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Years ago, my mother gave me a gift of a simple battery-powered alarm clock that was designed like a Rubik's Cube. Only the top layer would twist, and it was us
by NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Years ago, my mother gave me a gift of a simple battery-powered alarm clock that was designed like a Rubik's Cube. Only the top layer would twist, and it was used as a knob to set the mode of time, alarm, temperature.
I used it daily for many, many years, but it was inherently infuriating and shameful, as are all gifts from my mother. The Cube design it carried was permanently jumbled. There were stickers all over it, in standard Cube colors, representing its jumbled state, and of course, since it was a clock and not configurable, there was no way to match the colors and "solve" it.
I was forced, every day, to stare at a permanently unsolved, unsolvable Cube, after I had mastered it so many years ago, algorithmically, and I was able to solve a standard Cube in 63 seconds, but I could do nothing about this infernal clock.
Well, I wasn't forced. Sure, I could just stop using it. I could purchase another clock that wasn't shameful. But you know how mother-son relationships can be. Anyway, I finally destroyed it with great satisfaction, and the Unsolvable Cube troubles me no more.
- cornholio 3y agoThis reads like an allegorical confession of matricide.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoNo allegorical jury would convict me
- bell-cot 3y agoOr as the tale of a tragic human gulf - between a well-intended, neurotypical mother, and the OCD son who she just can't understand.
- brookst 3y agoOr as a dark tale of a mother taking out her repressed resentment on an OCD son she does understand.
- lotipb 3y agobest comment ever
- hasmanean 3y agoOf all the cubes in the world, there will always be one, his mothers gift, that is forbidden for him to solve. This is a great mystery. It’s a Rubik’s complex.
- lloydatkinson 3y agoI can’t tell if it’s a troll, long form greentext, or a future episode of Criminal Minds.
- pavlov 3y agoAfter I reached the “…as are all gifts from my mother” elaboration, the rest of the comment played in my head in Anthony Perkins’s voice.
- solardev 3y agoIt reads like the beginning of Tell-tale Heart
- flangola7 3y agoTemperature?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoYes indeed, it literally had a temperature sensor in it, and could be switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
- CaptainNegative 3y agoSince it had stickers, why not just move them around instead of smashing the clock?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoThe stickers were not individual, separate colors, they were large panels made up of the already-jumbled colors. In fact, I'm not even sure they were stickers, or if they would come off easily. Regarding your questioning of why I smashed the clock, it was not merely because I couldn't "solve" it that I smashed it.
- sillysaurusx 3y agoWere there 9 of each color on the visible faces at least?
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago> Were there 9 of each color on the visible faces at least? I never checked that closely. It is apparently still available (see link above) so you may be able to find enough images to piece it together. However, two areas lack color: the display, which is 3 horizontal tiles in the center of the "front" face, and the bottom, where the battery compartment opens, which is unpainted black plastic. So no, even if you could move the stickers around, there aren't enough for coverage, and why would you cover the display face? I mean, do you want a Rubik's Cube or an alarm clock in this bargain?
- jtbayly 3y agoCorner piece has two red faces. Unsolvable.
- travisjungroth 3y agoSo, why’d you smash it?
- tralarpa 3y ago> Only the top layer would twist, and it was used as a knob to set the mode of time, alarm, temperature. This actually looks quite nice. And using the top layer as a knob is a cool idea. https://www.coolthings.com/cube-clock-is-a-rubiks-cube-that-doesnt-puzzle/ https://www.coolthings.com/cube-clock-is-a-rubiks-cube-that-...
- bhaak 3y agoI wouldn't have a problem with the scrambled state of the clock, so I might be less neuro atypical than OP, but that it is unsolvable at a glance (two reds on the same block) even if it could be manipulated like a real cube and that there are no black bars between the colored blocks of the top row would drive me equally mad.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- duckqlz 3y agohttps://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cube-clock https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cube-clock Or buy the same clock?
- kthejoker2 3y agoThe end trailed off but I got some strong Nabokov vibes at the beginning. I'm sure he could've fleshed this out to a small masterpiece.
- solardev 3y agoSo this is how serial killers are made...
- Akashic101 3y agoSo technically you did manage to brute-force a solution, just not the intended solution
- dsq 3y agoShe probably just thought Oh, thats the thing my son is interested in, it'll be a nice gift for him. And itll help him get up in the morning.
- trebligdivad 3y agoHmm, you need an alarm clock which only stops once you solve the cube.