Rubik's Cube Record Broken
martinX writes "The Courier Mail has a story about a San Fran software developer who spins the cube faster than anyone else on the planet: 20 seconds to solve Rubik's Cube. I didn't think anyone still played with them." The winner, Dan Knights, said "It's sort of a dream come true", and credited Jessica Fridrich's cube-solving method as the key to winning, leaving the originator of the method in second place at the World Rubik's Cube Championships in Toronto at the weekend.
http://jpbrown.i8.com/cubesolver.html
I know a guy who can solve them in under 3 minutes. He memorized all the algorithms and so on. Fascinating concept. I never knew they were actually solvable until I met him. A lot of people joke that "oh gimme a screwdriver and I'll solve it" but when you break it down step by step, they actually do have a simple set of steps that can be taken to solve them, like any other logic problem. Although he did tell me that they can be taken apart and rearranged in such a way that they CAN be made unsolvable. He told me "never try to solve a cube until you've seen it solved. You never know what kinds of assholes will stack the deck on you to make you look stupid."
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!