However, being charitable. There's an excellent app for the iPhone / iPad which...

Ah, maybe not.

Not sure. Just bought a rose and stood there for a while. Someone turned up eventually.

Haha. I meant I've never picked a girlfriend up from the airport before. My current girlfriend was the first one I've picked up from the airport.

Where did you get her delivered from?

Was it from a website somewhere?

Oh, OK then.

There are two main ways of doing it (as well as peeling the stickers off and putting them back on again in the right order).

The first is Speed Solving. Current world record at 5.something seconds. Mental. I haven't even explored how that's done. (Perhaps I'm doing myself a disservice, but I don't think so.)

The second is similar to how you eat an elephant: one slice at a time.

Basics: The only fixed pieces are the centre pieces (ie those on the centre of each face). They are fixed in relation to their opposite centre pieces. All other pieces move. Always keep the cube orientated the same way (ie top is always top, bottom always bottom, although after solving the first face—which you should have as top initially—turn the cube upside-down so that the first solved face is the bottom). You need to have a system for naming each face; most systems use U (Upper), D (Down, or bottom), F (Front), L (Left), R (Right) and B (Back—not to be confused with bottom).

There is an algorithm (or several) to move each piece into its proper place. There is also a sequence for which pieces and faces you solve (there are several solution methods, with some variation of sequences but, as far as I'm aware, they're all largely similar).

First, select a face to solve (initially this will be Upper face). The first step in that is to create a cross on that face, with each arm of the cross (the "edge pieces") being orientated correctly in relation to the centre pieces of the adjacent four sides (the fifth side is opposite, current D). Then move the corner pieces of that face into their correct positions. You'll have one layer solved. Now turn the cube upside-down.

Then move the edge pieces of the middle layer into their correct positions. That will give you the bottom two layers complete.

Then get a cross on the U face. Then get all the U face correct (although edge and corner pieces probably won't be correctly orientated).

Then get the U corner pieces correctly placed (ie in relation to the centre pieces of the adjacent sides).

Finally correctly move (if necessary) the edge pieces of the U face.

See, simple.

The sequence as above is straightforward and easy to learn. The algorithms aren't so bad, but it does depend how your mind works. My two teenage sons don't need mnemonics to remember the individual steps (they also use a slightly simpler set of steps, but I'd already learnt mine by the time they learned and was buggered if I was going to re-learn), but I do. So, for all bar the simplest algorithms, I had to develop my own mnemonics. For example, one of the sets of steps is:
URU1R1U1F1UF

All moves are ¼ turn, either clockwise or counter-clockwise as if you are looking straight at that face. The face letter (eg U) on its own is for a cw ¼ rotation of that face, the face letter plus "1" (eg F1) is for a ccw ¼ rotation.

So URU1R1U1F1UF is:
U face ¼ turn cw
R face ¼ turn cw
U face ¼ turn ccw
R face ¼ turn ccw
and so on…

I need to assign a mnemonic to that: You Are Not WiFi Not.
I've set Not as a negative / opposite to the preceding move, hence You Are Not = URU1R1.
I've also decided that W is the same as U (it gives a broader scope for creating mnemonics, and I don't confuse it with the other face designations), and, eg, Fi = F1 (they look much the same) So, WiFi = W1F1, and, as before, Not is the negative / opposite of W1F1, ie WF.

My main difficulty when trying to solve the cube after a week or so of no practice is which sequence to do at which step. I only master this by practice. As with juggling, trying it when you're pissed isn't wise.

There are quite a few solution guides out there on the net, but for the iPhone and iPad I like Rubik's Cube by Senygma.

You edited that post???? How the hell did you know you needed to???

I missed an italic.

Last Tuesday - got an Oman Driving Licence - big sigh

Now have the undiluted pleasure of returning to Dubai to export the car to MCT in a couple of weeks' time. Will add to this post when (in sh'Allah) it is all done.

Have read as many threads on this on several forums as we can find and not one gives the same info - should be fun.

Last night, I deliberately ran a red light.

Welcome to driving in Johannesburg.

A guy owed me a lot of money- I forgave the debt at his daughters funeral a few weeks ago. She got a blood clot after a minor surgery and died. Really sad



First time I ever forgave a debt

More fool you.

Her life insurance policy would have provided enough to repay you............

Nice timing. Shove more emotion into an emotionally-charged event.

This reminds me of dad lending an Emirati colleague what was a considerable sum of money, in very early 80s.

Dad felt embrassed asking for it plus there was always the thought in the back of his mind that the Emirati could pull wasta and try and screw dad over because he asked for the money. Anways the collegue ended up passing away few years later , so dad was even more embrassed to broach the subject with his widow.


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As far as doing something new.....
I jumped in the pool yesterday with a USB pen drive. Now I need a new pen drive but fortunately the data was also stored on my laptop.

I learnt how to make soup a few days ago (potato, broccoli and cauliflower)