# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/81 "2012-09-16T21:01:47Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > No, that’s not how it works. You have to _actually have acted in a movie with_ someone who has acted in a movie (etc., repeat or subtract as needed for whatever value of Bacon) with Kevin Bacon. Being the cousin of Kevin Bacon’s hairdresser’s secret gay lover, while nice, I’m sure, does not give you a Bacon number. Well, that is only reasonable. Otherwise, every jerkoff and their brother would have a BN. Thank you very much. That makes a BN more reasonable. It would otherwise just be kind of stupid. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/82 "2012-09-16T21:04:17Z")
OMG! I just checked Anne Frank (just for fun) and she has a BN of 2. That is very bizarre since she almost certainly died before KB was even born. So how can that be? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/83 "2012-09-16T21:06:02Z")
> [@Lazlo Hapsburg](#): > > Oh wow! Chris Sarandon is a great actor. I remember him from Dog Day Afternoon. He played Al Pacino’s gay lover. He was great in that film. Of course, every time I see him I think “Humperdink! Humperdink! Humperdink!” 🙂 My husband tells me we have a Bacon number of 3 through an even more legitimate connection: One of our acting teachers was also Sandra Bullock’s acting teacher, and she has a Bacon Number of 1. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/84 "2012-09-16T21:23:53Z")
> [@](#): > > OMG! > > I just checked Anne Frank (just for fun) and she has a BN of 2. That is very bizarre since she almost certainly died before KB was even born. So how can that be? That’d only be an obstacle to a Bacon number of 1. If a person has a Bacon number of 2, that means that there’s one other person in between. Hypothetically, someone could have acted in a movie with some long-lived actor like George Burns, who could have acted with Kevin Bacon, and thus gotten a number of 2. That said, though, Anne Frank didn’t become famous until after she died, and I don’t think she was ever an actor. So Google must be counting her as an author (IMDb says she’s credited as an author for three movies), which isn’t really in line with the rules. Another possible explanation for old names with low Bacon numbers, though probably not the one in play here, is archival footage. Adolph Hitler, for instance, is listed as being in a huge number of movies made after his death, due to the movie including a clip from one of his speeches or the like. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/85 "2012-09-16T21:59:13Z")
I actually have a Bacon Number of 4, through a cousin who was an actor. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/86 "2012-09-16T22:59:18Z")
What movie were you in with your cousin? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/87 "2012-09-16T23:41:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What movie were you in with your cousin? I appear to be the victim of a poorly understood meme. I thought a Bacon Number was _any_ person’s “six degrees of separation” from Kevin Bacon. You question prompted some basic research :smack: Claim withdrawn. My cousin, [Dave Dunard,](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0241784/) was in _Wagon’s East_. It was probably his biggest role, next to being the [Mall Security Guard on Seinfeld.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG6b7KJ1Ah0) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/88 "2012-09-17T17:42:08Z")
There’s “Official Rules” Bacon Number, which requires the connection to be through acting in a film together. Then there’s “I’m nobody and I wanna claim a connection to Kevin Bacon” rules, where your sister’s hairdresser’s poodle going to the same doggie park counts. ---
**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 17, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/89 "2012-09-17T17:59:31Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Then there’s “I’m nobody and I wanna claim a connection to Kevin Bacon” rules, where your sister’s hairdresser’s poodle going to the same doggie park counts. Well, yeah, but… you can do that with anyone. I could be six degrees from the Queen of England by way of her gardener’s grand uncle, but well, who cares, and how would you check that anyway? Bacon numbers are only interesting if you go by the proper rules. This is because the connections are always documented and verifiable (or, well, they should be), and that using actors in movies provides a simple and clear model for the principle of six degrees of separation. You can plug in actors’ names in Google or the Oracle of Bacon until you’re blue in the face, and you hardly ever get a number higher than four. This gives you a feel for the close interconnectedness of human networks. Saying that your second-grade teacher met Kevin Bacon on holiday in Bangkok in the nineties, illustrates… well, just that, and so what? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/90 "2012-09-17T18:09:50Z")
I totally made out with a girl with a bacon number of 2. ---
**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 17, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/91 "2012-09-17T18:52:07Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Well, yeah, but… you can do that with anyone. I could be six degrees from the Queen of England by way of her gardener’s grand uncle, but well, who cares, and how would you check that anyway? Exactly. I am connected to practically every important world leader of the 20th century (and many other well-known people), because my aunt’s ex-husband owned the company that supplied the White House with perisan rugs, and he met Nixon. Anyone impressed with me now?? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/92 "2012-09-17T18:57:07Z")
If they counted extras (I technically wasn’t an extra, since I still receive residuals) in films, I’d have a bacon number of 3. ---
