# Google can now search for a person's "Bacon Number" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615 "2012-09-13T18:13:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/21 "2012-09-13T20:08:38Z")
There are a few high ones. William Rufus Shafter has a Bacon number of 7 according to Google. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/22 "2012-09-13T20:18:29Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > There are a few high ones. William Rufus Shafter has a Bacon number of 7 according to Google. Interesting. Mr. Shafter seems to be rather well known in certain circles for his high number. Which makes him… famous for being obscure. I’m not sure if I should try to think too hard about that. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/23 "2012-09-13T20:29:08Z")
Barack Obama is 2, that’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/24 "2012-09-13T20:42:05Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I have no Bacon number. Or bacon. ☹ I would side with you, but I just had a side of bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/25 "2012-09-13T20:49:59Z")
Someone that I babysat when he was a baby – i.e., under 1 year old – has a Bacon number of 3. I also know someone with a Bacon number of 2 – well, I knew her as a child, know her mother, went to school with her father, and knew two of her grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/26 "2012-09-13T20:54:24Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > So I opened the OP’s link, it is a google search. I scanned the first two pages of returns, none of them look promising for “Bacon number” for Louis CK. A handful seem to mention “bacon” lowercase. > > What am I missing? > > Oh yeah, there are also several listings for “Louis CK at the Beacon Theater”. At the top of the search page, is it not displaying the Bacon Number results? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/27 "2012-09-13T21:09:42Z")
Stephen Hawking is a 3 Peter Jennings’s Bacon number is 4 Shakira’s Bacon number is 3 (Shake n’ Bake!) Tom Davis’s Bacon number is 2 (Davis-Bacon would be low) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/28 "2012-09-13T21:33:24Z")
> [@bup](#): > > This looks like a mistake: > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by google > > Lon Chaney, Sr.'s Bacon number is 3 > > Lon Chaney, Sr. and Kenneth Branagh appeared in The Unknown. > > Kenneth Branagh and January Jones appeared in The Boat That Rocked. > > January Jones and Kevin Bacon appeared in X-Men: First Class. > > Lon Chaney and Kenneth Branagh were in a movie together? “The Unknown” is a 1927 movie with Lon Chaney, but not Branagh! I thought I might be able to get there through a different path. Boris Karloff is a 2 (via Jack Nicholson), but I can’t find a movie with Chaney Sr. and Karloff together. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/29 "2012-09-13T23:02:22Z")
They don’t have me. My Bacon number is also 2. Although, if you search it for my name, you get a British comedian/actor by the same name. He is also a 2. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/30 "2012-09-13T23:02:48Z")
That’s very cool. My cousin was married to Dennis Rodman. His bacon number is 2. That means mine is 4. Not too shabby. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/31 "2012-09-13T23:05:08Z")
> [@bup](#): > > This looks like a mistake: > > Lon Chaney and Kenneth Branagh were in a movie together? “The Unknown” is a 1927 movie with Lon Chaney, but not Branagh! > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I thought I might be able to get there through a different path. Boris Karloff is a 2 (via Jack Nicholson), but I can’t find a movie with Chaney Sr. and Karloff together. We want Lon Chaney Sr. as a 3? I’ve got: [ol][li]Lon Chaney with Lionel Barrymore in [West of Zanzibar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019563/)[_]Lionel Barrymore with Kenneth Tobey in [Right Cross](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042894/)[_]Kenneth Tobey with Kevin Bacon in [Hero at Large](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080863/fullcredits#cast)[/ol][/li] And I spent more time finding that than I’d like to admit- of course none of this excuses the mistake that **bup** pointed out. Now I’m off to check Oracle of Bacon to see if they’ve got a better/different result. EDIT: Oracle of Bacon also has Lon Chaney as a 3, but they connected through different actors than I did. They got: Lon Chaney -\> Louise La Planche (in Hunchback of Notre Dame) -\> J.C. MacKenzie (in Dutch) -\> Kevin Bacon (in My One and Only) I think my connections were cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/32 "2012-09-14T01:38:57Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > That’s very cool. My cousin was married to Dennis Rodman. His bacon number is 2. That means mine is 4. Not too shabby. Cool! That means my number is 5. I can’t wait to brag to the guys at work tomorrow 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/33 "2012-09-14T02:03:02Z")
