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GoCube Kickstarter Campaign

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Hey, gang. No over-produced video of average solves today. Just a quick post about a promising Kickstarter campaign around a “connected” cube. The GoCube seems to be a cube with accelerometers and motion sensors that track the relative position of each cubie and the absolute position of the cube itself. According to the campaign, the cube is:

An incredible smart connected cube with tracking and whole new way to cube. Learn, improve, and even compete.

Check out their promotional video:

It may not move like a speedcube, but it seems like a promising training cube — and, at a minimum, a fun novelty gadget. So, yeah, I ordered two. Naturally.

OLL 56 Redux

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OLL 56
(spinner)

(Rw’ U’ Rw) (U’ R’ U R) (U’ R’ U R) (Rw’ U Rw)

setup: (r U r’) (R U R’ U’) (R U R’ U’) (r U’ r’)

Hola, amigos. ¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! I’ve been reinvigorated over the past couple months to get back into cubing — and, yes, the attendant trappings of blogging and producing videos. A little rusty, but it’s coming back.

There was a period of time a few years ago that I rushed to learn a bunch of algs, and ticked through them at a strong clip. The problem, however, was that I never really committed them to muscle memory and auto-retrieval. Fast forward a couple years, and I’ve forgotten many. So much so, in fact, that I sat down to learn OLL 56 without realizing that I not only had learned it in January 2016, but I had blogged about it and recorded a slo-mo video. (Looking back, my execution was actually pretty good!)

Well, two-and-a-half years later, I learned it (again, as it were) for the first time with a new alg that I prefer:

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Light-Up, Illuminated Cube

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Yes, I’ve re-decorated. Really, more of a gut-job and rebuild. I like the new look of the site and will post separately about the process and new template soon.

Ahoy to the loyal followers in AIC land. Just a quick check-in post to demonstrate, more than anything, “Yes, I’m still here.” Busy as hell, but re-inspired to get back into cubing after a chance run-in with a hell of a cuber during Toy Fair in New York. He was working a booth next to ours, and I took a few mins to say hi. We wound up grabbing drinks and having a great time nerding it up about cubing and life — perhaps the first two people to trade algs and pointers in a Manhattan speakeasy. (You know who you are. Thanks, mate. It was a blast.)

Thusly re-motivated, I began cleaning out some drawers — and, in so doing, unearthed a special cube that I had modified a few years ago. When I say “modified,” I don’t mean tension and lube. I mean solder, wire cutters, and micro-switches. Yes, the hacked Crystal Cube about which I’ve written a few times.

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Fung OLLs (##39-40)

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The two “Fung” OLLs — the large “square” lighting bolts — each have an occurrence probability of 1/54, and together 1/27 (3.7%). They seem to appear more often for me; I would have guessed more like 1/15. Whatever the frequency, it was time to learn these.

OLL #39
(Fung)

f’ L F L’ U’ L’ U L S

setup: L U F’ U’ L’ U L F L’

OLL #40
(Anti-Fung)

f R’ F’ R U R U’ R’ S’

setup: (R’ U’) F U (R U’ R’) F’ R

The standard algs for these didn’t flow very well for me. Digging a bit deeper, I found the alternate ones with the S moves to be easy and regrip-less. Here’s a video tutorial:

(puzzle: Maru CX3 w/ stock stickers)

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Prose for the Cyst

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(A Seuss-ified Tale, Based on Actual Events)**
On his wrist, on his wrist…
There’s a cyst on his wrist

I insist, I insist!
There’s a cyst on his wrist

Announced Bartholomew Griffinelbist
Yelling and pounding the air with his fist

Oh dear, what a shame, I just can’t resist
To ask who it is with cyst in his wrist

It is he of the cube, said Griffinelbist,
The one dubbed the cubing adventurer-ist

‘Tis a shame that his wrist seems so badly kissed
Under the skin a boulder from ole Sisyphus

Through pain and discomfort and a drive through the mist
To the surgeon he went, seeking help to enlist

Any method to erase all that seemed to exist
In connection with the giant cyst in his wrist

Excise it, we’ll do, the surgeon he hissed
With the help of a good anesthesiologist

On Thursday upcoming au revoir to the cyst
To that bump that surely will never be missed

Concluded Bartholomew Griffinelbist

** Written in 10 minutes, without editing, as part of a creative writing exercise.
In other words, excuse the metering anomalies, contrivedness, and clunkiness.