Wow.

I think it was the spidey costume in the second vid that made the kid go so fast....

Where are my underoos?

I used to be able to do them pretty fast, there is definitely a trick to it. Once you can do them slow, you can do them fast. I'll come over and help you with it if you want.

What's up w/ the sudden resurgence of those things? Can't be just that movie, is it?

saw that happyness movie, didnt you...

Try the quad cubes. 4 rows instead 3.

There's no magic here. None. when I was 8 and the Rubik's Cube was all the rage, there was a book out on how to solve it. My dad bought a copy and once he "solved" it, revealed the secret that he had the book.

I memorized the book and would "solve" them for the other kids on the bus and school for a quarter.

The trick is that you have to get one side done. Then you just work a pattern that allows everything to pop into place. Its all about the pattern... it makes everything line up.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d1w_fIAgC-8"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d1w_fIAgC-8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

They're easy to solve with a flat blade screw driver. ;)

That's true to some extent, but the real "solvers" don't use that method. They can solve the whole thing at once. Just exceptional spatial relationship talents. Sort of like idiot savants of spatial relationships.

Wayne don't feel bad, how many of them own companies, and are so popular that a few hundred come over every day just to talk?

PS That's got to be worth a sizeable discount:D

Rubiks Cube
 

I'm not so sure that the Rubiks cube is a valid test of smartness.:) It might display one area of intellect.

Pretty amazing spatial relation skills. But what really wow-ed me was a guy on one of those reality shows (one of the nerd-gets-hot-girl ones). Some guy who's an MIT brethern of yours, Wayne, solved the freakin' thing BEHIND HIS BACK. I don't know if he was as fast as the videos posted--who knows how his feat was edited for TV. But the behind the back thing was pretty impressive.

The only way I can solve them is to pull the stickers off and do it that way. HA.

By the way dude that solves it with one hand I am sure gets no "play".

yeah as a kid I did solve it once....never again though so I credit that one to luck. On the other hand my sister-in-law sends my sone some great mind game puzzle items every christmas, one of which takes the average person 21 minutes to solve (as listed on the package) and I managed it in 14 minutes first attempt. Still...don't feel smart over it cause my wallet does not say so.

Re: I don't feel too smart...
 

Intelligence is a dynamic attribute that is extremely difficult to measure using static tests. Most folks are "gifted" in one area or another. The trick is to discover where your individual talents lie. I can't finish Rubik's cube either, but I'm sure the people who can do it well have a special talent for pattern recognition and spacial arrangement that can translate into useful skills.

For what it's worth, graduate degrees are a greater measure of perseverance than intelligence, and that's a gift that is far more rare and valuable.

It's like magic. It's only magic if you don't know how it's done.

Re: Re: I don't feel too smart...
 

yeah, what's with the 2 degrees from MIT bit? I've read this a hundred times. Wayne, start touting your presevereance side. It's not like we missed that part either with your building of PP over the years. Or the 3 books. What are you missing? I solved RC with a hammer. No preseverance, patience or intelligence. :D

Fast, too.

Big deal. I once put together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle in 14 days. The box said 4 to 8 years. ;)

Sam, that is the funniest thing yet. That's professional material! Or did you lift it from someone? :)

It's taken from an old Blonde girl joke.
It fit perfectly in this thread tho....... :)

ive got a PHD, as i am a post hole digger.

6 year old solving in less than 40 seconds. I am just glad when my 3 .5 year olds don't eat their crayons............

25 years if this early skill is an indicator. Who am I kidding, of course it is. I better start butting money away for my kids community college AA degrees. ;-)

Maybe the funniest thing I ever read here! :D :D :D

My father-in-law taught my 8 year old son to play checkers last summer. Now you might think checkers isn't a thinking game, but the little so and so took to it like a fish takes to water. No one has beaten him in the last couple of hundred games.
I can't beat him, my father-in-law can't beat him, my brothers and father (who's the most intelligent person i've ever met) can't beat him.

He sets traps, baits his opponent, actually uses some complex strategy. He really pisses me off when he beats me and then rubs my nose in it.
It's got to the point where no one will play him any more so his latest thing is playing against the computer in expert level and he beats it most of the time.
If anyone out there in So cal is a master checkers player, let me know. I'd love to have someone come over and teach him some humility.

I'm trying to get him into playing chess but it's going to be hard to get him away from the checkers board. He not quite ready to go from the top dog to starting over.

Some people excel at spatial relationships. I suck at these kinds of problems. My forte' is problems that involve unknowns that have to be derived from the information available.

Not dual MIT but dual Master's at Stanford ... use to get the 3x3 Rubik's cube in under 30 seconds from any position and the 4x4 in under a minute... have not tried in probably 20 years or so. At the time read a bunch of books and none used the same 'method' as I did, I 'learned' the way from a friend of mine (with an IQ larger than most people zip code!!) is all about spatial observation and 3D manipulation ... photographic memory does not hurt either.

Thise videos are just amazingly sick ... now I need to find the d$mm cubes .... thanks Wayne!!!

Re: Re: Re: I don't feel too smart...
 

yep, that adds up to 100%..

i feel so smart now.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/elklaff.gif

So can one of you Einsteins tell me how to post a video from You Tube here? TIA.

3 degrees and I do manipulative puzzles very well. But the cube eluded me, I used the remove sticker method.

Like that:

http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/07/29/how-do-i-post-a-youtube-video/

Example for Wayne: a robot that solves the RC:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i25cfdcum7U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i25cfdcum7U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Aurel

To post a youtube video, you really just need to copy the embed code that is to the right of the video window and paste it here.

Aurel

awesome robot vid :)

Here's a cool robot for you:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1SADcP5g1o"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1SADcP5g1o" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Looks like the perfect wife to me: no PMS, and an off switch. Cool !

Aurel

Re: Re: Re: I don't feel too smart...
 

Wow. What a quick way to solve your problem. I think you are exceptional at thinking "outside the box" and come up with solutions that most people never see. A true problem solving genius.

The only hope now for my ego is to beat that 14-day record for a 500 piece puzzle. I never finished my undergrad engineering degree, so I know I don't have four years of perseverance. I wonder if I've got a couple weeks in me?