Daigo Newsletter

This section is to feature a

student in the Dojo. Some-

times, we only know each oth-

er in our brief time at the

school but there is more to all

of us than those few hours

each week.

A student picked randomly is

asked a series of questions and

their responses are recorded

and featured here as a way to

learn more about them. Have

fun reading.

Name: Kevin Boughen

Age: 30

Place of Birth: Dauphin, MB

Horoscope: Aries

Height: 5’10”

Weight: 167 lbs

Marital Status: Married and

now a new father (Congrats)

Where did you grow up? Dau-

phin, MB

What did you want to be when

you grew up? Dentist

Job Title: Project Manager

Dream Job: International Tour

Guide

Hobbies: Martial Arts, Skiing,

Golf

How long have you studied

martial arts? 11 years

Goal in martial arts? Black belt

in Genbukan

Coolest thing you learned/saw

in martial arts? Hon Gyaku

Favorite Movie: 300

Favorite Music: Rock

Favorite Food: Pasta

Favorite Drink: Pepsi

If you could change one thing

in the world? Hunger

If you could live anywhere in

the world? Hawaii

Most interesting person you

ever met? Rachelle (Wife)

Most interesting thing ever

done? Swim with whale sharks

Best advice? Never give up on

what you are passionate about

Thx Kev!

Student Bio—Kevin Boughen

It has finally come that new students are

starting to level up their training.

A congratulations to Emitt and Frederick

who did very well on their first ever

Genbukan test. They set the standard for

those to follow them.

Both boys have shown real capacity to

help others learn and lead by example.

The next two to grade are Attila and

Kristopher, followed shortly afterward by

Damek in the adult program.

The rest of the new students will follow

according to their practice and ability to

pass the test.

Youth testing is quite a bit different from

adult testing. Adults get very little in

terms of “breaks” when it comes to

knowing and showing their skills during a

test.

With youth, it is important to hold them

accountable but also with a much softer

approach to comparing their skills to the

“ideal”.

It is important to encourage them with

earned successes so that they feel a sense

of pride and accomplishment.

Adults are really no different but usually

an adult wants to stand on their own,

with no help, and make it through.

When testing students, it often comes

down to their skill level and their age

combined to assess accurately where they

are at. Other things taken into considera-

tion are attendance, help in and around

the dojo, manners, and enthusiasm/spirit.

A student with all of these will tend to

score a lot higher than a student who only

shows skills and ignores these other

important areas.

Best wishes to all those preparing to test!

Gradings Begin for New Students

Genbukan Daigo Dojo

March 2014

Summary

Student Bio

Gradings for new stu-

dents

What is a computer

virus?

Genbukan Black Belt

Bottle Drive

When the Zombies

Come

Fitness Regimen

Report Cards

Articles submitted by Shaun

Sims, Wes Burnside, and

Alan Scofield

Edited by Alan Scofield

What is a Computer Virus? —By Shaun Sims

What is a computer virus? This is a program written with the sole intent of exploiting a security weakness in the operating system of your PC (Windows). The virus can

be programmed to do anything the creator wants it to do from just slowing down your PC to pre-1990 speeds, using your PC as a launch point to infect other PCs,

locking your PC and making you enter in a credit card number to unlock it, etc. Some viruses can also run as hidden programs that track what websites you use and log

whatever you type on the keyboard with the intent of trying to get bank account information, credit card numbers, credentials for your ebay or paypal account, etc.

Even experienced PC users can get caught with a virus once and a while. I was looking up ways to hack wireless networks one night (nothing nefarious, I was looking it

up as I was building some wireless networks at work and wanted to safegaurd against hackers) and came across a site with some wireless hacking tools. I opened the site

then all of a sudden my entire screen turned into a very legit looking RCMP site telling me I was guilty of fraudulent activity in violation of code such-and-such and that

if I paid a $200 fine now the charges would be dropped and my PC would be unlocked. I was not able to do anything on my PC, couldn't close the website, couldn't

access any other program, couldn't even turn off my PC unless I unplugged it, the only thing I could do was enter my credit card number in a field and hit submit. Ob-

viously I didn't do this, I looked up the details of this virus using another PC and found out how to remove it, 4 hours of cleanup later, all was well again.

***Editor’s Note: I lost count of the number of people this happened to in Calgary over the last year as they called into the CPS Dispatch to find out what was going on.

