which mix you like the most, because, it’s your home theater, your room and of
course your taste, everybody is different so, it’s up to you.

Note: Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying above, but remember when I am
saying that if you put the subwoofer more than 80Hz, , that is its function and it
could turn in to another speaker instead of the sub for your home theater.

Good Luck.

“better things come from better people… be one of them. share what
you know”

Helmut Reiterer
http://www.audio-video-system.com/home-entertainment.html

The Tour de France is the BIG one; it’s the World cup and the Olympics all in one. It has it all, the high mountains, the wind swept northern planes and the heat of the south. It also has the world’s media, all the top teams and riders and millions of cycling mad fans watching. The other “Grand Tours” of Italy and Spain are as exciting, sometimes more so, but they don’t have the thing the Tour has, that unique Tour ness, that unique French ness.

How it started.

It all started in 1903, when the French daily paper, L’Auto wanted to sell more than its competitor, Le Vélo, who at that time was the only paper reporting on cycle racing. It was suggested to the papers director, Henri Desgrange that they should organise a road bike race all round France. The first race was 2,428 kilometres split into six stages and was run off at 25.29 kilometres per hour and out of the 60 starters 21 finished and the race was lead from start to finish by Maurice Garin.

The Heroes.

Over the years there has been a lot of heroes in the Tour de France, you could say all the riders are heroes, to win the race once is hard, but to win it five times is phenomenal. Only five men have done this, and one of these has won it seven times. French rider Jacques Anquetil was the first to win the race five times, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and then Spaniard Miguel Indurain all equalled him. Then the American, Lance Armstrong started to win in 1999 and didn’t stop until he had won it a record seven times in a row. This is all the more amazing as he is a cancer survivor and was given a 50/50 chance of life; he beat the cancer and went on to beat all comers in the Tour de France.

The course.

The race starts in a different town every year and every other year it starts outside France, the choice of stage towns is a combination of money and sporting considerations, the towns will pay for a start or a finish, but they need to be near a mountain or a cobbled road or be near other town who want to host the Tour. The Towns pay to be the centre of interest for a day, the Tour also brings in a lot of money in tourism and the Towns collect much more than they pay and the world will remember the name of the Town, for at least a day.

The riders.

All the best riders want to win the Tour de France, but they cant, from the 200 or so starters there is a possible five or six riders who can win, the rest are either helping their team leaders or sprint or mountain specialists who want to win stages or points or mountain jerseys, this keeps the race active and interesting from beginning to end.

The BIG Tour.

The Tour is the biggest, but that has its problems, some Towns are not big enough, hotels etc., the television needs more space, the journalists need more phone lines and computers, more and more people are following the race and the riders can be forgotten about in all the razzmatazz, but its still the biggest sporting event in the world, long may in run!

Alastair Hamilton is a successful writer who offers a truly unique depth of experience in competitive cycling, he also contributes adding technical articles on road bikes to some cycling online magazines. Please, visit http://www.bike-cycling-reviews.com to reach further information on bike and cycling news.

There are many systems that can lock your software or document, allowing you to control access to that file. But the problem arises with assuming that this will stop all theft? A well thought out, thorough protection system can deter theft, but it cannot stop it 100%.

An “unbreakable” protection system simply does not, and will never exist. If someone really wants your information, they can get it, even if it takes years of work.

SO WHAT’S THE POINT? WHY USE ANY PROTECTION AT ALL?

There is no 100% security guarantee in anything, but that’s no reason to totally ignore protecting your intellectual property — A thief can easily kick in your front door and rob your house, but you still lock the door right? Locking the door is not 100% effective security, but we still do it. Why? Because locking the door deters most potential theft and those who are more determined will have to work a bit to get in.

WHO SHOULD USE PROTECTION?

The big question here is, HOW VALUABLE IS YOUR INFORMATION TO YOU? Sensitive, proprietary or private information demands some sort of protection, otherwise transmitting over the net is not an option.

If your information is not free, then it’s obviously of some importance. So, how much damage would it do to you if it were made freely available? What type of impact would it have on your sales and could you (or would you) absorb that without thinking twice?

Is a $14 Ebook worth paying for another service to protect it? Probably not, but it depends on the situation and target market. What about a $2,000 report? Does the price change the perspective?

Business protect their property. If you believe your information or software to be of a unique or proprietary nature, you should protect that information using some means, no matter how small.

Companies like Microsoft lose hundreds of millions of dollars due to software theft and fraud, yet they continue to implement protection measures in their software. I would guess that without any protection whatsoever the losses would be in the billions.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT?

Like I said, there is no 100% way to prevent every possible incident, but you can make it very difficult and less likely to happen. At best what you should hope is to provide just enough security to close obvious security flaws and discourage would-be thieves. But not so much security that it discourages honest users and customers.

PROTECTION OPTIONS

Here are some common protection schemes:

No Protection: Just distribute your information and hope for the best.

- Pros: No special process to access file which means less support issues

- Cons: File can be passed around, copied, distributed and/or sold without authorization from the owner. Can’t prevent access after chargeback or refund. —

General Password Protection: Simply requiring a predetermined password to install or register the file.

