I am interested. However, here's a scenario: I'm doing a blind in a comp. Totally deaf. Great advantage I admit, complete concentration (it really does help). Fire alarm goes off and everyone (except me) runs out of the building. Not so far-fetched. I worked in a chemistry lab and the firemen burst in and said, "What are you doing here!!!" I had been alone in a restroom and walked out into an (almost) empty building.
Won't stop me though. I am used to stuff like that. Let me get to a decent 3x3 first, and then we will see.
I am interested. However, here's a scenario: I'm doing a blind in a comp. Totally deaf. Great advantage I admit, complete concentration (it really does help). Fire alarm goes off and everyone (except me) runs out of the building. Not so far-fetched. I worked in a chemistry lab and the firemen burst in and said, "What are you doing here!!!" I had been alone in a restroom and walked out into an (almost) empty building.
Won't stop me though. I am used to stuff like that. Let me get to a decent 3x3 first, and then we will see.
Honestly, normal solving and BLD have almost nothing to do with each other. Once you understand how the pieces move around the cube (beginners F2L), you can take on BLD. For me, it is all about being able to visualize what the pieces I care abut will do when I execute moves. And that's not really a skill I see as much on sighted 3x3.
When you get Sub 1... Find the BLD solvers here. I'm crap at it, but the guys here inspire me to keep trying to be less crap. .
Honestly, normal solving and BLD have almost nothing to do with each other. Once you understand how the pieces move around the cube (beginners F2L), you can take on BLD. For me, it is all about being able to visualize what the pieces I care abut will do when I execute moves. And that's not really a skill I see as much on sighted 3x3.
When you get Sub 1... Find the BLD solvers here. I'm crap at it, but the guys here inspire me to keep trying to be less crap. .
Gotcha. I will be meeting @SpartanSailor this Sat at a comp. just not sure if I want to commit. I already throw a lot of time into teaching bridge, running a club game, and playing in tournaments. My lady friend may complain!
2 successes in a row in one night at BLD. For me, that's a record. It is often hard for me to back to back solves because I haven't figured out the equivalent to roman rooms for audio, and I still use pure audio memo.
Alas, I popped my new 6x6... Now I get to clean it, lube it, and tension it, properly. Finding all the pieces as they sprayed across the living room mildly amused and annoyed my wife. (She takes such things in stride.) If anyone has a good video on how to tension cubes I'd love to see it. I can't tension them worth a darn, this is part of why I like Gan cubes, they are so easy to tension .
Time to do the setup on my GTS3. It is in pieces next to me, and it has tensioning tools... I'll see how well they work.
Wow so, so much to catch up on the thread. I keep promising to keep active but it appears I have been failing miserably at that. Great to see so much activity and by the new members too. Hope you are gaining as much help and inspiration from the thread that I have over the years.
Whilst I have not been active on SS, I have been very active in a cubing sense. Quite a lot of practice but WCA treasurer duties have been taking up a lot of my free time. Quite a few PBs of late namely:-
3x3 ao5: 12.06s (no film)
4x4 ao5: 53.07s (on film)
5x5 ao5: 1:37.89 (no film)
6x6 mo3: 2:58.69 (no film)
and this 13.59s 3x3 Ao12 about an hour ago
Average of 12: 13.59
1. 13.09 F' D2 R2 U' R U R' L' D2 B' R2 F' B2 R2 U2 D2 F L2 D2
2. 15.07 F2 D' F2 R2 F2 D2 B2 D B2 R2 D B U R' D B' U F' R2 U R
3. 12.88 L2 B2 D2 F2 R2 U B2 F2 U2 R2 D2 B' D B2 L2 U R' B' L' D' R'
4. (10.97) D L2 D L2 U' R2 U' B2 L2 B2 U' F U R B' F' L' U2 L' R D'
5. (17.69) R' D2 L' D F2 L2 B L' F' D' B' U2 D2 L2 D2 F' U2 B L2 F2
6. 13.34 B' L2 F2 R2 D2 F U2 F L2 U2 B2 D F2 R B' F U' R2 D B' F
7. 14.10 F2 R2 F2 U2 B' U2 B R2 D2 B2 D2 L' B' L F' D' L' F R' D' U'
8. 12.85 D' F2 L2 D' R2 B2 F2 U' F2 D2 B' F2 L U2 F D2 L' D U R' B
9. 14.92 D' B U' B2 D' B' R' D L' B2 U' R2 L2 D' R2 U L2 D B2 U2
10. 13.49 F2 D2 L U2 R D2 R B2 F2 L2 U2 F' L D B L2 F' D' L2 U B'
11. 12.65 R2 D2 F' L2 B F2 D2 R2 B2 L2 F' L R2 D' L' F R' B2 R' U2 F'
12. 13.53 F2 U2 L2 D' L2 U2 B2 F2 D' F2 U2 B D' L' F' U L2 D R2 B R
Having lost to Ron van Bruchem in a friendly race to sub 1:40 on 5x5, I appear to have accepted a race to sub 12 at 3x3, hence all the practice. Might have bitten off more than I can chew here!
Gotcha. I will be meeting @SpartanSailor this Sat at a comp. just not sure if I want to commit. I already throw a lot of time into teaching bridge, running a club game, and playing in tournaments. My lady friend may complain!
Congrats on your milestone, I know you've put a lot of work into learning and practice to get there! It took me a couple months to get sub 2 mins and that was also about the point where I started to see how a much faster solve might happen even though I had a long way to go. With four pairs, every second you save per F2L pair on average will be multiplied by 4. I suggest recording a typical solve and watching it back, no one but you needs to ever see it . It should show you that you don't have to rush or turn faster to make big improvements, just cutting down on the length of pauses where you're not turning.
