Square face Stanley
Those of you, us, of a certain age will remember the cubes with either great fondness, frustration or sheer bemusement.
It looked, for a while that an inanimate puzzle was going to take over the world by bringing productivity down to almost nothing.
Somehow we escaped. Or at least most of us did. Recently I have noticed that there is still a die-hard community of cubers on the internet… and today I found that you could purchase blank cubes for putting your own designs onto.
So, there’s a possibility of hand-drawn, Flowfield Unity based Rubik’s cube… might even give one away the next time I do a competition.
Also, I don’t know what it is about drawing famous men with beards. By my count they outnumber those without beards at a ratio of 7/1…
I think I may even start adding beards to famous people that currently lack them, just to fit in to my aesthetic leanings.
Mr Kubrick came ready-bearded however, for which I’m grateful as this comic probably wouldn’t have happened had he been clean-shaven.
I’m even willing to overlook Eyes Wide Shut because of it.
Just.
justine on 
Yay! More spoonerisms! Those are fy mavourite! Has it been ten comics since your last punchline? Wait, does a spoonerism count as a punchline? Hmmm… I’m so confused.
Wait, Kubrick did Eyes Wide Shut? Man. Well, every great director has a bad movie or two. Kubrick also had the film version of Lolita, bringing his score farther down. Silly man, for trying that one.
So does that mean bearded people are more likely to become famous? Do you have a beard?
Is (are?) ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ that bad? I’ve watched a few of Kubrick’s movies, and I really like his style. Haven’t watched 2001, Spartacus, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut yet.
Wow… you should really see 2001, it was his best work, in my humble opinion.
I should… I feel left out of the internets. I haven’t even seen Star Wars, so every time I Stumble upon a Yoda joke, I go to sleep and hope that it’ll be gone by the time I wake up.
It’s just that when a lot of people tell me that something is good, I immediately categorize it as unimaginative. I think Adam has the same problem; I remember reading something like this.
I just watch Monty Python over and over again, pretending that I’m a pipe-smoking Englishperson from 1975.
Funky beard by the way, Roo. I try, but it never grows. My hair always seems to end up elsewhere.
Every one knows that unfeasibly hairy kid at school… the one that could grow a dictator-level beard at 15… that was me.
Mine tends to come and go now, more from laziness that fashion.
Abhijit, EWS was the last film he fully directed… as opposed to AI which was completed by Spielberg (I think).
Unfortunately, it is that bad.
That was me too. Full beard since I was 16.
I don’t know, I think Eyes Wide Shut has its moments. Lolita has redeeming qualities, too. Barry Lyndon, on the other hand, now that was a painfully slow three-hour movie without all the cool shit that makes 2001 (another brutally slow nearly three-hour Kubrick film) so awesome. And AI makes me want to kick Steven Spielberg right in the balls.
lolita was a scary book
When I got into cubing a couple years back, I had no idea how amazingly hardcore the community is. The range of equipment available to the Rubik’s cube enthusiast is just as extensive as one would expect of any of the more mainstream sports.
Someone looking to build a competition-class speedcube has access to self-assembly kits which allow for maximum customization; specially designed silicone lubricants; replacement screws, springs, and washers for the turning mechanism which allow for quicker solve times; and stickers with textures specifically designed to provide the perfect amount of grip; as well as a host of other highly specialized accessories and parts.
In addition, there are all kinds of methods of solving the puzzle, ranging from the algorithm-heavy Fridrich method which relies on memorizing scores of different combinations of moves to the Petrus method, which is a strategy based almost exclusively on intuition and improvisation. Those that use the “vanilla” layer-by-layer method that is included with every standard cube very rarely do well in competitions.
As far as the actual competition goes, I’ve never participated in or attended a tournament, but they are apparently very fierce. I’ve even heard about numerous cases of competitors receiving severe hand and wrist injuries during competition.
