It's the Cuber, Not the Cube

What more can I say?  Well, a lot.

Based on the frequent forum posts on speedsolving.com, I can attest to the fact that there is this huge hype about new cubes.

In the past months, or year, if you will, we as cubers have gotten a plethora of new cubes.  Now, this encompasses all types of cubes, including the 4x4, but I'm less concerned about the hype of those.  Why?  Because there are clear flaws in ALL 4x4s.  Lock-ups, pops, etc.  3x3s on the other hand are way too overrated.  Here's why:

1. If you average anything over 20 seconds, you need to work on your own style, not on your budget for cubes.  New cubes will not make you faster.  Practicing will.
2. Pick a preference and go with it.  I understand if you are a hobbyist who collects all puzzles.  I also understand if you make consumer reviews.  I don't understand overconsumption if you are just an average cuber, like me.  Why do you NEED to get EVERY SINGLE CUBE AVAILABLE?!  You don't.  Stick with what you have and practice.  Now, granted, some cubes fit some cubers better than others.  However, if you're buying 52 cubes a year, you should realized by now what your preference is.  If you like smooth, go with the GuHong, if you like clicky, go with Alpha.  You don't need both.
3. New cubes does not equate to better cubes.  What makes a LunHui better than a GuHong?  Unpoppable?  My anus.  All cubes pop.  Plus, cubes can't have it all.  The LunHui suffers from less speed.  If you prefer speed to minor pops, go with the GuHong; it rarely pops anyway.
4. Stop obsessing over corner cutting.  If you rely on 45 degree corner cuts, you need better turning.  Period.
5. Stop obsessing over reverse corner cutting.  If you need anything more than what a tightly tensioned GuHong can do, you should feel ashamed of yourself.
6. Stop obsessing over speed.  This is a persistent issue.  People say Eastsheens suck because they don't cut corners.  I disagree; I say they suck because they can't turn properly.  Why would anyone want a frictionless cube?  That's absolutely ridiculous.  If you can't turn a GuHong effortlessly, work on that.  If you think fast is good, think again.  If you average 30 seconds, it's not speed you need.
7. Finally, stop obsessing over Lubix.  Lubix is a great product, but it's not the solution to every cube.  Sure, it works on 3x3's.  However, I highly doubt it's better than silicone spray for 5x5s and other big cubes.  Again, stick with what you have.   

Don't buy new cubes - just practice.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Teachers Discriminate

Hey all,

As always, feel free to comment on the following.

As a senior in high school, I've had my fair share of teachers.  And as all students know, there are some teachers who are good and some who just plain suck.  But have you ever considered why a particular teacher is bad?

Sometimes I hear that it's based on the subject.  Artsy folk may not enjoy science classes.  Likewise, science nerds don't necessarily enjoy English classes.  But there are other people, like me, who like or dislike classes, not subjects.  I have no favorite subject, not in high school anyway.  Every subject is generally the same in value for me.  But what I've realized is that I tend to either really enjoy a class, or loathe it.

The reason is actually pretty simple.  Teachers can greatly influence how students react to a class.  No student enjoys a class where they are hated by the grand authority figure.  This is where some social psychologists may emphasize the self-fulfilling prophecy, where students' attitudes towards teachers affect the way they are treated. I'd go so far as to say this is what the majority of students experience; those who hate particular subjects will show that, and that displacement will cause the teacher to act reciprocally.  However, if you're like me, this reasoning is incorrect.

The way I see it, I don't like some teachers because they flat-out do not like me.  I think our education system is extremely naive.  Whenever we share these thoughts to authority figures, they always brush it off and claim that it's how we act.  Our predisposition of a class makes us think that we are being targeted.  Never have I heard that it's even possible the teacher is discriminatory.

At my particular high school, we have all these rules in place regarding discrimination of gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc.  It's presented in a way that assumes students don't follow these guides.  However, why is that?  It's obvious many students discriminate one another, but is it really that exclusive?  I dare say teachers are equally obligated to follow these guidelines.  In my opinion, these guidelines are superficial regulations to create the facade of a peaceful learning environment.

