>>>>>>Ok, there is a new definition for loser:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Man_takes_26_years_to_solve_Rubik%92s_Cube&in_article_id=471180&in_page_id=2
>>>>>
>>>>>LOL. Thanks for the morning smile.
>>>>>
>>>>>You have to wonder, though, how long it would take many other people to solve it if they absolutely had to and didn't have access to a guide showing you how to do it. It's not an easy puzzle, especially if you don't happen to be good at visualizing spatial relationships.
>>>>
>>>>Back in high school in class of 34, we had almost 20 cubes being solved at the time
>>>>At the time when it become popular, it almost completely eradicated preferans (card game)
>>>>
>>>>While professors were writing some boring stuff on board... {g}
>>>
>>>Do you know if they all worked it out on their own, though?
>>>
>>>Full disclosure: I was unable to solve it on my own. I bought a book and memorized the steps. It was driving me nuts. One thing I still remember is that it said the biggest mental hurdle is that solving the third layer involves temporarily going backwards. You have to undo cubes that were previously in place.
>>
>>Although guy who brought it first claimed so, I don't think so ;)
>>
>>I did not do it myself eighter;
>>Someone showed me few basic methods and that finishing touch. I was doing it quiet fast, but never close to top 3-4 who were
>>real cube maniacs. But after you manage each pattern, it is all down to finger mechanics.
>>(Kind of lika programming isn't it {vbg} )
>>
>>After a while mania subsided. My cube ended up in some closet and I never saw it again.
>
>Same here. I have boxes of Unknown Things in the basement and am not even sure it's in one of them.
>
>Now there are speed contests. They grease the cubes up so they fly. I think the record is around 20 seconds, something outrageous like that. I read about a woman from Eastern Europe, now an Ivy League professor, who gained some fame as a child Rubik prodigy. She says now she wouldn't be within shouting distance of winning a speed contest.

I'm up to 3000 BPM with my Clackers, but have arthritic wrist joints due to the number of blows they've received.