I’m going to go a bit off script for this one.

Yes, this blog is about understanding boundaries between cubing and the mainstream, but my comment sections usually aren’t.

My blog does explore understanding boundaries, yes, but it also introduces a brand new hobby to a bunch of new people, my classmates. And with this comes something I love to see, interest in cubing.

Solving understanding issues is really aiming to involve more people in a hobby at its core. So with that goal in mind, I thought an excellent way to wrap up this blog would be to not look at another problem, but rather the future.

How can you get into cubing?

Like the original “You Can Do the Cube,” I shall be your guide into the unknown. Here’s how to become a cuber.

1981 You Can Do the Cube solving guide

Step 1: YouTube

Contrary to popular belief, you do not just “figure out” a cube. We leave that to the puzzle theorists and mathematicians. There is a learned method.

Where do you learn? Why, YouTube of course! At this point I’m convinced I wouldn’t be a functioning member of society without YouTube, I learned A LOT on there.

Back in the year 2012, the most popular tutorial out there was made by Dan Brown.

This video is great ignoring the fact it was recorded with a toothbrush (it was 2007, give him a break).

Another, modern alternative is made by The Cubicle.

Step 2: Practice

You may need a week or so with an hour or two a day to get your first few solves down. That’s normal! The more you do it, the more you will get familiar with the memorized algorithms.

Step 3: Memorize

Once you’re familiar with the solving process, it will be easier to memorize the algorithms. Now just practice solving it without a guide in front of you.

And… you’re done! Yes, it’s that easy it’s just a little bit of time and practice.

Don’t believe me? Here’s Mike Boyd, someone who has a YouTube channel just about learning new skills. It took him 16 hours of practice over 23 days to get a 1 minute 30 second time. Since then he’s done 2x2s, 4x4s, 5x5s, and 3x3s blindfolded. He’s living, recorded proof of the simplicity of the learning process.

Next are the optional steps! What if you want to be a speedcuber?

Step 4: Practice

Get good at the beginner’s method first! I know people who have been sub-40 seconds with beginner’s. This will help you later on to maximize potential on better methods.

Step 5: Learn a better method

CFOP is the most common advanced method and you can learn it here.

And I recommend this site for algorithms for CFOP:

https://defhacks.github.io/badmephisto-mirror/pll.html

Step 6: Practice

Notice all of the steps that are just “practice.” That’s 90% of cubing. You don’t need to be smart or skilled to be good. Just dedicated enough to learn.

The best cubers got there from practice. If you want to learn as a bucket list item or party trick, that’s great! If you find yourself loving the community like me, you’ll blink and almost 7 years will go by. Before you know it you’ll be faster than you would have ever imagined. More importantly you will have challenged yourself to learn something new and became a part of an amazing community with amazing people.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ve learned something.

I have to level with you. I am running out of ideas.

Unfortunately there is only so much to nitpick about with the cubing community. It also makes it difficult that I limited myself to just understanding boundary issues. Lately my solutions have been increasingly one-sided. The past few topics have had really little to do with actions associated with the general public. It’s all cubers! This is the case again unfortunately.

So while there may not be much new territory to cover, I can always go back and look at some old topics in depth.

In “Don’t Become Your Cousin’s Grandpa,” I talked about solutions to the cuber geek stereotype. And earlier than that (back when my blog was just me discussing the problem, not the solution if you remember those days) I talked a lot about math in cubing.

These two ideas go hand in hand: A penchant for math is almost prepackaged into the geek stereotype. If you’ve missed my previous discussions of this topic here’s the synopsis:

You don’t have to be good at math to solve a Rubik’s cube. As it turns out the people who are more likely to try to solve what is advertised as an IQ toy as fast as they can also happen to be academically oriented (who woulda’ guess?!), and that’s where the stereotype comes from. It also comes from buzz words like “algorithm” that sound overly-complex even though they’re not. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the cube to explain math concepts like group theory, but it’s just not necessary like 10 years of chef training for making a cup of Ramen.

So let’s revisit the solution that I previously proposed.

“The best way to combat the anti-social geek stereotype is to provide evidence that suggests an opposite reality.”

Can this apply to the issue of non-cubers thinking that you have to be good at math for cubing? Not really.

