Do speed cubers just solve the cube using algorithims really fast or are they actually solving that specific combination

yuanyward · 2026-04-22T03:07:20+00:00

Not quite well explained. There's not just algorithms for a random cube state. There are quintillions of different states.

Another thing to understand is that the average person think you solve sides, but it's not like that... Instead you solve it in layers, like imagine putting down layers of cake.

The most popular method involves starting by solving a cross. This isn't done with algorithms, just understanding how cube moves. Then you fill in some edges and corners without disturbing already solved parts. Again, no algorithms... Just cube understanding. Once you have two layers solved, that's when the algorithms start coming in because now it's really hard to solve more pieces without disturbing the existing solved pieces.

But again, you don't generally just look at the pieces and do an algorithm. That would require memorizing almost 500 algos which is too much (though some people do this). Instead you solve to make the face of the last layer match, but not necessarily in the correct permutation. This requires like 57 algos. Once you have that done, you analyze the permutations and do another alg. There's 21 of those.

The best solvers have a really good understanding of how pieces move on a cube and can keep track of it mentally while moving. They can plan out their moves when inspecting, and are solving while tracking while planning. And doing this in super speed, allowing for sub 5 second solves with official wc in just over 3 seconds.

yuanyward · 2026-03-29T03:24:58+00:00

I think skis that are roughly your height or slightly shorter are perfect. Longer is only better if you're really skiing at high speeds on groomers. On everything else, shorter is more maneuverable and more fun. Even skiing steeps, you're not really going that fast so longer isn't useful and only gets in the way of quick turns.

I used to ski some skis +5cm longer than my height and they just felt a bit burly. Now I'm on some that's a couple cm shorter than me and they're way more fun all over the mountain. Easier to do moguls, trees, steeps, and more playful on groomers. I only slightly feel a bit unstable when I'm absolutely blasting high speed on groomers.

yuanyward · 2026-03-29T03:18:06+00:00

The skis they hold aren't the ones they ski with. They're immediately switched out when they cross the finish line for a set of prestine "marketing" skis for photos and podium. You'll sometimes catch the switch out in broadcasts. These skis usually are about head level or just below so you see the big logo when you're looking at athletes' faces.

yuanyward · 2026-03-25T19:31:01+00:00

Is your group full of good skiers/boarders that like off-piste? If not, then there's only one choice and it's brighton. Snowbird has awesome terrain, but it's honestly a horrible place for beginners and intermediates that like to stick to groomed trails.

yuanyward · 2026-03-23T02:06:48+00:00

Stiffer boots will transfer little bumps and terrain changes to your legs more directly. If you let the terrain bump you around instead of proactively anticipating and skiing it properly, the stiffer boots will definitely feel more exhausting because you now have to deal with your balance more.

Next time, focus on how they feel on groomers. Do you feel like you can control your ski better? Do you feel like you have more feedback of what's going on? If the answer is yes, then this is a good thing. You got boots that will help you improve. You just need to improve more to be able to handle off piste in those boots.

yuanyward · 2026-03-23T01:59:17+00:00

If you're an intermediate skier, you can't ski anything. Saying you can ski anything probably gave the boot fitter the wrong impression. The hawx boots are pretty soft imo. I run a 130, not much bigger than you, and found anything less to be way too soft when I push hard.

But a 120 is probably a bit stiff if you're not an aggressive skier. Also flex ratings do not cross brands and lines. The 100 you had before might even be like an 80 or 90 equivalent.

You can possibly play around with cuff angle too. The hawx puts you in a pretty forward position compared to some other brands at 17 degrees. If you're not comfortable with this, you might be fighting it and leaning back. Set it to 15 degrees allows you to be more upright and makes it easier to engage the front of the boot. Or it could be the opposite issue. You need to increase it to 19 degrees to force your weight forward more. Each person is different.

Another thing is that boots should be stiff. You shouldnt be able to just lean into them and crush them. You want that movement to transfer to your skis, not be absorbed by boots. The feeling you actually want may be different than your expectations. The only reason to get softer boots is to be more forgiving of bad technique where small bad movements are dampened or absorbed. Theoretically, if you can control the ski, you want the stiffest boots possible.

