Information and Flash Mob Tactics - Plus Paul Revere's Speed
Recently anti-mask and anti-testing activist , using mobile phones, video and social media platforms, called for a flash mob style protest at the Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center emergency room in Vancouver, Washington. They were protesting against the hospital's requirements that patients be tested for Covid-19 upon entering the hospital. The anti-maskers that organized the 15-20 person flash mob protest stated their goal was to be able to "push a button on their mobile phone" and send information that would summon 10 activists in 10 minutes, 100 in 100 minutes and 1,000 in 1,000 minutes." A speed they hoped would be fast enough to surprise the targets of their protest. That got me thinking about information and "summoning" speed. I wondered how long it took the American colonists to distribute information and summon their militia to meet the British in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775? Here is what my research found. Paul Revere's 1