Older cubers discussions

[mark49152]

I'd consider using a very good set but I don't like the idea of blocking just some of the noise.

I don't think there's a perfect solution, unfortunately. None of the noise is truly blocked, just attenuated, so if a noise is loud enough outside it can still be in the audible range inside the muffs. How much they help concentration is partly psychological too. I think if I went to a comp and forgot my muffs, I'd be annoyed and unsettled and would probably perform worse because of that, even in silence .

 

[h2f]

I've found that having something on head helps to get some nice concetration. I've discovered it when I'put headphones instead of ear muffs. I think it's personnal. I was trying to solve without it but even if i'm home alone I need something on ears.

 

[newtonbase]

From the bit of research I've done there don't appear to be many ear muffs available that try to block the full range of sound. Some of the more expensive ones are designed to stop dangerous noise but allow you to hold a conversation. I suppose we are in a bit of a niche market.

 

[Logiqx]

I forgot to mention this in the video but COLL is only more worth it if you really practice your U/H/Z perms and you are generally able to recognize them from only looking at 2 sides. I have a video on a few reasons why COLL is good, but the main reason is because U/H/Z perms are super fast to do and to recognize from any angle, so you need to be good at them to take advantage of COLL.

Don't forget the increased chance of a skip which you feel you've earned by doing COLL - down from 1/72 (PLL) to 1/12 (EPLL).

I think it's marginally more useful for OH (unless you get an H-perm which sucks) and big cubes, especially 4x4 / 6x6.

Edit: The only downside is that you never get a J-Perm when using COLL. It's slightly ironic given your channel name. hehe

 

[mark49152]

From the bit of research I've done there don't appear to be many ear muffs available that try to block the full range of sound. Some of the more expensive ones are designed to stop dangerous noise but allow you to hold a conversation. I suppose we are in a bit of a niche market.

They are more effective at some parts of the frequency range than others. I use the Peltor Optima 2 and I've seen a few other cubers using the Optima range. The Optima 3 has another 3dB of attenuation but looks very bulky (Maskow uses it).

At the end of the day, the objective is to help concentration rather than block out all sound. It only takes a small lapse in concentration to cause a DNF and muffs could make that difference. I have had at least one MBLD cube failure because I was distracted by noise.

 

[phreaker]

Starting to actually work on memo + execution for BLD, corners only at first... (Still have a bit more M2 to wrestle with)

So far... I've gone 0/8 and 3/8 before making mistakes . I'll get it yet. The memo is holding in my head fine though, which is encouraging. It is just mistracing, and misexecution. I'll work on it more tonight, and in the following days, I'm sure. It may seem like a small step... but at some point you have to actually shut your eyes, and shoot the targets.

 

[h2f]

I'm still checking my memo list and finding new words. I think about serious practice in mbld - I havent practice it for a more than year. There's a mbld event on the horizon in 4 months.

 

[newtonbase]

I'm still checking my memo list and finding new words. I think about serious practice in mbld - I havent practice it for a more than year. There's a mbld event on the horizon in 4 months.

What's your MBLD PB at home? I've really enjoyed practicing it but the school holidays have meant no attempts this week. I've had to make do with doing singles to practice my rooms.

 

[h2f]

What's your MBLD PB at home? I've really enjoyed practicing it but the school holidays have meant no attempts this week. I've had to make do with doing singles to practice my rooms.

7/7 in the late 2015. I dont know why but I the mbld doesnt enjoy me. And yours?

 

[mark49152]

I've really enjoyed practicing it but the school holidays have meant no attempts this week.

I did some proper, planned MBLD practice this week, for the first time ever, in preparation for Peterborough. Our school holidays are next week so that might be the end of my practice...

 

[newtonbase]

7/7 in the late 2015. I dont know why but I the mbld doesnt enjoy me. And yours?

Let's hope you can get that in competition. Mine is only 3/3 but I now have good locations for 5 cubes and my recall is usually solid. My target was 4 points this year and I'm confident I can get it soon.

I did some proper, planned MBLD practice this week, for the first time ever, in preparation for Peterborough. Our school holidays are next week so that might be the end of my practice...

My motivation for practicing MBLD was to get a success at Peterborough and qualify for the WCs but I missed registration. Enjoy the half term even if you don't get to practice.

 

[h2f]

I did some proper, planned MBLD practice this week, for the first time ever, in preparation for Peterborough. Our school holidays are next week so that might be the end of my practice...

How do you practice? Just solving or some dedicated exercises?

Weird thing - I'm without 4bld success for 3 months or so and I got 20% success rate in 5bld in this time.

 

[mark49152]

My motivation for practicing MBLD was to get a success at Peterborough and qualify for the WCs but I missed registration.

Has there been any statement made about qualification criteria? They are so late announcing the details that some people won't have the opportunity to get to earlier comps to qualify. It'll be annoying for anyone who booked travel only to find they can't compete in the events they want to.

Ben commented in another thread that there is likely to be another UK comp between Newcastle and London, so hopefully that will have MBLD.

How do you practice? Just solving or some dedicated exercises?

