How many degrees separate you from a celebrity/historical figure

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

I worked in the music industry for years, including owning a music venue, so I have met and worked with/for tons of famous musicians - everyone from the Three Tenors to Prince to Counting Crows to Leo Kottke to Leann Rimes to…well. Years of that, plus knowing other people in peripheral industries and being invited to good parties means I’ve also met Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen King, Jon Stewart, others.

I did end up dating a few musicians, mostly against my better judgment. But, while none were very serious, I do have a couple of Platinum Record/Top 10/Grammy/Juno notches on my belt. :smiley: I also had a long-term relationship with a very famous Canadian painter, although I don’t think you could call him a celebrity. That word seems to be reserved for actors, musicians, socialites, and reality show stars. :rolleyes:

Both my father and stepfather are politically oriented, and have organized and thrown many rallies, so I’ve met several Senators and Reps, Paul Simon being by far the most gracious, down-to-earth, and, in my opinion, brilliant. Also, John Malkovich’s parents and my grandparents were very close, and one of Jerry Sloan’s daughters is one of my best friends.

I dated a doper who is considered a big deal by many, and through him I met Dave Foley, Lou Diamond Phillips, Seann William Scott…I don’t know who all. And went to some premiers where I rubbed shoulders with the likes of Patrick Swayze and Drew Barrymore. He’s fairly easy to find if you search here, and a damn great guy.

My current boyfriend is a very recognizable local celebrity. While he probably wouldn’t be known nationally outside of certain circles, he’s recognized almost invariably in our major city.

I too often find famous people (I’m looking at you, actors and musicians) to be incredibly damaged, but it’s really effin’ cool to talk to someone who is immensely talented, but also incredibly smart, gracious, personable and (IMHO) deserving of all the kudos and perks they receive.

102

Hm, interesting, I’m 5 from Einstein, like I thought, but my shortest path to Erdös is only 6, and goes through Chandra instead. I’ve got some papers I’m working on now that I think might give me a shorter connection to Chandra (and hence to Erdös), but I can’t find my current advisor in the database.
On the whole “six degrees” game in general, it’s worth pointing out that most people will try to find links to celebrities, but a celebrity is, by definition, someone who has a lot of links. Much harder to find a link to some random non-celebrity halfway across the country.

I wonder if anyone’s ever calculated the diameter of Facebook’s main connected subgraph? That’d be at least a reasonable estimate for the “Six Degrees” number.
EDIT: I also can’t find most of my other professors in that Erdös tool. They seem to have rather spotty coverage of physicists, which might possibly mean my number is a little lower than it indicates.

103

Celebrities I’ve met personally:

Al Gore (twice)
Christopher Reeve (lived in the same dorm with him)
Aaron Copeland (had dinner with him when I was in college)
Mariel Hemingway (had lunch with her)
Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut (had breakfast with him)
Peter Matthiessen, author
Frank Gehry, architect
Omar Moreno, baseball player
Ruben Blades, musician and actor
Jared Diamond, biologist and author
E.O. Wilson, biologist and author
Paul Ehrlich, biologist and author
Panamanian presidents Nicholas Barletta, Ernesto Perez Balladares, and Martin Torrijos

I also dated a future astronaut for a bit, years before she entered the program.

My “academic pedigree,” through department heads, major advisors, or mentors, goes back to Alexander von Humboldt in seven steps.

104

Yeah, they don’t have many computer scientists neither. One thing I’ve noticed though is you have to try every configuration of the name you’re searching for before it finds a match. Anyway, I checked my collaboration distance from Einstein: 6 (through Erdos and Straus). Interesting game :slight_smile:

105

That’s neat! I’m Erdös-5 two ways, so I guess at worst Einstein-7. :smiley: (I think I’m Erdös-3 if joint TV interviews can be substituted for co-authorships.)

BTW, what’s the largest (non-infinite) Erdös number?

106

I consider myself to be friends with one of the most successful female recording artists in the US. She’s actually friends with my mom, and I know her through my mom, but I’ve hung out at her house while she was in her pajamas, and she asks about me and my son when she sees my mom, and she was the first RSVP (no, with “regretfully” underlined) that we received for our wedding.

