Older cubers discussions

[h2f]

I would have done the cross exactly as @SenorJuan has indicated but in this case with a slight modification to save the xcross:

L F' R U L F2 L'

Very nice. I would do
x2 y // inspection
L F' D R' D' R2
but it was planned on alg.cubing.net without a cube in hand. L F' is easy to fingertrick.

 

[kbrune]

@mark49152

How often did you practice Mbld? What type of prwctice? Gradually increasing cube count? Or was it large amounts only?

Time hasn't been on my side. I'm finding it difficult to find a full uninterrupted hour for attempts

 

[mark49152]

How often did you practice Mbld? What type of prwctice? Gradually increasing cube count? Or was it large amounts only?

I do mostly 4-cube attempts, and will only do a large attempt once or twice between comps to test myself. Since 4 is my block size, I have a pretty good idea how fast I need to be at one block when shooting for a one hour target. For a 12 cube attempt I was trying to get my 4-cube block under 10 mins memo/review, 5 mins exec. My block memo deadlines for a 12-cube attempt are then 12, 25 and 40 minutes, with interval increasing to allow time to recap earlier blocks. I have a spreadsheet to work it all out. As Maskow has said, MBLD is all about timekeeping.

 

[newtonbase]

I do mostly 4-cube attempts, and will only do a large attempt once or twice between comps to test myself. Since 4 is my block size, I have a pretty good idea how fast I need to be at one block when shooting for a one hour target. For a 12 cube attempt I was trying to get my 4-cube block under 10 mins memo/review, 5 mins exec. My block memo deadlines for a 12-cube attempt are then 12, 25 and 40 minutes, with interval increasing to allow time to recap earlier blocks. I have a spreadsheet to work it all out. As Maskow has said, MBLD is all about timekeeping.

That's interesting. I'm not terribly far off that time wise. Just need to get rid of the silly mistakes.And learn comma properly. And find more time to practice.
Do you vary your rooms in practice?

 

[mark49152]

That's interesting. I'm not terribly far off that time wise. Just need to get rid of the silly mistakes......
Do you vary your rooms in practice?

Yes accuracy is important. The point of practising that way is to get your system ingrained and running like clockwork, and the system must put accuracy first. I get about 70% 4/4s and never less than 3/4. Average about 14 mins.

Do you do reviews? After I have memoed the block I will go back over them again and check my memo against the cubes to make sure there are no mistakes. Plus that repetition is the key to making it stick. That GCC at Peterborough shows I must have got sloppy in the review - recall problems are common enough, but reviews mean I very rarely get the memo wrong.

I have enough rooms for 20 cubes and I cycle through all of them to keep them practised. Same rooms for BigBLD and 3BLD.

 

[Logiqx]

I have a PB on amount of cancer had - currently zero (less is better), was previously lots. Got the all-clear from my doc on Monday afternoon.
...
Back to work Monday. Boo!

That's great news, congratulations.

Going back to work will be a shock to the system, commiserations!

 

[JohnnyReggae]

@JohnnyReggae - will definitely be doing a WuQue M. Just need to order me some magnets. I'm ashamed to say that they would still arrive tomorrow if I ordered them at 7pm. Sorry dude!

I should throw some four word expletives your way .... ... I only wish we could get postal delivery like that.

 

[JohnnyReggae]

And regarding magnetic cubes, I don't have the time or maybe the willpower to start a project to make some myself but I'm pretty envious of those Valk Ms and WuQue Ms.

To be honest it's not that hard or time consuming. The gluing can be done in around and hour or two, and then it's just a wait for everything to dry, usually overnight for me.

 

[newtonbase]

Yes accuracy is important. The point of practising that way is to get your system ingrained and running like clockwork, and the system must put accuracy first. I get about 70% 4/4s and never less than 3/4. Average about 14 mins.

Do you do reviews? After I have memoed the block I will go back over them again and check my memo against the cubes to make sure there are no mistakes. Plus that repetition is the key to making it stick. That GCC at Peterborough shows I must have got sloppy in the review - recall problems are common enough, but reviews mean I very rarely get the memo wrong.

I have enough rooms for 20 cubes and I cycle through all of them to keep them practised. Same rooms for BigBLD and 3BLD.

I don't check that the memo is correct, only that I can recall it. I'll only look back at the cube if I struggle with it. Clearly I need to make a change here.

