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I’ve written about the Rubik’s

I’ve written about the Rubik’s Cube here before, but there’s always more to write about that wacky contraption:

- a “Challenge the Champion” advertisement from 1982, the height of the craze. The champ, a 14 yo kid who could solve the Cube in less than 50 seconds, is wearing a “cubists do it faster” t-shirt. Classic.

- a RealAudio clip (11m:32s, 18.1 Mb) from the 80s variety program That’s Incredible showing a Rubik’s Cube-a-Thon. I used to watch That’s Incredible all the time, and I distinctly remember this episode.

- from the archives of the Cube Lovers mailing list (dating back to 1980!):

“I won the swedish championship with 40.48 (*very* hard cubes), and ended

4th in the world championships with 24.57. My personal best is 15.92, and

best average of 10 consecutive solutions about 23.50. Nowadays I’m 2-4

seconds slower, but (fortunately!) I don’t do it nearly as much.”

- and -

“I guess it’s time to try to explain what I mean by 1152-fold symmetry

and 24-fold symmetry.”

- directions for solving the Rubik’s Cube

- art made by stacking Rubik’s Cubes in specific patterns. Chess, anyone?