The Six Sides Blog

I’ll make a video of this no doubt, but it should be written. Plenty of people have been asking me to go to some competition somewhere. I have to emphasize to them that I can’t go to every competition that comes around in North America. As much as I’d love to my travel range is rather limited, especially during the school year. The Princeton open in 2008 was different, I was on spring break and I had relatives on the east coast that I hadn’t seen in a while, so the competition was convenient in that sense.  Other competitions on the East coast would normally not be open to me.

For the most part you can expect me to attend more competitions in the West.  California, constantly has compeitions that are well run and orginized, furthermore it seems Colorado is starting to hold more competitions which would be beneficial to me given that most of Colorado is within a 6-8 hour drive away. For now the only thing I can promise to people is the still unannounced Caltech Winter Competition at the San Francisco Exporatorium, there are always fun competitions.

Recently I became aware of a Rewards1-like-site Cube Lagoon (neither of them I use, nor do I in any way endorse them) immediately several things became all too apparent to me about this site and the absolute errors it is making with it’s presentation and marketing.

Lets just look at the header it’s absurd enough to not make me use their services.

The cubes on the farleft.

Wow, that is the most generic picture of cubes i have ever seen. So generic infact that who ever designed this page was too lazy to get their own picture. Where else does one go? Of course, Google Images, essentially the designer just took the first second image he saw.

Maybe a little more variety would’ve been helpful here. One cube scrambled and the other solved, or even just a different orientation of the cube like white top and green front. Ok, so there’s the problem, now please move your eyes to the next section of the header to see problem two.

The Logo

Now here’s the logo and otherwise the center of the header. There are two problems here, and one of them is really really important. I’ll describe the more minor one first.

Lagoon, how does that font signify a small shallow body of salt water that’s seperate from the ocean? I don’t think it does either. salt water can’t be very good for cubes due to it’s slight acidity and the possible effects on the springs. I don’t have any font to recoment that they change it to. But what’s there more portrays “Cube Cursive-writing-on-paper” than a lagoon.

Now the second crucial error in the header. Look closely, if you’ve been cubing for more than a month you should be able to recognize it. Yes! That’s right, they misspelled “Rubik’s” a very common mistake, but for such a company trying to render themselves processional and reliable it’s a killing blow. They’re not doing a very good job here if they’re misspelling what they’re selling. Oh and “cube” in “cube in style for free” sould be capitalized.

A most mysterious specimen

Now the final error and a confusing on at that. Just take a short look at this image and I’ll try to deconfuse you. I have never seen anyone who cubes look like this. Have you? Post a picture in the comments below if you have, otherwise they’re just using a common marketing ploy which is “if you use our service you will be happy, just like this girl here who while may not speedcube or use our service, is happy.” Well when it’s said like that, the whole site appears as a travesty.

So that’s about all, it’s more of a humourous post than an outright serious one, but if the creator or owner of this site happens to see this then I suggest he changes some stuff regarding the header. But until then I’ll laugh at this header and the entire site.

Before I start I’d like the revise a statement about the 6×6 tutorial in the video. I might make one, I’m considering a written guide rather than a video tutorial as its more common of a medium for communicating How-To’s. So I’ll make the final decision on that later.
If you’ve already seen my most recent video on YouTube then you already know the majority of my opinions about this cube. What I wasn’t able to mention were the things that I’ve found out on the second day of owning it.

To start, this cube isn’t perfect, no cube is there are some cons and pros I wasn’t able to list in the initial review due to that I only wanted to have an hour to try it out and make a video of it showing my true first thoughts on this product. It’s a little over 24-hours since I made the video, and despite the cons and pros I’ve discovered over the last few hours, my opinion that was expressed in the video remains unchanged.

Discovered Pros:
• You can cut corners like a pro without popping: As mentioned in the video this cube is extremely sturdy and takes a lot to pop it significantly. The only limit is how willing are you to push this characteristic to it’s advantage. Even on the second day of owning it I still move the sides rather cautiously, but at least twice as fast since yesterday.
• Without lubrication, it’s still pretty fast: (wow that’s dirty) Like any cube it can be worn down, and is naturally adjusted to your solving style, this cube does exactly that.

Discovered Cons:
• Like a Rubik’s 5×5, the center corners occasionally twist: This is the scariest con I’ve discovered, anyone whose seriously tried a Rubik’s 5×5 knows of the curse of the center corners twisting and sometimes breaking. You’d think that this fear completely carries over to the 6×6. However the two pops I got today are reassuring, closer examination of the center corners reveals that they’re built totally different than a flimsy Rubik’s 5×5’s center corners. So while they may not break (phew) they still twist (awwww).

Yes, I only discovered one con. The final thing I want to write about is why I only got the 6×6 and not a 5×5 or 7×7. There are several reasons behind this. For one, I already have a 5×5, it’s not very fun, somehow the 6×6 with all it’s parities is. As for the 7×7 this one’s a no-brainer for me, as much as I’d like a massive cube with pillowed sides, if the WCA introduces any of these cubes into competition, It’s most likely going to be the 6×6, due to it’s size and the time it would take to solve it, i believe that the the 7×7 will not be introduced to competition.
So there you have it, hope you’ve enjoyed the the pictures that came with this post. Keep cubing!

