Well, the 6-degrees of separation thing is a continuing source of curiousity for me (from the mole. biol. perspective). But, recently I responded to a "friendster" request and wouldn't ya know it, somebody named Trogdor popped up in my network. (very humiliating, though I'm not sure that Trog is this forum's Trog unless he's some kind of burninator fellow with one plump bicep)
Anyhow. One day it dawned on me after a lunchtime political discussion that I was 3 steps away from Saddam Hussein (transient contact, not deep relations) and this seemed curious.
Anyone know of distant seemingly unrelated people they might be "linked" to via a short chain?
fallow
Posted by Sachiko (Member # 6139) on :
I'm linked to Sean Astin and Brenden Fraser, via a friend of a friend.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
<-- can link to pretty much any major world leader in two, and the rest in three -- because of the ones @ 2 of course -- , links.
Posted by dangermom (Member # 1676) on :
Vladimir Putin for me!
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Hmmm. I've met John Howard, Tony Blair, Cherie Blair and Princess Margaret.
I guess that means I can do most world leaders in two or three.
Edit: On the entertainment side, I'm two away from Heath Ledger (he went to school in my very clique-y city) so that gets me into the Hollywood circles.
[ March 16, 2004, 01:44 AM: Message edited by: imogen ]
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
Aside from Brendan Fraser *shudder*, I'm not seeing too many names associated with grim evil-doers.
*pay attention to the thread title!*
[ March 16, 2004, 01:49 AM: Message edited by: fallow ]
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
I'm also pretty sure I can do most world leaders in two or three...
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I guess John Howard doesn't qualify... he's just too insipid.
He is quite irritating as a Prime Minister though - doesn't that count?
And anyone who saw Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You *knows* he's evil.
Posted by Sachiko (Member # 6139) on :
Ooo!OOo!
I have a connection to SecDef. And therefore...
Although how far away the evil-doers are in that chain is debatable.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
I can link to Justin Timberlake in about 3. Does that count as evil?
Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
I've met T_Smith, alias Hot Nathan, and he is currently being corrupted by the Dark Princess herself, celia60.
"Don't touch it! It's E-VIL!"
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
My family has a connection with Joeseph Goebbels and a few others from Germany's dark times. Our branch left Germany before World War II, as the rising political storm frightened and appalled them. On reaching the US, they split the family name in two and assimilated as quickly as possible into Midwest farmlife.
I've grown up with this sense of debt for what we left behind, rather than worked actively to change. The family rarely discusses it, but the legacy of shame is there.
Posted by St. Yogi (Member # 5974) on :
Yeah, I think I can do most World leaders in 2 or 3 as well. But that's only because my dad, my aunt and my uncle are in foreign affairs.
Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
I attended a political rally to see George Bush Sr...does that link me to Dubya, and would y'all count him as evil?
I could hypothetically be linked to any number of people through my Aunt Danita and Uncle Gary, who have been missionaries in Yugoslavia (when that's what it was) and in Russia, but I have no idea who they might have met.
[ March 16, 2004, 10:45 AM: Message edited by: Mabus ]
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I can link to Adam Sandler in 3, David Spade in 4, and Ben Stiller in 4. Based on most of their movies, I'd say they fit the criteria.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I have nothing, except my dad used to run at the same gym as W. They weren't friends or business associates, though (my family doesn't run in that kind of circle). Does that count?
If it does, I'm to Bush in one, and it goes from there.
*thinks* My stepmother's brother is close, close friends with a governor of a province in Germany. I wonder if that's anything?
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Well, I've talked with TheodoreGeisel, who was intimately connected with Dr.Seuss, a known associate of the Grinch.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I'm two from Saddam Hussein and one from Bill Clinton.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I've been within 10 ft of bill clinton so I'm 1 degree from evil.
My brother bumped him down the stairs once when he was still governor.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I shuck hands with VP Bush back in the early 80's. If he wasn't evil enough, he went to war against Saddaam, and his son is George W and he was defeated by Clinton.
One of those you must consider Evil.
If not, he was head of the CIA, and new plenty of Evil people (I'm sure he was Boris and Natasha's other arch nemisis)
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Does shaking hands with someone count? I always thought you had to at least be acquainted with the first link.
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
Hey Mabus, I haven't met your aunt and uncle but they've been through here in the last several years. Several of the missionaries and members here know them, including our member from Irkutsk. Aren't they going to China soon? I heard a rumor like that.
Posted by Slash the Berzerker (Member # 556) on :
Zero degrees of separation here.
I am evil.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Well, I spent an hour with Dan Rather, so that connects me with anyone he knows or has interviewed. He also knows Mike Wallace, who I don't think of as evil, merely vile.
But then again, I yelled at Wallace on a previous occasion from about 20 feet away when he was speaking.
[ March 16, 2004, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: sndrake ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Yelling at Wallace is close, but yelling yelling at Wallace makes you practically brothers.
*pout* Okay, now I look crazy.
[ March 16, 2004, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
I'm two from Gorbechav, Yeltsin, probably three from Putin.
