Older cubers discussions

My competition didn't even go that well. I was 3 or 4 miles on the way to a competition about 90 miles away when I pulled up to a stop sign. I put the brake pedal on the floor, coasted through the intersection, and decided it really wasn't my lucky day anyway. I made it back home without killing anybody though, so it's not a total failure.
Wow, total brake failure? Do you know what's wrong with them? Scary. Glad you're okay.
 
Did you look at the brake master Cylinder to see if there’s brake fluid inside the engine compartment? Rupture in the brake line somewhere? That’s not a good feeling hitting the brakes and having no response. Seriously, glad you’re okay.
 
The brake line next to the right rear wheel blew out. It was pretty easy to find, now I've just got to figure out how to fix it. I doubt duct tape will do, although it would fit the aesthetic of the car.
Front or rear wheel? Either way, you’ll likely have to replace the entire line from the brake to the master cylinder. I doubt duct tape will suffice as well. Although... I’d probably try it in a pinch. :rolleyes:
 
Front or rear wheel? Either way, you’ll likely have to replace the entire line from the brake to the master cylinder. I doubt duct tape will suffice as well. Although... I’d probably try it in a pinch. :rolleyes:
Rear. TBH the brakes have been a little soft for a few weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if I need to replace at least 2 lines. It's a 15-year old Saturn with close to 175k miles on it, I don't expect too much. Funny thing is I've got a truck and a tractor with soft brakes right now, too. Not only that, but the tractor brakes are bad on the right, the car lost the right brake line, and the truck has a flat front right tire.

On a more cubing related topic: I decided to pre-order an X-man Shadow from SCS. Cheaper than even the Chinese shops. I'm excited about that: I don't have a good 6x6 at the moment. I also probably have enough time between now and my next comp that I can start working on 4BLD. That should be fun.
 
I have been looking at that x-man 6x6 too. I don’t really do 6x6, but might give it more attention if I had better hardware. That’s not a magnetic puzzle, right? One thing I’ve noticed with my somewhat recent 4x4 and 5x5 M puzzles is that I REALLY enjoy them much more with magnets. Seems like the middle layers are far more stable with magnets. My 6x6 and 7x7 are both MOYU brands but non-magnetic. The middle layers are always moving around causing lockup’s and mis-slices and going all “wonky” during OLL and PLL stages.
 
I have been looking at that x-man 6x6 too. I don’t really do 6x6, but might give it more attention if I had better hardware. That’s not a magnetic puzzle, right? One thing I’ve noticed with my somewhat recent 4x4 and 5x5 M puzzles is that I REALLY enjoy them much more with magnets. Seems like the middle layers are far more stable with magnets. My 6x6 and 7x7 are both MOYU brands but non-magnetic. The middle layers are always moving around causing lockup’s and mis-slices and going all “wonky” during OLL and PLL stages.
I like magnetic big cubes a lot, but I ordered the non-magnetic version. I kind of enjoy magnetizing big cubes, and I tend to prefer stronger magnets anyway, so I'll get some measurements off of it and then get some magnets.
 
I don't know if I'm necessarily the best person to be advocating hardware, but I bought a bunch of cubes from Cubicle Labs, and of all the cubes I bought, my favorite by far is my Red M. It's totally amazing, to the point where I just don't understand when people talk about there not being a decent 6x6x6. I've honestly never experienced a 5x5x5 or 7x7x7 as nice as this 6x6x6.
 
That’s on my cubicle.us wishlist. But the x-man is MUCH less expensive and since I only do 6x6 maybe 3 times a year... I am hopeful that someday I’ll decide to take an interest in 6s and 7s. But like 5s, the level of effort needed to become “decent” and make even the soft cutoffs is more than I’m willing to put in right now. I would still like a puzzle that feels nice and is enjoyable to turn, however.
 
That’s on my cubicle.us wishlist. But the x-man is MUCH less expensive and since I only do 6x6 maybe 3 times a year... I am hopeful that someday I’ll decide to take an interest in 6s and 7s. But like 5s, the level of effort needed to become “decent” and make even the soft cutoffs is more than I’m willing to put in right now. I would still like a puzzle that feels nice and is enjoyable to turn, however.
Ah, I understand.
 
Okay. Question about M2 for the group.

I was talking with one of the delegates and pretty fast/successful apeedcubers from Georgia here in the States today at the competition. He was a HUGE proponent of M2 for edges.