I have been doing small attempts, since I rarely get an uninterrupted hour. My objective is to practise my MBLD memo technique. I want to stamp out silly mistakes like executing edge images as corner comms, or forgetting parity, which I sometimes do because the memo is different from 3BLD and I have rarely practised it before. So I want to get more comfortable with it. Also I am pushing my memo and review speed so that I'll be under less time pressure during bigger attempts. I haven't decided how many to try at Peterborough.

Weird thing - I'm without 4bld success for 3 months or so and I got 20% success rate in 5bld in this time.

Do you push your memo as hard for 5BLD? Or maybe review more?

 

[newtonbase]

How do you practice? Just solving or some dedicated exercises?.

Some full attempts so I can get used to the process. Things like leaving the cubes in the correct orientation and in a place that I can find them and, memoing in solve order seem obvious but are easily forgotten. Apart from that I just do single solves in new locations so I know where to put things. Solving edges as images is important for me as there are image pairs that I don't use in corners

Has there been any statement made about qualification criteria? They are so late announcing the details that some people won't have the opportunity to get to earlier comps to qualify. It'll be annoying for anyone who booked travel only to find they can't compete in the events they want to.

Ben commented in another thread that there is likely to be another UK comp between Newcastle and London, so hopefully that will have MBLD.


I have been doing small attempts, since I rarely get an uninterrupted hour. My objective is to practise my MBLD memo technique. I want to stamp out silly mistakes like executing edge images as corner comms, or forgetting parity, which I sometimes do because the memo is different from 3BLD and I have rarely practised it before. So I want to get more comfortable with it. Also I am pushing my memo and review speed so that I'll be under less time pressure during bigger attempts. I haven't decided how many to try at Peterborough.


Do you push your memo as hard for 5BLD? Or maybe review more?

I don't know any official statement but I have heard that there will be qualifying so I'm assuming it will be similar to the US Nationals. I can't book anything until they announce the schedule as I'll not qualify for much and can only make a day or two.
I've also heard today that there are other competitions planned. Hopefully we'll hear soon. I may try to persuade them to let me do MBLD only at Peterborough.

 

[chtiger]

Been busy back at work this week after 2 months off, so I'm falling behind in this thread. Hard to keep up if you don't check it everyday.
Did some practice today of the events at my next comp. I've hardly practiced anything this week, and I'm tired and my hands are tired, but all of that led to maybe my best overall session ever.
PB skewb ao12: 12.73, just started skewb a couple of weeks ago, so this one's not too surprising.
PB pyraminx ao12: 9.82, just started practicing this again, so this was a shock.
PB clock ao12: 9.28, had been 9.50 for a long time until a 9.30 last week, so very surprised to PB again already. Also got a 8.84 PB ao5 last week, had 8.87 today.
4BLD 10:30, not a PB, but maybe my 3rd best
(3x3, 3bld, and sq1 didn't join in on the good day)

 

[Jason Green]

I've found that having something on head helps to get some nice concetration. I've discovered it when I'put headphones instead of ear muffs. I think it's personnal. I was trying to solve without it but even if i'm home alone I need something on ears.

Reminds me of the pre shot routine for bowling. I always wipe my ball before every shot. Some lanes have a lot of oil and you need to wipe it. Some lanes are dry and you can't see oil on the ball, but I still wipe it the same way as part of my routine.

 

[h2f]

Do you push your memo as hard for 5BLD? Or maybe review more?

I think I do the same: I start when I feel comfortable. I've found out it comes partly from execution: udoing setups etc.

About mbld practice: it looks like I must start with small attempts with 3 or 5 cubes.

 

[phreaker]

Rest of the Gans AIR UM review:

I swapped in yellow springs, and lubed the pieces with Traxxas 10k. This is one of the few cubes I've run into where 10k made the cube faster. Usually, it makes them a bit slower. I really like the UM + Yellow Springs + 10k. For OH, it is a good solid cube. Competing for main status with my Valk M, I use them both for OH.

For BLD... it's not close. Gans AIR UM. Great cube. I love the feel, I love that it doesn't complain when I misalign.

For 2H... Well, that's imply I did enough 2H to care, but likely the Gans AIR UM. So.. at this point I'd say if you made me choose "one cube, one setup. Live with it." It is likely my Gans AIR UM, Yellow Springs, Traxxas 10k.

It fixed my big complaints with the Gans AIR, leaving only the things I liked. Yes, it is a good cube, and if you don't want to put magnets in your own cube, and you like Gans cubes... It is a VERY solid choice, IMHO.

 

[phreaker]

Valk M with Blu-Tack update:

No problems, with it. It feels a bit less strong...but that may be due to me using the Gans AIR UM. Still a solid OH cube. Still a good cube. No regrets on the Blu-Tack.

 

[teacher77]

Averages in cubing exclude the best 5% and worst 5% of results to eliminate the extremes of luck. So replacing the 20.28 with another best time would not affect the average . Perhaps it's not technically correct to call that an average, but if you're comparing results to the community, that's what they do. By convention averages are usually quoted for 5, 12, 50 or 100 solves. What you're calculating is known as a mean.

So each time on of you guys quotes an Ao12 is in fact an "Average of the 10/12 remaining when first and last are removed" ?

I'll start calling them "means" then.

I know people usually quote Ao12's but I started measuring my progress using Ao10's so for the sake of self comparison I'm keeping it that way. I'll try computing Ao12's one in a while to quote them here.