# Best reaction to you solving the cube



## jeff081692 (Dec 2, 2007)

What is the best reaction someone had to watching you solve the cube?

Mine is "Are you Jesus?"


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## Kemp_Drumsalot (Dec 2, 2007)

Omgosh, I wish I would have been there for that haha.


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## slncuber21 (Dec 2, 2007)

hahaha that would be hilarious!! i would want to see that!!


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## magicsquares (Dec 2, 2007)

I don't get good ones. They say that I'm good but they say it in a bad way. Like, "You're a monster!"


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## Kemp_Drumsalot (Dec 2, 2007)

I still like " Are you Jesus?"


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## cmhardw (Dec 2, 2007)

One of the students at the math tutoring center I work at saw me solve the cube as a demonstration and asked "Are you a genie?"

Not as funny as being asked if you're Jesus, but I cracked up when he asked ;-)

Chris


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## jeff081692 (Dec 2, 2007)

That day we had chorus class in the lunchroom doing nothing while the girls were with the teacher so I solved the cube and after he asked me was I Jesus someone with my 2x2 cube at the other table said throw this back when you finish it and they threw it to me and it looked like I caught it and threw it right back so now im sure he is convinced that I am Jesus.


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## Kemp_Drumsalot (Dec 2, 2007)

Haha nice =-P


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## badmephisto (Dec 3, 2007)

He gave me the scrambled cube, looked away to finish his conservation, looked back in like 15 seconds just as i finished up the fastest PLL (T Perm ), saw me finish it and went:
"Are you ****ING kidding me?"
lol. I dont know, just his face screwed up in amazement made me burst out laughing.


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## AvGalen (Dec 4, 2007)

When I flew to the US Open I was solving the cube regularly. I was also sitting next to a nice girl that was somewhat interested (in the cube, not in me). After a while she got bored, put on some kind of mask and started sleeping.

After a couple of hours she woke up and looked at me. Then she started laughing and then become completely silent as she saw me solving the cube blindfolded (it was succesful). Because I wore a blindfolded that looks very much like this one she thought I had succesfully solved it in my sleep.

After I took of the blindfold we started talking and I had a very nice travel to the US


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## FU (Dec 4, 2007)

AvGalen said:


> After a couple of hours she woke up and looked at me. Then she started laughing and then become completely silent as she saw me solving the cube blindfolded (it was succesful). Because I wore a blindfolded that looks very much like this one she thought I had succesfully solved it in me sleep.


Lol solved it in your sleep ...


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## Jack (Dec 5, 2007)

Once when I was cubing on the bus, somebody said "That thing is rigged, right?"


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## dudemanpp (Dec 5, 2007)

I was solving the cube at school (lunch) and I solved it and a girl sitting near me asked, "Can I have your babies? Will you have my babies?".


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## Kemp_Drumsalot (Dec 5, 2007)

Haha, oooo-la-la


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## ExoCorsair (Dec 5, 2007)

dudemanpp said:


> I was solving the cube at school (lunch) and I solved it and a girl sitting near me asked, "Can I have your babies? Will you have my babies?".



How did you respond?


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## AvGalen (Dec 6, 2007)

Which school, how old is she now, how do I contact her?


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## masterofthebass (Dec 6, 2007)

Arnaud, I think that you're just a little old. In the US, we have a law preventing people who are under 18 to make babies with people who are over, unless certain things are fulfilled. By looking at dudemanpp's profile, he was born in 91, so I'm assuming this girl is a little young. Sorry though...


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## hdskull (Dec 6, 2007)

Arnaud's using the cube to pimp it. haha


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## badmephisto (Dec 6, 2007)

dudemanpp said:


> I was solving the cube at school (lunch) and I solved it and a girl sitting near me asked, "Can I have your babies? Will you have my babies?".


lol thats pretty funny


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## Erik (Dec 7, 2007)

a girl yesterday at the TV thingy: Wow! I want to be able to do that too! Here is my email


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## Demon Parasite (Dec 8, 2007)

Probably something like "Can I see your Rubik's Cinnamon?"

I have no clue what puzzle he was talking about, but I started cracking up.

Anyway, I've never really had any out of the ordinary reactions. Just the standard "OMG" and "YOU ARE A F'ING GENIUS"


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## Lotsofsloths (Dec 12, 2007)

"Oh my god how'd you do that!
Teach me!"

Although, for thanksgiving, we had refugees come over who knew not that much English, so my family was teaching them stuff also.
Of coarse I started to show off got a really lucky case(x cross with normal cross and OLL skip) and all they said was "Magic".


