the inexplicable mob. i read about it on wired.com earlier on, then i found a link on aula where i found this explanitory email:

———- forwarded message ———-
date: mon, 16 jun 2003 15:56:33 -0000

mob #1 made national public radio! go to http://www.nextbigthing.org and scroll down to the last clip.
you are invited to take part in mob, the project that creates an inexplicable mob of people in new york city for ten minutes or less. please forward this to other people you know who might like to join.
at the very least, please forward this to all those to whom you sent the invitation for mob #1, because someone seems to have gotten the wrong impression
about the mob. i am thinking, in particular, of whoever saw it necessary to tell the store and/or the police department about mob #1, causing six police officers and a paddywagon to be sent out to disrupt it. let us call this person “squealy.”
squealy faq (all others may skip to instructions – mob #2)

q: i am uncomfortable with innocent fun.
a. it seems apparent.
q. couldn’t the mob have gotten out of hand?
a. no. i assure you: the mob will always be respectful, no matter how large it gets, or what it might chant, etc.
q. despite this honest assurance, my stifling fear of the unknown dictates that i squeal again.
a. unfortunately, i have been forced to take this possibility into account in the
instructions for mob #2.

instructions – mob #2
location: ???????
start time: tuesday, june 17th, 7:27 pm
duration: 10 minutes

(1)at some point during the day on june 17th, synchronize your watch to http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?eastern/d/-5/java/java. (if that site doesn’t work for you, try http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?eastern/d/-5 .)

(2) by 7 pm, based on the month of your birth, please situate yourselves in the bars below. buy a drink and act casual. note: if you are attending the mob with
friends, you may all meet in the same bar, so long as at least one of you has the correct birth month for that bar:
january, february, march: blarney rock, 137 w. 33rd st. (between 6th and 7th aves.) meet to the left of the jukebox.
april, may, june: holiday inn, 49 w. 32nd st.
(just east of broadway). walk into the hotel lobby and make a left into the hotel bar; meet around the bar to the right, near the framed prints of the elephant and the leopard.
july, august, september: blarney stone (not to be confused with blarney rock), 106 w. 32nd st.(between 6th and 7th aves.). meet in the back by the jukebox.
october, november, december: jack demsey’s, 36 w. 33rd st. (between broadway and 5th ave.) meet downstairs, near the bar behind the pool table.

(3) then or soon thereafter, a mob representative will appear in the bar, wearing one of the “trucker hats” that is so stylish these days. he or she will pass around slips of paper, on which three important pieces of information will be printed: (a) the mob site, (b) a particular item at the site, and (c) a secret
phrase. commit all three to memory and put the slip in your pocket. once you are at the mob site, none of these slips of paper should be visible.

(4) leave the bar and walk to the mob site as quickly as possible. it will take you longer to get there than you think. if you arrive near the final mob destination before 7:27, stall nearby. no one should arrive at the final mob destination until 7:26.

(5) find the item and stand around it. unlike in mob #1, where the participants were not to acknowledge one another, here you should greet even those you do not know. talk among yourselves about the item and its relative merits and demerits. only if you are blocked from seeing the item should you stray to examine other merchandise at the site.

(6) if you are approached by a salesperson, explain that everyone present lives together, in a huge converted warehouse in long island city, and that you
are there looking for a “[secret phrase].” explain that you make all purchases as a group.

(7) at 7:37 you should disperse. thank the salespeople for their help, but explain that the item has been “voted down.” no one should remain at the mob site after 7:39.

(8) return to what you would otherwise have been doing. await instructions for mob #3. special note: a few people may be allowed to learn the three secret facts in advance. those interested should write an essay of precisely 50 words on the subject of “why i am not a squealer,” and send it to themobproject@yahoo.com.

sounds like fun.