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Random Blindfold Cubing Discussion

miniGOINGS

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Hmm, I guess it could really screw with you depending on the memory method being used.
 

TMOY

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I think noises are much less of a distraction to BLD than people talking in the background. I can BLD in a noisy environment as long as I don't hear any clear conversation. It's really hard to focus when you hear a couple of people talking in the background when you're BLD-ing, because you're automatically distracted about what they are saying.

Just practice in a bus or train and you'll get used to that.
 

Tim Major

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M2+D2 if anyone's interested in the D2 algs + parity:

DLB->DRF: D2
DLB->FRD: (U R U' R')x2 D2
DLB->RFD: (R U R' U')x2 D2
DLB->DFL: x' L2 D2 L' U' L D2 L' U L' B2 x
DLB->DBR: x R U' R D2 R' U R D2 R2 F2 x'
DLB->RBD: x z R' D2 R' U2 R D2 R' U2 R2 z' x' D2
DLB->BRD: x L2 U2 L' D2 L U2 L' D2 L' x' D2
DLB->FLD: x R U2 R D2 R' U2 R D2 R2 x' D2
DLB->LFD: x z L2 D2 L U2 L' D2 L U2 L z' x' D2

Parity: L2 D R2 (R U2 R' U2 R B' R' U' R U R B R2 U) R2 D' L2, though you can improvise the parity in to save moves.
 
Last edited:

amostay2004

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Just practice in a bus or train and you'll get used to that.

If everyone is speaking at equal volumes, it's just noise, but if a particular group of people are speaking louder than everyone and you can clearly hear what they're talking about, then it's distracting :(

And I would never practise in bus or train (especially BLD), it's just too geeky :p
 

Mike Hughey

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I think noises are much less of a distraction to BLD than people talking in the background. I can BLD in a noisy environment as long as I don't hear any clear conversation. It's really hard to focus when you hear a couple of people talking in the background when you're BLD-ing, because you're automatically distracted about what they are saying.

I so agree with this. My first big BLD attempts (Virginia Open 2007) were really hard for me because I didn't use earplugs, and a bunch of people were talking. The problem wasn't so much that they were talking - it was what they were talking about. They were talking cubing, and I wanted to join in. That was really distracting.

So maybe a good distraction technique would be to do BLD with the CubeCast podcast on really loud.

And actually, it really does work well to have standup comedy going while you memorize and solve. You tend to listen to the jokes, which is a good distraction. If you're laughing at the jokes, you know you're getting good distraction practice.

Or you can do BLD races with drunk Chester while Andrew Kang is watching - that may be the best distraction training of all. :)
 
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And I would never practise in bus or train (especially BLD), it's just too geeky :p

I do some blind on the train (just not looking, not with an actual blindfold obviously), it's fine until I have to buy a ticket off the conductor, so sometimes I solve normally until they have passed me. The noise and conversations don't seem to bother me much, neither does looking geeky.
 

riffz

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Chris, I was just thinking about adopting your method for memorizing twisted corners using images. There is one optimization I'm going to use that you might not have thought of.

For 2 twisted corners that must be twisted in opposite directions you use 1 letter. This is very nice, but in terms of images it's hardly any less memorization than using a letter pair. But if the 2 corners must be twisted in the same direction then you use 3 letters, resulting in 2 images.

I'm going to always memorize 2 twisted corners (ignoring buffer) with 1 image, regardless of the direction they must be twisted. All you have to do is remove the ambiguity of which letter to choose for each corner, and make that letter denote the twist direction as well.

For example, say I need to twist URF clockwise and DFR counter-clockwise.

To memorize URF I would use the letter F, which denotes the FUR sticker. This is because I would need to twist the corner clockwise to bring the F sticker to the U/D face.

To memorize DFR I would use the letter S, which is the letter for the FRD sticker, since I would have to rotate the corner CCW to bring FRD to DRF.

This method allows you to memorize 1-2 twisted corners with a single image, and 3-4 with 2 images. It's also a bit simpler than yours, since for any scenario or number of corners the memo remains the exact same.