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## badmephisto (Dec 12, 2007)

Lotsofsloths said:


> "Oh my god how'd you do that!
> Teach me!"
> 
> Although, for thanksgiving, we had refugees come over who knew not that much English, so my family was teaching them stuff also.
> Of coarse I started to show off got a really lucky case(x cross with normal cross and OLL skip) and all they said was "Magic".



i love when that happens  of course usually when i try to show my skills to someone, i get really unlucky cases  damn Murphy's laws. But most of the people don't care as much about the time... they just point and laugh at how fast i can turn it with my hands


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## CorwinShiu (Dec 12, 2007)

Anything under a minute is the same for non-cubers. Like, a 22 second time for me is terrible, but it's all the same to them .



badmephisto said:


> Lotsofsloths said:
> 
> 
> > "Oh my god how'd you do that!
> ...


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## ThePizzaGuy92 (Dec 12, 2007)

not to be discriminating or racist in any way, but theres alot of mexican teenagers at my high school, and they seem to freak out more than anyone, i did a blindfold solve at my old lunch table and like 12 people were so amazed that they were calling friends over and security gaurds to watch me. but i refused to do it again :] [mainly cuz i figured it would be a DNF] haha


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## hdskull (Dec 13, 2007)

*after I blded in front of the whole class* "You're a GENIUS! did you skip 2 grades or something?"


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## Lofty (Dec 18, 2007)

I was at an event this summer with a bunch of youth from loads of different churches and at lunch one day I had a crowd of almost every person there, a hundred maybe, and multiple people filmed me. And my solves were only around 30 seconds with both hands then..


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## Pedro (Dec 23, 2007)

dudemanpp said:


> I was solving the cube at school (lunch) and I solved it and a girl sitting near me asked, "Can I have your babies? Will you have my babies?".





I wish a girl said that to me too


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## Rama (Dec 23, 2007)

Well I was in the H&M to buy some ''appropiate'' clothing for my mum's wedding and as usual I got bored and practised a bit and suddenly a group of girls screamed constantly and said ''Just like Will Smith!''. And after that they filmed another solve of me. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD8YT0RFJGM

They kept saying ''Let's put this on youtube'', and now I found out they actually did.


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## badmephisto (Dec 24, 2007)

Rama said:


> Well I was in the H&M to buy some ''appropiate'' clothing for my mum's wedding and as usual I got bored and practised a bit and suddenly a group of girls screamed constantly and said ''Just like Will Smith!''. And after that they filmed another solve of me.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD8YT0RFJGM
> 
> They kept saying ''Let's put this on youtube'', and now I found out they actually did.



that was a pretty good solve!


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## guusrs (Dec 24, 2007)

Hi Guys,

Back in 1982, after I just became dutch champion and became 2nd at the world champions, I gave a 4x4x4 and 3x3x3 cube-demonstration in a big toy-store in Amsterdam. After I solved a cube in about 20 seconds or so and a student-aged girls said to me : "My brother is much faster in solving the cube". So I said "Well your brother must be famous then, what is his name?" She turned red and just walked away while everybody was laughing.

Other positive reactions where: "You'll need a high-speed camera to see what he's doing"


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## llamapuzzle (Dec 24, 2007)

The best I've gotten is probably "Do you get straight A's in math?
and second...
"Holy ****..."
and third...
"Woah..."


I don't get good ones.:/


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## hube (Dec 24, 2007)

i've only done it a handful of times in public. i dont really get any reaction.


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## badmephisto (Dec 24, 2007)

hube said:


> i've only done it a handful of times in public. i dont really get any reaction.



yeah some people don't care. And others think you are the next messiah or something. 

speaking of which, yesterday i was solving the cube in the subway, and a guy who saw me solve it offered me a job! lol?!
this is not just a hobby anymore, this is starting to be serious


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## slncuber21 (Dec 27, 2007)

ha i was doing the 3x3 in homeroom one day and a bunch of kids crowded around as soon as they heard me asking "who wants to scramble?" so i did it in about 2:40 (when i was just starting) and a kid named Chad looked at me and said "Holy ****.....Holy ****..." He just kept saying it over and over again, it was kinda creepy.

i was solving while waiting in line at a store and the 2 women that were behind me were getting a kick out of it so i asked them if they wanted to time me and when they saw the result, one just gasped and the other wanted to have everyone in the store see... again, rather creepy.... its like they never saw one get solved before


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## K8 (Jan 12, 2008)

best: I was in a taxi coming home from a gig yesterday with a couple of guys I met there. There was too much traffic so I start cubing. When I solved it the kids where speechless and the driver stopped driving!When the others started beeping he was like "She solved that thiiiing!"

worstmy best friend)NOT AGAIN!IN YOUR BAG NOWWWW!


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## darkzelkova (Jan 13, 2008)

lol usually people are amazed. once I was on a train and there was another cuber xD so that was pretty funny.


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## SkateTracker (Jan 13, 2008)

"Woah, how the hell did you do that?"

"You're a freak of nature" (yeah, I took it as a compliment)

"Is that some sort of magic?"

I always get something different every time I cube in public, lol.