- Pros: Simple for customer or end user.

- Cons: File and password can be passed around, copied, distributed and/or sold without authorization from the owner. Can’t prevent access after chargeback or refund. —

PC Unique Password Protection: Generates a unique password based on the User’s machine.

- Pros: Can’t pass around the file since it is basically locked to one machine.

- Cons: Requires an extra step for registration; Customer cannot move file to another PC; If their PC crashes they will need another unique password; Can’t prevent access after chargeback or refund. —

Post-Purchase Activation: Requires activation by online server. After user purchases they are entered into an online customer database. They then install and register the file by entering their name/email or some data. The server confirms the purchase and then activates the software.This method is become more and more common with big name software.

- Pros: Can prevent unauthorized distribution of file since the file must be activated by the online server.

- Cons: User must be online to register file; Can’t move file to a different PC; Can’t prevent access after chargeback or refund. —

Active Password Protection: Each time user attempts to access file it checks an online server to confirm the usage rights and permissions for the user.

- Pros: Prevents distribution or copying of file; File Owner can revoke access to file after chargeback or refund; Access permissions can be changed and applied in real-time.

- Cons: must be connected to the net to register and/or access file; User may not be able to move file to another PC; User registration can be somewhat cumbersome and difficult for some customers. —

EVALUATING PROTECTION SERVICES

When looking to protect your digital information any protection system or service that you consider should have a few basic security bases covered.

For software and executables:

1. When opening the file, a protection system must not save or copy an unprotected version of the file to the windows TEMP directory or anywhere on your PC for that matter.

2. The system should automatically prevent password sharing and access by unauthorized parties. This will prevent the document from being passed around or distributed illegally since it can’t be opened unless you are authorized.

3. It should have some method to revoke or cancel access for refunded or fraudulent users.

For PDF documents, providing adequate protection requires a bit more security as their are many more ways to obtain a protection free copy of the document.

Any PDF protection system must cover the three bases above, as well as:

* It must prevent emailing of file and exporting or extracting pages from file. * It must prevent copying file and text to the clipboard * It must prevent redistilling of the file and printing to PDF * It must prevent unlimited, uncontrolled printing of file * It must watermark all printed pages * If using Adobe Reader, the company providing the protection service must be an authorized Adobe DRM provider.

WHAT ABOUT COST? IS IT WORTH IT?

Is $300 a year too much to protect your copyrights? Definitely not. Protection costs money, but if your business is making money then it’s a cost of doing business.

Is it for you? I don’t know. Selling a few low priced applications a month probably won’t warrant any sort of protection, but if you generate a substantial income from your software or the information distributed is of a critical nature to your business, then you need to protect your intellectual “capital” at some level.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Personally, I believe that some level of protection should be implemented on any piece of software or document that is of any value to you. You should never mass distribute a file in an unprotected format. Otherwise you will be scrambling when you find someone misusing it… if you find them!

It’s easy to listen to those that say “don’t worry about it” (a common reply to the document protection topic) until someone is actually stealing from you. Then all you can do is worry about it, but it’s too late really. The damage is done. You can’t take something back once it’s out there unprotected. No amount of legal threatening is going to phase someone in Prague who just doesn’t care about your copyrights.

About the Author

Anthony Ellis is the creator of File Secure Pro, a file protection and delivery system that allows authors to securely distribute, monitor and control usage of their intellectual property. Please read more about the system at http://www.protectyourfile.com/

I received a returned video from a well meaning, but severely misguided, former customer. This is a rarity since over the past 2 plus years and hundreds upon hundreds of videos shipped; I can only count 3 returns. One was unopened, one included a note that the recipient thought the videos would be something else, but he intended to buy the rest of the videos we offered, hmmm smells a little fishy (incidentally, this person has been banned from buying anything from us again). And lastly, this well-meaning person. The note inside prompted me to write this article. He identified himself that he was an orange belt in Krav Maga and that he has been instructed to “relax” and be loose during a life or death struggle. Now, I have not trained in Krav Maga nor do I know anything about the modern version of it. My focus is on the “relaxing” strategy; which I have heard from a variety of different “experts” during my 30 plus on the mat.

For efficiency of movement and economy of energy, there is NO DOUBT, that being relaxed is better. In combative sport it is essential that you conserve your energy and use it when an opportunity presents its self. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works when your neck is on the line. There are two instances that “relaxing” in a real fight can happen. The first is you have had hundreds of life and death confrontations. This allows you to be inoculated against the stress (some times). In that case, I want to meet you. Now it is IMPOSSIBLE to replicate fighting for your life in training. You can get intense, but it’s not even close. Because deep down, you know you’re not going to die, no matter how intense you train.

