Welcome to the New Site!
3/18/09
After several hours of work I converted IsoCubeSim into a program which handles supercubes - a variant of normal cubes where each center is labeled with extra colors to ensure that they only have one correct position and orientation. Of course this will also do supercuboids as well. The IsoCubesim page is still here
2/4/09
I've been working on my MEGA SCRAMBLER. Basically it will scramble everything I could think of. There's a help document too, if you're wondering what's going on. Recently I added a scrambler for the Cmetrick, as well as a Pyraminx scrambler that scrambles to a random position instead of just giving you random moves (thanks to Lucas Garron for this idea and most of the code!).
Have you been wondering what I'm doing? Well, apart from college, I have a pretty popular youtube channel which was mentioned in a New York Times article; I'm pretty active on the speedsolving.com forum; I've been working on a cubing blog which has various speedcubing/theory articles I have written; I've been playing FFR, Kongregate, and hi-games a lot; and as always I've been going to tons of cubing competitions. Also I actually have a facebook now.
11/09/07
Because I just made this and feel like putting it up: World Cubing Association historical recordholders.
10/31/07
At Caltech. Test.
9/19/07
Nothing new. I just wanted to put up this Korean Character Generator. Basically, Korean 'hangeul' syllables consist of a consonant, a vowel, and another consonant, all put together into one character. You can't just put the sounds together separately, though, you have to choose a character; and there are over 10,000 of them, so this is rather tedious to do by hand. This is a little javascript application that finds it for you if you will just enter the constituent characters. I couldn't find one on the web, so I hope this will be useful to someone...
7/07/07
There's a lot of random stuff going on. High school's over and I'm off to Caltech in the fall. I'll try to keep putting stuff on here, and there's probably going to be yet another redesign.
One important thing: I've made a new version of IsoCubeSim. This version has a couple of new features; probably the most important one is that it will now handle cuboids (like the 3x3x2 cube). Again, the link is here.
I'm going to be adding some more stuff to the Rubik's Cube section soon. One thing I've already added is an advanced solution to the Pyraminx. I hope that there will be more stuff like this in the future.
Also, if you don't already know, I have a youtube account: my username is qqwref2. Why qqwref2? The first was a test account (and I've already got all the videos on the second one). Check it out if you want.
2/15/07
Well... this is my first update of 2007 (and the first update where I'm at least 17 years old). That's interesting enough as it is, but I have something even more interesting that I've been working on for a while.
It's a Rubik's Cube simulator program! It's designed for fast computer cubing, so if you already know how to solve the Rubik's Cube quickly you should be able to get similar times on this program, once you get used to the interface. I call it IsoCubeSim and this is its first public release! Try it!
11/22/06
I updated the Kururin record times... why not?
I've been working on some Java programs, recently, as I've been learning the language in school. One is a DDR-style practice program, where you can adjust the speed and difficulty, and the program will tell you how well you did, so you can improve. When I finish (which will take a while...) you'll be able to see them somewhere on this page. Yay! E-mail me if you have any suggestions (for either the practice program or any other program).
10/29/06
I suppose I should update this eventually... Oh well. I've been doing college applications... and origami! Take a look at the origami tessellations I've made at Flickr! They're great! I haven't put all of mine up on Flickr yet, but it's a pretty good sampling of my recent work.
5/06/06
I touched up the Articles page to have a nice
You may have noticed that the Math menu now contains a Sudoku section. I've had this for a while but never put it in the menu. Enjoy!
5/02/06
I've finally made serious record compilations for Kuru Kuru Kururin and Kururin Paradise. They're up on the Gaming -> Records menu. I may add some other games there later, but for now these are the ones that would really benefit from such a coordinated record effort. I've unified Zanapher's record listing, the cyberscore.net lists, Nintendo's official records, my own records, and FODA's and my TAS attempts into single lists that have the records as far as I know them. There's also a neat color scheme and little pictures for each level. If you've played either of these games, check it out! Now!
4/20/06
The big math contests of the year have been finishing up lately (in fact, the USAMO ended yesterday), so I have slightly more time on my hands (since I don't have to prepare). So, in celebration of only having APs left (*screams*) I've made the Trig Value Tables! They're very image intensive, but can be good reference guides (sometimes). What they do, basically, is give exact values for the sine, cosine, and tangent of various angles. The Lesser table has the values you're likely to find (multiples of 15 and 18 degrees), while the Greater table has a bunch of other, less common values (every multiple of 3 degrees). All of these values are in exact form - because decimals are too easy. Have fun with it!
Oh yeah, and I've been working a lot on data (dihedral angles, volumes, inradii, etc.) of various polyhedra, so some pages about that should be up soon.
3/27/06
I finished up most of the math section for the Rubik's Cube. I've added a site for the notation, finished up the mechanics page, and wrote an article about commutators. Now, I can add my solution method. I'm not going to do it today, but it's probably coming pretty soon.
3/18/06
I added a page of 5x5x5 Rubik's cube patterns. I've been working on these for a few days, optimizing and stuff, and they go back to when I was in France last year. I'll put up some of the longer or less spectacular ones later, but for now check out these.
2/23/06
It's been busy and I've been lazy. When I finish my Kakro graphical rendering program I'll start work on a page on that, but basically I don't have a lot of stuff to put up right now. It takes a lot more time than you'd think to write an article on, say, Rubik's cube mechanics.
