Dave Caolo

While using Twitter this afternoon, I had an idea.

There are lots of people using Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, etc. The so-called “social” apps on the web. I’ve got 862 Twitter followers as of this writing.

When Britney Spears created a Twitter account (or, more likely, her marketing team), I thought, “I wonder what other celebrities are using Twitter? Could I be connected to any of them, Kevin Bacon-style?”

Surely, among the 800+ people who follow me, the thousands of people who follow them and so on, is a set of links between me and a celebrity. I decided to find out.

For the purposes of my experiment, I chose Alyssa Milano. She’s high-profile enough that many people know her, and I’ve got no pre-existing connection to her. So, here’s the question:

How many degrees of separation exist between me and Alyssa Milano, using only social media connections as the links?

Ged suggested that there might be a connection in the Cape Cod Baseball League somehow. He’s almost right. I did see Jason Varitek play with the Hyannis Mets, and he went on to play on the Red Sox with Manny Ramirez, and Alyssa blogged about meeting Manny, but that doesn’t really count.

This is where you can help. If you can provide a link(s) between me and Alyssia, let me know via Twitter.

This will be fun!

Update: Not five minutes later, I’ve got two connections

• Number one
• Number two

Earlier today, I was browsing GasBuddy to search for the cheapest gas in my neighborhood. I clicked on Massachusetts and sorted by price. Guess what I found.

The most expensive gas in the entire commonwealth of Massachusetts is on Cape Cod. Here’s a screenshot. First, the least expensive gas in Mass:

And here’s a list of the priciest gas in the state

Eleven out of the top fifteen — including the coveted #1 spot — are on The Cape. Website GasPriceWatch yielded no results, because we live in the middle of frakkin’ nowhere.

Ten five years from now, this beautiful stretch of land will be an exlcusive playground for the ultra-rich, and that sucks.

In 1994, I graduated from college and broke up with my long-time girlfriend (that’s not the “dream come true” part). She had a year of college left, and I moved to Massachusetts to pursue my fame and fortune.

After a few months in Beantown, I returned to Scranton to visit her. She had started a radio show at the school’s station, and gave me a CD that she played whenever possible — The Inevitable by Squirrel Nut Zippers.

I popped it into the car’s CD player for the drive back to Mass. As I hit the Pennsylvania/New York border I was starting to sing along, and by the time I reached Connecticut I was a full-blown fan.

Since then, I’ve purchased everything they’ve released, but I’ve never seen them live.

That streak is about to end.

The band went on hiatus several years ago, so imagine my amazement when I saw on their wikipedia page that they’re touring again. Not only that, but they’ll be playing right here on Cape Cod. Incredible.

I’ve already purchased my ticket. To say that I’m excited about this is an understatement. I can’t freakin wait. This is going to be the conccert of the summer.