Things cubers want non-cubers to understand

[izovire]

When I demonstrate to sell a really nice speedcube (like my guhong) non-cubers often say it's too loose and used, and would rather buy a dollar cube that is 'tight'.

Nice article... I feel like having this posted around where I sell to the regular public. I often get this comment: "My math professor can solve it in 5 seconds consistently." -Then I tell them it was a set up solve or they're not sure what they're talking about.

 

[Athefre]

Should maybe change the word "preinspection" to prevent it from spreading further.

 

[macky]

Should maybe change the word "preinspection" to prevent it from spreading further.

Thanks, fixed. I'd always (since 2002) used "preinspection" or "pre-inspection," by the way. It must have been the common term back in the day.

As for some of the other suggestions, I'm trying to keep items here to a minimum, as the article is really supposed to be a first (and maybe final) read for non-cubers.

That the cube isn't "greased up" or "worn out" if it turns well.

When I demonstrate to sell a really nice speedcube (like my guhong) non-cubers often say it's too loose and used, and would rather buy a dollar cube that is 'tight'.

Not sure if non-cubers need to know how a speedcube feels and the difference between lubricated and worn out.

Also "If you saw someone solve a cube in 20 moves, he was cheating or it wasn't meant to be a proper solve." should probably say speedsolve rather than proper solve.

No, I do mean "a proper solve."

Edit: Also you should mention the sticker removal thing which is pretty annoying.

Yeah, but not sure how to introduce it.

Can someone give an easy to understand definition of a lucky solve or skipping a step?

Non-cubers don't need to know about this. For simplicity, I'd rather just write "lucky" and not even "lucky (in some well defined sense)."

 

[JLarsen]

As for some of the other suggestions, I'm trying to keep items here to a minimum, as the article is really supposed to be a first (and maybe final) read for non-cubers.

This is probably the most important thing to consider here. The whole reason for this topic is ignorance due to lack of caring or just unfamiliarity. As I read through the page (as it is right now) I thought about how far the majority of the few that actually were bored enough to click the link would actually read. It probably wouldn't be more than the first couple of lines.

If anything, I think the paramount subject here should be respect and appreciation for the puzzle itself, and its value to us as opposed to them. All of the other social stigmas and stupid comments don't really have any direct effect on us except some mild annoyance - but some jerk throwing your cube across the room to his friend is unacceptable. They simply don't think anything of it, as that's what the cube means to them. I'd suggest moving those ideas up to the top of the page to increase the chance of them being read.

 

[Juju]

I think any cuber has to work reasonably hard to get sub 30. It doesn't come over night. It took me about 3 months of pretty solid cubing.

I run a cubing club at my school (I'm a teacher), and the kids who reach sub 30 have put a lot of work into it.

 

[RyanReese09]

I think any cuber has to work reasonably hard to get sub 30. It doesn't come over night. It took me about 3 months of pretty solid cubing.

I run a cubing club at my school (I'm a teacher), and the kids who reach sub 30 have put a lot of work into it.

Depends on the method. After switching to CFOP (I learned all hte algs first) Sub30 came after like a few weeks. If you think about how much time you have per step, it's really not that bad.

 

[cubeslayer]

bookmarked. I've got to post this on my dorm wall " If you ask, many cubers will let you scramble their cube. Don't just grab them...Don't try to (badly) imitate our turning speed and drop the cube. This can damage pieces and put the cube out of tune. Many competition-level speedcubers spend a lot of effort fine-tuning their cubes....Official rules allow up to 15 seconds of inspection beore starting a solve. We don't like it when you hide the cube, give it back, and start timing right away, especially without warning."

 

[Jungleterrain]

You should add: A significant chunk of the cuber population is NOT asian.

And also: Us cubers think it's annoying when you ask us why it's "well-oiled" or "slick", and we say we lubricated it, and you say "EEEWW you're disgusting!"

 

[Godmil]

I really liked the article, it was a very entertaining read. But just to note, there's no way I'd ever get a non-cuber to read it.
Imagine you had a friend who say, collected Belt Buckles... now imagine they handed you a page with a long list of all the do's/don't and social etiquette concerning the talking about and looking at belt buckles... I don't give a **** about belt buckles and I'd think the person was too full of themselves for presuming that anyone else would care.

But like I said, I enjoyed reading it.