If simply having been a liason to the KGB means you're evil, then I'm married to Evil. Otherwise, I'm two or three degrees from all the evil in the KGB. This same Evil also had dealings with the 'gray market' in the former Soviet Union, and he has had friends killed because of Mafia dealings. So I am also two or three degrees from the evil in the Russian Mafia.
You may ask how a good Mormon girl became so closely associated with someone so closely connected to evil. That is not my story, but his.
All of this probably puts me at three or four degrees from Saddam Hussein, though.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Kat - I caught the typo before your post came through. Honest. As a matter of fact, it looks like you were still typing your post when my edit cleared.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
You're forgiven. It's possible my reputation for good and evil at Hatrack will survive one crazy post.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
I'm one degree from Peter Singer - who certainly meets my "vile" standard. (3 LONG hours with him)And that puts me two degrees from lots of other vile people as well.
(As an agnostic, I grapple with the idea of evil and do find I accept the label, but save it for really exceptional cases.)
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Oh, I'm not sure I'd call Gorbachev evil . . .
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
From me to:
my mother's cousin---->Alexander Haig--->Richard Nixon.
From me to:
my friend's mother--->Ronald Reagan.
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
Fugu: Americans loved Gorbachev. Russians hated him. He and Yeltsin both were given plans that the top economists of the country had devloped for how to change the market from being government controlled to become a free market without collapsing the economy and they BOTH ignored it.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I'm not saying he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, I'm just saying evil's probably too strong a word.
'sides, notice that Bush has been given plans by major economists on both the conservative and liberal (well, liberal for an economist) sides to fix the economy, and he's ignored both, hence the low rating of his fiscal plans from both liberal economists and conservative economists.
Yet I don't here you lumping him in with evil .
Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
Lissa? We're on speaking terms again? I really am sorry about the troubles we had before. (And I know you aren't on here all that much and probably didn't stay mad at me that long.)
I really have not heard where my aunt and uncle are going next. The last I had heard, they were planning an extended stay in his home state of Texas, but I have not heard from them lately. I'm glad to hear that you have heard them well spoken of. I don't always agree with every word, but I admire them greatly.
[Addit: It just occurred to me that you might not have realized I changed my nick. I'm the same fellow as Maccabeus.]
[ March 16, 2004, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Mabus ]
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I suspect I could get back to Hitler or Stalin in three or four people. But I don't really know exactly who my grandfather was talking to when he was wandering around East Germany after WWII and during the cold war either... it's all kinda classified.
AJ
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
Mabus, we weren't speaking? I suppose you could say we weren't speaking in the same sense that I'm not speaking with most of the people in the world at the moment... *grin* I stopped being irritated as soon as you stopped making categorical assumptions about groups I belong to. And I genuinely appreciated it.
And I read a lot more than I post, so I did know who you are. Read the landmark. Liked it. Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
Lissa, I can be bad about that sometimes, especially when I've spent a lot of time thinking alone. When I don't have enough people to discuss with, or sometimes for other reasons, I sit down and start working out in my own mind just how the bits and pieces could fit together. Sometimes I forget which bits are straight out of the Bible, which are from authors like Campbell, and which are mine. Then when I have people to talk to again it gets messy. I'm glad I've stopped irritating you.
And thanks for the compliments. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Well, I didn't have any interesting connections....
Until I read this thread, and then I did; one step more than the people who posted them. Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I'm two degrees from George Lucas, if that counts. My dad went to college with him as a fellow cinematography student.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
One of my ancestors was supposedly a cousin of Jefferson Davis, but that's probably too many steps. Not to mention, ol' Jeff is practically a hero in some parts of the country.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
But your Dad probably didn't see to much of him, as as far as I can tell Lucas didn't go to class . . . Posted by dangermom (Member # 1676) on :
Does this mean that Amka and I are closer through Russian statesmen than we are through other chains? I think it would be 6, so I suppose being LDS would bring us into a shorter chain...
Posted by Amka (Member # 690) on :
dangermom, if your ancestors are from Utah, we are probably blood related closer than six degrees.
Posted by dangermom (Member # 1676) on :
Nope. The daughter of converts am I--they only got to Utah for the first time a few years ago. Posted by Unmaker (Member # 1641) on :
I shook Clinton's hand during his '92 campaign, which means I'm just a step away from... oh, f@#k.
Posted by Godric (Member # 4587) on :
I don't know of any direct or indirect relationships with world leaders but I do know that I'm only a mouse-click away from evil.
Just point, click and ...
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I'm two steps from Justin Guardini, the guy from American Idol Season 1, and three steps from Kelly Clarkson. Are they evil enough?
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
I played guitar with someone who played guitar with someone who played piano with the Beatles. Not that they were evil.
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
Carrot Top in two. Paul McCartney in three (if you consider him evil).
And I post at a forum with all of you here, so that's one degree in 6000+ cases.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
*twirls mustache*
Lotsa pop icons, vague references to world-leaders, some hatrack-trademarked name-dropping, and VERY FEW LINKS to EVIL.
hmmm....
Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
I live with it.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Okay, not EVIL, but notorious, at least.
Pretty Boy Floyd was directly related to my mom...I think he was her much older cousin or something like that.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
quote:Lotsa pop icons, vague references to world-leaders, some hatrack-trademarked name-dropping, and VERY FEW LINKS to EVIL.
Okay. You want real evil? Fine.
Link from me to:
One of my best friends in junior high--->Charles Manson
Link from me to:
A woman I took classes with in community college--->Susan Atkins (one of Manson's minions)
By my count, that's one person between me and two different pretty evil people. And, if you want to count seeing someone walking around town without ever actually meeting them, you can remove the intermediate link of my junior high friend between me and Manson. *Shudder*
[ March 17, 2004, 01:25 PM: Message edited by: littlemissattitude ]
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
I'm a bout -----><------ far from being EEEEEEEEEEEvil.
Doctor Eeeeeevil.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
TomDavidson, me, katharina...
Evil incarnate.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
Evil?
I'd have to check, but I think I may be Sauron's second cousin once-removed.
Posted by Evil (Member # 4830) on :
Well...
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Oh, I forgot. My Mom's aunt's husband was shot and killed by Dillinger. He was FBI or some other kind of law enforcement.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
quote:Okay. You want real evil? Fine.
Link from me to:
One of my best friends in junior high--->Charles Manson
Link from me to:
A woman I took classes with in community college--->Susan Atkins (one of Manson's minions)
Well, your connections certainly cross over the line from "vile" to "evil" even on my agnostic measuring scale. Most impressive so far, to me, anyway.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Oh, dear. I seem to have forgotten another link to evil, until I was over reading in another thread. I know a girl who has a picture of herself and Jeffrey Dahmer, taken in her living room (she used to live next door to Dahmer's mother).
Posted by Evil (Member # 4830) on :
It really depends where you are relative to Southern California.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
and, now, how about the GOOD?
How many "steps" or "DEGreeeees" of separation are you from the GOOD people in the world?
*raises eyebrow conspicuously*
[ March 18, 2004, 02:41 AM: Message edited by: fallow ]
Posted by knightswhosayni! (Member # 4096) on :
I'm one step away from Johnny Carson, but I'm pretty sure he's not evil.
And I'm a little surprised thor hasn't posted in this thread.
Me->My Aunt and Uncle->The King of Norway->Basically anyone.
You can also link Nelson Mandela to almost anyone important.
[ March 18, 2004, 04:24 AM: Message edited by: St. Yogi ]
Posted by Proteus (Member # 794) on :
Hmmm..... do you class Rock Music as Evil?
Me - My Brother - His girlfriend - Her Second Cousin = Gavin Rosdale - Married to - Gwen Stefani.
Oh and I met Alastair Campbell last week, some think he used to run the country and was evil....does that count?
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Okay. This is getting way too spooky to be funny.
As I reported in two other posts on this thread, I can establish connection to three - count 'em, three - murderers (hence their appropriateness to the title of this thread), using just one intermediate linke to each.
Well, as of this afternoon, the list has grown to four. For the moment at least, one of my teachers from when I did a paralegal studies program at a local community college is one of the attorneys represeting Fresno mass murderer Marcus Wesson.
This is getting too weird for words, and I'm not sure I like it at all.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
My cousin wrote a paper on the effect of industrialization on crime, which was incorporated into Ted Kazinski's "Manifesto."
My Grandfather was a close friend of Ted Geisel.
My mother in law lives down the street from where Kendall Francois kept the bodies in his parent's house.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
right on.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
I can link to Mother Teresa with one intermediary.
Since we're moving on to GOOD people now.
This excludes all mass murders, cannibals, etc. Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Okay. Good people.
I can link to Archbishop Desmond Tutu through one my professors at university.
And I don't know whether he's good or not, but Steve Harwell (the lead singer of Smashmouth) is the cousin of one of my best friends. Anyway, she says he's a good guy. Posted by fil (Member # 5079) on :
2 links to George W. Bush and by my ideals...evil. Hell, half of my wife's family have mob links...I am at least 2 or 3 links away from most mob folks in a nearby and for y'all an unnamed city. Evil.
I spent a night drinking with Mike Edmonds, who played one of the small folks in "Time Bandits" (the one who ate rats?). He was a terribly nice bloke, but he knows David Warner and as we know...in that movie...he is EV-IL!! 2 steps from evil.
I was an understudy in a play written and directed by Edward Albee...he is an amazing writer, a competent (if lazy) director but in all ways diva-ish...he is evil. One step.
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Our branch left Germany before World War II, as the rising political storm frightened and appalled them. On reaching the US, they split the family name in two and assimilated as quickly as possible into Midwest farmlife.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Aren't they going to China soon? I heard a rumor like that.
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You're forgiven. It's possible my reputation for good and evil at Hatrack will survive one crazy post.
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I really am sorry about the troubles we had before. (And I know you aren't on here all that much and probably didn't stay mad at me that long.)![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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