I don’t know about you but if someone suggested I was good at something I wouldn’t make it my goal to prove them wrong.

While the idea of being good at math is rolled into the geek stereotype, it is not negative idea like the geek label is. Therefore the approach is different.

1. Take the frickin compliment
2. Provide new information rather than providing evidence against what they said.

For example, instead of saying,

“Actually I’m not good at math, I just failed my algebra test.”

just say,

“Thanks! Cubing has some really cool math applications, but you don’t need to learn any of that to solve one.”

So same topic, different solution. Inconvenient how that works, huh.

Life’s hard.

Fun fact, I’m not even top 13,000 in the world for 3×3 speedsolving. So yeah, I’m a big believer in the title.

Speedcubing is a large portion of the cubing community, but saying it is the cubing community is like saying Italian food is the only type of European cuisine. There’s a lot more out there to experience.

Not all cubers are speedcubers. As a YouCuber, sticker modder, and collector myself I should know. (If you’re not familiar with the above terms I recommend reading my previous blog about these terms!)

A previous blog entry that breaks down the various “factions” within the cubing community

Only discussing speedsolving when talking about cubing reflects an inaccurate image of the cubing community that leads to greater hesitation to join from those not interested in becoming fast.

What if you’re not interested in speed? What if you’re an antique toy collector or you really like to just solve complex puzzles?

Somebody like this who learns about the cubing community may easily be put off because it seems from the outside that speed is the only thing that matters. How can we fix this?

Cubers:

If someone shows interest in learning about the community, start by providing them with solving resources.

It’s easy to jump right to speedsolving, after all it is the thing that draws a crowd in the first place, and many people in that crowd typically ask questions centered around solving quickly.

But if you present information about cubing isolated from the specific goal of solving it quickly, you will do a better job of accurately portraying the scope of the community.

Some examples:

Q: “What’s your fastest time?”

A: “X is my fastest time, but it took me a while to get there. I started just solving for fun. There are some great resources on YouTube if it’s a skill you want to learn. A lot of people solve as fast as they can, but not everybody is concerned with speed in the community.”

Conclusion:

Note: There is no “general public/non-cuber” perspective here because there is nothing that can be done from the other side.

In order to accurately advertise cubing, you have to advertise all of cubing. Making sure to emphasize that speed is not everything is a healthy introduction that will help others get more into the hobby.

It’s an age old problem: for every good community there will be young participants who ruin it. In a young community like cubing, we have quite our fair share of younger cubers who are perceived by others as annoying and toxic to the culture of cubing.

While I could go on all day talking about how this notion is completely ridiculous and that young cubers should be accepted despite their flaws, that’s not what this blog is about.

*Phew* you were just saved from a huge lecture!

What this blog IS about, is understanding boundaries between cubing and the general public and how we can bridge the gap, so what gap exists as a result of “toxic cubers?”

Elitism.

An important distinction to make here is the 2 types of elitism present in competitive communities like cubing.

1. Elitism from highly competitive, cocky cubers
2. Perceived elitism from young cubers who yearn recognition.

We will be talking about the second one. There is no better place to find perceived elitism than YouTube. Go to any YouTube video of a celebrity solving a cube and you will find comments that all read about the same.

Do you see them? They boil down to, “I am faster than you.”

The unfortunate truth is that young cubers seeking recognition and acceptance for their skills come off as elitist, turning off the general public from the hobby.

What can we do to solve this?

Non-cubers:

Nothing. There is literally no role that you play in this. Perhaps maybe stay skeptical and keep in mind that comments like these are usually just young kids looking for attention. In fact on the Justin Bieber video one of the top comments is from one of my good friends. The comment is objectively obnoxious but guess what, she was 11!

Show me one 11 year old who isn’t an obnoxious attention seeker looking for recognition. Doesn’t exist.

Young cubers:

So you want to post on a YouTube video of a celebrity solving a cube. I get it. But please do it respectfully. Believe it or not there are good ways to accomplish this that will succeed in informing the non-cuber viewer. Try this:

“I love seeing famous people solving cubes! The Rubik’s cube community is fantastic, the Rubik’s cube is surprisingly easy to pick up and many cubers are speedsolvers who can solve the cube in under 10 seconds. My personal record is 11 seconds. I urge anyone who’s interested to give it a shot, cubing is full of great people!”