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## Lucas Garron (Jan 13, 2008)

After last year's talent show (I did speed, OH, and BLD [successful the first day]) some girl shouted "You're my hero."
Really? Yeah, my cubing's gonna save the world. 
(I'm gonna vote for Tyson Mao, then. Shelley and Leyan will make it a good cabinet.)

I cube on BART every Tuesday, on the way to Math Circle. (Unlike Chris Gardner, I make it through the door with my cube.  Last week I had to run through a station to catch the missynchronized transfer train and barely made it.)
I think some guy once waited an extra station to watch a 5-minute Megaminx solve...

And I get lots of censorable responses overall.


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## martian (Jan 13, 2008)

I often do my cubing at school, and my classmates are all amazed. They say, "Wow........", "You must be a genius!" and more...................


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## jonny guitar (Jan 14, 2008)

I solved one in the salvation army one day. It was at the front desk all mixed up so I solved it while salesman was ringing in my purchase. Salesman's response was to give me 25% off my purchase because he could brag to all his coworkers that he solved it.


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## MistArts (Jan 14, 2008)

Mine was : "What Happened?"


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## Cubie Newbie (Mar 13, 2008)

"Tell me! What's the secret word you say to solve it that fast!?"

I replied: "Fridrich"


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 13, 2008)

I get this almost daily. "Do you smoke weed?" or, "Do you play chess?"

I was at a concert once, and during intermission I started solving. This reallly drunk girl came up to me, and said in a very cute little Southern accent "Can you really do that?" I solved it, and she said, "You must be great with your fingers," then squeezed my ass, kissed me and ran off.

It was so... Weird.


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## jtjogobonito (Mar 14, 2008)

lol what did you do?


Well a lot of kids in my school call me demon hands because of how "fast" i go, but I think the best reaction was from my friend during science class. A girl asked "Is there anything faster than the speed of light?" and this kid sitting next to me says "Yes Yianni(my name in greek) on crack." I found this kind of funny


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## RobinBloehm (Mar 14, 2008)

Once I've been in the cinema, waiting for the movie, cubing of course.
When I wanted to leave 2 hours later (right after the movie), the guy behind me asked "to do it again". Well, we speedcubers know what people want us to do 
Then his girlfriend asked: "You do that since your birth, right?


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## Crzyazn (Mar 14, 2008)

"asians and their spare time..."


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## LarsN (Mar 14, 2008)

Once I had my cube standing next to my computer at work, when one of my colleagues who had never seen me do it came over to talk. So he sat down and started scrambling the cube when my phone called. As a joke he passed me the cube and said: "Why don't you just solve the cube while talking on the phone?" Ofcourse I took the challenge and solved it with my right hand while having this buisness conversation. Slammed the solved cube on the table a second before slamming down the phone. My colleague was so impressed he couldn't stop laughing for five minutes. It was a really succesfull moment


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## Lt-UnReaL (Mar 14, 2008)

One time at school during lunch, I was solved it. 2 tables filled with about 7 kids each jumped up and screamed and clapping! :O


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## SD14 (Mar 14, 2008)

mine would have to be "D*** son how you do that?"


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## dChan (Mar 17, 2008)

Best reaction? To me this is enough to make my day: "Wow. I never quite understood the appeal to rubix cubes, to be honest, but watching you spin it around in one hand was pretty cool. grin" Which was posted on a forum I go to a lot but I guess in terms of being in public and cubing I would have to say the best reaction ever was when I went the the Los Angeles Convention Center Travel Expo last year. 

I had gone(along with my siste) with my dad and our family friend and her kid, to help them set up a booth(they were trying to get people to sign up for their business or something) and obviously I brought my cube with me. When I was not walking around, I would go back to the booth, sit down, and cube in the corner at the back of the booth. I tried to ignore all the people that were not shy enough to care that I noticed them standing and staring at me and occassionally pointing at me. Well, later on, I decided to get out my stack timer so I moved to the table that was on the side of the booth where all the people were walking by(this was where one of the main walkways was). Big mistake. Soon, like ever other few seconds there would be someone standing right in front of that side of the booth staring down at me. Then, some guy saw me and he went around and inside our booth and stood right behind me as I cubed. He watched me a couple of times and was in awe then he said, "Come with me." I was thinking, "What's going on?" as I followed him to the next row of booths over where he was working at a booth. He showed me off to his co-workers and then to the other booth owners and then he said, "I'm going to get you a crowd," and he just started rounding people up. Before I knew it there was a whole bunch of people clogging up the part of the aisle I was in, surrounding me.

I cubed for them, got tons of comments, and then they wanted to time me(I was already very nervous and trying hard not to show it). The guy who brought me there got out his iPod and I was thinking, "Damn, what happens if I screw up and get thirty seconds plus?" So I thought of something and told thme that I would do it one-handed in a showmanship way. I figured that even if I screwed up I could blame it on using only one hand and being nervous(my hands were very shaky). People were like, "I didn't even know there was such a thing," and saying, "You probably need a big hand to do that." 