I thought you had to actually be in a movie with someone to inherit a Bacon number from them. Although Google does not acknowledge her, my mother-in-law was in movies with at least five different people who (according to Google) have BN 2, so she was (she’s now deceased) at most a 3. (It is fairly likely she actually merits a BN of 2 herself, but the few minutes I put in on researching the matter via the IMDB did not turn up the evidence.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/34 "2012-09-14T02:11:07Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I thought you had to actually be in a movie with someone to inherit a Bacon number from them. Yeah, my understanding is that you have to have worked directly with him. Knowing someone who knows someone who knows Kevin Bacon doesn’t give you a Bacon number. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/35 "2012-09-14T02:19:35Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, my understanding is that you have to have worked directly with him. Knowing someone who knows someone who knows Kevin Bacon doesn’t give you a Bacon number. Correct. This is why the cashier still would not allow Kevin Bacon to write a personal check to make his purchases at that little shop. As I understand the rules, your Bacon number must be traced through _films_ no T.V. steps allowed: Bob was in a movie with Jane / Jane was on an episode of a T.V. show with Suzy / Suzy was in a movie with Kevin Bacon Neither Bob nor Jane earn a valid Bacon Number through this connection. The other rule we played by in college (when this whole things was new) was that it had to be actor -\> actor connections: Bob was in a movie directed by Edgar / Edgar directed a movie starring Betty / Betty was in a movie with Kevin Bacon Bob still gets no Bacon Number. Also, we never accepted voice-over performances nor archive footage. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/36 "2012-09-14T02:22:28Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > At the top of the search page, is it not displaying the Bacon Number results? Oh, that. :smack: Guess I was looking right over that as an ad. Mental filter overworking. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/37 "2012-09-14T02:32:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, my understanding is that you have to have worked directly with him. Knowing someone who knows someone who knows Kevin Bacon doesn’t give you a Bacon number. If you have to have worked directly with Kevin Bacon, wouldn’t everyone’s Bacon number always be 1? There would be no degrees of separation and thus, no number but one. As for my Bacon number, I guess that’s the wrong phrase, I have 4 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/38 "2012-09-14T02:35:23Z")
I can remember first hearing about the Bacon Number in 1995 or so, when according to [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) he had been in about 30 movies. Wiki confirms that the Bacon Number game started in 1994. He has now been in 74 titles. I know it’s in good fun and all, but I think it’s high time someone came up a new actor/actress to structure this game around. It’s no fun anymore. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/39 "2012-09-14T02:43:46Z")
James Dean scores a three. I used to know a bunch of fours from the old days. Oracle of Bacon was one of the first things I did online. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/40 "2012-09-14T03:35:08Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > We want Lon Chaney Sr. as a 3? > > I’ve got: > [ol][li]Lon Chaney with Lionel Barrymore in [West of Zanzibar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019563/)[_]Lionel Barrymore with Kenneth Tobey in [Right Cross](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042894/)[_]Kenneth Tobey with Kevin Bacon in [Hero at Large](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080863/fullcredits#cast)[/ol][/li] > And I spent more time finding that than I’d like to admit- of course none of this excuses the mistake that **bup** pointed out. > > Now I’m off to check Oracle of Bacon to see if they’ve got a better/different result. > > EDIT: Oracle of Bacon also has Lon Chaney as a 3, but they connected through different actors than I did. They got: > Lon Chaney -\> Louise La Planche (in Hunchback of Notre Dame) -\> J.C. MacKenzie (in Dutch) -\> Kevin Bacon (in My One and Only) > > I think my connections were cooler. Yeah, but if I’d been able to use the Karloff -\> Nicholson connection, that would have been even better. Two things I remember from playing with the Oracle years ago: 1. It’s really, really hard to find anyone higher than a 4. 2. The same links kept showing up. I tried a few names from old Sergei Eisenstein films and they all seemed to link through Bob Hoskins. (I’m not seeing the same connections now. Further research is called for.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615.md?page=3)