I don't feel too smart...

[Porsche]

Wow.

[slodave]

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

Where are my underoos?

[speeder]

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?

[Nostril Cheese]

saw that happyness movie, didnt you...

[Nostril Cheese]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness

[stomachmonkey]

Try the quad cubes. 4 rows instead 3.

[VaSteve]

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.

[bell]

[Drago]

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

[artplumber]

Originally posted by VaSteve
....

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.

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

[billyboy]

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

[Noah930]

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.

[pookie]

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

[pookie]

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

[k9handler]

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.

[Moses]

Originally posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts
I just spent a bunch of hours last night trying to solve my wife's Rubik's cube (Christmas present). I'm a pretty smart guy (two degrees with high honors from MIT), but I tell you, after seeing videos like this, I feel pretty, pretty dumb:


Mind boggling...

-Wayne

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.

[m21sniper]

Originally posted by VaSteve
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.

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

[Zeke]

Originally posted by Moses
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.

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.

[Noah930]

I solved RC with a hammer. No preseverance, patience or intelligence.

Fast, too.

[sammyg2]

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