Random Rubik's Reincarnation

Everyone knows what Ernő Rubik's Rubik's Cube is, and has probably messed around with one for a while before becoming so infuriated they either dropped on the floor and walked away or they accidentally snapped it in half, not retaining the knowledge of how to reconstruct the mind-numbing puzzle.  Ernő Rubik invented the original thing in his hometown Budapest, Hungary in 1974.  "Although it is widely reported that the Cube was built as a teaching tool to help his students understand 3D objects, his actual purpose was solving the structural problem of moving the parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart," according to wikipedia's entry on the Rubik's Cube.  When Mr. Rubik figured out that people would soon want to take his brilliant idea a monetize it, he patented it under the name "Bűvös Kocka," or the Magic Cube.  Then, the Hungarian toy manufacturer, Politechnika, was burdened with the difficult task of beginning mass production of the revolutionary game.  The year of 1977 marked the first sale of the toy in the world.  The Ideal Toy Corporation and Ernő struck a deal three years later, and the cube began being exported out of Hungary and around the world.  This was the point at which Ernő's cube was renamed to the Rubik's Cube.
     About this time, everybody loathed Rubik for his devilish invention.  There had been more screams of frustration than there were laughs at any of Dane Cook's shows.  Then came the hero, a 12-year-old schoolboy from England.  WFT?!  Patrick Bossert published the book You Can Do The Cube.  It continued on to sell over 1.5 million copies.  So now, people that had the patience to read through the book, and play with the cube enough, could solve it.  They became gods.  Even though the information was highly accessible, those who could solve the cube were seen as amazing geniuses.  Yes, it does take a certain amount of brain capacity in order to memorize the algorithms and when one uses said algorithms, but anyone could solve one it they really wanted to.
     Ernő wanted so present a new challenge to his loyal consumers, and that's what he did.  He patented the Pocket Cube in 1983, a less intimidating version of the Rubik's Cube.  The pocket cube consists of a 2x2x2 as apposed to a 3x3x3 design.  It is constructed entirely of corner pieces.  It didn't take long for most cubers to realize that one would the solve the Pocket Cube by simply using algorithms from the 3x3x3 to solve only the corner pieces.  Many people think that this is an easier Rubik puzzle to solve.  While, it probably is the easiest of Rubik's cubes, it still requires a relatively high amount of brain power to memorize all the needed movements.
     The Rubik's Cube (3x3x3) and the Pocket Cube (2x2x2) are probably the most know of all the cubes.  But they don't stop there.  Though the Rubik's revenge was named after Ernő Rubik, it was actually designed by Péter Sebestény.  It was released around the same time the Pocket Cube was, but had a much different effect on the public.  People went insane.  There were riots in the streets of Hungary, in which many people were killed.  There were multiple assassination attempts to rid the world of Ernő Rubik.  Yes, I just made all of that up.  No, none of that happened.  But it still causes many brains to puke, and even a few people to cry in frustration.
     Yet once again, Ernő didn't stop there.  Then came the release of the Rubik's Professor.  Invented by Udo Krell, the 5x5x5 cube consists of 150 stickers and 99 pieces.  I don't think I really need to say much more.
     Another company, V-Cube, has become the biggest company for 5x5x5s and up.  They manufacture the V2 (2x2x2) though the V11 (11x11x11).  I love these guys.  You can check out their site if you don't believe me.
     Though the Rubik's company is most famous for their cubes, they also have been the masterminds behind things such as the Rubik's World, Rubik's UFO, Rubik's Revolution, Rubik's Magic, Rubik's 360, Rubik's Homer Simpson, Rubik's Mirrors, Rubik's Icon Cube, Rubik's Twist, Rubik's Clocks, Rubik's Shells, Rubik's Bricks, Rubik's Touch, Rubik's Slide, Rubik's Tangrams, Rubik's Sudoku, and the Rubik's Tic Tac Toe.  Following, is a list of pictures of all of those, so you can get a feel for how creative those at the Rubik's company are.

The Rubik's World, a 2x2x2 Ball.

Rubik's UFO, you just have to see it.

The Rubik's Revolution retained the original cube shape, but does not turn at all.  The goal is to find the lit center piece, and push it as fast as you can.
I hate it.

The Rubik's Magic is another one you should see as apposed to read about.

The Rubik's 360 consists of three spheres all inside one another, and small balls.  The goal is to get all of the small balls into their bubbles on the outer most sphere.

The Homer Simpson Cube
One of America's favorite cartoon character's bust as a 2x2x2, what could be better?

Rubik's Mirrors is a Rubik's cube with one color: a mirror.  But, the trick is that each of the cubies are different shapes. That's just cool.

A Rubik's Cube with various shades of black and white, and one side made of mirrors, as seen on the Mirror's Cube (above), the Icon Cube can be a little more challenging, but the tactic for solving are the same.

Unlike anything else, the Rubik's Twist can be formed into almost any shape you want.  Here's a video of it.

The goal of the Rubik's Clock is to get all nine of the analog clocks to read 12 o'clock.  This thing is crazy.

Rubik's Shells, who knew? Check it out here.

When the Rubik's Bricks fall apart, you have to arrange them to achieve the classic cube once again.

The Rubik's Touch is the latest puzzle from Rubik.  At a pricey $149.99 this cube cannot be twisted, but with the swipe of a finger along a row, the cube responds by rotating the lights accordingly.  Since only the rows on the up side of the cube can be moved (to prevent accidental moves), this puzzle bends the minds of even the most experienced cubers.