 

[Bapao]

I really liked the article, it was a very entertaining read. But just to note, there's no way I'd ever get a non-cuber to read it.
Imagine you had a friend who say, collected Belt Buckles... now imagine they handed you a page with a long list of all the do's/don't and social etiquette concerning the talking about and looking at belt buckles... I don't give a **** about belt buckles and I'd think the person was too full of themselves for presuming that anyone else would care.

But like I said, I enjoyed reading it.

Same here.

 

[stoic]

I enjoyed this too. Not sure about the opening though. Surely describing cubing as "a relatively minor hobby often associated with geek culture" isn't going to endear either cubing or cubers to a non-cuber? If it needs a description, I'd go for something more positive, like "a fast-growing sport with regular competitions held internationally".

(There's probably a thread or ten somewhere about whether cubing is a sport or not but you get the idea.)

 

[Georgeanderre]

:tu brilliant article, contains everything it needs to in my opinion, nice idea

 

[irontwig]

Although every configuration of the Rubik's Cube can be solved in at most 20 moves (counting a 180-degree turn as one move), a typical speedsolve can take 50+ moves. If you saw someone solve a cube in 20 moves, he was cheating or it wasn't meant to be a proper solve.

20 moves sounds like a really proper solve to me.

 

[chris410]

Very nice read thank you!

 

[Maniac]

Add some pictures maybe. I always find that pictures with pretty stuff holds people's attention longer.

Very good! You put a lot of work into that.

 

[MTGjumper]

I really liked the article, it was a very entertaining read. But just to note, there's no way I'd ever get a non-cuber to read it.
Imagine you had a friend who say, collected Belt Buckles... now imagine they handed you a page with a long list of all the do's/don't and social etiquette concerning the talking about and looking at belt buckles... I don't give a **** about belt buckles and I'd think the person was too full of themselves for presuming that anyone else would care.

But like I said, I enjoyed reading it.

"Hmmm, need to think of analogy here..." *looks down* "Belt buckles! Great idea!"

Interesting read. I doubt my mates would read it though, and they'd probably still not agree with some of it (such as, they would still disagree that I get inspection).

 

[Dacuba]

Brilliant one.
I liked the one with "You can't solve a Cube by accident", that's on of the worst things.

Just to demonstrate (warning: geek and semi-serious, just 4 fun):

Spoiler

A semi-serious documentary said, the chance, that the earth will be destroyed by the energy sent out by a supernova somewhere in the earth's life (4.5^9 years to go) is 1%
The chance that a random state of a Rubik's cube is solved, is 4.3*10^-19
The chance of the earth being destroyed in the next second is 7.1*10^-18

To sum up: The chance of the earth being destroyed the next second is 10 times higher, than the chance of a noncuber scrambling, looking down to the cube and find a solved position.
Explain that to a noncuber and get called a geek

 

[Cubenovice]

To sum up: The chance of the earth being destroyed the next second is 10 times higher, than the chance of a noncuber scrambling, looking down to the cube and find a solved position.
[/spoiler]

NO...

Handscrambles do not provide truely random scrambles, people tend to repeat move sequences (there's even a thread on it)
For non-cubers this may even be worse; moving parallel slices back and forth doesn't really scramble the cube etc etc

If you do want to use the earthe being destroyed anology:
The chance of the earth being destroyed the next second is 10 times higher, than the chance of a truely random generated position actually being the solved position

Doesn' sound quite as cool I'm afraid ;-)

 

[Mike Hughey]

The chance of the earth being destroyed in the next second is 10 times higher than the chance of a noncuber picking up a cube with a proper random scramble applied to it, scrambling it for a while, then looking down at the cube and finding a solved position.

There, now it's cool again.

[Note I haven't taken the time to check into the validity of the likelihood of the earth being destroyed in the next second; somehow the numbers there seem a little fishy to me - it would seem our knowledge is probably not great enough to be making anything resembling an accurate estimate of the likelihood of a supernova destroying the earth, and I suspect we would have advance warning of such anyway, so the probability of it happening in the next second is probably much lower.]

 

[Ranzha]

I often hear "Do you oil/grease your cube?" and "How does your cube turn so fast?" and I reply, "There are silicone-based lubricants that you can use which make turning easier."

Additionally, should there be something about how it's not "amazing" to see 1-minute solves if the solutions are 60ish moves because their tps is low.

And about "pre(-)inspection": I would call it pre-solve inspection.