So a quick summary.  Why do I not like classes?  Because of bad teachers.  Why are teachers bad?  Because they discriminate.

As a minority, it's difficult for me to make any powerful assertions.  I can claim a teacher to be racist, but no one would believe me.  Why would they?  If the rest of the class is Caucasian, they certainly would not feel the same way.  But that's the beauty of it.  Students never claim of sexist teachers because teachers don't explicitly show that.  If the gender split is even, the teacher would have a hard time discriminating against a large group of students.  On the other hand, when it's duck, duck, grey duck the teacher can be discriminatory.  No, there's no real way to see if a teacher is racist, or sexist, or homophobic without a direct confession, but in my defense, it's equally petty to think all teachers treat all students equally.

Now the clincher.  So what?  To be perfectly honest, I don't give a rat's buttocks about the teacher's personal beliefs.  A teacher is still a person, and he or she is entitled to opinions.  Do I feel targeted at times?  Absolutely.  In fact, there is no doubt that there are teachers who are racist.  Maybe not in my school, but they exist.  The real issue I have with this is about superficiality.  I don't mind if a teacher is discriminatory.  Do they have a moral obligation to be fair?  Yes.  But they don't need to be.  And because of this, the only thing I need from my high school is to recognize that this is a possibility.

The fact of the matter is that the teacher may not even know it.  They might just have a psychological predisposition to dislike certain individuals.  A lot of this is cultural.  Some teachers may not like what students wear, but they don't consciously recognize that.  Essentially, it's not really anyone's fault!  The only error is how schools try to hide the imperfections.

It was cute in 3rd grade to say that we were imagining things.  It's not so cute in high school when you can feel things happening.  It's extremely painful to not be able to talk about this to a teacher, because after all, I'd be complaining about their colleague.  And due to our conditioned responses about confronting a teacher about negative affairs, are we really expected to go and tell them ourselves?  They could just as easily say that I'm just imagining things.

In closing, teachers are just as discriminatory as students.  Schools don't need to fix that.  Fix how it's portrayed.

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx

Why the Common Application Sucks

I'm currently a rising senior, and college applications are starting to flood my life. I'm applying to a few colleges which use the Common Application (CA). At first glance, I thought it was an amazing thing - a somewhat universal application to make the college admission process easier. In some ways, this is true, it does add a sense of ease to the hectic process. However, in retrospect, the College Application is rather discriminatory, "limiting," to put it lightly.

When filling out the biographical portion of the CA, I feel a sense of oppression, namely when specifying the languages I know or speak. Being born in the U.S. and having Taiwanese parents, I know three languages fluently - English, Taiwanese, and Mandarin Chinese. The CA on the other hand lists "Chinese" as a language...period. This is rather repulsive in a couple of different ways. One, what's Chinese? and two, what do I fill out for "Other proficient languages?"

Educators, in my experience, have always been the ones to distinguish between Mandarin and Cantonese, emphasizing that Chinese is NOT a language. Luckily, I don't speak both. On the other hand, I speak Taiwanese; where does that go? So, being the lazy type, I thought whatever, I'll just put down Chinese. Well, that became an issue - What would be my answers for the next query?

The next section on the CA wants people to list the other languages they are fluent in. So I got somewhat excited, because I could say the other languages. That hope was immediately flushed down the academic toilet. The entry lines were, again, supposed to be answered from the same list of languages available. So I picked Chinese twice (one for Taiwanese, and one for Mandarin). Not only is this incorrect information, but how stupid do I look?! "How many languages can you speak?" Three! English, Chinese, and....Chinese.

I actually considered defending the CA by saying Taiwanese isn't a language since it has no written characters. Making a quick search on Google, my subconscious was right - a language is simply a spoken way of communication. Nowhere was writing a prerequisite.

At this point, you probably get the idea. I could go on with other limiting factors, such as parental background or sibling information. However, these are pettier concerns since their circumstantial to me.

Make sure to check out the poll on the right hand side

Thanks for reading,
cyoubx