# Cube talk for a Mensa regional gathering



## cmhardw (Jan 16, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I'm very excited to report that I will be an official speaker at one of the Florida regional gatherings for Mensa, the high IQ society. I am not a member of Mensa, but one of my friends is. He suggested me to be a speaker for the gathering and I was accepted.

I plan to give a talk roughly similar to the ones that Ian Winokur has given in the past, the only major changes being that I will not solve a virtual cube on the screen as I am painfully slow at doing that, and I also plan to discuss the Major system as well as the method of loci as they apply to life in general and specifically blindfolded solving.

I am not sure if the talk will be filmed by the organization, but if not I will try to see if I can get my friend to film it so that I can post it here.

My outline, so far, is to discuss the following topics:

- General Rubik's cube history, from invention to the resurgence to modern speedcubing

- Sightings in pop-culture

- Trivia facts about the cube (the number of unsolved configurations is prime, the number of possible combinations to a 3x3x3 is an enormous number, that any possible position can be brought back to the solved state in 20 turns or less, etc.)

- Demo solves. This will be me performing a 3x3 speedsolve, as well as a blindfolded 3x3 solve.

- I will give a short outline of how a layer-by-layer solution works, as well as briefly introduce the idea of how the Fridrich method works. I will try to give an extremely brief, but deserved shout-out to other methods like ZZ and Roux, so that people don't think the layer-by-layer approach is the only approach for speedsolving.

- I plan to give a very short, and very basic outline of what a commutator is. I will use this to segue into blindfolded solving.

- I will give a very brief description of how a blindfolded solve works, describing that it is a task of solving by cycles, and "forgetting" the two pieces you've cycled at each step (keep in mind I am describing a 2-at-a-time 3 cycle method) until your cycle is complete. I will probably briefly describe parity with some hand wavy stuff like "This is solved by doing a transposition or swap of corners at the same time as a swap on edges".

- Lastly I will give a semi-detailed description of the Major system for memorizing numbers, and lightly touch on the method of loci to give the images conjured up from the Major system somewhere to be placed such that they may be recalled. I will do this exactly the same way the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" does, by essentially having every person there create a journey out of their childhood home with perhaps 3 locations. I will then read them the story of a cube scramble which I will show converted into impromptu images via the Major system. I will have them place these images into their 3 locations, and have the audience recall it back at the end of the talk.

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If anyone has any suggestions of other topics to go over, or topics to truncate or remove from the list I have given then I am always open to feedback. I'll keep everyone posted on how the talk goes. I am giving it on Saturday January 28th, and I will try very hard to make sure that I have a video of at least part of it to upload here.


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## Zane_C (Jan 16, 2012)

Sounds great Chris!


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## Jokerman5656 (Jan 16, 2012)

you better get it filmed for us  or even just record


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## AvGalen (Jan 16, 2012)

On my ToDo-list:
- bump up my English IQ to 150 (Mensa limit I believe)
- Apply for Mensa
- Show up at that meeting

or I just wait until I see the movie here


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## Cheese11 (Jan 16, 2012)

If you don't get this video taped, I will shoot a kitten. (Not actually) I would like this video taped though. Or you could go to a music store, pick up a cheap interface, plug in the mic, and record it.


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## cmhardw (Jan 16, 2012)

I'm working on getting camera equipment, and it looks like I will be able to film the talk! I may have some questions later about how to publish it, but I'll likely just split it up into 10 minute segments and upload it to youtube.


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## Cubenovice (Jan 16, 2012)

They couldn't have asked for a better person, looking forward to the video!

Have fun!


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## ASH (Jan 16, 2012)

If there are a lot of real scientists (e.g. mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, ..  ) they may be interested in the theoretical MFC-Stuff (inv scramble, cancellations/insertion, ...).
Thoses techniques are kinda easy in theory ...


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## AvGalen (Jan 16, 2012)

For such a group I would always mention that:
- every move (A) can be undone by it's inverse (A') to return to the initial state
- every series of moves (ABC) can be undone by it's inverse (C'B'A') to return to the initial state
- every series of moves (ABCDEFG), when repeated often enough, will return to the initial state


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## cmhardw (Jan 16, 2012)

Thanks for the well wishes everyone, I will definitely practice this talk at home a few times to make sure that it will come across well!