**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 17, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/93 "2012-09-17T19:27:49Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Exactly. I am connected to practically every important world leader of the 20th century (and many other well-known people), because my aunt’s ex-husband owned the company that supplied the White House with perisan rugs, and he met Nixon. > > Anyone impressed with me now?? 🙂 Yes, precisely. The point about Bacon numbers (or you could create a system of Nixon numbers using heads of state, or whatever - assuming that Nixon is a good network hub, I wouldn’t know), is that it’s \*not \*impressive to have a low one, because once you’ve acted in a movie, anywhere, that’s almost guaranteed. Or, to take your example, providing a single data point (anectodal at that) to show someone’s connection to Nixon, makes it look like the point is to get as close as possible to him, while the whole idea is to show that \*everybody \*is closely connected to _everybody else_, by way of central hubs. I could probably find a connection to Nixon easily. Let’s see, I’ve met someone who has met the Norwegian prime minister, who has met lots of heads of state, some of whom , like the Queen of England, have met Nixon. Well, there you go, I’m four steps from Nixon (and three from the Queen), big woop. Somewhat paradoxically, this of course means that suddenly the fun of the game (well, depending on your definition of “fun” and “game”) becomes finding people with high Bacon numbers instead of low ones - or, in your case, hypothetically proving that because you and your family have been hanging out in the same cottage in Wisconsin for generations, inbreeding the whole time and never interacting with the outside world\*, you’re at least twenty steps from Nixon. \*That \*would be impressive (again, depending on your definition of “impressive”). \*I’m certainly not suggesting such a thing about your family, I just mean… oh, you know what I mean. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/94 "2012-09-17T20:36:17Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > My Bacon number is 4, although you have to count a student film that’s not on IMDb (or YouTube) and has been seen by maybe a few hundred people, tops. Same thing with me, but we said it counts since we had promotional T-shirts for it. Did yours have T-shirts? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/95 "2012-09-17T21:28:12Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Exactly. I am connected to practically every important world leader of the 20th century (and many other well-known people), because my aunt’s ex-husband owned the company that supplied the White House with perisan rugs, and he met Nixon. > > Anyone impressed with me now?? 🙂 Ooh, ooh, I just remembered that I met Bill Clinton personally when he was governor of Arkansas, and even ran into him coming out of a movie theater at Park Plaza Mall once. That makes me closer to Nixon than you! Ha! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/96 "2012-09-19T16:13:02Z")
All three of the Apollo 11 astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins) have Bacon numbers of 2. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/97 "2012-09-24T20:45:37Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > There’s “Official Rules” Bacon Number, which requires the connection to be through acting in a film together. Does [this](http://abstrusegoose.com/495) count? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/98 "2014-07-13T19:05:05Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > She was playing a concert one night in Vancouver around 1985 and I guess she is a vegetarian because there was only one half-decent vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver at that time and I went in to get some “take out” and then she came in with Franken and Davis to get some takeout as well. I guess they were her writers at that time. > > I said, “Hello” and we got to chatting and one thing led to another and she invited me to come to her concert that night and come backstage and meet the backstage people. But I could not do that because I was working that night. Let me get this straight… she knew you had to work and couldn’t go when she was asking you? ? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/99 "2014-07-13T20:01:51Z")
He might answer that old post. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615/100 "2014-07-13T21:17:47Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Bacon numbers are only interesting if you go by the proper rules. This is because the connections are always documented and verifiable (or, well, they should be), and that using actors in movies provides a simple and clear model for the principle of six degrees of separation. You can plug in actors’ names in Google or the Oracle of Bacon until you’re blue in the face, and you hardly ever get a number higher than four. This gives you a feel for the close interconnectedness of human networks. Saying that your second-grade teacher met Kevin Bacon on holiday in Bangkok in the nineties, illustrates… well, just that, and so what? Ego boosting? “Hey, I’m important, I have a Bacon number, neener neener.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-can-now-search-for-a-persons-bacon-number/634615.md?page=6)