Recognition… check, advertising cubing… check, respectful… check.

Experienced cubers:

Please don’t make fun of these annoying comments. New flash: you were once an annoying kid too. A lot of these cubers are unaware the elitist message they’re sending. Maybe inform them respectfully that changing their tone may allow them to have better success in convincing people that cubing is great.

Conclusion:

I find myself repeating this a lot ever since I’ve since I’ve switched to discussing solutions to cubing problems: just be respectful. It’s not hard, the solution in the first place for young cubers is to be respectful. The solution for older cubers correcting them is to be respectful.

If everyone stops making fun of everyone else and instead provides constructive criticism we might be able to stop sending the message to the general public that cubing is full of cocky people who only care about how fast you can solve a plastic children’s toy.

I am going to give you 2 statements that are theoretically common in a hobby and you tell me which one sounds like a hobby you’d be more likely to get into:

A. Sometimes I get the nerves when I’m at an official event, so my times are                    better at home.

B. I average sub-20 and my PB is 16 but I’m inconsistent in comp so my PR ao5              is around 21.

B sounds intimidating, and also probably like some sort of code. As it turns out, B is something you may hear from a cuber. While A is that cuber saying the same thing… just to their parents.

In my blog post Personal Best and Jelly Sandwich I covered some basic cube talk, and when discussing solutions to bridging the understanding boundary in cubing we have to revisit these terms.

My 11/1/18 post about cubing jargon

All hobbies have specific jargon that strengthens the sense of community and makes talking more convenient between individuals with similar interests. As it turns out it has another consequence: It intimidates new comers and discourages them from getting involved in the community.

Cubing terms takes cubing and makes it sound complex and nerdy, something cubing as a hobby already suffers from image-wise. How can we solve the issue of complex cubing jargon discouraging new cubers from getting involved in the community?

Cubers:

Don’t change how you talk around non-cubers, but don’t be judgmental if they don’t understand something. Encouraging others to ask questions is a great way for others to get familiar with the terms used in the community, and correcting the incorrect usage of terms can be done respectfully to accomplish the same thing.

The goal is not to water-down the community or how we talk, it’s to make it easier for others to learn and get involved.

Non-cubers:

Cubers are passionate about their hobby, so don’t be intimidated if you don’t understand. Ask questions and you’ll learn pretty fast that things aren’t as complex as they seem. Let’s take a look at the sentence that we started with as an example!

You may ask, “what is a PB, PR, comp, sub-20, and ao5?”

A comp is a competition, where cubers go to record official results.

In a comp, cubers complete 5 solves and get an average as a result. This is known as an ao5 or average of 5.

sub-20 means under 20 seconds

A PR, or personal record, is a cubers best time or average in a competition.

A PB, or personal best, is that cuber’s best time or average that they’ve ever recorded in or out of a competition.

Now read that sentence back: I average sub-20 and my PB is 16 but I’m inconsistent in comp so my PR ao5 is around 21.

Not so bad now is it? All this is saying is that someone averages under 20 seconds with a best of 16, but they get nervous in official competitions so they average 21 seconds there.

Conclusion:

Nothing about cubing jargon is particularly difficult. Like any other hobby it consists mostly of short phrases or acronyms that really amount to vocab words. Though it maybe seem like a lot to learn, if cubers are open to answering questions there is no reason that someone outside the community should be intimidated by the use of some vocab words.

It is a fact that not many people out there are making money off of cubing, yet despite its other merits the hobby gets a bad rep in the general public for being unproductive.

Now in previous posts I have discussed possible solutions for how to dispel the misconceptions associated with cubers, like how cubers have to be smart or how we’re socially inept. It is definitely true that a large part of the whole “cubing isn’t a productive hobby” misconception has to due with these ideas, but since I have previously covered them I’m not going to be talking about that.

Rather, how can we solve the issue of parents not being supportive of their child’s pursuit of cubing?

This is a real issue in the community. After all, most cubers are on the younger side. It would be a scary site if one day we just have 13 year-olds, Rubik’s cube in hand, barreling down I-95 towards cubing competitions.

Just replace the lollipop with a Rubik’s cube.

