Cash Mobs: like this, but actually useful. Photo via New York Times.

You’re familiar with flash mobs: those pantsless subway riding, spontaneous grocery store musical-ing, viral video modern mischief makers. A Cash Mob takes those critical mass organizing ideas and uses them to support struggling locally owned businesses. So instead of using your crowd sourcing skills to destroy some guy’s fragile psyche, you can use it give an economic boost to a business you think is deserving. Cash Mobs have sprung up all over the country in the past year; so far the only local one is in Soho, but the website encourages you to start your own. And Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York reports the next one is scheduled for Wednesday at Odessa on Avenue A! Odessa holds a special place in our hearts as being one of those cheap oases we know to seek out when stuck in the city: one half is a diner ($4 hamburgers and such) and the other side is a ridiculously cheap bar. Will you go? Who’s going to start the BK Cash Mob?