Also, thanks Arnaud and Ash! I didn't think to include some fewest moves things. I already sent out the program to the organizers with my outline, so I'll try to include some FMC stuff during the segue to blindfolded, since it is roughly related. I may also just put it in the trivia section, I'll see where it works best.


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## AvGalen (Feb 13, 2012)

When is this going to happen, or have I already missed it?


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## chris410 (Feb 13, 2012)

+1 how did it go Chris?


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## cmhardw (Feb 14, 2012)

This is the first 40 minutes or so of my talk. The sound cuts out completely at the end of the 4th video (and for the 5th and 6th videos). I'm trying to figure out if the sound is salvageable from the original tape.

The talk went quite well! I had about 15 people attend the talk the whole time, and about 4 or 5 people came and went for part of it. I had a lot of questions at the end, and I really hope I can get the sound back for the last 20 minutes of the talk. I basically act out and show the audience one of my BLD cubing stories, and that was the part that people enjoyed the most, and also the part where the video has no sound! 

Here is the first 35-40 minutes where I do have sound. Yes I know that the sound is only coming through one speaker too, I'm looking into that as well.

Enjoy!


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## AvGalen (Feb 14, 2012)

Thanks Chris, I will watch it tonight


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## TheAwesomeAlex (Feb 14, 2012)

cmhardw said:


> I'm working on getting camera equipment, and it looks like I will be able to film the talk! I may have some questions later about how to publish it, but I'll likely just split it up into 10 minute segments and upload it to youtube.


 YouTube changed the video length to 15 minutes


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## Godmil (Feb 14, 2012)

Awesome talk Chris, you have a great way of communicating ideas without getting bogged down in technicalities... I really hope you can salvage the sound, cause I'm dying to hear the rest of the talk.


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## chris410 (Feb 14, 2012)

Excellent! Now you are ready to make a blindfold tutorial for 3x3 and 4x4


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## Litz (Feb 14, 2012)

Congratulations on the amazing talk, this is awesome. You have a great "stage presence" and were very clear and organized in everything you said. Your explanation with the queue of boxes for bld was very well done and the whole thing is really interesting. 

Hope you manage to upload the rest as I'd love to watch it.


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## masterofthebass (Feb 14, 2012)

TheAwesomeAlex said:


> YouTube changed the video length to 15 minutes


 
They got rid of the time limit.


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## aronpm (Feb 14, 2012)

masterofthebass said:


> They got rid of the time limit.


It is only removed for some accounts. I can upload videos as long as I want on my cubing account, but I need to verify my second account (minecraft) before I can upload >15 minutes.


I'll have to watch this in the morning. Hopefully the sound problem works out


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## pjk (Feb 14, 2012)

Watched what I could listen to. Well done, Chris. Thanks for posting.


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## Mike Hughey (Feb 14, 2012)

Wow, Chris - very nice job - it was a very engaging talk! I'm sure your audience loved it!

One minor comment: Guus is not one of the two holders of the fewest moves record; it's Jimmy Coll and *István*. 

(I assume the reason you made that mistake is that you remember back when Guus held the WR for so long.)

Edit: Your BLD solve was fun - I'm sure memorization was killer. That's exactly how I felt at the 2008 Virginia Open (where I first met you) - there was all this conversation about cubing around me while I was doing big cubes BLD, and I was so tempted to say something in response. Congratulations on the success, by the way!


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## AvGalen (Feb 14, 2012)

So far I have been enjoying the video a lot. From the history of the cube and Erno Rubiks, to the math, to a speedsolve, to a (succesful) blindfolded solve, to a great explanation of cycles and then something I had never heard of "the banquet of Simonedes" for memory. Just 2 remarks I have: Guus isn't the WR-holder for FMC with 22 moves, that would have been István. Guus once held the WR with 27 though. And for the explanation of cycles I would have started with a simple 2-swap system and THEN expand that to fit the laws of the cube (3cycles and double swaps), but skipping that step might not have been a problem with this target audience

I really hope you can get the sound back so I can watch more. I am going to pass this on to some others that will enjoy watching this.


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## cmhardw (Feb 16, 2012)

Sorry István 

I will correct this in my next talk, and I will also make a comment on the youtube video pointing out the mistake.

Thanks for the comments everyone! I am still working on salvaging the sound, and will let you know when I know more.


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## ben1996123 (Feb 16, 2012)

Watched it all. Awesome talk, but crappy sound =


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