Notice that there is, usually, a general approach to solving each sub case. Will leave that to you, better if left to you. I have started to draw rough cube sketches, and written my algs for reference, but not memorized them, and don't plan to.
Now, the work: manually create each of those cases on the cube, then drill: solve (just that pair, not the whole cube), restore, solve, restore, solve
I've been through this process with F2L about 3 or 4 times now, each time working on more specific cases and generalizing less. Now I'm digging into being more efficient specifically when taking a piece out of an incorrect slot. I'll probably still be working on that for months to come.
Since you already plan to drill your cases and sub-cases I suggest adding a drill to practice solving those without looking. If you're comfortable doing that then you can be scanning for what else is out there instead of following the pair all the way into the slot.
[Edit to add: lookahead is still an elusive fairy that arrives when it wants to, I have little command over it sometimes. It's often the difference between a 20.x solve and a 27.x solve for me. When it's clicking it's kind of a misnomer because I'm not "looking" for anything, I just magically see stuff.]
Wow so, so much to catch up on the thread. I keep promising to keep active but it appears I have been failing miserably at that. Great to see so much activity and by the new members too. Hope you are gaining as much help and inspiration from the thread that I have over the years.
Whilst I have not been active on SS, I have been very active in a cubing sense. Quite a lot of practice but WCA treasurer duties have been taking up a lot of my free time. Quite a few PBs of late namely:-
3x3 ao5: 12.06s (no film)
4x4 ao5: 53.07s (on film)
5x5 ao5: 1:37.89 (no film)
6x6 mo3: 2:58.69 (no film)
and this 13.59s 3x3 Ao12 about an hour ago
Average of 12: 13.59
1. 13.09 F' D2 R2 U' R U R' L' D2 B' R2 F' B2 R2 U2 D2 F L2 D2
2. 15.07 F2 D' F2 R2 F2 D2 B2 D B2 R2 D B U R' D B' U F' R2 U R
3. 12.88 L2 B2 D2 F2 R2 U B2 F2 U2 R2 D2 B' D B2 L2 U R' B' L' D' R'
4. (10.97) D L2 D L2 U' R2 U' B2 L2 B2 U' F U R B' F' L' U2 L' R D'
5. (17.69) R' D2 L' D F2 L2 B L' F' D' B' U2 D2 L2 D2 F' U2 B L2 F2
6. 13.34 B' L2 F2 R2 D2 F U2 F L2 U2 B2 D F2 R B' F U' R2 D B' F
7. 14.10 F2 R2 F2 U2 B' U2 B R2 D2 B2 D2 L' B' L F' D' L' F R' D' U'
8. 12.85 D' F2 L2 D' R2 B2 F2 U' F2 D2 B' F2 L U2 F D2 L' D U R' B
9. 14.92 D' B U' B2 D' B' R' D L' B2 U' R2 L2 D' R2 U L2 D B2 U2
10. 13.49 F2 D2 L U2 R D2 R B2 F2 L2 U2 F' L D B L2 F' D' L2 U B'
11. 12.65 R2 D2 F' L2 B F2 D2 R2 B2 L2 F' L R2 D' L' F R' B2 R' U2 F'
12. 13.53 F2 U2 L2 D' L2 U2 B2 F2 D' F2 U2 B D' L' F' U L2 D R2 B R
Having lost to Ron van Bruchem in a friendly race to sub 1:40 on 5x5, I appear to have accepted a race to sub 12 at 3x3, hence all the practice. Might have bitten off more than I can chew here!
... when a 17 produces a sigh instead of a fist-pump . Also, I repeatedly forgot you solve green top and had brief panics that you'd messed up the cross.
Great to see you check in and nicely done on the bag full of recent PBs.
Over 4 years and I still can't find pieces, never mind look ahead. I've always been appalling at finding things. This is one of the reasons I like blind. You don't have to find pieces, you just have to identify them.
Interesting blind session at lunch. Very high success rate but all really slow other than my very first attempt at 1:13 which was pretty safe but only 2s off PB. @Old Tom You may need to practice blind outdoors!
@phreaker: Bridge tourneys as far south as Raleigh, North once to the Philly Nationals, but mostly in the Richmond, Williamsburg, Va Beach locales. My tournament play this year is down because my long-time pard has health problems.
For a fire, the judge really SHOULD take the time to tap you on the shoulder and stop you before running out of the building. So I think fire is the safer thing to risk here. Then again, with some of the judges you get sometimes...
And don't worry about the solve if that happens. If they're actually seriously discussing the possibility of giving an extra solve for distraction due to a world record celebration, they CERTAINLY ought to give an extra solve for a fire. (Somehow the thought of losing the extra attempt seems almost scarier than the fire to me.)
For a fire, the judge really SHOULD take the time to tap you on the shoulder and stop you before running out of the building. So I think fire is the safer thing to risk here. Then again, with some of the judges you get sometimes...
And don't worry about the solve if that happens. If they're actually seriously discussing the possibility of giving an extra solve for distraction due to a world record celebration, they CERTAINLY ought to give an extra solve for a fire. (Somehow the thought of losing the extra attempt seems almost scarier than the fire to me.)
I agree that a fire during an official attempt shouldn't be a worry. It's the hundreds of practice solves it takes to get there that might leave one at risk of combustion(or bear attack)..
Fantastic achievement by one of our fellow oldies. UK National Record for FMC single, with 20 moves! Ranked 5= in the world. Congratulations @bubbagrub
.