To be honest it's not that hard or time consuming. The gluing can be done in around and hour or two, and then it's just a wait for everything to dry, usually overnight for me.

I use the cubes pretty much straight away but I do use pretty fast drying superglue. Which do you use?

 

[JohnnyReggae]

I use the cubes pretty much straight away but I do use pretty fast drying superglue. Which do you use?

I've been using the Gorilla brand which I bought from a local hardware store quite a while ago. I've just finished that and moved onto a similar type of super glue with a thinner viscosity, some local brand as that is all the hardware store had at the time. They both seemed to do the job well. I have found that even 2 hrs after gluing that there are still some, well not quite wet, but certainly not dried enough.

I'm usually doing all this late at night as it's the only time I have for it so I usually just leave everything out overnight to dry. Assemble the next during the day somewhere which is usually relatively quick, even the 4x4 if you leave the core intact when dissembling.

 

[newtonbase]

I've been using the Gorilla brand which I bought from a local hardware store quite a while ago. I've just finished that and moved onto a similar type of super glue with a thinner viscosity, some local brand as that is all the hardware store had at the time. They both seemed to do the job well. I have found that even 2 hrs after gluing that there are still some, well not quite wet, but certainly not dried enough.

I'm usually doing all this late at night as it's the only time I have for it so I usually just leave everything out overnight to dry. Assemble the next during the day somewhere which is usually relatively quick, even the 4x4 if you leave the core intact when dissembling.

I use the Gorilla gel superglue or the Loctite one. Maybe I should leave them. I usually do them late at night too so it wouldn't be an issue as long as the kids don't get hold of the pieces.

 

[mark49152]

I don't check that the memo is correct, only that I can recall it. I'll only look back at the cube if I struggle with it. Clearly I need to make a change here.

Yeah I would definitely recommend reviewing against the cube. I check my recall first then trace it on the cube checking for incorrect or missing targets, target count and missing flipped or twisted pieces, forgetting to switch M slice targets, etc. First memo usually takes me 1.5 mins per cube then I'll spend another 1 min per cube on the review.

 

[newtonbase]

Yeah I would definitely recommend reviewing against the cube. I check my recall first then trace it on the cube checking for incorrect or missing targets, target count and missing flipped or twisted pieces, forgetting to switch M slice targets, etc. First memo usually takes me 1.5 mins per cube then I'll spend another 1 min per cube on the review.

I've been focusing too much on making sure that I get the recall right as I've thought of that as the hardest part but in practice I make very few errors on it. There's the odd error from lack of concentration during execution and I haven't had a slip since I switched to magnetic cubes. Memo is definitely the biggest culprit.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[mafergut]

I was going to make an unboxing video but then I got lazy. Here is a snapshot of my new toy:

 

[kbrune]

Yeah I would definitely recommend reviewing against the cube. I check my recall first then trace it on the cube checking for incorrect or missing targets, target count and missing flipped or twisted pieces, forgetting to switch M slice targets, etc. First memo usually takes me 1.5 mins per cube then I'll spend another 1 min per cube on the review.

@newtonbase
Since we were on the topic.

I read that bit about reviewing and checking memo against cubes last night. So I got excited about practice today. I had time for a 4 cube attempt. I got 2/4 in 28:01. Slower then I thought I'd do but that's ok. My mbld system isn't quite ingrained yet. Also, coming up with scenes is still slow for me.

Cube 2, memoed an extra target. Don't know how. But I did.

Cube 4. Completely forgot to memo corners!! I started solving right after edge memo.

Moral of the story.. when you read advice from others. Frikkin use it!! Lol
Reviewing against the cube would have most likely avoided both errors!!

 

[newtonbase]

[
Moral of the story.. when you read advice from others. Frikkin use it!! Lol
Reviewing against the cube would have most likely avoided both errors!!

Agreed. We just need to do what @mark49152 tells us to do.

 

[newtonbase]

I was going to make an unboxing video but then I got lazy. Here is a snapshot of my new toy:

View attachment 7643

That's lovely.

 

[mark49152]

Agreed. We just need to do what @mark49152 tells us to do.

That's what I keep saying at home but nobody listens .

 

[kbrune]

I was going to make an unboxing video but then I got lazy. Here is a snapshot of my new toy:

View attachment 7643

Have you timed a solve yet?

 

[Logiqx]

Have you timed a solve yet?

I was going to ask exactly the same thing.