Flash Mobs: Peaceable Assembly for Spontaneous Fun 543
Schmendr1ck writes "The Orlando Sentinel is carrying a story on the growing trend of 'creating a crowd on a moment's notice for no particular reason' knows as a flash mob. Recent flash mobs (sometimes hundreds of people) have wandered into into an upscale NYC shoe store acting like confused tourists from Maryland, gathered at the Hyatt near Grand Central Station for 15 seconds of spontaneous applause, and converged on the Macy's carpet department to debate the quality of the rugs for sale. Check
cheesebikini? for pictures and info on past mobs, as well as links to sites that organize these events. Sounds like a fun, harmless, and Constitutionally-protected way of blowing off a little steam."
Larry Niven (Score:5, Informative)
If I'm wrong, I stand corrected (in advance.)
Re:Constitutional protection! Ha! (Score:2, Informative)
In NYC you need a Public Assembly Permit ($150) for any gathering of more than 20 people.
Here are the first few stories (Score:2, Informative)
July 24, 2003
Flash Mob in Central Park
Fred Hoysted was first to chime in with a report and a photo from the Fifth New York Flash Mob. SatansLaundromat.com was quick on Fred's heels with a report and a nice group of photos, including a larger version of the cropped shot to the right.
They seem to have carried out a fantastic, bizarre idea: make a bunch of increasingly surreal "nature sounds" in Central Park.
Did anyone make an audio recording? Please let me know if you did.
Filed under flash mobs at 05:12 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (2) | Permalink
Europe's First Flash Mob
A flash mob went down today in Rome, as an estimated 100 to 300 people flooded a books and music megastore. They asked employees for nonexistent books. They broke into a round of spontaneous applause. Then they dispersed.
Here's coverage in Italian from the newspaper la Repubblica, and here's a clumsy English translation. The photo, courtesy of la Repubblica, shows mobbers evacuating the megastore.
In the comments attached to this posting, you'll find a report from our Senior Rome Correspondent "JJFlash."
If you have more photos, please send them (or links to them) to photos[at]cheesebikini.com. More to come.
Filed under flash mobs at 03:28 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Permalink
July 23, 2003
Flash Mob News from Minnesota, Texas, Austria
Minneapolis organizers put together an event (or rather, a series of events staged in different locations) at a huge shopping mall. Participant turnout was estimated at 50, but perhaps reduced secrecy about the next Minneapolis event will spur a larger crowd?
New flash mobs are brewing in Vienna, Austria and in Dallas. (Here's an English version of the Austrian flash mob page, as automatically translated by babelfish.altavista.com.
Flash mobs are a widespread phenomenon now with lots of people around the world taking part, so from now on when I mention flash mobs I'm going to focus on the most compelling flash mob coverage and opinion. For more exhaustive listings of the numerous local flash mob announcements, groups, sites and press coverage, check out flashmob.info, where anyone can sign up for an account and submit mob news or a link to a new mob group, or mob(b)log, whose creator "Alex" is doing a good job of listing media coverage but strangely fails to provide any way to reach him or to comment on his postings. In the meantime, Rob Zazueta is designing a site to make it easier for people to organize what he calls "flocks;" it's not done yet but you can keep track of it at flocksmart.com. Thanks for the resources, people!
(By the way; have you seen The Word Spy's entry for the term "flash mob?")
Filed under flash mobs at 05:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Permalink
July 19, 2003
The First Italian Flash Mob
Londoners have been talking about organizing a flash mob for weeks and weeks. Now, with minimal talk, it seems the Romans will beat the Brits to the punch and create Europe's first flash mob.
Our Senior Rome Correspondent "J. Jack Flash" reports that a flash mob has been planned in Rome next Thursday, July 24. Here's the invitation: in Italian and in English.
In other news: Flash mobs are arising in Boston and in Phoenix, Arizona.
Filed under flash mobs at 10:15 AM | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0) | Permalink
July 18, 2003
Invitation: Manhattan Flash Mob #5
Below is the invitation to the fifth New York flash mob as it was e-mailed to me. It's scheduled to take place next Thursday evening, July 24th.
(If you're wondering what a flash mob is, see this entry for an explanation.)
more...