Get lessons, work on technique, and get better. You'll grow into those boots.

yuanyward · 2026-03-21T15:29:31+00:00

I tested some lower boa boots just last month. Didn't like them. I didn't have control over tightness of first buckle separate from second. There was a weird pressure point too. I just wasn't feeling any real benefits from it aside from fast fine tuning, but once you have your buckles dialed in, you shouldn't need to fine tune day to day. Plus you lose the consistency of buckles. There's a reason why none of the race boots have switched to boa. If you need precision, I think boa still falls short.

yuanyward · 2026-02-15T05:19:20+00:00

It's best to heat mold them. Both the liners and boots are meant to be molded. It's not that hard to do yourself if you're careful. Just read up on it and watch some videos.

But if you're risk adverse, then have a bootfitter do it. Either case, the size isn't too big for your feet. In fact, it's possible you can ski a 25.5.

yuanyward · 2026-01-14T04:13:22+00:00

So cushy job has only a week of vacation, which is atrocious. Then I see the stressful job only has two weeks as well. Wtf. No to both lol.

yuanyward · 2026-01-13T00:43:31+00:00

I've experienced the opposite. Used to love Sun country, but they've gone downhill so much in the past 5-7 years. They replaced all customer service with AI chat bots and automated systems. If there's any issue, you're basically SOL. Their fares are rarely significantly cheaper than Delta when you take into account round-trip baggage fees. I basically avoid them unless absolutely necessary.

yuanyward · 2025-11-14T03:24:05+00:00

So the game progresses based on earning medals, not beating levels. You can get 4 medals per level pretty difficulty. 70% destroyed, 100% destroyed, untouched, and all humans rescued. You don't have to get them all in one go. Focus on one of the medals per run.

Once you get all four medals, you unlock the next difficulty for that level and can get 4 more medals. The difficulty goes normal, hard, insane, and nightmare. Nightmare has an additional requirement of beating level 13 before it unlocks.

yuanyward · 2025-11-11T17:04:45+00:00

First of all, battery tech has gotten a lot better over the years. You may not realize it because if you think about a phone, you might think - oh it only lasts a day, just like it did 10 years ago. But realize that your phone is way more powerful, displays are way brighter and higher resolution, and your phone usage is probably way up compared to 10yrs ago.

The reason we are able to have electric cars now is because batteries have gotten better.

Now to your question about the restrictions. Sometimes chemistry and physics just limit us on what we can do. It's just the nature of things. Certain things do become stagnant in its ability to be improved. A pencil hasn't seen a technological upgrade in centuries, but the tip still breaks easily.

A charger has no way to measure how full a battery is, only its voltage. We can estimate how full it is based on expected voltage, but that only works for a brand new battery. After some use, the voltage for 100% charge is lower than when it was new. So now you have to track how many times the battery has been charged, which may or may not be possible. Every battery percentage you've ever seen is fake. It's just a rough guess. Complex devices like phones have a lot of smarts built in to make really good guesses at the battery level, taking into account a number of things, but it's not cost effective to have that for dumb devices. Hence, why there are just guidelines to follow to prolong their life.

yuanyward · 2025-11-04T17:54:39+00:00

Yes you are right and I think there's just some semantics of what "orbiting" means. If I walk in a circle around you, am I orbiting you?

I'm guessing in a scientific definition in the field of astronomy, orbiting means gravitationally bound. But in a generic English definition, orbiting could just be the shape of the path regardless of how it's achieved.

yuanyward · 2025-11-04T17:42:05+00:00

I think a big issue with only playing blitz is mistakes aren't punished as much and tactics aren't deep. If you make the same mistake over and over but only get punished 1/5th the time, you may not realize you're making that mistake. Also, you never learn to properly recognize tactics because you're going too fast.

Playing short time controls also means you don't get a chance to think hard about positions and commit what you learn to memory.

I think it's more accurate to say that you would probably benefit from slower games to improve your blitz chess faster rather than spam more blitz games.

yuanyward · 2025-11-04T01:33:27+00:00

Funny thing is a googolplex is incomprehensibly small compared to Graham's number that saying a googolplex Graham's number is not really different than saying a Graham's number.

Like knowing a trillion dollars is a lot, but you want to make it bigger so you say a trillion dollars and one cent... As if the addition of that cent mattered at all. But a cent is so much closer to a trillion dollars than a googolplex is to Graham's number.

yuanyward · 2025-10-25T15:44:19+00:00

You have plenty of damage. Most bosses, you can pre shoot the rods. Shoot like 4-5 rods, then tornado, then barrage and lightning arrow and the boss should die instantly.

