helpmechris.com » Mind Power

Quantum Physics Made Relatively Simple

Chris Brown — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:59:53 +0000

Lectures on quantum theory by Hans Bethe. At age 93 he did a series of lectures for his neighbors at the retirement community. For once you can hear from physics expert without having to decode (as much) to layman terms.

Here’s the link:
Personal and Historical Perspectives of Hans Bethe.

Speed Cubing F2L Practice

Chris Brown — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:15:32 +0000

I haven’t done “f2l only” averages but my cube times are dropping and it’s because my cross / f2l times are dropping.

When I switched to cross on bottom / f2l on bottom of the Rubik’s cube it was like I had to translate every move as I solved. I used to do Cross on top / f2l on left.

Anyway… I practice f2l slow a lot. I’m getting better at using d (little D, bottom 2 layers) turns instead of cube rotations when possible.

My cross time is definitely getting faster but it was decent already.

I gave each f2l pair a name and though of some key things that it’s color reminds me of… this made it a lot easier to see them around the cube as I insert each other pair. Great look ahead trick and it’s also helping to lock in unconscious competence of the order of colors (like what’s left and right of what). I wrote about this on my cube site.

Anyway… just thought I’d drop a quick F2l Update.

Memorizing PLL algs, F2L on Bottom, Cross on bottom

Chris Brown — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:35:16 +0000

OK, so as soon as I got Â the 2 look permute last layer down I continued on to learning the rest of the PLL algorithms.

I took about 2 weeks to really know them all and now I’m still getting faster at recognition and execution. Here and there I mess up and have to start over on the LL… it’s becoming less and less… I’m starting to feel them. Â I’ve also been gaining skill with cross on bottom and F2L on bottom.

For PLL I memorized badmephisto’s (they guy with the youtube videos) algorithms from his web site. I also watched his tips videos and found them helpful for learning recognition. Also, check out his pll trainer… it’s a nice way to findÂ your weaknesses on the pll step.

If you read my previous posts you know that I switched to cross on bottom about a month and a half ago. This was an easy switch… my cross skills were already bad so they didn’t get any worse. Now I’m happy to report that I can almost always identify the cross solve during the 15 second inspection time. Rarely does the timer start with me still contemplating the cross solve. I’m even getting to a point where I’m looking for corner edge pairs before the timer “dings”.

I also switched to F2L on bottom. This was much tougher than I expected. I’ve been doing F2L on the left for years now so switching to f2l on bottom has a big learning curve. After a month or so of this I’m getting where the little tricks and shortcuts that I knew on the left are starting to feel natural with cross on bottom. Cube rotations still feel clunky. I believe that the cross on left grip is more natural for cube rotations. However, with cross on bottom it’s eaiser to pair and insert without rotating the cube when I would have before. I’m still not as fast as I was with F2L on left but I can see and feel how F2l on bottom will enable me to gain more speed than I had before.

Anyway here is today’s average. I post this mainly so I can come back later and compare but if it helps you or makes you feel good then awesome.

Average: ……..00:55.35
Best: …………..00:46.42
Avg. 5:………..00:54.78
Avg. 10:………00:55.08
3 of 5:………….00:55.20
10 of 12:………00:55.59

Rubik’s Cube Updates

Chris Brown — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:23:01 +0000

Hey speedcubers. I’m getting pretty fast at the 4 look LL algs that I’ve been learning this month. My completion times are beginning to drop below what I was averaging before I altered my method.

Also, even though I haven’t taken any averages I can tell that my cross and f2l times are going lower… I’m getting down close to 30 seconds for cross + first two layers of the rubik’s cube. That’s not fast enough… After another week or two I will start focusing on f2l and taking averages. I also take notes as I cube so that I can track my set-backs and work on the things that slow me down.

I also ordered a DIYCUBE type A 1 and a type A 2. They say that the type A 1 is the best of the best… I’ll know soon enough. I’m excited about receiving my diycube but it takes forever to ship from china unless you pay twice the price of the cubes for shipping… not me… so I’m waiting. I’ll write an update about my type A diycube when they arrive.

Anyway, here are the results from today’s average.

Average: 00:52.82
Best: 00:41.98
Avg. 5: 00:52.78
Avg. 10: 00:52.07
3 of 5: 00:51.71
10 of 12: 00:53.09

Cube Averages (2-19-2009)

Chris Brown — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:42:38 +0000

After adjusting my 3×3 Rubik’s Cube method I’m starting to get below 1 minute again. I’ve switched my last layer method to a 4 look LL that can be taken all the way to a 2 look Fridrich LL.

I used to do it like this: orient edges, permute corners, orient corners, permute edges. This was good but didn’t work for building up to a full Fridrich Last layer. I’m still a little bit clumsy on the corner orientation algorithms but I’m getting smoother.

Really I’m rusty at f2l too… having to think a little more than I should. When you have to watch the algorithm it makes it hard to look ahead. I could probably get back down to the 40s if I’d just work on f2l for a week but I decided to go ahead and learn new LL algs first so that I would be practicing them as I worked on f2l.