My phone is awesomer than yours:

The cube could’ve come out better, there’s something on the other side but it’s not as cool.
In other news I’ll be attending the US Nationals/Open in Atlanta (where I’ll have my , I am getting a V-Cube, and Sigur Rós‘ new album is really awesome!

Hopefully the reader of the post doesn’t immediately think that I’m leaving the internet or YouTube due to the title, but rather I feel like writing about an experience I’ve had over the last several months.

I won’t say much about her. (Except for that previous sentence which reveals enough about this person as it is.) I knew she would only be around for a year, thus I made it a point not to get too attached, yet the inevitable happened and I came to consider this person as a friend. Despite the amount of time I still spend on the computer, you’ve helped me realize that there is much more beyond technology (#10 here) and the digital world, while it may seem that friends will be ever present, there is no such thing as forever until they’re gone, the time I spend in this epoch of my life only happens once, and that the barrier of language that separates the world is easily be broken.

It is impossible to comprehend the unfathomable infinite which is time, therefore when saying goodbye for this amount of time I am at a loss of words. By me writing this it puts me at peace to know that at least I have said a semi-formal goodbye and hopefully its a better one than I gave mere hours ago. Whether or not you actually read this, this small memorandum says a humongous thank you, for, as it what may otherwise say in your yearbook, I shall miss you 100%. Remember the Buffalo Buffalo , perhaps I’ll see you in Paris after I’ve shot some heroin and* … well you know the rest.

Farewell, leb wohl.

Hi, I know it has been awhile since I’ve posted much of anything on my website or on my YouTube account, but I have good excuses. Since the 2.0 launch of this site in mid March, I have been involved with school and several time consuming events on every Saturday since then. In case you’re wondering it has mostly been Track Meets, an ACT test, and a team competition in and all I’ll say is that we got into the Nationals for it. So the NMAA A-AA State meet was last weekend and therefore my Saturdays are free again, meaning several things.

1: I can get on with making and posting .PDF guides, I have started a “How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube” .pdf but never gotten around with finishing it. I plan on making an Algorithm pages for Big Cube Parities, the Square-1, Blindfold solving, and hopefully F2L.

2. I have time for the video tutorials including How to Solve a Square-1 and How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube Blindfolded (which I promised almost a year ago). Hopefully I can get those out the door quickly, that’s all i have planned for now, beyond those two tutorials, I think I’ll be out of tutorial ideas until the 6×6’s from v-cubes.com come out.

3. Fill in Missing Sections, I’ve received countless messages that the F2L, OLL, and Computer Related Links don’t work, to tell the truth and be technical about things, they do work, notice the linked page on them is /# which means that they’ll just stay on the same page you’re on (as an example click here). My priority on those is F2L, OLL, Computer Related (if I even want that section anymore).

So that’s is what’s to come, if anyone else has any suggestions as to what else the site is missing, or what I could do a tutorial on after I make “HTS Square-1″ and “HTS Blindfold” you can post them in the comments. Stay Tuned!

There have been three competitions in the last two days one three different continents, included are several new records pushing the competition even further in the world of speedcubing. We’ll go in reverse order.

Chattahoochee Spring: Chris Hardwick (my cubing hero) is back setting the world records for solving big cubes blindfolded again. Now that Mayas Kuti is out of competition for a few years the Blindfolded events are going to see some major competition. Already the contest for the first official (and legal) sub-minute solve is under way, the closest person to it seeming to be Rowe Hessler, claiming an astounding 54.77 Blindfolded average of 12 last week. But until he gets to a competition, the record still stands at 1:00.62 set by Alexander Yu at Princeton last week.

Danish Open: There were no world records set at this competition, again now that Kuti is out, European competitions are going to be a little more saturated, as in a lot more National Records, less World Records. The only other thing which I find more funny about this competition is that former world record holder Erik Akkersdijk won everything except three events. Made me laugh anyway.

Osaka Open: This competition was filled with World Records, most significant being the World Record 3×3 average World Champion Yu Nakajima set at 11.33! His times (16.69) , 12.56, (10.46), 10.72, 10.71 are proof that he is capable of a sub-11 or possibly even a sub-10 average in a competition. Giving the best solvers on all continents a run for their money. Other World Records include Takayuki Ookusa’s World Record single solve of 1:27.43 and his average of 1:35.04, which coincidently equals my personal best for the 4×4!

So that’s it for this weekend, until next time keep cubing!

So after several months of drawing and redrawing graphics, writing and rewriting code, adjusting elements several pixels up or down or left or right. Then making all compatible with Internet Explorer. The redesign is finally done.

In it’s entirety it’s mostly the same website with some sections ditched and new ones added in their place. The art section was totally pointless, the Computer Related section I never was able to develop to what I wanted it to be. Needless to say those sections are gone from the main pages and put into the “other” category just in case anyone did like those sections. I replaces them with a Comic section and this Blog. Both I’m still trying to fill with content especially the Comics.

Otherwise everything is the same, hopefully I’ll get to making all the .pdfs for all my guides next week along with the various missing pages in the Rubik’s Cube section as I will be going to the Princeton open this weekend.

So that’s all, tell me what you think of it all in the comments.

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