If I've overlooked anything let me know.
 

cmhardw

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Blindfolded cubing is so awesome! :D I love it when you get an "on" solve and everything just falls into place so easily. Yay! :D

Also Rob, I've definitely switched over to your method for memorizing PBD corners when using images. I agree that it makes much more sense than my old way. Not sure if you're also doing this, but if I have only one PBD piece then I only memorize the sticker for that single piece. If, when solving, I come to a flipped pieces image that is a single letter image, I know that the buffer flips the opposite direction. I still twist corners at the very end of solving corners, after permuting. I like this method, as I still can sometimes get flipped pieces information that can be encoded by one single letter image.

I don't know if I should be excited or scared, as now I have a fully complete method to doing multiBLD. I may have to stop being lazy and actually give it a shot now. I would probably start right out at 10 cubes, since that seems to be close to a 7x7x7 cube, and 7x7x7BLD feels like the upper limit for my memorization abilities if I'm restricted to a 1 hour attempt (I still have yet to get a successful sub-hour 7x7x7 BLD, to be clear). I wonder if I even have 10 speedcube worthy cubes, I'll have to start gathering together what I have.
 

MaeLSTRoM

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Would you say that 2BLD is a good way to practice memo and execution for 3BLD (Old pochmann). It's just becuase I have trouble memorising the longer streams needed for 3BLD but I think I would be OK with just corners. What do you think?
 

riffz

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Also Rob, I've definitely switched over to your method for memorizing PBD corners when using images. I agree that it makes much more sense than my old way. Not sure if you're also doing this, but if I have only one PBD piece then I only memorize the sticker for that single piece. If, when solving, I come to a flipped pieces image that is a single letter image, I know that the buffer flips the opposite direction.

Oh yea, of course. I never concern myself with the buffer while memorizing. I figure it's more braindead and I can always deduce whether the buffer needs to be twisted as well during execution.

I am planning on using this myself, as I think it will be a great improvement over visual, but I haven't had much time to practice. My exams are done soon, though, and hopefully I'll get lots more practice in this summer. :)

You've also convinced me that I must try a multiBLD. I only have 4 3x3s with me at the moment though.
 

cmhardw

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How to make new journeys?

Hi everyone,

I need more journeys for big cube BLD memo.

Ok so I know this question might sound weird, but I am being completely serious. How should I go about making a new journey? I need two more 5x5x5 journeys (each must have 14 locations).

I have already used the following in forming journeys for cubes:

1) The neighborhood in which I grew up (32 locations)
2) My high school dormitory (24 locations) (I went to a boarding school)
3,4,5,6) My walk from my dorm to my furthest away class in each of my Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years of college. (33, 24, 30, 24 locations respectively)
7) The trip from a house I used to live in to the nearby Starbucks (21 locations)
8) My previous apartment (14 locations)
9) My current apartment (16 locations)
10) The house I lived in while still in high school (21 locations)
11) The tutoring center I used to work at (14 locations)
12) The hostel I stayed at in Budapest for Worlds 2007 (24 locations)

I really am running out of ideas for a new journey. I am considering doing something I read from the article by Josh Foer and just going to a place with the specific intention of making a journey out of it. I've thought about visiting the local art museum, or maybe even the grocery store where I do most of my shopping.

Does anyone have any advice? I feel that any ideas I have now are just too similar to the journeys I already have. I've even dabbled with the idea of creating a completely fictitious place and making a journey out of that (again from the Foer article), but I have to be honest that I haven't put much effort into it yet. I'd like to stick with real places if possible.

Any ideas? Any help would definitely be appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. Rob, your PBD memo idea is quite nice actually! I think you will like it :) Also, we could be multiBLD noobs together haha :tu ;)
 

aronpm

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Video games can provide some routes. I use the prison cell and escape route from Oblivion as my 15th route (but it's kinda fuzzy because I haven't played in years)

Not exactly real places but not completely made up by you. :p
 

RyanReese09

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Video games can provide some routes. I use the prison cell and escape route from Oblivion as my 15th route (but it's kinda fuzzy because I haven't played in years)

Not exactly real places but not completely made up by you. :p

That's genius. I never thought to use video games as possible rooms/journeys. I too was running out of ideas for rooms...
 

peedu

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World map?
You can make the detail level according to your need. To make more room, fly away to the Moon, Mars etc.

Peedu
 
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