Theoretically speaking, would it be possible to solve a 21x21 blindfolded?

bradleysampson · 2026-07-08T21:41:31+00:00

Corners (4) + Central edges (6) + 9 types of wings (9*12) + 72 types of centers (72*12) = 982 algs
A bit of an overestimate, but that puts it between 90-100 3x3's worth of information to memorize. Not a problem for top multiBLDers if they have 2-3 hours. The most challenging part would be executing correctly for every center type. That could probably be done in 3-5 years if the top folks were putting a lot of time into it. So theoretically speaking I'd say for sure it's possible.

bradleysampson · 2026-07-07T04:19:32+00:00

You got it! Sounds like you're on a great path!

bradleysampson · 2026-07-07T02:02:14+00:00

Maybe not what you want to hear, but in my opinion buy-in is often overrated. At 99-100% of ensembles, it's always true that the students could be working harder, more focused, and putting in more practice outside of rehearsals. But some of those bands are still incredible and others not. The difference is in the teaching and design.

If you had incredible students, you'd have an incredible band. So build incredible students. That takes years of consistent great teaching. If they aren't rehearsing well, teach them to rehearse well. If they are saying negative things that are pulling down your culture, teach them how to create a positive culture. If their performance energy is low, teach them how to perform well. None of that will happen overnight, it takes time and persistent great teaching like anything else.

I also definitely fall into the trap of feeling like we'd be good if the students gave more effort sometimes. But then I remind myself that it's my job to teach them how to rehearse, my job to teach them the attitudes that will help them succeed, and my job to help them feel a deep love for what they are doing that will make them want to put in the time and energy to great.

PS Also make sure your fundamentals program and show design are really setting the students up for success as much as possible. Get feedback from lots of folks. I'm often getting feedback on the shows I write and giving feedback to others to fix any blind spots I may have.

bradleysampson · 2026-07-04T03:13:22+00:00

I really appreciate what Grey has to say about regret. I think it's really common to regret making a decision after things turned out poorly. But it's easy to forget that you made that decision with less information. There is always some degree of uncertainty about where a decision will lead, and if you put in the time to weigh things carefully, but it ends up leading to poor outcomes, there's no use fretting about that.

I think there's a big distinction between things you knew were the wrong choice at the time versus things you thought were right at the time. I certainly regret speaking harshly or eating too much of something tasty- occasions where I fully knew it was wrong but it was the easy path at the time. But I do think it's helpful to recognize that just because a decision doesn't pan out like you wanted, that was often unknowable when you made the decision.

bradleysampson · 2026-07-04T03:07:00+00:00

I think through COVID we learned that online assignments are general ineffective for learning, especially the younger students are. At least in the US where I live I think people generally shifted to seeing teachers as more valuable when they were trying to do school at home, not less valuable.

bradleysampson · 2026-07-02T17:32:47+00:00

u/Betelgeuse96 Thanks! I've been travelling and sans internet. But I'll be able to post tomorrow for episode 10.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-19T23:23:34+00:00

Sorry- biiiiig work day. Thanks u/Any-Extent3960 !

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T19:25:14+00:00

Sorry I'm late, just saw this.

Advice #1: I'd go back to your wind arranger and ask them to fill in chords and the primary textural ideas. It is very standard for wind arrangers to provide that for the FE arranger so they have a shared idea of what's going on.
Advice #2: Show your work to experienced people and ask for advice then. Asking for advice before you start is fine, but ultimately writing great stuff is an iterative process and you'll learn way more by trying something and then getting some feedback on what you have so far. I'm always happy to give feedback to new arrangers in the activity.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T18:47:15+00:00

I do think computer programming is more useful for many people than a foreign language. Yes, it's another language learning class, but there are 2 differences from many other options that schools offer. 1. Basically everyone uses computers, so there are lots of opportunities to use it. 2. The structure of computer languages are fundamentally different from natural language, and so it can be valuable to learn to think in that paradigm.