Young cubers need parents. They need them to drive them to competitions to be active members of the community, they need their credit cards to buy cubes, and most importantly, they need their support in order to be able to practice in the first place.

So what can we do about this?

Cubers:

If you are a young cuber without the support of your parents, show them what they want to see. Growing up, my mom was always concerned with how much social time I was getting in. When I was younger a huge reason my parents drove me to competitions was the social aspect of cubing.

Actively advertise your friends. I have been to 3 US nationals (it’ll be 4 plus my first Worlds after this summer) and I have met countless people from all over the nation. If you’ve had the privilege of going to a nationals, name drop some one from a  different state to your parents. That will certainly impress them.

Maybe your parents value skills and academics. Show them how your improving your speed when solving. Show steady success at the competitions you go to. Show them that it is worth it for them to continue to allow you to hone your skills so that you can use those skills for applications for university or jobs later in life. I got into college because of an essay about cubing. I have a friend that got into Princeton from an essay on cubing. I know people who have gotten jobs because of cubing on their resumes. This is a real thing. I’d recommend checking out a seminar on writing cubing essays for college by Daniel Goodman.

If college is way in the future for you, maybe take advantage of your cubing skills in school now. Do projects on cubing. If your parents start to see A+s because of your knowledge of your hobby, they will enable your hobby.

Parents:

In general it’s a bit of a cop out to say “be a good parent.” Is there a such thing as spending too much time and money on hobbies like cubing? Yes. And it is definitely likely that at some point you will have to tell your son or daughter “no,” to a cube or competition they want to buy/go to. But it’s also your job to determine this from an educated perspective. Don’t just drop off your kids at competitions and sit in the corner. There is a community of cubing parents; some of the even start solving cubes themselves.

Join Cubing Moms and Dads on Facebook and learn about the community. Be involved in the speed solving success of your child by learning what it is that they’re doing and they, seeing your approval, will continue to delve deeper into the community. What starts off as solving a puzzle quickly becomes something to make lifelong friendships and open up real opportunities.

Most importantly, and I hopefully really don’t have to say this, if your child likes a hobby, support their interests.

Conclusion:

There is a large minority of parents that exist that don’t think cubing is a productive way to spend time. Cubing, in most cases, is a productive hobby. It is the job of a parent to learn about the community in order to support their child’s interests and learn when it it is appropriate to say “no,” and it is the job of the cuber to push their family members to recognize cubing’s benefits.

The bane of a cuber’s existence. The local news.

How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube in 9 Seconds! (a horribly inaccurate title as I can guarantee that there is no tutorial involved here) by Breakfast Television Vancouver

Nothing spreads misinformation about cubing more than false or inaccurate reporting on the hobby. As previously mentioned on this blog, news stories all too often portray cubing as an intelligence test. This severely discourages participation in the hobby. Not to mention that most reporters tend to not do there jobs and mess up basic cubing facts like world record times or cube types.

So I’ve driven the fact that cubing in media is toxic into the ground by now. We know it contributes to the misunderstanding of cubing. How do we solve it?

Cubers:

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are being interviewed by the press, find a balance between being over-complicated and being patronizing. Of course answer the questions you are being asked, but make sure to elaborate further to provide clarity when necessary. Don’t go too far though, there’s no better way to reinforce inaccurate misconceptions of “intellectually elite” cubers like talking to them like they’re brain dead.

An example!

Q: So what’s the trick to solving the Rubik’s cube?

A (too elitist and/or patronizing): There’s no trick. Toddlers have learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube, just look it up online and memorize the algorithms for beginner’s method.

A (too complicated): I use a speed solving method called CFOP. I solve a cross, then do 3 steps called F2L, OLL, and PLL. From there it’s just a lot of practice to learn how to look ahead, recognize cases, and optimize finger tricks.

A (juuuuust right): Actually, I’d say that it’s a misconception that there is a trick to the Rubik’s cube. Just like any other skill it involves a lot a practice to get to the speed of the best speed solvers. But if you’re just looking to solve it regardless of speed, I’d say that you should start looking at the cube as 3 layers and not 6 sides. Solve it a layer at a time! There are plenty of tutorials online to help, that’s where all speed cubers start.

If you don’t go too in depth and don’t get too frustrated, answering these questions accurately can help build understanding of cubing!

