# Let's see how far we've come



## 3dnf (May 12, 2010)

Hey everyone,
I'm Ted, an ex-cubist that started cubing in 2007. I was really slow at cubing (1:03 is my best competition time for 3x3x3) and only knew layer-by-layer. Prior to Nationals 2007, there was no average record for pyraminx in North America. After finishing with a horrible time of 2:xx, I was ranked ninth in North America for a single solve. Now I'm 247th in America and 1358th in the world. My best 3x3x3 time of 1:03 placed me at #1294 in the world in June 2007 out of about 1500. Now I'm 7706th out of 9140. This sport (or activity? You tell me) has taken off over the last few years at an exponential rate, with speedsolving videos reaching millions upon millions of views. Pogobat's instructional video has over 15 million views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQIoPyfQzM and a solve by Yu Nakajima of 10.56 has over 6 million: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZ9fsusMGc. From about 85 people in 2003, we have expanded to over 100 times that. Though I stopped cubing, I miss it. I solved my first one-handed solve in 8:43 or so at the 2007 Nationals while Dan Dzoan set the world record behind me. I met cubing greats and some of the smartest people in the world there. It was truly fun. Anyway, I just want to say congrats to all speedcubers on bringing the sport of speedcubing to where it is today.

Ted Barrett,
Ex-Cuber


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## StachuK1992 (May 12, 2010)

Ohai, Ted.


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## Dene (May 12, 2010)

CUBING RULZ!


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## DaijoCube (May 12, 2010)

It's a gay hobby, but I love it!


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## SuperNerd (May 12, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> It's a gay hobby, but I love it!



Would you freakin' stop saying that? If it's so "gay", why don't you quit?


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## Luigimamo (May 12, 2010)

My personal opinion of why that cubing has taken off is because of the internet and its vast resources.

Also people are smarter so homework gets out of the way faster so people have more time to google stuff.


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## 3dnf (May 12, 2010)

O hai, Stachu. Oh, and I had the world record on tape... The only copy... My comp crashed but my dad may have a backup. I'll look for it.


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## miniGOINGS (May 12, 2010)

Luigimamo said:


> Also people are smarter



>.>


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## DT546 (May 12, 2010)

miniGOINGS said:


> Luigimamo said:
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> > Also people are smarter
> ...



only a tiny amount smarter


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## DaijoCube (May 12, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> 
> > It's a gay hobby, but *I love it!*
> ...



Calm down, Ponyboy. It's a noob hobby. Trying to match colors as fast as you can, seriously 

I do love it, because I love what I'm good at. It needs dexterity, speed and fast thinking and deduction. Also helps 3D visualization.



miniGOINGS said:


> Luigimamo said:
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> > Also people are smarter
> ...


This.


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## Johan444 (May 12, 2010)

Luigimamo said:


> My personal opinion of why that cubing has taken off is because of the internet and its vast resources.
> 
> Also people are smarter so homework gets out of the way faster so people have more time to google stuff.



Internet existed in 2003.


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## coinman (May 12, 2010)

Nothing wrong calling it a gay hobby, i'm always having a gay time cubing 

And 3dnf - you are actually third from last in the pyraminx singel rankings  
I was ones second from last on the pyraminx avg list.


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## Escher (May 12, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> It's a gay hobby,





DaijoCube said:


> It's a noob hobby.



Gay =/= noob.

Anyway, yeah, it's amazing to see just how fast things progress. I remember being incredibly happy when my 11.36 single PB was 99th in the world, and now it seems so slow, yet that was only last July.


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## DaijoCube (May 12, 2010)

Escher said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> 
> > It's a gay hobby,
> ...



I know  I'm not anywhere near being homophobic. In Québec, saying that something is gay means that it is noob/useless/boring etc...


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## Samania (May 13, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> > It's a gay hobby, but I love it!
> ...



its a gay hobby that he loves. 

HEY TED.


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## Escher (May 13, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> I know  I'm not anywhere near being homophobic. In Québec, saying that something is gay means that it is noob/useless/boring etc...



It's exactly the same in England, and I still completely disagree with the use of gay as a negative/pejorative term.


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## SuperNerd (May 13, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> SuperNerd said:
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Oh yeah, cause every noob can use 3d visualization to speedsolve a cube. A noob would totally devote hours of hard work towards something like solving a puzzle.



DaijoCube said:


> ... I'm not anywhere near being homophobic. In Québec, saying that something is gay means that it is noob/useless/boring etc...




And you may try to not come out as a homophobe, but by throwing around those terms like "ponyboy", and using "gay" as a word to describe something "noob/useless/boring" makes you seem like you are even more of a homophobe.

The people I know that say "Oh that's gay" are the people who I am seeing get expelled from school for dealing drugs.


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## DaijoCube (May 13, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> > SuperNerd said:
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LOL. Ponyboy refers to an extremely known book : The Outsiders... Nothing gay there.

Don't forget we live in two different location where ''popular slang'' words differ in meaning. Even my friend who is gay, says : ''C'est trop gay!'' (It's so gay!). Homophobic people in Québec will say : tapette, fif, branleux dans le manche etc. In Québec, most of the time gay does not mean gay.


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## Kirjava (May 13, 2010)

Language evolves. I don't see why it should be offensive at all, the word is being used with a different meaning.


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## Escher (May 13, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> Language evolves. I don't see why it should be offensive at all, the word is being used with a different meaning.



Gay = Homosexuality.
Gay = Something bad.

Both statements are true, so isn't it logical to think that homosexuality = something bad? Which is obviously false?

