Date: 12 Feb 1981 0816-PST Sender: OLE at DARCOM-KA Subject: The England Scene From: Ole at DARCOM-KA (Ole J. Jacobsen) To: Cube-Lovers at MIT-MC Message-ID: <[DARCOM-KA]12-Feb-81 08:16:37.OLE> Yes, cubes are indeed very big here in England due mostly to the fact that they have been featured on television several times recently. About 3 weeks ago a kid solved a cube in 37 secs on the Saturday mor- ning BBC1 show "Multicoloured Swap Shop" (very appropriate name). In a follow up a group of people challenged him, but "only" managed it in 57 secs. Nothing was however said about local maxima etc, so it wasn't a very scientific exercise. The recordholder's solution se- quence was shown in slow motion (his hands still seemed to move very fast) and as far as I could determine he uses Kertezs's Algorithm, i.e layer-by-layer, but with some clever shortcuts rather than just using the macros blindly. At the moment cubes are impossible to get but we are hoping for a new shipment to arrive soon. A cube club will probably be formed here at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne and I would be surprised if other universities won't be doing the same. By the way, has anyone ever tried turning cube when the temperature is 5-6 degrees C? I have, because that is the temperature my room is at when I come home at night. English houses are VERY cold. Ole