The second is you’re a sociopath. In that case you should be arrested.
Let’s look at a non-fighting example:

Most of us drive, some better than others. When you’re driving and you get cut off, what happens? A shot of adrenalin and your moving before you can even think about it. Your hear rate increases, you start to breathe rapidly and you spit out the nearest obscenity. Are you “Relaxed?” Most of us drive EVERYDAY. If it’s something as mundane as driving (unless you’re driving with Clint, in that case it IS a life or death situation) why aren’t you able to RELAX when you are about to crash? Simple, because you realize that your life is at risk and your body prepares for the worst. And there’s NOTHING you can do about it. Now don’t start telling me about some Grand Dragon Wizard Master. I’m talking about you.

Here’s another example:

First responders, people who deal with life and death regularly, Fire Fighters, EMT’s, Police and Soldiers all get that gut-churning feeling when they know SOMEONE’S life is at stake. No matter how many times they go to a call, they get the same feeling. That’s why training is simple, routine and repeated thousands of times. You need to perform common tasks during uncommon circumstances. And this is the ONLY way to do it. It’s only your training that prepares you. And it’s the repetition of high percentage techniques that will save you at that critical moment. It has to be instinct. During these times, your body is only going to allow you to perform certain functions. Relaxing is not one of them, pissing your self is. On the site I talk about the effects of your body’s mobilization for battle (www.how2fight.com). These are biological functions you can not over ride. IT IS AUTOMATIC.

This is where combat sport and real combat part ways. No matter what is “allowed” in competition, you know the other guy is not going to kill you. It doesn’t matter if it’s the UFC or the Olympics, you may get beat up, but you won’t get dead. You will be nervous, tense, and even scared. But deep down you know that if you get into trouble, the fight will be stopped. This is ALL the difference. Men like Carl Cestari, Charlie Nelson, W.E. Fairbairn, EA Sykes, Biddle, Applegate and others all experienced this first hand. Even Bruce Lee talked about using the “straight blast” when really pressed. Why not use the straight blast EVERY time?

This is the value of the videos @ www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com are why they are so successful with military, police and seasoned martial artists. They know the difference.

When you fight for your life your body operates in a way that is beyond your control. You need to train in such a way that allows you to operate in this “zone”. Did you know that a typical adrenaline blast lasts only 30 seconds? Then you need about 3 minute to “reboot”. That is a lifetime when you are fighting the unknown. Weapons, multiple assailants, broken bottles on the ground, snow, sleet- all must be factored in. Standing toe to toe and practicing your contrived techniques….where does this happen. Even trying to practice your breathing is ludicrous (not the rapper, that’s ludakris). How many first hand accounts start with “He came out of no where” or “he suddenly appeared”. If you see him or “mark” him, chances are he will pick another victim. He will come out of no where!
The other element that should be mentioned is your assailant. Personally, I train for the meanest, toughest SOB I can imagine. I picture him appearing at my door. I think about him coming into the door of my dojo and only one of us is going home. And I guarantee you, if some one is standing between me and my family- there’s no question of the outcome. Incidentally, you should feel the same way too. It’s easy to practice to beat your training partner; it’s easy to do something on your friends or even the local blow-hard down at the pub. That’s 70% of the world. You should worry about that psycho 1% and let the other 99% take care of its self.
If you think that you ARE trained you will be surprised what happens when you are in this situation. You never think you are going to act the way you think you are.

True story: Famous Okinawan Karate man, was serving as a Marine in Viet Nam. This person had trained in Okinawa under Choki Mobotu for several years prior to his deployment in Vietnam. During his training with Mobotu he endured endless hours of makiwara training and bogu fighting. During a firefight in Viet Nam the conflict degraded in to hand to hand. As I am hearing the story, I was waiting to hear how he decimated a V.C. Platoon with a reverse punch, I mean real “One shot- one kill”. Since grenades was all he had left and they were too close to throw them, he proceeded to bash people in the head with the grenades. After that, did he start knocking dead with a front kick, no he proceeded to use his helmet as a club and smash guys the enemy in the face. Was his training a waste of time? Definitely not, in fact, it was probably his training that gave him the stones to do what he did. Did he ever imagine his reaction, no. But it worked. The point is even if you think you’re “trained, you won’t know what will happen when your life is on the line. When your gross motor skills kick in and you CAN’T EVEN SPEAK, do you think you will be able to “RELAX”.

©2005 www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com

Damian Ross is the owner of Zenshin and instructor of Tekkenryu jujutsu and Kodokan Judo. He started competing in the combative sport of wrestling in 1975 at the age of 7 and began his study of Asian martial arts with Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do at the age of 16 in 1984. In 1989, Shinan Cestari gave a seminar at Sensei Ross’s dojo. Sensei Ross has trained under Shinan Cestari’s direction ever since. In addition to Tekkenryu Jujutsu, Judo and Tae Kwon Do, Sensei Ross has also studied Bando. Sensei Ross continues his study of Judo under the direction of 8th degree black belt Yoshisada Yonezuka and Tekkenryu Jujutsu under it’s founder, Carl Cestari. Below are is a list of some of his title ranks

Yodan (fourth degree black belt) Tekkenryu Jujutsu under Carl Cestari
Shodan (First degree black belt) Kodokan Judo under Yoshisada Yonezuka
Varsity Wrestling Lehigh University under Thad Turner
2nd Degree Black Belt Tae Kwon Do
http://www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com