Evolution of a classic OR Life? Pah! Who needs one of those anyway?

 

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Everyone knows the puzzle classic that is Rubik's Cube. Invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, a Hungarian professor of Architecture, it was licensed for sale by Ideal Toys in 1980 and went on to win the prestigious 'Toy Of The Year' award for that year. Within a year or so, it was a massive, world-wide craze and there were hundreds of similar rip-offs, tacky accessories and unlikely alternatives. There were national and international competitions to see who could solve the cube in the quickest time (according to Wikipedia, the current record is 7.08 seconds by Erik Akkersdijk. How??).

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During the 1990s, however, people apparently decided that they'd had enough of straining their brains and getting nothing but ridicule and "Rubik's wrist" for your efforts.However, the rise of Sudoku and other related puzzles seemed to catch at the collective grey matter and the time seemed right for a resurgence.

Now, what you have to bear in mind that technological skills have improved somewhat over the years. Not only that, but not everyone forgot about that multicoloured cube.

Over time, new versions came along, all sticking to the same basic layout, but using 4x4 cubes, 5x5, 6x6 and even 7x7. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Nothing is really different, you just have to spend a bit(!) longer solving it.

Mind you - this is an interesting variation on the theme...

 

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Finally, somebody got around to wondering if they could make something with more that the standard six sides. Oh yes they could. Fancy a puzzle dodecahedron, anyone? How does 12 sides of multi-coloured brain strain grab you?

 

(as ever, click the pic to enlarge)

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Sadly, the Petaminx isn't available commercially as yet, so you can put your wrist bandages away again.

Or can you? Now, while some folks decided to continue with the idea of using regular solids to create their puzzles, it seems that others wanted to have a twisted take on the classic cube and really mess with our minds. Why bother with one cube, they wondered, why not two or three - or maybe more? And, said the puzzling Drs Frankenstein, how about we stitch them together?

Wait - what?

Take a look at these conjoined triplets:

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If that's not bad enough, you can also buy (yes, buy - unlike the Petaminx, these babies are available right now) this and its siblings over at Dealextreme.

Fancy a five-cube headache anyone?

 

You know, it strikes me that you could create some interesting cubist (sorry) sculptures with this one....

Defusing panic has never been so artistic.

 

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Yeah, I know, snappy title, eh? Unfortunately, the quote I was going to use (the alternative title for the film Dr. Strangelove) had already been used by the guy whose work I'm featuring today; David McCandless. He's been a bit of a writer (The Guardian, Wired), a bit of a satirist (Crackbook is hilarious and clever) and is even responsible for a fun little flash game (Fly it here). The particular skill that concerns us today, however, is his ability as a "visual & data journalist" (his term).

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Basically, David got pissed off with all those so-called helpful diagrams that newspapers used to accompany news items. He found that, like us, he couldn't really make head nor tail of what the diagram was really supposed to be telling us. And that's in spite of - or maybe because of - all the clever pictures tagged with apparently exciting facts and figures.

Reckoning that he could do a lot better, he decided to sit down with a batch of relevant facts and figures and come up with his own set of diagrams with which he could make a point.

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The things is, he's managed to do the job far more clearly and far more objectively than any other person/committee of graphic designers ever could. In fact, to rub salt vigorously into the wound, he's even managed to do so with just the right pinch of humour and made the diagrams look aesthetically pleasing into the bargain.

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Take, for example, the following diagram:

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(click on the picture to see a larger view - or just go to the main article.)

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Essentially, the diagram above is a response to the one featured in The Grauniad (sorry, Guardian) attempting to illustrate just how 'fragile' the state of nuclear affairs are in the world:

 

Messy, isn't it?

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By contrast, David's work is almost beautiful - and it dispassionately presents the facts that humanity is a lot safer than the panicmongers seem to want us to think.

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To see more of his work, got visit his site; Information Is Beautiful. You'll be glad you did.

"Death isn't the handicap it used to be" - not a line from a comedy, apparently.

 

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Some while ago, I wrote a blog about some jobsworths over in Lambeth Council, London (click here for the original post). These petty officials were seemingly doing their very best to hinder an already severely handicapped and elderly gentleman in his attempts to get out and about.

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Now, it would appear that Lewisham Council (also London) felt a little left out of things and decided to make their own little presence felt a touch more keenly. Again, I will type out the article verbatim:

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A lesson from Lewisham Council in how to handle the bereaved.

