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.

Redundancy Annoys Me

Redundancy annoys me. I hate it when I make a redundant statement, it makes me feel like and idiot. I'm one of those people who wants to correct people when they say something that's redundant, or they say something incorrectly (grammar wise). But I do the same thing, and I always try to correct myself immediately, but I sometimes fail. Then about an hour later I think "wait, did I say 'I want AN plastic bag?' she must've thought I was an IDIOT!!!!"  But I do enjoy redundant jokes, such as "I'm from the town of Redundancy Town," or the classic Missoulian mistake of the "UC Center."  It's funny when people make things redundant on purpose, but otherwise it's just annoying.

What are your favorite redundancy jokes?

Not much of a blog, I know, BUT I'M NOT GETTING PAID FOR THIS, NOW AM I?!

Sleeping in at Sleepovers?!

My sister had a sleepover last night with her friend Bridget.  So they stayed up late and what not while the other members of the family found something else to do, which usually entails being trapped in their rooms while the two girls take rule of the house.  They must have stayed up until about 2 o'clock, not to late, but not exactly early.  There are two different type of people when it comes to sleepovers: There's that rare breed of them that wakes up at about 6 a.m. and those who wake up at about 6 p.m.  I'm one of the people who wakes up really early everyday, so at sleepovers, I wake up extra early for some reason, I have no idea why.  By the time seven a.m. rolls around, I'll be up and running on a normal day.  During a sleepover, I'm up at about five.  When I wake up early at a sleepover, I have an important decision to make; do I wake everybody else up, or let them sleep, and maybe fall back asleep my self?  I usually choose the former, and everyone groans and chews me out, but when we get the TV and videogames rolling, I usually think I made the right choice.


My sister is one of those people who isn't fully awake until about eight.... p.m.  I feel bad for the person she is having a sleepover with, because a lot of their friends are courteous enough to wait until she wakes up before they begin their day.  That usually doesn't work out very well.


E.g. Bridget wakes up at about 10 a.m., and Sophie's still asleep.  Half an hour later, Bridget is getting kind of restless, and wants to get up and do something, but Sophie's still sawing logs on the couch.  By about eleven, Bridget has probably thought about having breakfast a few dozen times, and you can practically see the Z's coming from Sophie's mouth.  By the time noon rolls around, Sophie begins to wake up, only to realize that Bridget has left, Hudson is folfing with his friends, and her parents went to Taco Time for lunch because it's Taco Tuesday.

Nothing

There's only one thing I hate more than not having something to write about is not having something to write about when you need to write something.  No, I don't need to write a blog, I can do whatever I feel like with my blog, but now that I know that somebody wants me to write something, I feel horribly obliged to do so.  That's not a bad thing in any way, I need to keep my creative juices flowing.  But what happens when I run out of creative juices.  Okay, maybe it's impossible to do so, but you get what I'm saying.  WHAT SHOULD I RIGHT ABOUT?  Quick!! What's the first thing that comes to mind... right... NOW!!  Comment, and I shall post.  For my first trick, I shall right about... the number 9.  Why not?  9 is an innocent number?  Everybody's always picking on 9, not just because of that joke why was 10 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9 (you have to say it out loud, just make sure nobody can hear you talking to yourself).  No, that's not the problem.  The problem is that 9 is just a big enough number not to be considered "small," like 4, 2, and 8.  But, it's not quite big enough to be a big number, because everybody knows that you have to have at least two digits to be a big number.  So, 9 has kind of fallen into a little crack in the system, it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the numbers (like 47, that number is just weird, but that's another story).  From now on, never pick on a number 9, just because it looks funny or because it smells bad.


Pick on it because it has a weird haircut.

What do people love more than getting email?