I am happy to report that I had a 48 second one handed solve which, when the time was revealed, I was given a big round of applause and a permanent stomach ache for the rest of the day. I was also promised to be given some free stuff but I forgot to go get them(argh)!

That was cool, but can you really beat all those nice comments?


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## ajmorgan25 (Mar 19, 2008)

I love the reactions of people while solving the cube. Some of mine....

"It's because he's asian!!"
"No way!!!"
"Shut your face!" (Valley Girls)
"Dude!"
"How do you move your fingers that fast?"

I've had to solve the cube for all three of the principals at my school. Each one of them thought it was pretty cool especially since they probably had one during the 80's.


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 20, 2008)

How many people get these two?

"I used to peel the stickers off." That one mkes me cringe now. I hear it every day. 

"You know Will Smith can do that!"


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## adzicents (Mar 20, 2008)

I was doing it outside school waiting for my girlfriend to come out so I pulled it out and did a few solves. I got a few from that.

"Did he actually just solve a Rubik's cube?"
"WTF?" (like, he actually said 'double-u tee eff')
"Now I've seen everything"


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## dChan (Mar 20, 2008)

Yup, I always get that, "I used to peel the stickers off" one and now a couple of times I have heard, "I used to remove the peices and put them back together."

I think the most common reaction that anyone probably gets is a stunned silence, right?


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## Rosetti (Mar 20, 2008)

I love the reactions I get from solving, despite how shy I am. it's funny, because people are amazed I can do in a minute or so, and I'm thinking "People can do it blindfoled, in 10 seconds, whilst skydiving...man I suck!"

People seem most amazed when I do my Sunes (fastest algorithim for me) they're always like "How do you do it that fast??!" (which is also funny, because a Sune takes me around 2-3 seconds)

Sometimes, I sit in my free periods, just timing myself with my Ipod, and can hear people whispering "how can he do that? I peeled the stickers off (very generic haha"

One guy said "What the hell are you doing? *grin* you crackhead!"


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## Erik (Mar 20, 2008)

So i cube in the train everyday and the top 3 of comments I get (or hear people say to their friends) are:
1. We had one too but I could never solve it
2. I always pealed off the stickers
3. wow


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## andrewvo1324 (Mar 20, 2008)

"dam asian"

then i made a racial remark back

then ran.


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## Cubie Newbie (Mar 20, 2008)

Why do people think that, if you are Asian, you are born with some sort of 'speedcubing' gene? Do they not acknowledge the hard work you undergo when you memorize hundreds of useless algorithms while forgoing less important things such as schoolwork, eating, and sleeping?


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 20, 2008)

I got this one a few days ago.

"You're such a Jew."

First off, I wonder how they knew I was Jewish. Second, I don't see the connection.


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

Yes, it really sucks when you start cubing in front of someone and then they boil down all your months of practice to, "It's because he's Chinese!" lol, one time I corrected the person, "I'm half Chinese and half Philipino," then I got, "Whatever, they're the same!" Although he was right if he meant they were both Asian races I just didn't want to disappoint my mom, lol. 

Now I realize that the second most common comment for me is the "comparison" comment. E.g. "I can calculate all of your oders in my head but I can't do that,"; "I'm an airline pilot, so I'm smart, but I don't understand how you can do that," ; "That requires lots of patience and decisiveness. I can be decisive on some things but not that."

I recieved all of those comments whilst cubing "discreetly" at a restraunt, Lowe's, and a modeling agency(no I was not there to model), lol, and they are basically the same thing.

Oh, and my English teacher said a few days ago, "You are a wierdo."

Hadley: Maybe Jews are supposed to be really smart(a stereotype?)? I would assume that is what he/she means.


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## ExoCorsair (Mar 21, 2008)

Jews aren't known for their intelligence as much as their money spending habits... 

Kidding, kidding!


There's a girl in my economics class who gets really ticked off whenever I solve my cube. I hear, "Just put it away! Just put it away Jon!"

She also may be going to the same school Dan Cohen is at next year...


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 21, 2008)

ExoCorsair said:


> Jews aren't known for their intelligence as much as their money spending habits...
> 
> Kidding, kidding!




It's all good, I make more Jew jokes than anyone! 


Maybe it's because Jews are often doctors/lawyers/accountants?


I still don't know how he knew I was a Jew... I don't look that Jewish. My mom does, but I wasn't with her. :confused:


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

Telepathy man... it's all the rage now-a-days.


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## Lofty (Mar 21, 2008)

haha I also had a girl who got very annoyed at the cube. Because it was always like 5 people cubing in class, the annoying clicking sounds we made lol.
And being a very pale white kid I get " wow how do you do it with one hand and you aren't even asian"


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

Wow, I've never met anyone who can solve the cube let alone 5 lol. I don't count the competitions I go to because no one talks to me.