I have tried to work with this and I get really jumbled even with my notes and so decided to stick with OP edges as I led up to today’s comp. now that is over, I’d like to learn M2, but for the life of me I just can’t seem to get it.

Anyway, Jacob was telling me to forget about the I/S and C/W swap when those are the second letter in a pair. He showed me something (too quickly for me to digest in the moment) about shifting the setup and instead, just solving both edges simultaneously when I/S or C/W are the second letter in a pair... where do I find more about this?

Also, I have particular issues when the pair is CW, WC, IS or SI. I “should” be doing the first alg twice, but that never works for me... what am I missing?
 
Anyway, Jacob was telling me to forget about the I/S and C/W swap when those are the second letter in a pair. He showed me something (too quickly for me to digest in the moment) about shifting the setup and instead, just solving both edges simultaneously when I/S or C/W are the second letter in a pair... where do I find more about this?

I haven't picked up anything for C/W (which are short and quick), but I know these to solve 2 at once as long as I or S is one of the targets and the other is not on the M slice:

Code:
("X" for these is the normal setup move for the other target)
I?: M2 X M  X' M
?I: M' X M' X' M2
  
S?: M2 X M' X' M'
?S: M  X M  X' M2

Mark has some good info on M2 extensions here: https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/advanced-m2-guide.56076/

Also, I have particular issues when the pair is CW, WC, IS or SI. I “should” be doing the first alg twice, but that never works for me... what am I missing?

This most certainly should work.
 
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Wow, 15 multiBLD is within my reach!

For the Weekly Competition I just got 12/15 in 58:04:00 [40:57.05]. 5th cube was off by 2 flipped edges (I didn't notice the flipped edge when memorizing), 12th cube off by 3 edges (I skipped one image in my rush to solve when solving - I remembered it but accidentally thought I had already executed it), and 14th cube off by 3 edges (I memorized L instead of I by mistake).

A very encouraging result!! In theory, I could even have done 16 if I had done a last cube as a regular 3BLD; I did all 15 of these with solid full room memorization.
 
Anyway, Jacob was telling me to forget about the I/S and C/W swap when those are the second letter in a pair. He showed me something (too quickly for me to digest in the moment) about shifting the setup and instead, just solving both edges simultaneously when I/S or C/W are the second letter in a pair... where do I find more about this

I can show you tomorrow. It's basically a comm in disguise. Setting up with M or M' then, M2 setup is insert while another M or M' is interchange. (Or vice versa depends on the pair situation)

But nonetheless, you need to know the basic alg as well in case it falls into the single (last) target. And also, applicable for big cube BLDs as well - I mean both single alg & comm algs.

BTW, great to see you again @SpartSailor. John will come tomorrow - we can meet together in the venue.

For me & Jeff, 1st day was meh, close to disaster. I've been travelling past 4 weeks - Korea 1 week - one night at home then to Italy for one week, another one night at home then to Korea for 4 nights, arrived home Thu morning, flew that night here while Jeff was tied up finishing his semester - both of us had not touched cubes for a while. Bit it will be a start of many summer comps, we're excited about!
 
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Well done on the MBLD result @Mike Hughey I feel like 15 might be within my powers eventually but you should be well ahead by then if you keep at it.
Big congratulations to @One Wheel for still being with us . You should defintely learn 4BLD btw.
Okay. Question about M2 for the group.

I was talking with one of the delegates and pretty fast/successful apeedcubers from Georgia here in the States today at the competition. He was a HUGE proponent of M2 for edges.

I have tried to work with this and I get really jumbled even with my notes and so decided to stick with OP edges as I led up to today’s comp. now that is over, I’d like to learn M2, but for the life of me I just can’t seem to get it.

Anyway, Jacob was telling me to forget about the I/S and C/W swap when those are the second letter in a pair. He showed me something (too quickly for me to digest in the moment) about shifting the setup and instead, just solving both edges simultaneously when I/S or C/W are the second letter in a pair... where do I find more about this?

Also, I have particular issues when the pair is CW, WC, IS or SI. I “should” be doing the first alg twice, but that never works for me... what am I missing?
Mark's Advanced M2 is your best resource as suggested above.
Using the alg twice should work for SI and CW pairs but there are shortcuts. For SI do an x then execute as AI (IS is x then IA). Note the M2 is cancelled. Alternatively do a single move setup and solve the advanced M2 method.
CW is simply M u2 M u2 (or M D2 M' D2 or x U2 M' U2 M x or [M' : U2 M' U2 M]) with the inverse for WC. Lots of easy options there.
Welcome to @John Gillespie
 
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