Help me count?
3/5/12 16:42![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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talkpoliticsOk, so I'm here asking you for help.
Crowd-sourcing, if you will.
Many months ago, I made a charity-bet with a member of this comm about whether Occupy Wall Street would have an event that got over 8,500 people to show by May1. The precise details of this bet were never too clear; however, the lose gives $20 to charity. If OWS doesn't gather 8,500 by May1 I pay up to an animal shelter in Chicago, if OWS does, this member gives $20 to Planned Parenthood.
May1 has come and past, and by God, there were large crowds on May1. But it is surprisingly difficult to find a way to count the crowd sizes. (this also requires that the individual I bet with is willing to include May1 in our bet; the language when we spoke, I think, was somewhat vague; was it before May1 or was it before May1 was over?)
I saw some fairly massive crowd shots from the NYC OWS marches. Heard it stretched for 15 blocks at some points. The OWS twitter-feed at one point told folks that the crowd was 30,000 people big. Now, even I, supportive as I am of OWS, acknowledge that they aren't unbiased and that they might have been playing up just how big it was.
Yet, finding reliable sources that give estimates of how big the marches were is, as I said, difficult. So here I am, asking all y'all to help.
Play for your favorite team, if you like, I'll bet there are news stories on both sides of this one.
So, help? Maybe you can make me lose some cash, or maybe you can help fund Planned Parenthood.
...GO!
Crowd-sourcing, if you will.
Many months ago, I made a charity-bet with a member of this comm about whether Occupy Wall Street would have an event that got over 8,500 people to show by May1. The precise details of this bet were never too clear; however, the lose gives $20 to charity. If OWS doesn't gather 8,500 by May1 I pay up to an animal shelter in Chicago, if OWS does, this member gives $20 to Planned Parenthood.
May1 has come and past, and by God, there were large crowds on May1. But it is surprisingly difficult to find a way to count the crowd sizes. (this also requires that the individual I bet with is willing to include May1 in our bet; the language when we spoke, I think, was somewhat vague; was it before May1 or was it before May1 was over?)
I saw some fairly massive crowd shots from the NYC OWS marches. Heard it stretched for 15 blocks at some points. The OWS twitter-feed at one point told folks that the crowd was 30,000 people big. Now, even I, supportive as I am of OWS, acknowledge that they aren't unbiased and that they might have been playing up just how big it was.
Yet, finding reliable sources that give estimates of how big the marches were is, as I said, difficult. So here I am, asking all y'all to help.
Play for your favorite team, if you like, I'll bet there are news stories on both sides of this one.
So, help? Maybe you can make me lose some cash, or maybe you can help fund Planned Parenthood.
...GO!
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 20:46 (UTC)Hardly a surprise. There must be enough room for goalpost-manoeuvring afterwards!
To your question: ask Fox News! They know the One and Only, Unabridged and Fair Truth. And they'll be sure to serve it to you without any bias and spin!
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:20 (UTC)=)
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 19:34 (UTC)The "panel" was....BDJ, Rukh and....???
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 21:47 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 20:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 20:50 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 01:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 01:23 (UTC)i dunno if 10K is low for NYC. I heard 30K, but I'm not an expert on telling a crowds size.
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 01:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 01:34 (UTC)So totally not nationwide; that's have been too easy. I feel like I still got it, just from what I've seen/heard about the NYC OWS May1 events.
But still waiting for Bruce to pop on and chime in....
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 20:48 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 20:52 (UTC)Hence why I am appealing to larger numbers of folks and sources; one source is insufficient, I feel. Too biased or too inaccurate. I'm hoping to create some sort of (GASP!) consensus around this, and see if we can't work it out together. As a team.
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 21:15 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 21:19 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:05 (UTC)Anyway, a few points of order:
* If it was "by May 1," you lose as, technically, May 1 is after by.
* How much of the Marxist/socialist/anarchist May day demonstrating are you counting with OWS here? Are we assuming a nebulous "99%" on this?
The Atlantic (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/05/happy-may-day-occupys-first-arrests-are-trickling/51772/) likes the 8000 number, and I would personally consider them trustworthy on this issue.
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:19 (UTC)While that is one source giving me 8000, I was hoping for something slightly more...reliable? I mean, they took the 8000 number from a tweet....
Might as well take the OWS twitter....
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:21 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:35 (UTC)My problem too. If I had a reliable source that I thought was trust-worthy I'd have posted it, and paid up, or been awaiting Bruce to post his payment to PP.
Damn unreliable media.
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 20:26 (UTC)The fucking media has failed us.
(what else is new?)
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 20:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 20:10 (UTC)I feel like "by the end of May1" is where it should be; since the point being that they were going re-appear, big and strong, by the warm weather season. I knew going into it May1 was gonna be a big day, hence why I initially wanted June1.
But let's take a lead from our leaders in Washington. I'll be the GOP, you be Obama.
Let's compromise. give me what I want. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 20:53 (UTC)oh wait. that's not very nice of me. damn, I don't like being the GOP anymore....
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 21:46 (UTC)But then again, maybe that's what they're into.
Santorum, all day all week....
(no subject)
Date: 8/5/12 22:06 (UTC)I mean, we haven't really had judges weigh in (other than BDJ with his "the atlantic says 8000" comment. i don't much like their source, and i certainly don't like their number [short by just 500? really!?] but, I'd take that as his judgement on this. what other judges we got?)
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:39 (UTC)http://oaklandnorth.net/2012/05/02/occupy-oaklands-may-day-in-photos/
Police said 3,500 for the night time crowd which seemed about 1/4 the size of the daytime crowd.
The only citations say "thousands".
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:46 (UTC)Does it have to be usa? I know there were huge rallies in spain and greece.
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:48 (UTC)OWS is an American movement and the bet was about American turnout.
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:48 (UTC)Keep on, keepin on.
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 00:19 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:45 (UTC)(un)related question. On May 1st I saw part of the protest under the NYT building on 8th Ave. Drumgs, sings, banners, marching - the whole nine yards. But they were waving just two flags - a black flag (assuming for anarchy and not pirates) and the "Betsy Ross" flag. Any idea how the two combine or what symbolism the betsy ross flag has for OWS?
(no subject)
Date: 3/5/12 23:47 (UTC)Well, there's something to be said for returning to the state in America where corporations were NOT people.
And I promise you there were WAY more than two flags. You mighta just seen two, but there were lots and lots, not just two.
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 00:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 00:12 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 00:18 (UTC)I wasn't commenting on size or anything - I was just curious about the combination of anarchist flag and american revolution flag flying side by side.
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 00:22 (UTC)I'm a reformer; I think capitalism can be OK so long as we have a safety net and a highly progressive tax system (including on corporations)
Some of my friends are anarchists; and they've told me that it's only cause the USA is so fucking fucked that we work together. In a better country, we would be on opposing sides, politically. but as it is, we march, shoulder to shoulder. Some folks say DESTROY THE SYSTEM; others say FIX THE SYSTEM!
But we both agree--this current path is the wrong path. If the system must continue like this, I might agree, destroy it. But I think it can be reformed.
Conversely, my friends would say, if the system cannot be destroyed, we must at least reform it. If it cannot be reformed....
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 02:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 02:29 (UTC)1) either candidate mentioning OWS in the first debate.
2) Romney picking a VP with a net worth over/under 15 million.
3) the Astros
4) wing eating contest
5) odd and even horses in the Derby
(no subject)
Date: 4/5/12 09:51 (UTC)