Anyway, here are today’s averages:

Average: 01:00.46
Best: 00:48.52
Avg. 5: 01:03.35
Avg. 10: 00:59.58
3 of 5: 01:00.90
10 of 12: 00:59.37

Still Cubing… Averages and What I’m up to

Chris Brown — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:55:26 +0000

I picked my cube up again a few weeks ago… I have been completing it a couple of times a month since I started but I haven’t cubed to build skill in years… I think I stopped around 2003… You’ll have to dig through the old blog entries to find out for sure.

I’ve been working on my f2l algs… working on the ones where I still have to think about what I’m doing and working out finger movements for the ones that I know subconsciosly.

I use a hybrid of dan knights’ and lars petrus’ method for LL… I need to start learning the Fridrich algs huh?

I’m going to add a cube page… I had one on fidosrevenge.com so maybe I can resurrect some of the info.

I took my average a little while ago… here are the results..

Average: 01:06.51
Best: 00:59.53
Avg. 5: 01:05.34
Avg. 10: 01:06.21
3 of 5: 01:03.88
10 of 12: 01:05.00

I mainly post these so I can come back and see them later. If they somehow help you then awesome.

TTYL

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and we…

Chris Brown — Tue, 29 Apr 2003 02:50:00 +0000

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true.
-Buddha

This and that they say. Appearently the myriad ide…

Chris Brown — Tue, 25 Mar 2003 19:33:00 +0000

This and that they say. Appearently the myriad ideas are nettlesome.

- Birdsnake

The Crazy World….very strange time to live in th…

Chris Brown — Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:15:00 +0000

The Crazy World….very strange time to live in this world, it is. As it all comes together we can watch a vague display of events that will form our views of time and life. While no one knows what may unfold, it is easily understood that the change will be vast. New light has been shed on other aspects of life while the mainstream viewings continue to engulf the minds of many. With my mind open and eyes closed, ears looking out over the endless space of time, I can see that the susurrus that may be pugnacious like not before will have at least some emoluments. G’day friends.

-Birdsnake

disinformation

Chris Brown — Sat, 13 Jul 2002 04:36:00 +0000

disinformation

Don’t forget about MIT OpenCourseWare. It’s comming…

Chris Brown — Mon, 08 Apr 2002 15:47:00 +0000

Dont forget about MIT OpenCourseWare. It’s comming this fall!
Ever wonder how to surf anonymously? I’ve got some tips….

“Browse with a secure anonymous connection…it can’t hurt.”

-unknown
I’ve always had these concerns and have put alot of research into staying
secure and private for free. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

——————————

SECURITY TESTS:

You should use the following links to test your connection before you
use any of the services below. Pay attention and write down your IP adress,
it will be a set of numbers and look something like “11.22.11.113″.
Once you know have written down your IP adress you will be able to tell
when you have covered your tracks because the test sites will see a different
address.

Your IP Address

Shields UP!

privacy.net/analyze

PROXY SURFING:

Proxy surfing or proxy browsing is when you connect to a site through another
computer on the internet. Look at this like using someone elses car so that
no one catches your license plate. This causes the website you are viewing to
see an IP address that is not actually yours. IP adresses are unique numbers
linked to nearly every internet connection, they usually look something like
“111.22.111.1″.

A few free proxy browsing services:

I Like Megaproxy becuase it uses e-commerce grade SSL Encryption…this means
that the data you transfer is unreadable to anyone between you and the site.

Try connecting from one to the other for an even more secure experiece.

MANUAL PROXIES:You may have seen the proxy settings in your internet options….this
is where you could put in the adress of a proxy server if you wanted to
go this route. There are lists of anonymous proxy servers all over the
net, but I dont reccomend them and here is why: You have no idea who owns
these servers or what activity they track. It is sometimes Illegal to
use these servers when they have been accessed without the owners authority.

OTHER SERVICES AND SOFTWARE:JAP
Anonymity Tool – It’s a little complicated to set up, and their services
are down sometimes. Offers an extremely anonymous connection…definately
worth the trouble.

FREE
ZoneAlarm – This program is easy to install and will let you verify
each connection your computer makes to the internet and set up premissions
for programs to access the internet.

Cookie
Cooker- Use this software to prevent sites from tracking you by leaving
cookies (small files store information) on your computer.

– A utility to remove any programs that might be spying on your computer usage.
Spyware is embeded into many freeware and even some of the larger commercial
software packages.> Internet_Sweeper
- Use this to erase information that is stored in Windows and your browser
that refers to your computer or internet usage.

My Setup For sufing safely:

ZoneAlarm to monitor connections

Opera Browser with all java and history turned off

Opera set to delete the cache files every time it quits
Opera set to ask me before accepting ANY cookies…i usually DONT accept
them

JAP set up as a manual proxy for Opera

Proxy Surfing through Megaproxy and At LEAST one other http proxy site

Ad-Aware runs everytime my computer starts up to prevent spyware