crowds

Police Called To Quell Fight Over Toy Hamsters

Police Called To Quell Fight Over Toy Hamsters

People in Indiana really want those trendy little robot hamsters that are the designated fad toy of 2009. Police were called to two Toys R Us stores, one in Indianapolis and one in Greenwood, on Friday after fights broke out among toy shoppers. [More]

Tavern On The Green Plays Halloween Trick On Thousands Of Partiers

Tavern On The Green Plays Halloween Trick On Thousands Of Partiers

Melissa is one of thousands of people who showed up at the bankrupt Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park on Saturday night for a ticket-holders-only Halloween party. She was forced to wait outside at the front of an increasingly agitated mob because the restaurant had sold too many tickets, or because someone had sold fake ones, it’s still unclear. The Daily News says one reveler waited 5 hours before he was finally let in, just before 1:30 am—which was when the party was shut down by police. Now they all want their money back, but Tavern on the Green and the party promoters are blaming each other.

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Here’s why you don’t rely solely on Twitter for news about health scares. [xkcd] (Thanks to Rebecca!)

Pepsi Yankees Promotion Leads To Fans Chanting "Pepsi Sucks!"

Pepsi Yankees Promotion Leads To Fans Chanting "Pepsi Sucks!"

It’s probably never a good idea to offer Yankees fans free tickets for showing up and forming a crowd, because then you’ve got a crowd of Yankees fans with nothing to do, and that’s not going to end well. In this case, after the fans found out that Pepsi over-promised the number of free tickets it was giving out, they turned hostile.

What Turns A Shopping Crowd Into A Mob Frenzy?

What Turns A Shopping Crowd Into A Mob Frenzy?

If you’ve ever seen that video where all those customers stampede into Walmart, knocking people over and even knocking one woman’s weave off, you may have wondered what causes people to go bezerk like that. I’m reading Among The Thugs by Bill Buford, reporting on English soccer hooligans first-hand, and this passage gives insight: