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Facebook Knocks "Six Degrees of Separation" Down a Few Notches (i-programmer.info)
mikejuk writes: Six degrees of separation is the, already well established, idea that any individual is connected to any other via six network nodes. New research has discovered that the average between Facebook users is just three and a half: "We know that people are more connected today than ever before. Over the past five years, the global Facebook community has more than doubled in size. Today we're announcing that during that same time period, the degrees of separation between a typical pair of Facebook users has continued to decrease to 3.57 degrees, down from 3.74 degrees in 2011. This is a significant reflection of how closely connected the world has become." This may all be true and Facebook makes us better connected, but it leaves the question of the quality of the connections open. Are Facebook friends anything like real friends?
what are these "friends" they keep talking about?
Anyone can be linked to Monty Python.
Adolf Hitler was in Triumph des Willens with Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl was in Games of the XXI Olympiad with Greg Louganis
Greg Louganis was in Touch Me with Bonnie Root
Bonnie Root was in Rails & Ties with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in The Big Picture with John Cleese
Hitler -> Bacon -> Monty Python
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Madonna -> Bacon -> Monty Python
Madonna was in Shanghai Surprise with Sean Penn
Sean Penn was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in Novocaine with Keith David
Keith David was in Hollywood Homicide with Eric Idle
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John Wayne -> Bacon -> Monthy Python
John Wayne was in The Longest Day with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner was in Wild Things with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in My Dog Skip with Diane lane
Diane Lane was in Chaplin with Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline was in A Fish Called Wanda with Michael Palin and John Cleese