May 24, 2010
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A Teachable Cube
Yesterday, fellow Xangan and comic book letterer extraordinaire, CJ, competed at the Discovery Science Center’s Rubik’s Cube speedcubing competition. He won 4th place in the blindfolded competition, and achieved a 10 second solve during a practice round! More importantly, he spent some time with my cousin Tommy, teaching him the basics of cubing. CJ and Tommy first met two years ago, when Tommy proclaimed he was “the luckiest kid in the world”. It was meeting my friend Tyson, and CJ at that competition that first got Tommy interested in solving the Rubik’s Cube. Later that year he was present for the Guinness World Record for the most people solving a Rubik’s Cube in one place. Yesterday, Tommy’s mom, Lisa, also paid attention, and with CJ’s help and some additional instructions he provided from www.youcandothecube.com, Lisa solved her cube 5 times today! Congratulations to Lisa and thank you to CJ for being so patient and kind.
CJ gives Tommy and Lisa some tips, then solves some cubes in under 15 seconds!Andy had a good time too, exploring the exhibits at the museum:
Mountain Boy
CJ also taught my dog Chazz how to solve the Rubik’s Cube last year. Remember??
That’s a lot of cubes!
In the earthquake machine and outside the space shuttle
A good time was had by all!
Maybe in a year or two, Tommy will be able to do this:Macky solves the Rubik’s Cube with one hand while juggling apples with the other:
http://careygly.xanga.com/664099326/a-kaleidoscope-of-mathematics/
Comments (18)
Oi, I’m on Carey’s blog! Awesome! It was great seeing you and Tommy again and also meeting Tommy’s mom (she was so nice! Even got worried that Tommy was distracting me from the competition, haha). Tommy is so cute and I bet he’s going to be solving the cube like a pro very soon. Always a pleasure to see you, Carey! Thanks for filming some of my solves, by the way!.
I am all thumbs when it comes to the cube. So far, I have not solve one yet. After viewing the video, now I know one key fact, “do it layer by layer”, mmmm. Amazed to see CJ can do it in seconds, I am still dizzy watching it, hehe. Simply amazing. Carey, you ever try to solve one?
@pxlspy01 - CJ, you are just amazing. solving a cube in 14 seconds, I have tried it for 14 years and have not solve one yet. hehe. Thanks for sharing the “secrete” of layer by layer, now I know. thanks! Now I can shoot for solving one in 14 days? :)
@pxlspy01 - Thanks CJ…I just replaced the poorer quality facebook video with an HD YouTube video. And you’re welcome…any time!
@stevew918 - Yep, I was in a contest once in 1981…didn’t win, but finished!
I wish CJ would teach me about rubik cube.
all those cubes belonged to one person? damn, i feel so less-than-intelligent now.
Hey wait – that one cube was all yellow! SOMEONE EXPLAIN THAT.
@Got_Takoyaki - Check out http://www.youcandothecube.com I bet you can do it!
@rudyhou - Yeah, those weren’t CJ’s they were Lorenzo’s. He’s only 16 and already has that many!
@youthinasia613 - I think that was actually 2 cubes…one 6×6 (http://opentech.wikispaces.com/file/view/v-cube_6_back.jpg.jpeg/66937007/v-cube_6_back.jpg.jpeg) and one 3×3
@stevew918 - Thanks! Haha, 14 days? Why not one day?! Just go to the website Carey has up there, and you’ll see it isn’t all that hard to solve. Once you start speedsolving, that isn’t hard either. Speedsolving is all about memory and pattern recognition.
@Got_Takoyaki - Come by to any competition that I am and I’ll see what I can teach you! Most cubers are nice people, so if you ever spot them in the street or something, I’m sure they will be more than willing to help you out.
@youthinasia613 - Optical illusion! I think Carey is right about what cubes those are. That sure does look strange, though, haha.
@rudyhou & @CareyGLY - Actually, those are Steven’s cubes. He’s the one sitting right next to me in that picture with his iPhone. I think you took a picture of Lorenzo’s cubes too, though, Carey.Unfortunately, I don’t have quite the collection that either of those two have, heh.
@pxlspy01 - Thanks kiddo. I love this quote: “Most cubers are nice people…”
@pxlspy01 - thanks for the clarification, cj. still… i bet your IQ is higher than mine.
wow… that really is a lot of cubes. i always thought one cube would be like any other cube haha
@Sc12EeN17aM3 - They all have different levels of tension and cube lube! :)
@CareyGLY - cube lube? sounds like my kinda cube… HAHA
@Sc12EeN17aM3 - I thought you’d get a kick out of that, dirty boy!
@CareyGLY - damn, i fell right into that joke didnt i? haha
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@qiroio - Thanks for stopping by. Good luck to you too.