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Glenn Beck rally attendance: calculating how many really showed up (Remote sensing est.: > 800,000)
Christian Science Monitor ^ | 08/30/2010 | Peter Grier

Posted on 08/30/2010 2:09:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Glenn Beck rally attendance has become hotly contested following Saturday's event in Washington. But from Woodstock to the Million Man March, figuring out the number of people who show up at big events has never been easy.

Can we really get an accurate count of the number of people who attended Saturday's Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally? The answer might be, “No, we can’t.”

Crowd-counting science is far from exact. Much of it is based on examination of overhead photos to calculate crowd density and related statistics. It reminds us of the old intelligence agency practice of “shedology,” in which the Central Intelligence Agency and others estimated Soviet weapons numbers by looking at overhead photos of military sheds and calculating how many tanks they might hold.

Plus, numbers are inevitably colored by an estimator’s interest. Rally organizers usually say crowds were huge, bigger than expected. Critics will say the numbers were less than anticipated. That’s been the case for years.

That’s led to controversy in the past. In October 1995, the National Park Service estimated that about 400,000 people attended the “Million Man March” organized by the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan. Organizers were so angry they sent lawyers to meet with the Park Service.

Shortly thereafter, the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing estimated that the crowd had been 837,000, plus or minus 20 percent. What was the difference? The Park Service counted via pictures taken from videotape. The Center for Remote Sensing used original photo negatives.

Photos of the Beck event clearly show a big crowd. The weather was great – whatever the exact figure, there were a lot of people there.

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 828; dc; glennbeck; rally; restorehonor; restoringhonor
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To: the_Watchman

RE: Did you misread your article?

Yes I did. My error. I am not sure if Remote Sensing was used in this particular case. I apologize.


21 posted on 08/30/2010 2:40:58 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Catsrus

RE: Yes, I noticed that Glenn and I think Sarah, were wearing bullet-proof vests

You’re being facetious right ?


22 posted on 08/30/2010 2:41:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: ExTxMarine

NBC is on their knees for Obama nation!


23 posted on 08/30/2010 2:42:52 PM PDT by JFC
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To: wac3rd

RE: Sharpton had 2,000, max

Just curious, who made this estimation ?


24 posted on 08/30/2010 2:44:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
SeeBS said only 27 people showed up.

That's pretty close...to the number of viewers watching Katie Couric!

25 posted on 08/30/2010 2:44:22 PM PDT by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: engrpat
I understand that they have a pretty accurate number of bus riders, because they had to register in advance so adequate parking could be allotted. That number was said to be 300,000, if you add the up ridership on Saturday you have 480,000, which is what I thought from the beginning
26 posted on 08/30/2010 2:44:31 PM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: SeekAndFind
My family and I sat underneath the trees and were shoulder to shoulder with other familys, where there was shade...the crowd was packed THICK under it! Can only see how much from the ground level photos.
27 posted on 08/30/2010 2:45:00 PM PDT by defal33 (Michigan: Stuck on Stupid)
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To: SeekAndFind
My family and I sat underneath the trees and were shoulder to shoulder with other familys, where there was shade...the crowd was packed THICK under it! Can only see how much from the ground level photos.
28 posted on 08/30/2010 2:45:11 PM PDT by defal33 (Michigan: Stuck on Stupid)
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To: SeekAndFind

WaPo blogs yesterday.


29 posted on 08/30/2010 2:45:32 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Just let them keep telling their side that. They’re inadvertently keeping the libdems in a less frenzied state. When we get finished on November, 2nd, all their estimates will be shown to have been nothing but spin.


30 posted on 08/30/2010 2:45:38 PM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (A half-truth is a complete lie)
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To: isthisnickcool

RE: “There were 130,000+ people watching the rally on ustream.tv.”

*******************

I wonder how many were watching on CPAN, which carried the entire event, then repeated it immediately afterward for those who’d missed it—

It had to be a huge number, far surpassing the very large crowds in D.C. If all the attendees, TV viewers, radio listeners, internet watchers were added up, I suspect we would be totally shocked at the huge number —

The left is stunned; listening to their comments since Saturday certainly proves that.


31 posted on 08/30/2010 2:45:48 PM PDT by CaliforniaCon
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To: defal33
Smithsonian wants to preserve artifacts from this rally...Glen just announced it on his show!
32 posted on 08/30/2010 2:47:08 PM PDT by defal33 (Michigan: Stuck on Stupid)
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To: defal33
Smithsonian wants to preserve artifacts from this rally...Glen just announced it on his show!
33 posted on 08/30/2010 2:47:24 PM PDT by defal33 (Michigan: Stuck on Stupid)
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To: SeekAndFind

RE “ Yes, I noticed that Glenn and I think Sarah, were wearing bullet-proof vests”

and...............

“You’re being facetious right ? “

**********************

It was OBVIOUS that Beck was wearing a bullet proof vest when he turned around. One could clearly see the outline of the vest on his back. I could not tell re Sarah but I’m sure she was probably wearing one, too.


34 posted on 08/30/2010 2:48:54 PM PDT by CaliforniaCon
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To: the_Watchman
Did you misread your article? I believe that the remote sensing referred to a Nation of Islam Million Man March which occurred years ago.

Did you misread your response?

That is exactly what the article stated, and the poster merely provided the article for our reading pleasure.

35 posted on 08/30/2010 2:49:00 PM PDT by ken in texas
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“SeeBS said only 27 people showed up”.

I understand they will revise that number up ... to 57.

They figured out there was one person there from each state.


36 posted on 08/30/2010 2:50:20 PM PDT by JohnEBoy
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To: SeekAndFind
The National Park Service counted 300,000 from video tapes taken from a plane. This means if you were under a tree in the shade you were not counted.

The number is over 300,000 any way you slice it.

CBS and CNN can peddle their “tens of thousands” lies all they want. Video tapes don't lie.

I watched it on C-Span. I wonder how many others did?

37 posted on 08/30/2010 2:53:33 PM PDT by Gabrial (The Whitehouse Nightmare will continue as long as the Nightmare is in the Whitehouse)
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To: CaliforniaCon

RE: It was OBVIOUS that Beck was wearing a bullet proof vest when he turned around


If true, this is scary. That could mean there must have beeb a threat to shoot Beck and he was taking it seriously.

If you consider the fact that there was an offer of a reward at the Huffington Post to anyone who could dig up ANY scandal in Glenn Beck’s life ( offer since pulled from their website ), this is potential threat not as unthinkable as I thought it would be...

There are people who hate the man enough to want to physically harm him.


38 posted on 08/30/2010 2:54:52 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: CaliforniaCon
Glenn announced this morning on his radio show he was wearing a bullet proof vest. Alveeda King was offered one and she turned around, citing her faith in God.

Amazing!

39 posted on 08/30/2010 2:55:59 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: SeekAndFind

See post # 39!


40 posted on 08/30/2010 2:58:34 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. - Benjamin Franklin)
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