All that useless nonsense being said, I would definitely buy a Flowfield Unity cube or “Kubrick’s Rube” if you were to make them available. Also, I apologize for my rant. Though you have to understand that it’s rare that there is justification to share information about my offbeat hobby.
No need to apologise, we encourage all forms of geekery here… and it’s really good to hear from someone that actually participates in it… so really I should say ‘thanks’.
I heard that they had developed a computer program to provide the fasted solve times. If you are interested in the science behind it you can look here:
http://blog.sciencenews.org/mathtrek/2007/08/cracking_the_cube.html
They worked out that you could pretty much complete it in under 27 moves no matter what the combination.
And now, “competition-class speedcube” will be the name of my band, should I ever be in one.
Beards=greatness. My beard has yet to grow in properly and so my greatness is not yet ripened. Also if I go out in the sun my facial hair instantly turns blond. It’s ridiculous.
‘Tis true that beards get better with age:
http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/
I still can’t compete, but one day, one day…
Not quite there yet, but one day…
*round of applause and cheering*
*bows, blushing*
Incidentally, moustache wax and dreadlock wax are basically the same thing. That’s dread wax holding my ’stache up. Not that anyone really wanted to know that…
you look quite a bit like my physics teacher
You musta had a really interesting physics teacher, for him to do his moustache like that.
well, you don’t have the same mustache, but he has a goatee.
he’s very interesting, he spends a lot of time telling us how much the American school system sucks, and how we’re all lazy.
unfortunately, he’s going to Tibet to teach next year.
haha, nice!
One question tho, why is your shirt pocket on the wrong side?
It is really bugging me. I am mentally wearing the shirt and trying to put things in my pocket, only to find it is on the wrong side. AAARRRRGGGHHH, this is actually really annoying.
One of my best friends has a mild obsession with bearded musicians.
He has a whole playlist for them.
As odd obsessions go, it’s a fairly healthy one.
I myself have noticed that facial hair tends to be the going look among dictators. There aren’t very many without.
There are a few major dictators that are lacking facial hair, GW Bush for one….
I used to have a decent goatee, then I trimmed it to be a three piece goatee, then I shaved my head.
I am not sure at which point I should have stopped.
http://flickr.com/photos/brokentoyshop/2060556339/
Me with the start of my goatee.
I am not actually a big fan of facial hair, I would be always clean shaven if I didn’t hate shaving more.
On most ppl, facial hair looks weird, esp on old women.
Hah, but obviously they’re not real dictators. They’re just posers. You can’t be a real dictator without the facial hair, that’s just not feasible.
Wow, I love that look. It looked rather great on you, I must say.
Facial hair looks weird on any woman, not just old ones.
One of my teachers has facial hair.
We call her the Furry Führer.
I happen to think a full beard on a woman can be very becoming.
Am I serious? Maybe…
Dwarves?
The dictator look is especially in right now – My friend Steve has a real Castro vibe going on at the moment.
As for bearded musicians, that’s brilliant… I have a postcard wall with bald actors (the wall of bald). I didn’t start collecting them for that reason, it just sort of happened.
Oh, nice! Unruly Castro, or trimmed Castro?
Also. Is the dictator look ever out of fashion? It’s always rather trendy.
Awesome! I wish I had a funky collection such as that. It sounds really quite good.
don’t want no war
don’t want no beard
don’t want to panama
growing outta my ear
I want a Flowfield Unity cube.
so, everyone that is not a man
how about
um
how about those beards
they sure are something
yep
beards
Not a man? Is this question directed at intelligent apes? IT’S A MADHOUSE.
oh, no, not apes…you see, im actually artificial intelligence. we dont grow beards.
You’re AI, huh? So you must be more pissed at Spielberg than the rest of us, eh?
hey now, let’s not get crazy!
Crazy? Been that for years now.
Ive always known the truth about beards. No one listened to me, though…
I want to get a cool "Indiana Jone’s dad" type beard or something going, but at the moment my facial hair doesnt really grow very fast. I guess Ill never take over the world like this. T_T