From dik@cwi.nl Thu Jun 11 18:46:53 1992 Return-Path: Received: from charon.cwi.nl by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA16508; Thu, 11 Jun 92 18:46:53 EDT Received: from boring.cwi.nl by charon.cwi.nl with SMTP id AA05569 (5.65b/2.10/CWI-Amsterdam); Fri, 12 Jun 1992 00:46:44 +0200 Received: by boring.cwi.nl id AA22860 (5.65b/2.10/CWI-Amsterdam); Fri, 12 Jun 1992 00:46:42 +0200 Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1992 00:46:42 +0200 From: Dik.Winter@cwi.nl Message-Id: <9206112246.AA22860.dik@boring.cwi.nl> To: cube-lovers@life.ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Name query. Actually reminiscences. > I > regret not having a videotape of Bernie solving the cube in, say, 1978. > (I hope I've got the year right.) I think it must be later. The cube was put on the market in Hungary in 1977 and first exported in 1980. Although earlier examples were privately exported I presume. > While I'm reminiscing, I should confess that my standard corner operator > is still the same as it was then: (FUR)^5, which exchanges two corners, > leaves the rest of the corners alone, and fucks the edges completely. Happens to me also. I still use operators I found myself in favour of (shorter) processes found later in books. I remember them better! > I'm interested in hearing other reminiscences from people who actually > solved the cube -- you're disqualified if you learned how to solve it > from somebody else, or from a book. I got one for my birthday in 1981 (yes, I was late). By the end of the party it was completely scrambled. One long night and a long day afterwards had me solve the cube. Although at that moment I had not completely lined up procedures to do it. Later I more or less procedurized it. Much stranger was my first encounter with Square 1. As all puzzles it was scrambled within minutes after I brought it home. I tried to solve it, but for some reason I did not yet see how to bring it back in the shape of a cube. The next day when I came home from work it was in the shape of a cube. It appears that my 8 year old daughter had done that! Solving the remainder was fairly simple. dik -- dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland dik@cwi.nl