Sure language evolves, but completely ignoring the importance of it and way terms are used is just stupid.


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## DaijoCube (May 13, 2010)

Escher said:


> Kirjava said:
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> 
> > Language evolves. I don't see why it should be offensive at all, the word is being used with a different meaning.
> ...



People are so easily offended in the forum...


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## SuperNerd (May 13, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> Escher said:
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> > Kirjava said:
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"Don't forget we live in two different location where ''popular slang'' words differ in meaning". Where I live, there is a large group of gay-rights activists, so only a handful of people use the definition of gay that you are using.

Therefore, when I hear you say "gay" to describe something stupid, it becomes offensive, because I was raised to not use "gay" to describe something stupid.


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## Escher (May 13, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> People are so easily offended in the forum...



People are so stupid in this forum.

On-topic: 

I think there was a thread relatively recently about improvements in results and rankings over time, and there have been a couple recently marking how top 100 in 3x3 average became sub 13, and top 100 in BLD became sub 2:00. Considering how only recently these were WR material it's quite funny.


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## Kirjava (May 13, 2010)

```
01:57:55 <+qqwref> right = clockwise
01:57:57 <+qqwref> right = correct
01:58:01 <+qqwref> clockwise = correct?!?!?! isn't it logical
01:58:04 <+keemy> tell him english isn't comutative
01:58:09 <+keemy> anerr
01:58:09 <+Kirjava> ahaha
01:58:12 <+keemy> transitive*
01:58:21 <+Kirjava> I'll just paste this log instead, you glorious bastards
```


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## DaijoCube (May 13, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> > Escher said:
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Ok


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## CubesOfTheWorld (May 13, 2010)

Yes, Let's see how far we've come.


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## splinteh (May 13, 2010)

I say: GET OUT OF RETIREMENT FROM CUBING! The cubing world has drastically changed since you retired.


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## Escher (May 13, 2010)

Kirjava said:


> ```
> 01:57:55 <+qqwref> right = clockwise
> 01:57:57 <+qqwref> right = correct
> 01:58:01 <+qqwref> clockwise = correct?!?!?! isn't it logical
> ...



Replace 'logical' in my post with 'commonsensical', since that's what I meant. I'm not so stupid to think that english is 'transitive', but I guess I'm stupid enough to forget you'd take it literally.

Anyway, the crux of the argument is that creating a negative discourse around homosexuality is a bad thing. It doesn't matter what the intentions of the person using the word are, the fact is giving a word negative connotations that also relates to something like sexuality is harmful.

If (predominantly white) people started saying 'that's so black' or 'you're such a chinky' in all seriousness as an insult or to show that somethings negative, wouldn't that be perceived as wrong, not just 'an evolution of language'?

It's exactly the same thing with 'gay'. I don't care if you know so and so gay person who is okay with the term, the point is it's an insult originated from straight people hating gays.


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## Kirjava (May 13, 2010)

Escher said:


> If (predominantly white) people started saying 'that's so black' or 'you're such a chinky' in all seriousness as an insult or to show that somethings negative, wouldn't that be perceived as wrong, not just 'an evolution of language'?




Not if it was generally accepted that the intended meaning of 'black' in that context had drifted to 'bad'. There would be no racial implication in that statement, in the same way that there are no sexual ones in calling something gay.

Sure, I can see how it can be received as offensive though. I'm so desensitised to everything that I am so rarely offended these days, and find it extremely difficult to relate to people who are.


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## coinman (May 13, 2010)

Wikipedia.
"The term gay was originally used to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy".


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## 3dnf (May 13, 2010)

Cubesoftheworld, thanks for the vid, and Escher, thanks for your on topic posts haha. The title was a lyrical reference to that song


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## Chapuunka (May 13, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> C'est trop gay! (It's so gay!).



French class isn't completely useless! I actually understood that.


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## Dene (May 13, 2010)

lol gay argument. GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY IN MY BUMHOLE.


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## CuBeOrDiE (May 13, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
> 
> 
> > It's a gay hobby, but I love it!
> ...



Really? You guys are arguing about this? No, seriously? Don't you think that's a bit immature?


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## aronpm (May 13, 2010)

This argument is so gay, guys. Stop being so gay about it.


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## SuperNerd (May 13, 2010)

CuBeOrDiE said:


> SuperNerd said:
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Maybe you should notice that the argument was resolved before you posted.


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## jiggy (May 13, 2010)

Dene said:


> lol gay argument. GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY IN MY BUMHOLE.


  
I think I hurt myself chortling at that!


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## Owen (May 13, 2010)

aronpm said:


> This argument is so gay, guys. Stop being so gay about it.



lol, This is about the 100th time there has been a argument about this anyway.


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## jms_gears1 (May 13, 2010)

Owen said:


> aronpm said:
> 
> 
> > This argument is so gay, guys. Stop being so gay about it.
> ...



Its kinda gay when you think about it.

Also Escher: Gay = happy, merry
therefore its saying that to be Gay is to be happy by your logic.


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## Escher (May 13, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> Also Escher: Gay = happy, merry
> therefore its saying that to be Gay is to be happy by your logic.



I already said I wasn't using 'logic' in the literal sense.


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## Dionz (May 13, 2010)

SuperNerd said:


> DaijoCube said:
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> > It's a gay hobby, but I love it!
> ...



because he loves it


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## InfernoTowel (May 13, 2010)

I think a lot of people get into it because at first, they see a tutorial and say "Hey, it'd be cool to be able to do this...maybe I can try it!"
Once you do it, you feel great, and you go on to "Hey! I did it for the first time, let's see if I can do it even faster next time!"


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