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## Dene (Mar 21, 2008)

dChan said:


> Wow, I've never met anyone who can solve the cube let alone 5 lol. I don't count the competitions I go to because no one talks to me.



Lol, did you try talking to other people?


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

Yup, but it seems people are more interested insticking to their group - unless of course I talked to the wrong people. I always talk to people but mostly when I'm in a competition, the friendliest people are the spectators. One time I was sitting in between Leyan Lo and another guy and the other starts talking across me to Leyan Lo which was a bit awkward. I wanted to say, "Hi, why don't you talk to me instead of ignoring me?" but that might have been rude, lol. Soon after that I was called to the stage so no chance to talk to Leyan.


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## Dene (Mar 21, 2008)

Hmmm, you're talking to the wrong people then! You need to find people from these forums!


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## Rama (Mar 21, 2008)

...What the... Just say hi to the guys.
I allways aproach people, especially ''beginners'' because I like to make them feel comfortable in competitions.

And what's up with people who say ''I SAW Tyson(or someone else)'', but they never said hi to him.


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## Lucas Garron (Mar 21, 2008)

Rama said:


> I SAW Tyson


You SAW Tyson? WOW!
Did you bow to him and get his autograph?

Reminds me of when people in obscure ways ask me if "I was that guy on TV" or so.


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

Ah, good tip, I'll approach the beginners next time. I always try to talk to people but then they end up being spectators, lol, who can't solve the cube. Then when I try to go to the back of the room where everyone else is hanging out, it seems they are to busy talking to their friends to acknowledge a , "Hi, I'm new here." Next time I'll just talk to some beginners like you said Rama. Maybe it is better.


AH, TYSON MAO WAS MY JUDGE! but i didn't say anything to him... lol. I asked him to sign my cube though.


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## Rama (Mar 21, 2008)

@Lucas: ''No man, I tought he was too good for me, I am satisfied enough that we shared the same room.
You can also see his left pinky in my second solve(youtube).''

@dChan: You aproach Tyson, trow your cube on the table and when his cube is on the table you grab it and scramble it (if there is a table ofcourse) or else you'll just hand out your cube to him. That's what some of us guys do.

Ps. Ofcourse I've got the opportunity to meet Tyson Mao himself at WC2007 it was nice to see ''the dude from television'' in real live. 
Ofcourse Tyson is doing alot for the cubing community and that's why he is important, but that doesn't mean you cannot talk to him... I hope.


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## Dene (Mar 21, 2008)

Meeting Tyson would be awesome!! Crap, I'd be too scared to say anything though >.< . If i was at a competition I'd likely just hide in the background and practise while listening to my music. No one approach me, just leave me alone!


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## dChan (Mar 21, 2008)

@Rama: lol, what does that mean? Challenge him to a solving duel? Sounds like Old West stuff. "Now looka' here Tyson. This town ain't big enough for the both of us. I challenge you to a Rubik's showdown!"

http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g...current=CJOneHanded3x3x3withJudgeTysonMao.flv

Check it out! Tyson was practically rubbing shoulders with me, OMG. That was a bad solve though so ignore the time - just worship Tyson! jk

For some reason he said ,"Good idea" after I was done like he was commenting on what I did with the solve but he just walked off afterwards so I still don't know what that means.

lol, we turned this thread into something else now.


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 21, 2008)

I'm hoping to meet a lot of cool cubers (Tyson included) at the US Open.


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## Mike Hughey (Mar 22, 2008)

Tyson is really a nice guy. He would probably take time to seek out and talk to every cuber at the competitions if he could, but he's just usually so busy with all the stuff he has to do for the competitions that he can't. He actually sought me out and talked to me to congratulate me at the US Open after I got a successful BLD solve. And I think there were 4 of us there who got our first successful BLD solves in competition at the US Open, so I'm assuming he probably did that for all 4 of us.


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## Erik (Mar 22, 2008)

LOL I like the: and he's not even asian one 
*reveals secret asian powers (read: ancestors)* Rama and me don't call ourselfs brothers for no-reason


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## andrewvo1324 (Mar 22, 2008)

LEts start a CULT

ALL HAIL TYSON!!!



Someone make matching t-shirts!


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## jeff081692 (Mar 22, 2008)

lol this topic has been busy since i have been gone.


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## bvleb96 (Mar 22, 2008)

At school:
How did you do that can you teach me!


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## FlowingRiver94 (Mar 23, 2008)

Cleaned up version:
Holy crap! How in the freakin' heck did you do that? What are you, a psychic or something?


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## badmephisto (Mar 23, 2008)

i just had a funny reaction recently when i showed one of my friend's friends.: Complete silence with a long stare 

I also went through a funny dilemma on subway the other day:
Some guy was showing off solving the Rubik's cube in a filled train, so naturally he had quite a few spectators, and he was explaining how he did it to some random kids, and it seemed like he really loved it, being the center of attention. His average had to be around a minute. I was wondering if I should take out my cube from my pocket on my bag and just solve it, because I was sitting only 2 seats away from him... It would certainly be funny, but in the end I decided against it and kept silent. Not exactly sure what would be best. Sometimes I think I should have done it for the kicks.


