Rubik

One of these days I will have a normal day, when I get around to writing long (hopefully) eloquant pieces. That just won’t be today because I have jobs to do. Not the awful jobs of the last few days but a quite decent job. Specsavers are coming to give my Mum an eye test, the first in a long time since her last was cancelled by the lockdown.

I thought I’d give you a treat today and point you in the direction of this must-see video on Twitter. Jimmy Birkby pretty much sums up everything I try to say but by saying the exact opposite. Today, I intended to write about perceptions of science but perhaps this does the job almost as well. St Helens has now moved up to the 10th most infected local authority in the country and my town is mainly the reason, being the most infected of the area. Three local places have apparently shut down for a “deep clean” and are blamed for the sudden rise. Two are restaurants. The third is Wetherspoons.

Until later… Enjoy.

2 thoughts on “Rubik”

  1. There is a simple formula for working out at what age a person will complete a Rubik’s cube.

    It is as follows:

    a + 0 = r

    where a is the age (in years) that someone is given a Rubik’s cube
    where r is the age (in years) that the same person manages to solve a Rubik’s cube.

    So for instance is you happen to be 5 years old when given a Rubik’s cube, the age at which you will manage to complete a Rubik’s cube will be 5. Obviously this formula assumes no one is giving a Rubik’s cube to toddlers due to the choking risk.

    I completed a Rubik’s cube aged 10, so presumably would take on the status of demigod around those parts.

    The map of covid cases is quite interesting. London apart, it could be an electoral map of Labour seats and I wonder if that will have any significance going forward.

    1. That’s probably spot on. I might have completed one in my youth but never had the “system” that a few friends learned. They could do them in seconds. I preferred Rubik’s other puzzles, which were less difficult but (I thought) a bit more aesthetic. I loved Rubik’s Magic and Snake, iirc. There might also have been on involving a clock.

      From what little I know about the cube, they’re relatively stragithforward and it’s more of a mechanical skill once you know the moves. Always seem an interesting but niche subculture, especially when you get into high level competition. Almost as much about physical dexterity, I guess. Netflix might have a documentary about them.

      Yes, the map is interesting, though not sure why Tyneside are getting the lockdown when their numbers are the same as ours (probably lower since our town is the place pushing up St Helen’s numbers). There’s a huge educational component to this, I’m sure. I’m been hammering on about this town ignoring every rule/requirement since March. The guy in the video reminds me of so many locals I’ve known. The kind of blokes you find amusing in normal life but scare the crap out of you in an emergency.

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Why Dunciad.com?

It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?

Really?

Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.

So this is satire, right?

Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.