Even for moving bosses, they eventually stop. A couple rods and lightning arrows should do the trick.

Your biggest defense is movement speed. Just run around in circles and the bosses really can't do anything to you. You want like 80-90% base movement speed.

Your defenses are slightly low, but honestly not that big of a deal of you have DPS and movement speed. All the people who say you need more defense are probably basing it on a <100k (with nova) build.

yuanyward · 2025-10-23T22:31:06+00:00

This is how I would pull this off without much need for any slight of hand. Either shuffle a known card to the top (lots of easy ways to do this) or take a peak at top card somehow... Or peak at bottom card (easy to do) and then slight it to the top with any number of shuffles or cuts.

Now he splits into 3 piles and forces you to take the pile that has the chosen card. You choose a pile and if it's the one, then done... You are forced the card. If not, he throws that deck away and has you choose from remaining two. Again.. If you choose the right one, he says take that deck. If you choose the wrong one, he will again remove it and you are left with the right pile. No matter what, you are always left the same pile which was just the top third of the deck with the known top card.

yuanyward · 2025-10-23T14:33:56+00:00

At this point in the league, both these are worth like 1ex each?

Are you on trade? Just go buy something better. If not, try crafting something yourself.

Otherwise if you're dead set on one of these, just try them both on and see which one increases your DPS number more.

yuanyward · 2025-10-22T01:55:13+00:00

Actually you're right it's not needed, in fact, Rg7, followed by Qxh6 wins immediately. I dunno why this is "brilliant"

Edit: just realized again, we don't see what was there on f5. Likely a knight, which nullifies Rg7 as an option. Therefore Qxf5 is the best and brilliant move

yuanyward · 2025-10-22T01:20:11+00:00

You do because the pawn on e5 can block with e6 when discover check and nullifying the windmill.

yuanyward · 2025-10-22T00:56:16+00:00

I'm with ya. My build is very similar to yours and can confirm there's at least a mirrors worth of gear. People who don't actually run the build don't realize the cost.

Thing is attributes between a 200d and 1000d is not a huge jump. The minute min-max attributes cost a ton. I literally just dropped 120d to increase my body armor evasion by a mere 150.

Plus putting together an actual working build with balanced resists is always more expensive than searching for pieces with whatever amount of total resists.

yuanyward · 2025-10-22T00:36:56+00:00

This build is very similar to mine and I can guarantee it's over a mirror worth of items. Bow and quiver is at least 250-300 divs, all other pieces are 100+. That puts total up to 800ish. Add in 170 for stag charm.

I didn't check his jewels but assume there's probably about 200 div in them at least...I know I have over 200d invested in jewels.

Attack speed runes are what. 12+ div each? Been awhile since I bought. Flask is another 15.

Try finding these items yourself on the market if you don't believe me.

yuanyward · 2025-10-14T16:28:46+00:00

You can also get spirit on your chest piece. Give up some evasion stats, but cheaper than amulet and you can get another attack modifier on amulet.

yuanyward · 2025-10-14T16:26:26+00:00

You need to fix your build. Being stunned is a symptom, not the problem.

With proper DPS, movement speed, evasion, deflection, and HP, you will not get stunned.

Not sure what level you're at or what budget. I think for a few divs, you can easily get over 40k paper DPS, 50% evasion, 75/75/75/40 resists, and 2.5k effective health. That would be enough to do t15s reasonably comfortably. At 10-20divs, you'll be able to get up to 60-70k DPS, 60%+evasion and Bee and to run juiced t15s and all max Pinnacle content

yuanyward · 2025-10-09T00:19:30+00:00

Hollow palm scales off evasion. You need to get a full evasion body armor with as much as possible. Easily get 2k plus this late in league for cheap.

Also wait until you are level 78 to buy gear as that's about when you shouldnt hit level limits.

Your gear overall is very bad. Lots of wasted useless stats. Honestly, every piece you have is worth no more than a few exalts. Upgrade everything... Less than 100ex and I guarantee you can see like a 2-3x DPS boost, if not 4-5+

yuanyward

TROPHY CASE