Earlier this year, Cyril Dadson, 92, a resident of sheltered accommodation run by Lewisham Council, died. His son Robin, who lives in Devon, quickly sorted out [Cyril's] flat's keys to the council. But a couple of months later, Dadson Jnr received a letter addressed to "Mr Cyril Dadson - deceased". It demanded rent for a period after the keys had been handed back to the council.

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When Robin Dadson pointed out that the letter was clearly a mistake, the council apologised. Several weeks passed, then more letters arrived in Devon - this time demanding unpaid council tax for his late father's home. Mr Dadson contacted Lewisham again and reminded them that his disabled father had been exempt from council tax. This did not stop the council from sending him a further letter, informing him that "the money was due, as although exempt from council tax whilst alive, he became liable once dead".

Glad that's sorted out.

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In other words, the economy has now become that bad local councils are trying to tax us for being dead.

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Thanks again to Private Eye for bringing this to light.

An apology - the first of many, I don't doubt...

 

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I do mean to post every day if I can help it, but there were two very good reasons fer not doing so Yesterday and Tuesday.

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Yesterday's reason won't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that knows me - I had a severe headache - the type that's almost but not quite a migraine.

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Tuesday, on the other hand, I had a much better excuse: It was Julie's birthday. We didn't do much to celebrate; it wasn't as if it was a major landmark for my wife. We had a nice quiet evening, a cup of tea - and then she proceeded to thrash me at Scrabble. I think her final winning margin was about 100 points. Pretty good, but it pales into insignificance when ye take into account her all-time best (and the highest Scrabble score I have ever seen in my life).

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593.

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That's right, 593 points. On two occasions, she put down all 7 seven tiles reaching two sets of triple word scores each time.

Me? I think I managed just over 200...

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Ah well....

Guess what this is...

 

 (click on the pic fer a larger view - opens in a new tab)

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*Agricultural equipment?

*Bizarre weapon made from a design found in some MMOG?

*The claw from a steampunk velociraptor?

*The cocoon of a ladybird about to shag a wheel (my wife's suggestion)?

*The helmet of a skateboarder with a funky wheel motif?

*Futuristic S&M device (my wife again... sorry...)?

*Alien chariot?

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Actually, it's an everyday device, albeit one that you buy and then never use again because the job's usually already done.

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Give up? Scroll down and find out.

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It's a pizza cutter.

Yup, ye read that right - a damn pizza cutter.

I found it here on Geekologie

Why here, why now?

Well, now. Nothing stays the same, ye know. Evolution isn't just fer the animals.

When I took my first stumbling steps out into the wide wilderness of the wwweb, all those years ago, I stumbled upon Myspace. I wasn't too worried about it to begin with, as I was heavily involved with chatrooms. The less said about those, the better. I was young and cocky and thought I could be a 20-something lad when I was, in reality, an outspoken, yet somewhat reserved 30-ish bloke with a belly.

So why did I eventually turn to Myspace? Well, the thing is I'm rather into music and will try many ways to expand my collection and my horizons. What Myspace offered (and still does, to a degree) was an opportunity to do both at the same time. There's loads of unsigned acts, plenty of established ones - and, quite frequently - the means to download tracks by said acts.
On the way, I made a few friends, made a few contacts... and wrote a whole bunch of blogs.

I wrote about things that made me laugh, books that I'd enjoyed, news articles that angered me beyond belief and games I liked to play. I dropped in some cartoon strips about hedgehogs (a major theme with me and my wife), some fiction about said characters and, as I became more confident about my skills as a writer, some none-'hoggy short fiction. I even gave some science lessons on a couple of occasions!

So why the defection to here?
Well, the blogs were fairly well received, but only by one or two faithfuls, which wasn't what I wanted. The problem is that Myspace is primarily a social site, so most folks aren't interest in blogs about sometimes esoteric topics.
As it was, the lack of reaction to my blogs led to a slacking off in my writing there. It didn't help that I began a page on Deviantart to profile my short fiction.

Ah well, perhaps it's best I left it.
At least I can now talk freely about whatever takes my fancy.

LINKS:
My Myspace profile - all the old blogs will still be there
My Deviantart profile - drop by and see my fiction.

An explanation, of sorts.

Just to help ye understand just what the blog's name actually means.

The thing is, life is never simple. Some folks may be, but life itself usually isn't. However, that's not to say it's all bad. It's often quite uplifting too. And, of course, there's all that messy, morally uncertain ground in between.

I was going to call this blog 'Shades of Grey', but that was apparently already taken.
A pity really, as all the posts I intend to make will range across the board from ultimate good, to ultimate bad and sad.

Anyhow, that's it for now. Stay tuned fer observations, moans, links, laughs and tears.