Non-cubers:

This will be short. There isn’t much you can do when misinformation is presented to you as fact. My advice would be, generally, to stay skeptical and if your curious about a topic seek out a real cuber online. A great place to start is reddit, where communities are neatly organized with relevant posts easily accessible.

The media:

Do. Your. Job.

Please, please, please actually speak to a cuber. Don’t just do online research. Don’t just ask 3 questions and call it a day. A journalist learns about a community in order to “translate” that community to those outside of it. Learning about a community requires a genuine dialogue with multiple members of that community. Drop the whole interview/interviewee dynamic and ask because you’re curious. This is easily the best way learn about someone genuinely.

Watch how the experts do it!

Conclusion:

While the burden should fall on the journalist it ends up falling on the cubers while the non-cubers are the innocent bystanders. Here’s the good news: the more that cubers put in the effort to do a good job with interviews, the more good examples of cubing media will be available, and the more accurate article we will begin to see.

We can only hope!

Before I could make this blog post I had to google “what is my cousin’s grandpa in relation to me?” Fun fact, your cousin’s set of grandparents that are not your own are not related to you!

Anyway, I guess you could say that I am relived that I am not related to my cousin’s grandpa, because upon seeing him for the first time in a year he made a comment behind my back about my hobby. Upon seeing a cube in my hand, my sister informed me that he said something along the lines of, “Is he still doing that nerdy thing? Reminds me of Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory.”

Sheldon Cooper The Big Bang Theory

I can confirm that this was not intended as a compliment, nor did I receive it as one.

Sheldon Cooper is an unrealistic, socially incapable, geeky stereotype that cubers are all too often compared to.

So how should we go about dispelling the “cuber geek” stereotype?

Obviously overcoming this stereotype could help eliminate some hesitancy associated with getting into cubing for some non-cubers. This could do wonders to help minimize the understanding gap!

Cubers:

Stereotypes exist because of a lack of understanding. The most important thing to do when approaching someone with this type of belief is to not get angry or serious. Often times you just won’t be able to change these people’s minds, and that’s ok. The goal here is to inform the ones who are willing to listen.

The best way to combat the anti-social geek stereotype is to provide evidence that suggests an opposite reality. Tell them about the competitiveness of the sport, or your experiences meeting people in competitions. Introduce these people to the idea that maybe they don’t have the full story so they’ll be less quick to judge next time.

Non-cubers (but really everyone, this is not just about cubing):

Obviously it’s not very helpful to generally suggest being “open-minded” because honestly, what does that even mean.  I can say this: the more I’ve thought about the misjudgment of cubing, the more I have recognized that I do the same thing to other hobbies as well.

Be self-aware more than anything else. You don’t have to automatically think every hobby is great, but the next time you do think,”That’s weird, why would you waste your time with that?” ask yourself why you just thought that. Recognizing your lack of understanding will push you to learn more about that hobby so you can either confirm or refute your initial thought.

Conclusion:

You won’t change the mind of your cousin’s grandpa, but you can avoid becoming him. Recognize your dismissal of other people’s hobbies and vie to learn more about why those people do what they do.

When you discard initial uneducated judgments you can eliminate stereotypes that cause the understanding boundaries that we see in hobbies like cubing.

There’s a reason you don’t really see Rubik’s Cubes all that much anymore. Despite cubing’s increased popularity, cubers prefer to keep their hobby behind closed doors. What does this mean for the hobby as a whole?

Do you know how to navigate around the streets of Barrow, Alaska without a GPS?

Barrow, Alaska

I’m at least 90% sure the answer is no for everybody reading this blog. Why?

Easy, you’ve never been to Barrow, Alaska!

We don’t understand something if we’re not exposed to it.

And the same concept applies to cubing. So with that said, what do I think is a possible solution to the issue of the lack of understanding of cubing with relation to cubing in public?

The Solution

Cubers: Cube in public more!!! I bet you didn’t see that coming, huh.

People purposefully avoid cubing in public for different reasons:

1. It’s awkward to them
2. They don’t like to be stared at
3. They hate having to answer questions
4. They feel like they’re coming off as just showing off

I don’t really have anything regarding 1, 2, and 4. If you really can’t get over those feelings, then you shouldn’t have to force yourself. But #3 is why I’m bringing this topic up in the first place.

