Date: 17 JUL 1980 1114-EDT
From: ACW at MIT-MC (Allan C. Wechsler)
Subject:  Short Introductory Speech
To: CUBE-LOVERS at MIT-MC


Nobody else has made this kind of flame yet, so I
guess I will.

Welcome to CUBE-LOVERS.  We are devotees of a certain
mathematical puzzle variously called the Hungarian
Cube, the Magic Cube, and Rubik's Cube.  It is a hard
puzzle.  Very intelligent people often take weeks to
learn to solve it.  Once they have learned, though, they
can solve it in a few minutes.

The puzzle embodies mathematical sophistication and
mechanical ingenuity in a pleasing and intriguing
synthesis.  I have forgotten the Hungarian inventor's
name, but we should learn it: this person deserves
our profound respect.

For those who have not yet become Cube Solvers: you
can only solve the Cube for the first time ONCE.  After
that, although there are a lot of problems to think
about, the initial challenge is gone.  So, in the words
of Mr. Duffey:  SPOILER WARNING!  SPOILER WARNING!
Messages to this list will often deal with particular
solution techniques.  If you haven't solved the cube yet,
and want to do it on your own, reading these messages
may ruin your fun.

If there is any demand, I am willing to hack up a short
introduction to Group Theory for Cubans.  Group Theory
gives us a mathematical language for talking about the
cube.

Also, if anyone out there knows Hungarian, there are some
pamphlets we need to translate.  Cubans should inform
everyone on the list of any written material they know of,
so that we can compile a bibliography.

Happy cubing,

  ---Wechsler