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## Dene (Mar 23, 2008)

You should have, he would have been owned so bad, it would have been the ultimate shame >.<


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 23, 2008)

Dene said:


> You should have, he would have been owned so bad, it would have been the ultimate shame >.<




No shame. Being able to solve the cube at all is something to be proud of. I mean, it's not near as hard as people make it out to be, but still something to be proud of.


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## abbracadiabra (Mar 24, 2008)

Good choice, badmephisto. You had no reason to steal his thunder - there was nothing for you to gain in that situation, but quite a lot for him to loose. I bet that experience did wonders for his self-confidence, and I'm glad for him. 

He should be proud that he can solve the cube. You should be even more proud of your restraint. It has increased my respect for you a hundred-fold. I already admired and respected your communication skills and teaching ability based on your youtube videos. I now admire and respect your humanity.


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## ajmorgan25 (Mar 24, 2008)

badmephisto said:


> i just had a funny reaction recently when i showed one of my friend's friends.: Complete silence with a long stare
> 
> I also went through a funny dilemma on subway the other day:
> Some guy was showing off solving the Rubik's cube in a filled train, so naturally he had quite a few spectators, and he was explaining how he did it to some random kids, and it seemed like he really loved it, being the center of attention. His average had to be around a minute. I was wondering if I should take out my cube from my pocket on my bag and just solve it, because I was sitting only 2 seats away from him... It would certainly be funny, but in the end I decided against it and kept silent. Not exactly sure what would be best. Sometimes I think I should have done it for the kicks.



lol, I have to admit I would have busted mine out, especially if I had times like yours. Although I wouldn't have been completely arrogant about it. I would have challenged him to a race for fun and then helped him out and showed everyone else.

Another response I've gotten quite a bit, and someone else has said it to...."You're like Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness." I looked it up on YouTube and sure enough he can do it. Takes him probably 2-3 minutes to do it though. The title says he did it in 55 seconds but he already had F2L done.


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## badmephisto (Mar 24, 2008)

abbracadiabra said:


> Good choice, badmephisto. You had no reason to steal his thunder - there was nothing for you to gain in that situation, but quite a lot for him to loose. I bet that experience did wonders for his self-confidence, and I'm glad for him.
> 
> He should be proud that he can solve the cube. You should be even more proud of your restraint. It has increased my respect for you a hundred-fold. I already admired and respected your communication skills and teaching ability based on your youtube videos. I now admire and respect your humanity.



oh stop it! 
but i do agree with you, that line of thinking was pretty much what ultimately lead to my final decision. Damn the respect, now it feels like I'll have to live up to it


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 24, 2008)

abbracadiabra said:


> Good choice, badmephisto. You had no reason to steal his thunder - there was nothing for you to gain in that situation, but quite a lot for him to loose. I bet that experience did wonders for his self-confidence, and I'm glad for him.
> 
> He should be proud that he can solve the cube. You should be even more proud of your restraint. It has increased my respect for you a hundred-fold. I already admired and respected your communication skills and teaching ability based on your youtube videos. I now admire and respect your humanity.





That was quite deep.


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## Dene (Mar 24, 2008)

Crap, I wouldn't have done it, but that's only because of my extreme social phobies >.< . However I don't quite follow your line of reasoning, Miss abbracadiabra. Where is the respect coming from? The fact that he isn't an arrogant show off?


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## jackolanternsoup (Mar 24, 2008)

"Are you from the circus or something?"
I learn't after about an hour to take that as a compliment.... Hahaa


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## Ken Daganio (Mar 24, 2008)

dChan : You`re half Filipino? Cool. 

One time I was at a grocery store near home, 
after unloading everything from my cart, i raced the cashier, 
and she was like "WTF?!" 

me and some other cubers we`re at a convenience store, 
so this girls walk up and " Hey, you`re the guy from TV " 
we we`re featured a few times on philippine television.


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## abbracadiabra (Mar 25, 2008)

Dene said:


> Crap, I wouldn't have done it, but that's only because of my extreme social phobies >.< . However I don't quite follow your line of reasoning, Miss abbracadiabra. Where is the respect coming from? The fact that he isn't an arrogant show off?




Ok, Dene - let me spell it out for you. Imagine you were on a train, quietly playing with your Rubiks cube, and a bunch of kids noticed you solving it and crowded around you. Imagine how nervous you might feel, and then imagine what it would feel like when you realized those kids were impressed by your abilities. 