I need to learn how to program an application.  I have a great idea for an email client.  What do people love more than receiving email?  Receiving regular mail!  Yes, I'm talking letters that people write with their hands on a piece of paper.  I want to combine those two.  An email program that shows emails like their letters!  The inbox would be a mailbox, obviously, and you could check the mail whenever you wanted.  The animated mailbox would open, and you would get you emails.  You could open each "letter" by opening the envelope, and unfolding the piece of paper the message would be written on.  When sending an email you could choose the envelope you wish to slip your letter (written on personalized stationary, of course) into.  Then, you pop in into your mailbox - now functioning as the outbox - and the plastic flag would pop up.  Then, well the email was sent, the flag would go down, maybe a little mail truck would drive by too, I don't know.  You may be asking "Well, were are the letters that I already read stored for later reference?"  You probably weren't thinking that, but I made you think it didn't I?  Hahaha...  Anyway, all letters that have been previously viewed would be stored in the "Read" box.  By box, I mean a little plastic thing that holds all the letters.  The file system of my program is born!!  When you find the need to, you can insert a divider into the box, creating more specific boxes.  C'mon, all of you would download this program if I made it.  So, if by any random chance you can program such an application, or you know someone who could, or know someone who might know someone who possibly knows somebody who hypothetically knows a person who could know a guy/gal that could program an application like these, I'll be here.

My idea, don't take it.

No promises

Writing a blog is tough.  You not only have to think of something to write about, but you have to do it a lot too.  You have those brain juices flowing 24/7 in order to keep it fresh.  I've let my blog slip a lot, and stopped posting for a while.  But then, I say "Oh, I'll start posting every other day now," then I post one other blog, and stop yet again.  So this time, I'm not going to promise you people anything, even though nobody reads my blog.  I'm going to write a blog when I feel about it, and I hope that it's funny.  So, if you somehow find this blog, pass it on to you friends and family, so maybe I'll have somebody to write to.  Because, if I don't have any readers, I find no point in writing a blog for my own amusement.  So, expect more, but not necessarily on a regular basis.

Survivor, Folf Edition

As I trekked through the brush, shaking the snow out of my boots, I wondered why I felt the need to choose the light blue disk instead of the bright orange one.  When I finally spotted it I may as well have been in Russia, with Palin yelling "Howzit goin' neighbor?"  I reached down to grab my disc and looked in the direction of the basket... or at least where I thought the basket was.  I decided to try my newly learned Tomahawk technique, in which one throws the frisbee sideways in order to weave through and over trees.  I chucked the disc only to chip another piece of bark out the tree in front of me.  The wood was scarred by the wild throws of other folfers, sap coating the tree making it shine in the winter sun.

That day, blue mountain was completely covered in ice, our only protection being the half-inch layer of powdered snow laying on the ground.  Well, the snow more just covered up the ice patched instead of saving us from them.  We were the folfing four... no... that was horrible...

Any who, the group consisted of my dad, Bob, our friend Jonathan, Glenn, and I (Rusty).  Jonathan and Glenn were the Seniors here, while dad and I were the Greenhorns.  I had never played folf before in my life.  We where invited by Jonathan to play last Sunday, while Barb and Speaker watched Jonathan's baby girl, Zora.  We drove out to pick up Glenn, then headed for the course.  When we arrived, dad and I saw some a nice group of people walking back and forth on a nice, slightly downhill, trail.  We both got out and headed directly for the trail.
"Where are you guys going?"  Jonathan asked.  We where mistaken.  Our trail was the one that went up the face of that cliff we had parked next to.  Dad almost had an asthma attack just looking at it.  We began to cry, and one of Glenn's 'Yak Tracks'-- a small rubber 'slipper' with metal coils you slid onto your boot--busted and wrapped around his ankle.  I was having a bit of fun, doing some rock-climbing in the middle of the winter.

When we all reached the top, we began a ritual of sorts; each of us grabbed a disc, flipped it.  The odd one out went first.  I prayed to the, um,  FOLF GODS, that I wouldn't go first, I needed so see what disc everyone else used, and how they threw it.  But of course, I was the only on with an upright disk.  They then proceeded to find who when second, third, and last.