The RCMP or other police agency will not ask for money from people in order to drop charges. (at least not in this country)***

A virus scanner is the key component involved in protecting you from viruses, malware and any other program out there that is out to compromise your PC. The thing

to remember though is that a virus scanner is preventative only, meaning that they only work well at keeping your PC from getting infected, if your PC gets infected,

most virus scanners become effectively useless as most viruses are designed to disable, bypass or hide themselves from the virus scanner. The two major virus scanners

out there are Norton and Mcafee, these usually come as a 30-90 trial version on your new PC then ask for an annual fee, these are both good scanners from reputable

companies if you are willing to pay. However, there are also many free virus scanners out there that do the job just as well. Personally, I use either AVG or Avast, both

have their advantages, and both have a free version and a paid version, the free one is just a virus scanner and the paid one also includes many other tools to locate virus-

es before they end up on your PC (email scanner, a scanner which prevents you from opening a website that has a virus, popup blocker, etc). If you only have the free

virus scanner, it will actively check files you download, will run scheduled scans on your PC and automatically update itself but that’s it, if you are accessing a website

loaded with viruses they will not be detected and you will end up with an infected PC, that is the risk with using the free scanner. If you have no experience removing

viruses, best bet is to avoid the free scanners. Also, more is not better when it comes to virus scanners, only ever have one on your PC, if you are switching to a differ-

ent scanner, make sure the old one is removed first. Due to the way virus scanners scan your PC, they also see other virus scanners as viruses and will try to eliminate

each other, essentially having a cage match in your PC and dramatically affecting your PC's performance.

If your PC does become infected there are a few ways to remove them, most require having a second PC. Here are the steps to removing a virus, again, you should only

try this if you have experience in this area or are willing to assume the risk that you might do more damage than good.

The easiest way to remove a virus is to format your hard drive and re-install EVERYTHING, this includes windows and all the programs you had installed, this also

means that you will lose ALL data on the hard drive, pictures, music, everything ... gone ... forever. I typically save this as a last option. This is analogous to curing a

disease by killing the patient.

The harder way involves the following:

1. Turn off the infected PC, this will prevent it from infecting other PCs on your network in case the virus is programmed to do that.

2. Try to identify what virus you have, using your second PC and google, search the symptoms your infected PC had, this should result in finding your virus and removal

instructions.

3. Remove the hard drive from your infected PC, plug it into your second PC using a hard drive to USB cable. Here you can find the virus file and delete it from the

infected hard drive. As an alternative to this you can use your second PC's virus scanner to remove the virus from the infected hard drive.

4. Replace the hard drive back into the original PC and start the computer, you will notice that although the PC will start, there will be error messages saying that a pro-

gram cannot start because it cannot be found. This is the result of the virus re-configuring your PC to start running the virus automatically when your PC starts, this

begins the cleanup phase.

5. Cleanup all files the virus has corrupted and cleanup of the registry, this can take a lot of time.

Again, if any of the above was like reading Greek, best to not attempt it and ask someone who is experienced with this kind of thing for help.

~Shaun

Daigo Newsletter

Genbukan Daigo Dojo

What's it like to be a Black Belt in the Genbukan?

Well, for starters you are in rare company. Although the Genbukan has been around since 1984 as an organization to teach Ninpo and Jujutsu, very few people have the tenacity and drive to earn their way to a Black Belt.

In Calgary alone, in contrast, you can find 100s or thousands of people all claiming this level of black belt or that level in whatever martial sport they are referring to.

Although the person themselves might certainly have the skills necessary to perhaps make it to a Genbukan Black Belt some day, in many cases it is like equating someone who is good in grade 2 math to someone who teaches university level calculus. Conversations beginning with, “Oh yeah, I have an uncle that is a 3rd degree black belt in aikido”, usually go nowhere as they just cannot understand the difference and think one black belt is the same as another. I can tell you, after earning black belts in various mar-tial sports, that they are most certainly night and day to each other. But no one understands that until they enter the Genbukan and begin seeing the many, many differences in just about everything they ever thought about martial arts.

It isn't really about the belt anyway. It is about the skill and depth of knowledge one gains when studying within the Genbukan. I often use the analogy that it is like going to University and taking every single major that the school offers and working at becoming a master at all of them. It is a lifetime of learning, on a professional scale, that always leaves you wanting to go further.

How good can I be? There is no limit except that which you set upon your-self when it comes to this training.

When looking at the Canadian group, there are approximately 25 people who have earned their Black Belt in this martial art.. That’s 25 people out of a population of 38 million. Rare company indeed.

Is a Genbukan Black Belt special? Well, all we are talking about here is the ability to learn self defence techniques in an order laid out by the Grandmaster, Soke Tanemura. The person can and is different than the belt they wear BUT I will say that the expectation is that the person act accordingly. They must understand and live up to Soke’s wishes on how to live their life through martial arts and act as a true example of spirit, pa-tience, tenacity, skill, calmness, and peace. It is a tough road to travel. We all stumble from time to time and each of us have our strengths and our weaknesses. But the drive to always improve on ourselves is fundamental to success as a Black Belt in this organization.

It is a stepping stone in your development as a martial artist, but that is all it is. A stepping stone. The road hasn't suddenly ended; In fact, it has just begun. The word Shodan, which is the Japanese word for 1st Degree Black Belt, means First Step. All that time, energy, sacrifices, money, injuries, etc all to get to the First Step.

