Puzzled 2

Monday, June 17, 2013

Tuolumne River June 2013

Tuolomne River June 2013, a set on Flickr.

I got to spend a weekend with Rory and fam. One of the highlights was a trip to the Tuolumne River.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Sierra Discovery Trail April 2013

Sierra Discovery Trail April 2013, a set on Flickr.

Since Raymond and Fam are leaving the country soon, Papa figured it was high time to get those grandkids to SDT. It was great.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Creation Seminar 1—Kent Hovind—The Age of the Earth

My Skewb Family puzzles consist of the Skewb, the Jing's Pyraminx, and the Skewb Ultimate. Tonight I finally came to see that I really can solve the Jing's Pyraminx and the Skewb Ultimate using the algorithms and strategy I developed with the Skewb back when I first had it. Things clicked. Over the years I've fiddled with alternate strategies and algorithms, some of which have certain advantages, but the ones that work best for me are the ones I came up with originally when first figuring out the Skewb.

Although it could be argued that the Crazy Tetrahedrons should be included in the Skewb Family, I do not consider them so. Why? Because there is nothing about solving them that is anything like how I like to solve the Skewb.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Roark's #9

Roark's #9, a set on Flickr.

We made our first trip to the new place.

Rubik's Cube Books

I got my first Rubik's Cube in the early nineteen eighties. The only way I could solve it was to take it apart and put it back together solved. Until, that is, I got some little books that explained sequences of moves that could be used to put pieces where you want them without messing up what was already in place.

The Simple Solution To Rubik's Cube
by James G. Nourse
Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube
by David Singmaster
Solve That Crazy, Mixed-up Cube Puzzle
by Don Frederick.

I think I put together my own strategy using bits and pieces gleaned from all three books. Eventually I lost interest and forgot how to complete the cube, forgot I had those books, and lost track of the cubes.

Mark Jeays' Working Corner Method

http://jeays.net/rubiks.htm

In 2007 my interest in Rubik's Cube was rekindled when I watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Marae found my 1980s cube for me and I tried to solve it. Huh-uh. I could do part of it, but not the last layer. Looking online I found various tutorials. Mark Jeays included YouTube videos with his Solution 2. This method worked for me and although I no longer use it in its entirety, nor could I, as I have forgotten the yellow edges sequences, I still find the basic working corner technique helpful, and use a slightly modified version of his corner twisting technique at times.

There is a slightly different implementation of the Working Corner Method. Arnaud van Galen calls it the Keyhole Method. I like his demonstration better than the one I originally learned. It just dawned on me why he is able to get away with doing it the way he does. He goes ahead and finishes the F2L before going to the last layer, unlike the way Jeays uses the working corner (keyhole) to also get the last layer. Since I no longer use the working corner to get the last layer, I should implement Arnaud's technique.

Jasmine's Scalable Method

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

This was the next method I learned. For awhile the idea of speed cubing appealed to me. This promised to be a good beginner's method for those that wanted to go on to faster method's later. Now that I know what I know, I wouldn't recommend this method if your goal is to be able to consistently solve the cube in less than 30 seconds. Rubik's Speedsolver Champion Leyan Lo presents a beginner's method that I like the looks of although I've never learned it. I have recently watched Arnaud van Galen's complete beginner's method video series and recommend them. Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that is very close to one of my favorite ways of solving the cube. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. Also, if you are interested in speedcubing you should check out this YouTube video.

After trying for months to get under a minute with both Jasmine's Method and the Corner's First Method—and failing, I finally decided to quit trying and just enjoy cubing at a nice slow pace.

Don't get me wrong. Jasmine's Method has its merits. The sequences for orienting the last layer edges and corners, and permuting the last layer edges are still in my arsenal of useful algorithms.

Adam Cheyer's Corners First Method

Philip Marshall's Ultimate Solution

http://helm.lu/cube/MarshallPhilipp/
After learning to solve the cube corners first, what is next? An Edges First Method! This was a very difficult tutorial to follow, but once I got it, it was my favorite way to solve the cube for awhile. It uses only a few algorithms, and when you are finished solving the cube you feel like you've solved the puzzle, not just used memorized sequences to unscramble it.

Gilles Roux presents a beginners' method that could be used to solve the cube edges first. The simplicity and comprehensibility make this method a good place to start if you want to understand the Rubik's Cube. His technique is much easier to follow than Marshall's.

But the best by far tutorials on Marshall's Ultimate Solution are done by rline, of twistypuzzles.com. He also goes by chareaves on his blog and youtube channel.