Imagine cubing in public BECAUSE you want people to ask you questions. Taking it down a notch, what if you just were prepared to start a conversation with anyone you inquires about your hobby?

I will tell you what will start to happen if you’re willing and open to questions: We will start building understanding towards our hobby. We have to stop waiting for people to go to Barrow, Alaska and then wondering why they don’t understand Barrow. Let’s bring the Alaska to them!

The hesitancy cubers have towards cubing in public is limiting the exposure of the hobby to the general public, minimizing understanding of the hobby.

General public:

As far as the general public goes with this one, it’s not too hard of a job compared to forcing yourself into public situations.

Be curious.

If you see them out and about with a Rubik’s cube and you really are curious about what it is that they are doing or you just have general questions, you are not bothering cubers by asking.

Asking questions is a beneficial sign that people are genuinely interested in learning more about cubing, and will go a long way in bridging the gap in understanding that currently exists.

Conclusion:

So cubers, do be afraid to bring your cubes out. And everyone else, don’t be afraid to bring your questions out. If we eliminate the hesitations involved on both sides we may be surprised about how much we each learn and how much the hobby benefits as a whole.

In this blog’s very first post, Navigating Understanding Boundaries in Cubing, I clearly stated:

POP Culture is about the exploration of the understanding barrier, it is not about the solution to the understanding barrier.

Let’s ignore everything I said I wouldn’t do shall we!

POP Culture is a changed blog. If you’ve read of my past entries I am confident that you have at least a basic grasp of the understanding boundary between cubers and the general public. I’m sick of complaining about the problem!

From now on POP Culture will be diving into potential solutions to the aforementioned problem, with analysis of the merits and pitfalls certain approaches.

As with the former portion of this blog, the goal will still be to produce content that is…

1. Understandable and interesting to the general public

while…

2. Making the information presented engaging to an audience of cubers.

In fact this focus will be vital, as in attempting to create understanding between cubers and non-cubers we need both groups to be reading the same information. In this way, most topics discussed will be approached from both cuber’s and the public’s perspective.

Just to set your expectations let’s look at a tiny portion of a topic for practice.

The misconception that you have to be smart to solve a Rubik’s Cube:

Public:

If there’s one thing that a makes a cuber feel awkward it’s telling them they must be really smart. Cubers don’t know how to respond to that because it’s not true.

For this situation correlation does not equal causation. The reason why the trend may seem to exist is that academically oriented kids are more likely to be enticed by what is marketed (incorrectly) as an IQ toy in the first place. Basically, nerds happen to like Rubik’s cubes, not only nerds can solve Rubik’s cubes.

Stock photos can demonstrate just about any misconception.

Of course it’s completely fine to compliment them on their talent of course, here are some better ways:

• You’re fast
• That must have taken some practice
• That’s interesting

You get the idea. Cubers take pride in skill or practice more than intelligence.

Cubers:

If someone tells you, “wow you’re really smart,” make sure that you respond in a gracious, encouraging way. The goal is to stop misconceptions and get more people into the hobby. Always thank the person, they are complimenting you after all. Sometimes it can end here. You don’t always have to teach a lesson, you can just take the compliment and move on.

If you do have something to say, don’t make the other person feel dumb by going over the top. Don’t say, “you don’t have to be smart, a toddler can do it,” or something that makes the other person feel like they are dumber than a toddler (even if that’s not your intent that’s how it comes off).

Make sure to acknowledge the misconception first so the other person has a frame of reference. You can try phrases like:

• Actually you’d be surprised…
• It’s a misconception that it’s an IQ test…

Then encourage them! If they were so interested in seeing you solve they may be interested in learning themselves. I like giving people a frame of reference, telling them if they can memorize the alphabet (which is encouraging because they already have!) they can memorize how to solve a cube in a week. They may be more inclined to try now that they know the truth.

Conclusion:

If the public knows that cubing doesn’t have to do with intelligence it would be possible for them to connect and talk to cubers, and if cubers knew how to correctly respond to this statement they could help get more people at least interested in trying to learn a new skill. As far as feasibility goes, this fix is easy if we spread this knowledge!