Now imagine Mr. Arrogant Speed Solver comes along and challenges you to a race that you haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Heck - you never had any intention of competing!!! All you were trying to do was quietly pass the time of day with your cube on your ride home. And if you felt pretty good about yourself a few minutes ago you sure feel lousy now, because this guy has completely put your limited abilities to shame. The kids are no longer impressed by you; in fact they don't even notice you because they're too busy paying homage to Mr. A.S.S. (hole) himself. Meanwhile, you put your cube in your pocket, and quietly promise yourself never to take it out in public again. 

Now I ask you this: What did you ever do to him? 

Hope it was worth it for him, because any way I look at it he didn't stand to gain a thing, even though it cost you quite a lot. He stole your chance to feel good about your accomplishment, and by doing so he exacted a pretty hefty price on your self-esteem. 

The whole thing comes down to honor and fair play. There is an appropriate arena for competition and this was not it. Competing with unknowing opponents who lack comparable skills isn't playing fair - it's like a professional athlete challenging an unsuspecting amateur. It's cheating. 

So in short, the answer to your question is yup - I'm impressed that Badmephisto isn't an arrogant show-off. But there's more to it. By resisting the temptation to show off he demonstrated his honor and his integrity. Seriously, how many people on this forum do you think would have made the same choice? I think you'd find very few.


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## AvGalen (Mar 25, 2008)

This is what I would have done in that situation:
Ask the guy if he can explain to me (and the others) how he solves the cube. After he explains the basics of his method I would get a/my cube and solve it using his method asking him if I am doing it correctly and complimenting him on his teaching skills. This way he really feels good about himself, the others respect him even more, I have met another cuber (I would invite him to a tournament after the others have lost interest) and maybe I have learned a new method.

I cannot imagine that someone has gone to a competition and not have talked to almost everyone over there. When I was at the US Open I talked to almost everyone, including Dan Cohen, Jon Choi, "The Caltech clan (Shelley, Tyson, Ryan, all 3 Dzoans, etc)", Mike Hughey, Bob Burton, Joshua and many many others. When I met them (and others like Macky, Chris Hardwick, Harris Chan) at Worlds we talked a lot more. The only group I didn't talk to was the Japanese group which was really a closed group. My advice: Just start talking with everyone during competitions and especially in the "afterparties" which often last all through the night. If you want to talk to Tyson because you want to "worship" him, you can start by offering him a magic, smash it with a hammer and throw it in a hat


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## Dene (Mar 25, 2008)

abbracadiabra said:


> Dene said:
> 
> 
> > Crap, I wouldn't have done it, but that's only because of my extreme social phobies >.< . However I don't quite follow your line of reasoning, Miss abbracadiabra. Where is the respect coming from? The fact that he isn't an arrogant show off?
> ...



Your explanation of course makes sense, but this first part doesn't necessarily. If the person came onto the train with a Rubik's cube going "hey everyone, look what I can do!" and started showing off and was extremely arrogant about it themselves, then don't you think knocking them down a notch could be of more benefit, by showing them that they aren't as good as they seem to believe that they are?
I mean, sometimes it is for someones own good if they learn that their own arrogance is undeserved and that they should stop being such an attention-seeker.
Of course you may disagree, and say that it is better not to leave them completely shamed and publicly humiliated, but I say, if you set yourself up for it, then it is your own problem. 
(through all of this, don't forget that I still would not have done anything myself).


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## badmephisto (Mar 25, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> This is what I would have done in that situation:
> Ask the guy if he can explain to me (and the others) how he solves the cube. After he explains the basics of his method I would get a/my cube and solve it using his method asking him if I am doing it correctly and complimenting him on his teaching skills. This way he really feels good about himself, the others respect him even more, I have met another cuber (I would invite him to a tournament after the others have lost interest) and maybe I have learned a new method.
> 
> I cannot imagine that someone has gone to a competition and not have talked to almost everyone over there. When I was at the US Open I talked to almost everyone, including Dan Cohen, Jon Choi, "The Caltech clan (Shelley, Tyson, Ryan, all 3 Dzoans, etc)", Mike Hughey, Bob Burton, Joshua and many many others. When I met them (and others like Macky, Chris Hardwick, Harris Chan) at Worlds we talked a lot more. The only group I didn't talk to was the Japanese group which was really a closed group. My advice: Just start talking with everyone during competitions and especially in the "afterparties" which often last all through the night. If you want to talk to Tyson because you want to "worship" him, you can start by offering him a magic, smash it with a hammer and throw it in a hat



but if the others tried it as well, then they would feel stupid because they would think they are just not getting it fast enough compared to you  but it sure would be really funny to pretend to be a fast learner though 

edit: oh and Dene that's a good point also. It depends largely on the nature of the person's presentation. If he was some dumb show off kid I would have much fewer second thoughts.


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## ajmorgan25 (Mar 25, 2008)

I think it would have been ok to show off your skills as long as you weren't being arrogant about it. Show him up once or twice, then teach him a few things.


