Forward Panic

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 26th Feb 2024

The saying, “an English man’s home is his castle”, is often used to say/suggest that people have the right to do what they want in their home (including how they defend themselves, others, and their property when it), and that others – including the state – have no right impinging on this. This is certainly how Tony Martin interpreted it. His farmhouse, Bleak House in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk had been burgled before. The 1990’s had been a decade that had seen a sharp rise in crime, especially burglaries, in rural communities like his. Police de-funding had also meant that many...Click To Read More

Power Slaps

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 19th Feb 2024

I’m coming out of my comfort zone with this opening paragraph i.e., I know nothing about basketball. This shouldn’t be important concerning the point I’m trying to make, but if I get some technicalities wrong, please excuse me. Few basketball players free shoot using a “Granny Shot”, where you squat and throw underhand rather than standing upright and throwing overhand. One of the reasons cited is that shooting this way makes the player “look silly”. That’s a direct quote from Wilt Chamberlain who despite using it in the 1961-62 season - which saw him having the highest free scoring record...Click To Read More

The Sacred Space

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 12th Feb 2024

When I was a teenager practicing Judo, I attended two very different dojos, for two very distinct reasons. My “main” dojo was very interested in competition and competing. It had produced several regional and national competitors and champions (I would later go on to be one of them) and was very much about producing competitive Judokas. One of the instructors had a wrestling background and would often teach wrestling applications for Judo, with the idea being that this could give us an unorthodox advantage in competition etc. The other Dojo I attended was “traditional”, with most of the instruction being...Click To Read More

Crime Attractors & Generators: Blue Hill Ave & Boylston Street

Gershon Ben Keren

Mon 5th Feb 2024

When I first moved to the greater Boston area (2008), I wanted to get a “feel” for crime in the area. At the top-level, the crime statistics for the various cities that make up the greater Boston area are a good place to start. However, even in relatively small units of space, offending isn’t uniformly spread out e.g., there may be particular streets, or street corners, where certain types of offenses tend to be committed, with these concentrations forming crime hotspots. Sometimes the built environment can split a neighborhood, restricting crime to specific areas; a busy road may keep offending...Click To Read More