Mystery Revealed: Rubik’s Cube explosion

Today, we have a guest blogger!

My teen-genius son will tell us about the origins of this week’s Mystery Photo:  a disassembled Rubik’s Cube.  (Commenters bea and Merri both got it right!)

Thanks Mom!

 In late December and early January, I went to Iowa to volunteer for the Mike Huckabee campaign with a group of about a dozen other homeschoolers.  We drove all the way: two days on the road.  As my best friend Dominic and I were deliberating beforehand about what to do in the van, he mentioned the possibility of learning how to solve a Rubik’s cube.  As a geeky brainiac, I thought that sounded like a great idea.  So I did a bit of research online and found a beginner’s method for solving the Rubik’s Cube.  Unfortunately, the Rubik’s cube made Dominic carsick.  After the trip was over, however, I memorized the various steps.  By the following weekend, I was able to solve any solvable position.

After a lot of practice and some silicone spray, I was able to consistently solve a cube in under 1 minute 45 seconds, with a personal record of 1 minute 21.27 seconds.  Of course that’s nothing compared to some people, and I continued to work toward my goal of solving the cube in under 1 minute.  But it was not to be.  One day as I was working on improving my technique, the cube exploded!  It literally fell apart in my hand.  Rubik’s cubes do disassemble, but they’re not supposed to do so while you’re solving them. . . . This cube did more than fall apart: it actually broke.  The red center piece came off.  It’s supposed to stay attached to the central structure of the cube, even when the cube is taken apart.  No glue I’ve tried will get that central piece to stay attached now.

I’m hoping that Rubik’s will replace the cube.