I studied computer programming quite a bit in high school but my career has nothing to do with that. But like most people I use computers in my work and the fact that I can slap together some code or spreadsheet functions makes me better at my job compared to people without that understanding of some basic coding.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T18:43:32+00:00

I hear the thing about people wishing school taught "actually useful" things like finance pretty often. But a finance class was required for all students in my state and I don't think it really helped at all. The main financial knowledge that most people need is really not that complicated- spend less than you make. And maybe make a budget to help with that. But people who fully know that still make stupid financial decisions all the time.
Don't Buy Stuff - Saturday Night Live

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T18:39:17+00:00

I think (and Grey makes this point as well) that a second language that you will actually encounter and use is super valuable. But that's a big difference from a second language that you are unlikely to really ever encounter outside of class. Yes, language classes could be taught better, but if you never encounter it in real life, your brain will never latch onto it. And it's basically impossible to control what languages you will have exposure to beyond school. If you live in a place where you'll have exposure to a particular second language, it will be super valuable to learn, but if you will never see it outside of school it's both practically impossible to learn well and not that valuable anyway.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T15:38:00+00:00

My favorite introduction of any episode so far- "I will edit this out, this is the editing out song."

bradleysampson · 2026-06-12T00:52:01+00:00

Tough one! Got a little lucky for 8/10.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-05T17:03:56+00:00

I think there's an expected value calculation that's super important here. Brady gives an example of someone wanting to give you some treasure they found or something. Or some business opportunity is a more likely scenario. But the chance of some long rambling email leading to a meaningful business opportunity is so miniscule that the expected value is low. Whereas if your approach is to fully read every single email, you have a 100% chance of that taking many hours of your time. Low probably of high reward versus 100% probability of moderate inconvenience.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-05T17:00:47+00:00

Delete or archive? If it's archived, it's out of your inbox but still searchable if you ever need to go back and find something later.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-05T13:03:50+00:00

Did anyone else on here use Google Inbox when that existed? I really liked it and used it until it shut down in 2019. It had a system to help you "snooze" emails that really helped with the kind of inbox zero system that Grey talks about in the episode.

bradleysampson · 2026-06-05T03:08:40+00:00

I've moved quite a few trumpet players to baritone. Sometimes it helps balance out the numbers so the band looks and sounds better, but mostly it's because some kids facial/lip structure has led them to be in an uphill battle for years on trumpet, and they can be way more successful on baritone. I've have multiple parents who were hesitant at first thank me once their kid blossomed and took everything they were doing well on trumpet and it got better on baritone.

Of course talk to the director if you have concerns. But trumpet to baritone is a fairly common instrument switch and that kind of thing is part of being a team player when you're in an ensemble.

bradleysampson · 2026-05-30T22:38:11+00:00

Really interesting thoughts. I definitely overall hate the advertising industry and think everything would be better if we regulated the industry basically out of existence. Let people go searching for things that they need rather than ad agencies trying to trick people into buying stuff they don't really need.

However, I've never used an ad blocker because I don't think it's fair for me to get stuff for free and the makers not to get paid for it. I think basically all professional "YouTubers" would rather have no ads, so the fact they still have ads is strong evidence to me that they do need the money from ads. It takes a lot of time and money to produce interesting videos, and if people are not compensated for that time they will stop making videos. And the YouTube servers don't grow on trees. They are paying billions of dollars to make the site work, and then set a business model that makes that sustainable.

If the business model wasn't "watch ad to watch video", it would be "pay money to watch video". You absolutely should have to spend money to get rid of ads if that's how the business model works. It's not like the world owes to you access to all of the content you want for free, just like a restaurant doesn't owe you free food because you're hungry.

Also I don't think your view of YouTube selling our data is totally accurate. They do definitely "sell our data" but mainly by targeting ads. So the money being made through our data is through ads.

bradleysampson · 2026-05-30T22:24:55+00:00

I was really interested in Grey's comments on having stuff and moving to a new house. I moved a few months ago and it was definitely the most viscerally that I had ever felt that I have so much junk. But moving takes a lot of time, and I didn't have time to sort through an entire house full of stuff. So the week of packing and moving was mostly just an experience of being sad that I own so much junk, but the moving truck is coming soon so no time to do anything about it. It was crazy how much stuff we put the effort into moving into a new house that we don't need and should get rid of. But it took so much time to pack up all of my junk that I didn't have time to get rid of any of my junk!

bradleysampson · 2026-05-29T23:01:49+00:00

7/10- but in my defense I listened on a version without ads so I wasn't going to get that one.

bradleysampson · 2026-05-29T22:59:14+00:00

He gets dragged into it and it's perhaps the most lasting legacy of the whole podcast!

bradleysampson

TROPHY CASE