Filed under flash mobs at 12:14 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1) | Permalink
Try this one (Score:3, Informative)
It's in Italian.
Re:Larry Niven (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, this sounds remarkably like the Slashdot effect, only with people not Web hits.
The first story I know of that mentions the "flash crowd" was "The Permanent Floating Riot Club", where a gang of criminals actually used flash crowds to steal.
Re:Larry Niven (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Constitutional protection! Ha! (Score:5, Informative)
The police chief was also fired and went through a lenthy trial...though he was aquitted later. His police life is over though.
It's not like the police did this and just got away with it...they were slapped down pretty hard...which brought a smile to my face!
Re:Constitutionally Protected in some places... (Score:3, Informative)
10th amendment is usually interpreted as applying the bill of rights to local and state governments, basically saying (don't have it handy) "states shall not infringe upon the rights of their citizens."
WASP (Score:2, Informative)
Just another example of Matt Groening's (obligatory Simpson's reference) life view that individuals are clever, crowds are stupid
Re:One Question... (Score:5, Informative)
I do blame you for being a moron and trying to skew the facts. Yes there were violent people. Yes they were blocking sidewalks, streets, shops, etc. Yes they basically shutdown most of downtown seattle for several days. I live just 10 miles south of Seattle and I saw much of this first hand. I've also seen a couple of documentaries about the protests and while I think the cops were out of line on more than one occasion, the protestors were not the innocent angels you make them out to be.
Why did you fail to mention the bottles and debris being thrown at police officers? It's sad that we only see what we want to see. You apparently wanted to see peaceful protestors being victimized by the Seattle Police and so that is what you saw. Maybe you should look again and see the truth.
You should be able to find any of a number of documentaries on the protest at any local library in Seattle or the surrounding area.
Back to the topic at hand, what are the flash mobbers hurting? They show up, gather for a few moments, and then disburse. I don't think there is enough time for anyone to become annoyed with these people. I think most people would still be in shock by the time it's over. With the WTO protests you had individuals "manning" the streets and key intersections pretty much around the clock.
Re:Critical Mass (Score:4, Informative)
Of course, I and every single one of my friends who bikes on a regular basis has had to go to the hospital because they've been hit by a car and the driver was at fault. I was hit, rolled up the hood, smashed into the windshield, and was thrown to the pavement when someone ran a red light and wound up spending the morning in the ER. Another time, my feet were run over when a car intentionally pinned me in. My girlfriend almost got killed by a van which tried to run her off the road. Another friend was knocked unconscious by someone who threw their door open without looking.
Recently, the city settled out of court in a lawsuit where an elderly black man (in his 60s) without drugs, weapons, or any malicious intent was intentionally hit by a police car while riding his bike.
One of the protest aspects of Critical Mass is to protest the interference of cars in the lives of cyclists when the law states that cars and bicycles must share the road. A statement is needed precisely because drivers are so careless and malicious towards cyclists.
As a sidenote, every time Critical Mass has taken over Lake Shore, the bikes are slowed down by the cars. Traffic around downtown Chicago at rush hour is so slow that bikes have a greater average speed. I'd guess that the amount of time that you lost was minimal.
"No force on earth can stop one hundred Santas!" (Score:3, Informative)
Flash mobs, meet lots of Santas informally gathering at the same place and time.
www.santarchy.com [santarchy.com]
Re:Larry Niven (Score:3, Informative)
Hi!
Larry Niven might have used the term "flash crowd" in one of his novels--but the term "flash mob" has been in use since at least the 19th century. It was used to describe the loud and outre--"flash" in the sense of exploding powder ("a flash in the pan").
The term was certainly in use by the 1930s--Dorothy Sayers refers to the "flash mob" in one of her stories about Lord Peter Wimsey.
Re:Constitutionally Protected in some places... (Score:3, Informative)
The letter of the Constitution says that those people are not citizens, and are therefore not under jurisdiction of the Constitution.
The spirit of the Constitution is that we're all equal under the law (IMO, and of course, the Constitution says a lot of other things). Of course, when it was written, "all" meant white landowners, but the protections of the Constitution have since been extended to all citizens (except youths). It is quite hypocritical to stand up and speak about justice when you use loopholes to avoid enforcing your own laws.