~Alan

When the Zombies Come—By Wes Burnside

It can be described by many names…. The Go Bag, Bug out Bag, 72 hour kit…. But it all means the same thing. If you had to be somewhere quick should the need arise due to emergency, natural disaster or the Zombies have arrived, are you ready to drop every-thing and leave NOW. Everyone will have different requirements on what they might think they need and due to the nature of what they are preparing for. This is not meant as the bible on what to have in your bag, but maybe to make you think of “are you ready”, can you deploy, or leave somewhere NOW.

Here are some suggested contents

Enough food and water for 72 hours

Water = 2 litres per day

Non perishable food

Water purification, and cooking supplies, fire starter (camping

stuff works great)

First aid kit

A disaster plan including location of emergency centers, rally-

ing points, possible evacuation routes, etc.

Maps and travel information

Standard camping equipment, including sanitation supplies

Weather appropriate clothing (e.g., poncho, headwear, gloves, etc.)

Bedding items such as sleeping bags and blankets

Enough prescription medicine to last YOU

Pet, child, and elderly care needs

Battery or crank-operated radio

Lighting (battery or crank operated flashlight, glow sticks)

Cash and change, as electronic banking transactions may not

be available during the initial period following an emergency or evacuation

Government issued identification, such as driver’s license,

Birth certificate or passport

Fixed-blade and folding knife

Duct tape and rope or Para cord (MacGyver could make anything with this)

Compass

Communication could be poor, but Cell phone and charger

Most important you need a means of carrying these items. Be prepared not to count on having a car to transport them, a good quality back pack will work great. This is not meant you to be paranoid thinking the world is going to end, but more to provoke you to think about how you can cope in a natural disaster. The thinking that it won’t happen to me, well that was shattered during the floods of 2013 when over 100,000 Calgary citizens were dis-placed for an extended period of time with no ability to go home. A good term to remember 1 person = 1 kit.

You pack what you can carry.

DRCA Bottle Drive efforts

The Bottle Drive Project is moving along. The DRCA posts an ad each month in

their community newsletter to encourage people to drop off their bottles to the

DRCA. Dennis and Shaun have done a great job of picking them up after class and

bringing them to the depot to exchange. Thus far, the DRCA has made about $240

towards their DROOS program, and the Dojo has made $60. It isn't much but

hopefully over a year, it will add up. The goal from a Dojo perspective was to reach

$800. This is 1/10 the cost of attending the 2015 Japan world Taikai in Saitama

Japan next year.

2223 146 Ave SE — DRCA Community Centre

www.calgaryninja.com

Don’t forget to check the online schedule before

you leave for class!!

you progress is great for your longevity within this martial art.

That being said, maintenance of your cardio, flexibility, and general

strength are very, very important. This assumes you have some to start

with :)

The program I use is 6 out of 7 days with a blend of yoga, core

strengthening, and cardio work. I don’t mind jumping around a bit but

I'm not into running. I use boxing cardio training for that component

which also increases eye hand, general power, and helps with balance

and general fitness. In addition to training at the Dojo.

There are a lot of programs out there. I have done P90, and CrossFit

myself. A few of the other students have done the Insanity workout,

or something from GSP. Ultimately it is whatever works for you.

Whatever helps you be strong, flexible, with good cardio.

You will notice that I didn't mention heavy weights. If that is your

thing then whatever, but it doesn't help you a lot in this martial art.

Bulk gets in the way and generally slows you down. Lean muscle mass

with great cardio is a much better recipe.

Either way, Be Fit or suffer the consequences.

The physical demands of training long term in high level martial arts are

what they are. Be fit or be in pain. No one should want to be the guy who

is huffing and puffing during a seminar warm-up, while everyone else is

managing.

It isn't one of those things you can do some times maybe when you feel

like it. It has to be part of your training. Part of how you see yourself.

A martial artist has to train or they aren't a martial artist.

Now, injuries, especially serious ones can sideline you or can affect your

training for the rest of your life, but they don’t have to be the end of

things. They are something you work around, as best you can, and still go

for it.

Often, people will think they need to be stronger, as in more bulk. Well, if

you saw any one the grandmasters from before, you will know that is not

true. Anyone who sees Soke throwing Troy around will know what I

speak of. It is how you use what you have, not having a whole bunch of

it. That is the skill. This art allows you to get better as you age, not worse

like in martial sports that rely on speed and power.

Knowing how to use what you have and how to use it better and better as

Fitness Regimen

403 816 3474

calgaryninja@shaw.ca

www.calgaryninja.com

The Daigo Dojo is a member of the Genbukan

World Ninpo Bugei Federation—GWNBF

Genbukan Daigo Dojo

March Report Cards

Just a note that the March report cards will be coming out mid March. We will do student photos again and have them included in the

report card.

As the student progresses, so do the expectations the Dojo has on their level of proficiency in each category. If there is a small dip in one

area, it may be that there are higher expectations now. As always, if parents have questions about the report cards, you can send me an

email or better chat on the phone. Either way, it is simply a general report on what we see at the Dojo regarding the individual student

and is only meant to help guide efforts always forward, always for the better.