I stepped up to the tees, and threw it is the basic 'backhand' form, when you tuck the disc into your forearm, and whip your wrist for some power.  The disc faded horribly to the left, wedging itself into the powder, which of there was little enough to let us slip on the ice, but plenty to cover an innocent folf disc.

We continued through to course, and I eventually switched to a 'forehand' throw, the one we all wish we could throw.  It was odd at first, because instead of fading to the left, it falls right.  I got it after a while, and started throwing some pars, and only a few double bogeys.

We finished up the 17th hole, and began our hike to the last hole.  We wandered over to a small hill, which we needed to descend before we could make our next throws.

Jonathan warned it would be icy, but I decided to test it out.  I got into a snowboarding position, staying low to the ground to keep a low center of gravity.  I started to slide down what seemed a trail, slowly moving along by shuffling my feet.  That’s when I really took off.

I slipped onto my butt and started sliding down the hill like it was the water slide a fairmont hot springs.  My hands where flailing in the air, the frisbee bag sailed down the hill, landing at the foot of the incline.  I managed to slow down, only to hear a “LOOK OUT!” From my dad, who was sailing down right behind me.  He plowed over me, while my leg was shredded by a frozen pinecone.

I turned to see Jonathan destroying a rotting log, sending lumber flying in every direction, as he avoided some innocent barbed wire.  Dad proceeded to slide into a bush, while Glenn did summersaults in mid-air.

We finished the last hole, and found our way to the parking lot trail.  When we got there, we found that we needed to get down the cliff we had crawled up earlier.  I went first, again, looking for pine needles as a sign of dirt aka not ice.  I made it down, simply to find dad’s coffee cup had exploded on the ground where it hit when he slipped right behind me.  I crawled under the car to grab the lid, and gave it to Bob.


Despite the injuries and bruised emotions, we came out on the up and up, and are ready for the next outing!

Book Report: Skate

Since I've started to write a blog regularly now, I need some things to write about.  I love reading when I'm not writing a blog or story or what not.  So every time I finish a book, I'll give you guys a small summary (no, I will not give away the ending, don't worry).  So just the other day, I finished a terrific book called Skate by Michael Harmon.  The book is about a city teenager trying to survive a poor live with an addict for a mother.  Ian, the main character, takes care of his brother that he loves more than life.  As Ian simply struggles with day to day life, things just keep getting worse, and he needs to fix it, and fast, or he'll end up in Juvie and lose his brother to a foster home.  I give this book a terrific 8.5 out of 10.

Check back tomorrow for another blog!
-Hudmaster

Handmade Blog Awards

Thank you guys for checking out my blog first of all, comment so I know your reading!  Second, I just recieved an award for a great blog from my friend Halle Smith, you can check out her incredible blog at bigheartsandbigcities.blogspot.com.  I just wanted to thank all of you, and I couldn't have done it without you mom! :P  So check back later, I have some more to update!

Wordplay

Alright, so if you haven't se4en already that my favorite Tabletop Role-playing game is Wordplay, well, I suppose I'm going to tell you now. Wordplay is a great RPG that is a six-sided dice paradice (pun very much intended). The game is much like a rule-light version of DnD (Dungeons and Dragons...super geek talk) that uses character traits to overcome Challenges presented by a game Navigator. During a Challenge players build their hand of dice and roll as many as 17 or 18 dice trying to roll as many successes as possible. I've have not yet gotten the chance to play a full session, but am actively looking for someone to try it out with. So if anyone out there is interested at all in this game, then check out the website at www.wordplaygames.co.uk. It took me a few hours to track down the rules, and I checked yesterday and the place I found them at just removed them, so just contact me and I'll send you a copy. It's a light 136 pages and includes a character sheet and a pre-made theme. Thanks guys, check back soon for more updates!!

-Hudmaster