From cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Thu Jun 26 15:40:18 1997 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Received: from oolong.camellia.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oolong.camellia.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id PAA06801; Thu, 26 Jun 1997 15:40:17 -0400 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 07:44:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Nicholas Bodley To: David Singmaster Computing & Maths South Bank Univ cc: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu, notation@vax.sbu.ac.uk, for@vax.sbu.ac.uk, 4^3@vax.sbu.ac.uk, and@vax.sbu.ac.uk, 5^3@vax.sbu.ac.uk Subject: Hidden cubies; Spaceball In-Reply-To: <009B653D.9EE57540.331@vax.sbu.ac.uk> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reading David Singmaster's recent posts, it seems almost obvious to me that (for the ambitious, which I'm definitely not!), computer simulations that are unhindered by real-world mechanical constraints and opacity can permit manipulation of the normally-hidden (and physically-nonexistent) internal cubies. It's very likely that a new collection of maneuvers would need to be developed for this. I haven't thought much about coloring the internal faces of the outer cubies... Incidentally, if this weren't the cube-lovers' List, I would have split that first sentence into a few shorter ones. Sorry if "cubie" is not the most-preferred term; should be no great problem. On another topic, it seems to me that an ideal device for controlling a computer-simulated Cube (or other similar puzzle) would be the Spaceball, a ball that you can grip. It senses torque around all three mutually- orthogonal axes, as well as "translational" force along those axes. It's not a consumer item; not sure it's still being made. I'm reasonably sure of the tradename. It was/is used with workstations. "Spaceball" sounds much like the name of a puzzle. (I expect some astute reader to tell me that the MIT Media Lab did just this thing 5 years ago!) My best to all, |* Nicholas Bodley *|* Electronic Technician {*} Autodidact & Polymath |* Waltham, Mass. *|* ----------------------------------------------- |* nbodley@tiac.net *|* When the year 2000 begins, we'll celebrate |* Amateur musician *|* the 2000th anniversary of the year 1 B.C.E. --------------------------------------------------------------------------