Google's "Bacon number" search • Hacker News Board

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#71

Post by adgar » Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 10:20 PM UTC

AncientPC wrote: post #13

mixmax wrote: post #10

I'm disappointed it doesn't work with Erdös numbers. I thought Google was supposed to be a geeky company.

Probably because there's no easily accessible data store like IMDB for famous mathematicians or computer scientists.

IMDB data has serious licensing restrictions. I would be extremely surprised if it were used as a source for this.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#72

Post by evan2 » Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 10:45 PM UTC

Ahmadinejad is 5 https://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=search&q=Bacon+...

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#73

Post by endeavor » Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 11:20 PM UTC

mammalfriend wrote: post #53

What this tells me is that someone in the Google PR department had an idea, and a bunch of really smart people actually were resourced to work on it. While at the same time, my search results for useful queries have more spam than ever. Hm.

Hopefully this was a 20% project.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#74

Post by davelog » Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 11:48 PM UTC

mnicole wrote: post #54

jerf wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would still be 1. To have a bacon (non-capital) number of 0, you would have to be the bacon.

" Be the bacon" I hope someone takes this ad campaign idea and runs with it.

Human meat is often referred to as 'long pig'. That'd be a gutsy campaign.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#75

Post by frankiejr » Thu, Sep 13, 2012, 11:58 PM UTC

chubot wrote: post #41

Hm, it seems like basically any actor you can think of off the top of your head has a Bacon number of 2 (or less). I guess that makes sense. Anyone have some interesting examples of 4+ bacon numbers??

Shane Carruth (Primer). His bacon number is 4.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#76

Post by mey » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 1:10 AM UTC

Does this mean you can ask Google Now for Bacon numbers?

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#77

Post by ok_craig » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 2:09 AM UTC

kevinpacheco wrote: post #61

It's flawed. Google claims a Bacon number of > 1 for Johnny Carson, Rosie O'Donnell and Jay Leno, but he sat for interviews on their talk shows. Also, the results for some musicians include recorded-footage appearances in movies where they had no interaction with the cast.

Still seems to be just a rather clear distinction between being in a movie or not being in a movie, regardless of significance of the part or role played. To me this doesn't seem like a flaw.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#78

Post by Jun8 » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 2:37 AM UTC

What would be the most intuitive way to define negative Bacon numbers? If we take this suggestion for negative Erdos numbers (http://infactorium.blogspot.com/2009/01/negative-erdos-numbe...), then this would be people who turned down an offer to star in a movie with Bacon. There must be many people in this category.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#79

Post by throwawaay » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 2:56 AM UTC

mey wrote: post #76

Does this mean you can ask Google Now for Bacon numbers?

It worked for me.

Re: Google's "Bacon number" search

#80

Post by sjm » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 3:18 AM UTC

chubot wrote: post #41

Hm, it seems like basically any actor you can think of off the top of your head has a Bacon number of 2 (or less). I guess that makes sense. Anyone have some interesting examples of 4+ bacon numbers??

Renée Jeanne Falconetti's Bacon number is 4, best I've found so far.

Edit: apparently William Rufus Shafter's Bacon number is 7.