Another new puzzle, the Rubik's Slide calls for the player to copy the movement that lights up on the screen by twisting an sliding the top of the puzzle in a plethora of movements.

Very similar to the Rubik's Brick (above), the goal of Rubik's Tangrams is to complete the square by nesting all of the polygons together.

This is what you get when you combine the two most popular puzzle games in the world; The Rubik's Sudoku.

And this is what you get when you combine the best selling toy in the world with the childhood game everybody knows; Rubik's Tic Tac Toe





So, as you can see, the Rubik's cube is much more than just a confuzzling cube that everybody hates to love.  It has become a cultural symbols of sorts.  It was estimated that about one-fifth of the world population had played the cube, in the 1980s.  Can you imagine how many people have played with a cube by now?  I know I can't.  I lost my hearing aid, so I'm having trouble seeing today...

Email me at monkeyt211@gmail.com if you have any questions about where to find more information on the cube and/or other Rubik's products.  I can also tell you where to find all of the puzzles above, and most all others, so ask me for a price check instead of trying to search the junk pile that is the internet for help on where to buy them.  Good luck fellow cubers!

CCs. No, not Carbon Copies. And no, the latter has nothing to do with the environment.

Come of late, when I'm chatting with people, be it by email, facebook, gmail, or whatever, I've noticed a pattern.  There are a few phrases that people use, unknowingly, to change the conversation to the other person.  What I mean by that it if person a tells person b that he just finished his English project, person b would probably say something like "cool," or "good for you!"  I call these conversation-converters, CCs.  The difference between CCs and a regular sentence is that a CC leaves the next question/topic choice to the other person.  So if person b said "good job," then it's person a's turn to talk (of course).  Then person a can also use a CC, to leave the next question to person b.  These are response CCs, rCCs.  Back to before, if person a tells person b that he just finished his English project, person b saying something like "What is it about?" is not a CC.  I think that a few CCs/rCCs are a good way to tell somebody that you DON'T WANT TO TALK TO THEM.

So, to help those of you that frequently hate talking to people, you misanthropes, here's a list of CCs and rCCs.

CCs

• cool/coolio
• good for you
• whoop-idee-doo-dah
• awesome possum
• wonderous
• amazing
• lol/haha/hahz*
• sweet
• etc.

rCCs

• yup/yuppers
• uh-huh
• fo sho/fo shizzle
• yahaar/yaar
• 'tis true
• correct
• mm-hmm
• etc.

*Be careful using these if you feel anti-social, it can spark the other person's interest in what is funny, launching a whole nother conversation explaining that way they said was funny.  And yes, nother is a word, just an informal word: Dictionary.com.

Another thing to be cautious of when using CCs/rCCs it never to use a rCC right after the other person you are talking to used one.  Then you look like a redundant, copying idiot. E.g. If person b says "good for you" after person a told her about his project, then person a says "yuppers," person b has been forced to do one of three things:

I. Think of a new topic to talk about

II. Look like an idiot and use another rCC

III. Say "gtg, see you later," or something of the sort.

Expanding on option III, lying that you have to go is always an option when you're chatting with someone you don't really want to talk to at the moment.  The common conception is that one must immediately leave the site they were chatting to the person on.  This is not true!!  Let's say you, person x (god I love variables) are on facebook, and person y starts a chat with you.  You really don't want to talk to person y right now, and lie that you have to go.  You, person x do not have to get off of facebook.  You can continue to do whatever you want on facebook.  There is no way for person y to tell if you're actually using the computer (italics are pretty awesome too, hahz).  If person y types asking if you're still there, just don't respond.  Not knowing any better, they would think that you just walked away from the computer, forgetting to close the browser window you where using.

Now I have provided you with the answer to the problem you never had.

-Durple

Note:  This blog has been edited many times before it was published, SO I GOT EVERYTHING RIGHT.  I win.

P.S. Look!!!  More things at the end of a blog that mean nothing but you're going to read them anyway because there are oddly interesting to you, and nobody knows why!!

P.P.S. See, I told you.

Note: I win again!

Parkour Poetry... Ooh!! An illiteration!!

This is a change of pace for this website, but I felt that I needed to update my blog for you peoples.  Here are a few poems I wrote about Parkour.  And if you don't know what parkour is, you don't know who I am, and get off my site you creepy stalker person.

Preparation

He stands before his obstacle,

  Fists opening and closing.
Laying to his left is his rusted bicycle,
  To his right, peers intently watching.

He runs the move through his mind again,
  It seems so easy on paper.
All it is is a Kong to Precision,
  But the gap makes his face turn pale as plaster.

The traceur leans forward with his right foot,
  Left following in suit.
His arms are pumping as fast as they could,
  Adrenaline rushing from hat to shoe.

Legs bending, his arms whip out,
  He dives forward. 

Untitled

She sprints at the wall,
  Hair trailing behind her.
  As a kid, they called her a whiner,
But now she is older, proud, and tall.

His fists slice through the air,
  Face an expression of pure determination.
  In a state of absolute concentration,
He jumps high into the air.

They both his the wall with their right foot,
  And push of the barrier.
  Twisting in mid-air they're
Reaching for the peak of the wall with hands as dark as soot.

Their shoes slap the wall,
  Grip searching for a catch.
  Ariakes ready for another patch,
As towards the sky they fall. 

Coming Soon to The Life of A Wanna-Be Comedian:

Whatever I want.