107

At 2 degrees, my grandfather had a brief conversation with Albert Einstein as a teenager. I have better ones at 2 degrees (and worse ones at 1, book signings and such), but that’s my favorite.

108

In college I was good friends with Tom Morello, songwriter and guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. We lost touch after he graduated.

109

I forgot to add that my paternal grandmother, when she was a young girl, knew Wyatt Earp. He was apparently acquainted with her father and came to dinner at their house a couple of times a month.

110

I went to high school with Dave Sutcliffe. He was a friend.

I dated Matt Taylor’s sister. He’s bigger than he looks.

Dave Thomas was best man at my mom & dad’s wedding, and my dad still sees him from time to time.

My parents were actually friendly with many of the SCTV cast, and a lot of them hung around our house back in the early 70’s, since my parents had their own place. They once went on a double date with Martin Short and Gilda Radner, and Marty’s VW bug got its wheels stuck in the train tracks…

My great-uncle Peter Kelly was a set designer.

111

I’ve told most of my stories before, but a brief summary:

Eaten with, had coffee with, or gotten blotto with - George R. R. Martin, Ray Bradbury, Spider Robinson, Larry Niven

Been capped by or mooned by - Harlan

Encountered under various circumstances - Jack Chalker, Terry Pratchett, Steve Stirling, Harry Harrison, Jerry Pournelle, James Carville, Penn Jillette, the crew of STS-31, Fred McMurray, Joss Whedon, Annie Haslam, Buffy St. Marie, Jimmy Buffett (my best friend in high school’s brother lived next door to Jimmy in Key West. When I mentioned his name to Jimmy, he remembered.)

112

My cousin knows Uma Thurman.

My FIL’s girlfriend’s son is in many Bollywood movies. I’ve met him - he’s a nice guy. But I’m guessing Bollywood actors are pretty common.

My friend’s husband is a fairly famous country music star. The three of us did a 5K back in June.

My dad has worked with many celebrities, like Clint Eastwood and also Bush and Obama.

What else? I know a few pretty well-known romance and erotica authors.

113

You will all know my first, middle, and last name soon enough.
just kidding

114

In descending order of impressiveness:

– My post-college roommate became a successful NFL running back.
– A friend of mine was just confirmed to the 6th District Federal Court of Appeals. I guess that’s not too famous though.
– My brother’s friend’s cousin is Kevin James.
– I once went through a revolving door with John Lithgow.
– As a child I shook hands with Ted Kennedy.

115

I forgot to mention:

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[li]2 degrees from John Wayne Bobbit[/li][/ul]

116

I went to school and hung out with Jeff Corwin, who in real life is just as he is on TV. He’s a really nice, genuine, outgoing guy. Not surprised at all to see where he ended up.

I think I’m in some documentary about Massachusetts’ same-sex marriage law. My mother and her girlfriend married not long after it was passed, and the ceremony was filmed (for German TV I believe), after which I was interviewed at the reception. I’ve never seen it, nor can I find it through Google, so perhaps it was never released or was really just a news item? In any event, not exactly celebrity :wink:

117

My Ph.D. advisor has an Erdös number of 2 (by 2 different paths), so if one were to treat a doctoral dissertation as a collaboration between author and advisor, my Erdös number would be 3.

My advisor’s collaboration number with Einstein is 4, by at least two paths through Erdös, and at least two not through Erdös. So by the aforementioned treatment of dissertations, I’d get a 5 there.

118

That reminds me - I’d totally forgotten about this: About 15 years ago(?) the 49ers signed a young man, who then moved into the condo next door to a friend of my mother’s, a couple of miles away. I don’t want to give away who it is, let’s just say his initials are T.O.

119

My girlfriend’s cousin used to date Michael J. Anderson, aka The Man from Another Place (you know, the backwards-talking midget from Twin Peaks).

One my friends went to high school with Morgan Spurlock.

I worked with/for a lot of famous musicians when I worked for a major concert promoter.

120

Kevin Bacon’s parents’ home was previously owned by my grandparents.