Rubik’s Cube = Six Faces of Frustration

 August 28, 2006

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

The continuing theme for this month is any item that deals with puzzles, and the “Rubik’s Cube” was by far the most famous and successful puzzle ever marketed.  The fascination of the cube made it’s Hungarian inventor, Erno Rubik, the first self-made millionaire in a Communist country. 

In addition, a 12-year old British youngster made a much smaller fortune in 1981 just by publishing a  small book explaining his unique solution, which printed 17 editions and sold an astounding 1.5+ million copies.

The term “Rubik’s Cube” was first used in May 1980, but the actual 3×3x3 cube was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974 under the name “Magic Cube.” In 1975 Rubik requested and received a patent in his home country of Hungary, but he failed to follow-up with an international patent, which set off a mad scramble for ownership of the manufacturing rights around the world.

All of this fighting delayed production and created a huge pent-up demand for the toy.  This mechanical puzzle was named Toy of the Year for two straight years (1980 & 1981) when world-wide production became available.  Total sales skyrocketed; in fact, an amazing 100+ million 3×3x3 cubes were sold between 1980 and 1982 alone. 

By researching this clever and most unique term, I learned several interesting facts besides the astounding sales volume.  For instance, I learned that true speed manipulators could “solve” the 3×3x3 puzzle in less than 15 seconds.  To tell you the truth, it simply frustrated the heck out of me.

Please read the attached pdf posting.  I would enjoy receiving feedback on the value of the information and any thoughts you may have related to the following items:

1) What would you have changed, included or excluded?

2) How would you rephrase the Conventional Wisdom?

3) How would you rephrase the Moment of Zen?

Jim C Quiz – Rubik’s Cube

Crossword Puzzle = A game of words good enough to help start Simon & Schuster

 August 21, 2006

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

The continuing theme for this month is any item that deals with puzzles, and the  ”crossword puzzle” is the most common variety of word puzzle in the world.  For a change of pace, the origin of this term is very well established according to the Online Etymology.

“Crossword puzzle is from January 1914; the first one ran in “New York World” newspaper December 21, 1913, but at first was called word-cross.”

Wikipedia does an excellent job to explain terminology unique to crossword puzzles:  The creating of crosswords is called ‘cruciverbalism’ among its practitioners, who are likewise referred to as ‘cruciverbalists’; the terms derive from the Latin for ‘cross’ and ‘word’. Although the terms have existed since the mid 1970s, non-cruciverbalists rarely use them, calling crossword creators simply ‘constructors’ or (especially outside the United States) ’setters’.

The horizontal and vertical lines of white cells into which answers are written are commonly called ‘entries’ or simply ‘answers’; the clues themselves are usually called just that, or sometimes ‘definitions’. The black and white cells themselves have several terms, such as “darks and lights”, “blanks” or “blocks” (both of which refer to the black cells, which are left unfilled by solvers and serve as spacers), and the like. A white cell that is part of only one entry – Across or Down, but not both – is usually called ‘unchecked’; ‘unkeyed’ or just ‘uncrossed’ are other names for this.

The best part of doing a crossword puzzle is the challenge and fun.  That can also be said about trying to write the Jim C’s Quiz each week.  The most interesting fact uncovered this week was that Simon & Schuster used a collection of crossword puzzles to help launch their publishing company in 1924.

Please read the attached pdf posting – I would appreciate your feedback, especially related to the following items:

1) What would you have changed, included or excluded?

2) How would you rephrase the Conventional Wisdom?

3) How would you rephrase the Moment of Zen?

Jim C Quiz – Crossword Puzzle.pdf

Puzzle = A contrived test for ingenuity!

August 14, 2006

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

The theme for this month is any item that deals with puzzles. As I started to research various candidates, I finally concluded that the word “puzzle” itself would be the best.

There are a variety of definitions for puzzle, and it was fairly easy to find a suitable one to add to the posting. The origin for the word was also pretty straight forward, except for some minor disagreements about whether it was used first as a verb or a noun.

The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word was used as a verb late in the 16th century, when it was documented in a book called The Voyage of Robert Dudley to the West Indies. Their research by definition (sense) seems to indicate that the verb came first and the noun was its derivative.

Next, I felt that it was important to post an example of a puzzle. There are wide variety of puzzles, as reflected below:

• Word – arranging letters or words like crossword, anagram, cryptograms, doublets, etc.
• Mathematical / Analytical – cryptarthim, Sudoku, cube/tetrahedrons
• Picture
• Chess / Checkers
• Tangrams – arranging objects
• Mechanical – Rubik’s Cube

I chose one that would quickly capture the reader’s attention – a visual image puzzle from ComParrot Puzzles by Bonnie J. Malcolm.  The puzzle shows two similar pictures side by side and asks the reader to spot the 12 differences between the two pictures.  Simple, but effective – take a look at the Jim C’s Quiz of the Week for Monday, August 14, 2006, which is attached pdf file.

As always, your comments would be appreciated, especially related to the following items:

1) What would you have changed, included or excluded?

2) How would you rephrase the Conventional Wisdom?

3) How would you rephrase the Moment of Zen?

Jim C Quiz – Puzzle.pdf

Sudoku – Not a Japanese puzzle?

August 7, 2006

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW A WORD, IDIOM OR PHRASE ORIGINATED IN THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE?

In the past I felt it was important to be spontaneous and typically I tried to use a word or phrase as it related to current events. This is the first time I have dedicated every posting in a month to a common theme.

Welcome to the month of August – the month of puzzles. My first challenge was to find an appropriate word for Week #1. Sudoku won hands down, because this is a puzzle that has rules that are extremely easy to understand, yet can be played on a variety of levels of complexity.

When researching Sudoku, I was surprised to learn that the puzzle originated in America under the name Number Place in 1979. The game was later picked up and expanded in Japan, where it quickly gained favor.

Jim C’s Quiz of the Week for Monday, August 7, 2006 is attached as a pdf, and your comments would be appreciated, especially related to the following items:

1) What would you have changed, included or excluded?

2) How would you rephrase the Conventional Wisdom?

3) How would you rephrase the Moment of Zen?

Please read the pdf posting and let me know what you think.

Jim C Quiz – Sudoku.pdf