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## amateurguy (Mar 25, 2008)

Instead of bumping in and solving your own cube however, it might be good to go up to him and say: "Hey! You can speedsolve a Rubik's cube too? And I thought that I was alone in this area!" 

You both can exchange tips/methods (especially like if he's using Petrus and you're using Fridrich). Besides I'm sure he'd appreciate learning something from a more experienced cuber. You'd probably make a new friend in the process and who knows, he might become a forum member too. 

This actually happened to me when my distant cousin from overseas came over to my place and when he saw my scrambled cube, he picked it up and surprisingly solved it. Although I could solve it much faster than him, I knew it wasn't nice to act cocky and all, so I did teach him a few tricks (like changing his 4-look LL to a 3-look). What wonders a Rubik's cube can to family relationships! Lol!

And for best reaction to me (I was finishing OLL and heading on to PLL): 
"Oh look... he's got all the yellows... and the... he's mixing it up again... and... what the heck! How did you do that?!!"


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## SajberPinGu (Mar 25, 2008)

@amatureguy that one was hilarious 

I have got quite a few most of them "How do you do that?!"
I even met a fellow cuber which turned out to take the same class as me on the train lol.
There is one guy that always sais im supersmart and i try to convince him that Im a normal guy very time  so annoying!

I thougt of the best earlier but forgot it whilest reading this great thread!


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## Stefan (Mar 25, 2008)

About the train story: I probably would've apporached him. How often do you meet other cubers except at competitions? I never do. Is there any cuber who wouldn't want to meet other cubers? Keeping quiet is a wasted opportunity for *both*.


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## pcwiz (Mar 26, 2008)

"Wow! how do you do that?"

I've been asked that about 10 times from the same person, and 10+ people have asked me that SAME question


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## Hadley4000 (Mar 26, 2008)

Got a new one yesterday.
"Either you are like, autistic, or have no life."


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## pcharles93 (Mar 26, 2008)

These are all pretty funny and interesting.

One person thought I was better than God. Here's her reasoning. God can destroy as fast as he can create, but I can undo 2 minutes of scrambling in about 25-30 seconds.


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## Rpotts (Mar 29, 2008)

What the ****!!!, Holy ****!!!!

Screamed by a very drunk, very butch woman upon me solving a 4x4 and 3x3 after she scrambled them for what seemed like hours.


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## badmephisto (Mar 29, 2008)

pcharles93 said:


> These are all pretty funny and interesting.
> 
> One person thought I was better than God. Here's her reasoning. God can destroy as fast as he can create, but I can undo 2 minutes of scrambling in about 25-30 seconds.



haha you suck at scrambling then. You know that if you scramble using 18 moves its going to be just about the same thing as if you used 1000 moves right? You are not making it more random. The chaos involved in you scrambling the cube makes sure that you would not be able to solve it easily even after 10 moves. Yes, after 10 moves you have less number of possible configurations, but it is still on order of 18^10 configurations, and slightly less due to symmetries/bias in scrambling. 

Andrew Kang solved 3500 cubes in one day (that's the record). If you gave him all the scrambles of 10 moves, and had him solve the cubes every single day, he would be solving all of that for roughly 2 million years.


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## abbracadiabra (Mar 29, 2008)

badmephisto said:


> Andrew Kang solved 3500 cubes in one day (that's the record). If you gave him all the scrambles of 10 moves, and had him solve the cubes every single day, he would be solving all of that for roughly 2 million years.




Sorry, I don't understand. Could you explain it to me? If he already solved 3500 cubes in one day, why would it take him 2 million moves to do it again?


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## Dene (Mar 29, 2008)

I think he meant "if you gave him every possible cube configuration that could be reached in 10 moves, and got him to solve each one at a rate of 3500 cubes per day, it would take around 2 million years". My interpretation could be wrong.


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## badmephisto (Mar 29, 2008)

Dene said:


> I think he meant "if you gave him every possible cube configuration that could be reached in 10 moves, and got him to solve each one at a rate of 3500 cubes per day, it would take around 2 million years". My interpretation could be wrong.



yes. i was just trying to make the point that even after 10 moves the cube is pretty damn scrambled already.


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## Pedro (Mar 30, 2008)

badmephisto said:


> pcharles93 said:
> 
> 
> > These are all pretty funny and interesting.
> ...



I think he meant 2 minute scrambling from the other people


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## Stefan (Mar 30, 2008)

badmephisto said:


> i was just trying to make the point that even after 10 moves the cube is pretty damn scrambled already.


Too bad it really isn't.


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## badmephisto (Mar 30, 2008)

StefanPochmann said:


> badmephisto said:
> 
> 
> > i was just trying to make the point that even after 10 moves the cube is pretty damn scrambled already.
> ...



I'm sure that if i gave you a cube scrambled using 10 moves you would be able to optimally backtrack all moves right away Stefan, i know.
but for us other mortals it really is


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