How far apart are Barack Obama and Kevin Bacon? Google will tell you.
It’s the latest quirky project by Google. The company has programmed the wide-spread game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” into its search engine, so users can find how many movies separate the actor from any famous person.
Just simply type the terms ‘Bacon number’ followed by the name of a celebrity and Google will generate how many degrees separate the two.
The search engine will also list how the connection was made.
Johnny Depp’s bacon number is two. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter appeared in “Dark Shadows.” Carter then appeared alongside Bacon in “Novocaine.”
Even pop queen Britney Spears is a mere two degrees away. Spears starred in “Austin Powers: Goldmember” with Greg Grunberg who then co-stared with Bacon in “Hollow Man.”
And the list continues, connecting everyone from Anne Frank to Tim Tebow.
The six degrees concept is a short-form take on the idea that everyone in the world is connected to each other through six or fewer relationships.
Three students at Pennsylvania’s Albright College took the concept a step further inventing the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” in 1994. The game was based on the idea that any actor can be connected to Bacon based on actors he has worked with and films he has been in.
In a January 1994 interview with Premiere magazine about the film “The River Wild,” Bacon himself made a comment that he had worked with everybody in Hollywood or someone who’s worked with them.
Bacon openly embraced the trend by launching his own charitable site SixDegrees.org in connection with non-profit group Network for Good. The site aims to use the concept by connecting people to support their favourite charities through social fundraisers. Users can also link up to support causes of other people, including celebrities.
But this isn’t the first website to tackle the Kevin Bacon phenomenon. The site, Oracle of Bacon, has worked to bring the world closer to Bacon since its launch in 1996.
