Google unveils Bacon number

[FaxModem1]

http://gawker.com/5943017/google-unveil ... evin-bacon

Google Unveils Most Important Search Tool to Date: Every Actor’s Degree of Separation from Kevin Bacon
Neetzan Zimmerman

Competitive Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon players the world over have just been handed the ultimate cheat: Google has embedded a "Bacon Number" Easter egg into their search system, making the distance between you and the number of roles between an actor and Kevin Bacon even shorter.

To use, simply type the words "Bacon number," followed by the name of an actor.

Yossi Matias, the lead engineer who spearheaded this new function, told The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision the goal was to show how good Google is at sniffing out "the deeply rooted connections between people."

New York Magazine's Dan Amira notes that establishes sites like The Oracle of Bacon still do a better job at connecting between Bacon and more obscure actors, but given Google's adaptability, chances are you'll be finding your own Bacon Number before long.

[photo via AP]

Try it out. It works.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Tried it for all 11 Doctors; Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee and Colin Baker all had the number 3, the rest were 2. And Baker's first link was to McCoy. Weird.

[Purple]

Could anyone explain to me what the hell this all means? Because I don't get it one bit.

[Vaporous]

It's a game you play when you're drunk. You name an actor (or a person in general) and you have to find a connection to kevin bacon in less than six degrees. It's based on the idea of "Six degrees of separation", so it's called "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon."

google decided it was a fitting way to show off some kind of relational algorithm. or they just thought it was funny.

[Gandalf]

Oracle of Bacon did this over ten years ago. I remember using it as a reference in high school.

http://oracleofbacon.org/

[chitoryu12]

No kidding, I'm only 3 degrees from Kevin Bacon. I had extra roles (including recurring) in movies with Kat Dennings, J. LaRose, and Christina Bach, all of whom are 2 degrees from him.

[Alyeska]

I couldn't find anyone more than 3 degrees from Bacon. Geeze.

[chitoryu12]

I tried to look up well-known actors to try and give a comparison to a friend who didn't know about Bacon Numbers. I couldn't find anyone higher than 2.

Hell, I'm at 3 degrees because even relatively minor actors are 2 degrees. Christina Bach has only done a few independent movies and she's STILL at 2 degrees.

[Thanas]

Meh. Already found three actors who do not have a bacon number.

[Executor32]

Even Tony Jaa and Mark Meer are only 3 degrees from Bacon. This makes sense, since the average Bacon number is a bit less than three. The highest I could find is William Rufus Schafter:

William Rufus Shafter's Bacon number is 7
William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler appeared in Surrender of General Toral.
Joseph Wheeler and Russell A. Alger appeared in General Wheeler and Secretary of War Alger at Camp Wikoff.
Russell A. Alger and William McKinley appeared in President McKinley Inauguration Footage.
William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt appeared in President McKinley Inauguration.
Theodore Roosevelt and Walter McGrail appeared in Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation.
Walter McGrail and Patty McCormack appeared in Here Comes the Groom.
Patty McCormack and Kevin Bacon appeared in Frost/Nixon.

[mr friendly guy]

So how do you "win"? Do you find an actor whose Bacon number is >6 or who the algorithm fails to identify a Bacon number? Or do you find an actor who you know has a Bacon number shorter than the Bacon number given by the algorithm.

In the case of the former, one should simply type in a foreign actor and see where it gets us.

[Gandalf]

There is no winning in the Kevin Bacon game.

You can play competitively with friends, nominating an actor and trying to beat each others' scores, but that's about it.

[Spoonist]

Oracle of Bacon did this over ten years ago. I remember using it as a reference in high school.

http://oracleofbacon.org/

Uhm, the game started in 94 so that would be some 18 years.
The book came out in 96 and I think that the boardgame version came out the same year.

[Gandalf]

I know that, I was referring to the idea that google doing this is in any way new.

[mr friendly guy]

Interestingly the Bacon number recognises some Asian actors as well. However you can still trick it with foreign actors. For example I typed a random asian actress who appeared in a film with Donnie Yen, who stared in the horrible Highlander Endgame with Bruce Payne, who starred with Kevin Bacon in Pyrates. So I then typed another actor who had appeared with the first actress in another production and the algorithm fails to recognise it.

It also fails to recognise some Austrian actors from one of my favourite shows Inspector Rex.

[chitoryu12]

I tried to get the Bacon Number of the male lead from Rockabilly Zombie Weekend, a movie I did this year, but unfortunately it confused with with a different Daniel Baldock. However, the female lead has a Bacon Number of 2, surprisingly. Didn't expect someone who's just done a few indie films to be so close to him.

[Col. Crackpot]

I tried to look up well-known actors to try and give a comparison to a friend who didn't know about Bacon Numbers. I couldn't find anyone higher than 2.

Hell, I'm at 3 degrees because even relatively minor actors are 2 degrees. Christina Bach has only done a few independent movies and she's STILL at 2 degrees.

Heck even Jenna Jameson's bacon number is only 2.

[Phantasee]

I imagine even the actors with Bacon Numbers of 7 or more have fewer degrees of separation due to ties with friends, if not costars.

[Thanas]

There are however actors who have no connection to Bacon (even though they have full IMDB profiles).

[Simon_Jester]

I imagine even the actors with Bacon Numbers of 7 or more have fewer degrees of separation due to ties with friends, if not costars.

Shafter was a general from the Spanish-American War, not an actor. The only reason he has a Bacon number is because of 1890s newsreel footage, as far as I can tell.

I doubt there's any film actor with a Bacon number as high as seven, unless you count someone incredibly obscure from the silent film era, or people who haven't even been born yet. The total number of people who have appeared in movies just isn't that high.

[Phantasee]

There are however actors who have no connection to Bacon (even though they have full IMDB profiles).

Well, yes, no professional connection, but I doubt they don't have mutual friends (to connect them within the standard six degrees of separation).

I wasn't aware of that, Simon. That explains it pretty well.

[Col. Crackpot]

I doubt there's any film actor with a Bacon number as high as seven, unless you count someone incredibly obscure from the silent film era, or people who haven't even been born yet. The total number of people who have appeared in movies just isn't that high.

Considering the fact that Charlie Chaplin's Bacon number is 2 even that would prove difficult.