But what I do have is the final (took a while) incarnation of a sliding block program. All of the sliding block puzzles in it (with the exception of the first one, that's a warmup) were invented by me, and there is a move count which represents the fewest number of moves that I was able to find a solution to the puzzle in (either by hand or by computer). If you beat any of those, send me a mail at my e-mail address. Have fun! Good luck! (And if you can solve Claustrophobic by yourself, you're really good.)
2/5/06
Well, I fixed a bug that would make the menu display incorrectly in IE with any default text size other than 'Normal', I fixed up the tables for IE, and I fixed all spellings of the word 'definitely'. Grr.
1/31/06
Most of what I've been doing recently is fixing up the menu. I changed the C++ graphic and redid the subcategories for the Rubik's Cube. I made an HTML page which opens the other HTML projects in separate windows. I put up all of the Cubing things, even if they don't have any content yet. I made a page of my juggling records and a page for cool juggling stuff (although nothing's there yet). Finally, I made a page for all of my game FAQs I've made over the years. There are still 8 menu links that don't go anywhere (although that's way better than yesterday).
1/29/06
I made a C++ section. (I should change it from Visual C++...) There are only two programs on it, but I'm going to try to include a bunch of older texty ones. I should finish reading that C++ game programming book.
I also made a rudimentary TI-83 section and modernized the Flash section. Those links will work now.
1/27/06
More links. What? I know you're getting tired of the long, useless updates by now. I'm making this one short.
1/25/06
Yet another CSS/layout update. I've been using .innerHTML to change the contents of the menu, but the problem with that is that the browser must load the code from scratch and reformat the page accordingly. Another problem was that the HTML of the separate submenu images had to be in the JavaScript and couldn't be correctly formatted. I've changed it so that, now, it loads everything but sets the submenus to "display:none" (a widely-supported CSS command). The JavaScript, much smaller now, simply sets one submenu's display value to "inline". Also, I've worked out a fix for the final bit of spacing in IE: I used "position:relative" to manually move the graphical menu bottom up a few pixels (as all of the margin/padding ideas I had failed miserably). So the submenus should open much faster, the HTML will be neater (and I'll be able to edit the menu with much less difficulty - yay!), and the only problem is that you have to load all of the images before doing anything. But that should be OK, right?
You probably won't notice this, but I also added a Cube Math section to the Cubing submenu. I'm going to put mathematical and group-theoretical discussions there, as well as an all-important article about the mechanics of the cube. Coming soon... maybe.
1/23/05
On the advice of my friend Kit - and with the help of this great page on the CSS Box Model Hack - I have tweaked my menu to actually work in IE now. I fixed most of the spacing issues and the menu is in the right place (next to the content) now. Yay.
1/21/06
Yes, it's been a month, but I've been thinking of how I'm going to structure my Cubing and Juggling pages, and so I should be able to work on those now. I've also been doing some programming in Flash with a new hit-detection algorithm my friend Jake showed me, and a game based on that should be up soon.
12/20/05
I've added a rudimentary treasure hunt so far.
12/19/05
Finally... another update. Well, it's not much, but it's there. I changed the menu around to make the header look better and, at the same time, allow the menu to float on the left (which I think is a great aid in navigation). I also fixed two links in the menu, and added exactly one more link in the links page. There's a page for my sudoku puzzles, but I haven't yet made a main page, so y'all'll have to hang on for a while.
My next plans (now that I have my looooong break, of course) are to start work on my Sudoku site, to add a LOT more juggling tricks, to start up my cool juggling patterns page, to get some coin info up, and to, in general, make everything shtml-ized.
11/29/05
I haven't actually started the Sizeable Sudoku-Solving Site, but I have made a page about cool money, which is in the Random links section. I also did some updating of the projects section (which is also, coincidentally, filed under Random). I have been thinking about the Sudoku, Rubik's Cube, and Juggling pages, and I should have a bit more stuff (even if it's only some lists) up soon. The thing about the lists is that (hopefully) each item in the list will have its own little web page, and someday when I have a lot of free time I'll actually make them all. For now, it's a good way to dispel those annoying 404 pages, and it's also a way for you to see the stuff that will be there eventually (and e-mail me if you want something up quickly!).
11/26/05
My FTP's been down for a week or so, so I haven't been able to update. However, a few things that should be up now or very soon are my General Wish List, the Sizeable Sudoku-Solving Site, and a bunch more Crappy Juggling Tutorials. See you there!
11/05/05
OK, the changes are finally commencing. I've got the basic page/menu layout looking great and working fine in Mozilla; in Internet Explorer, I finally managed to fix the not-showing-up-at-all problem I'd been having, and so although the page will work there will be some extra space in the menu. Sorry, but I really couldn't get rid of that. It's annoying, I know. Anyway, I'm starting to convert everything over, and so in a few hours a good portion of the site will be like this. The menu and stuff is XHTML Transitional 1.0 valid. Nice.
I also added a links page to the menu, so you can finally get to the Links page (it's under the About Me section).
11/02/05
This is the Big Change Week. By this, I mean that within a few days the website will be FOREVER changed. Although the recoding is still in its gamma testing (almost done, just a few more cool things to add - most of the coding is actually already done). The major changes include:
So, as I said before, most of this is already done, I just have to rename some stuff and copy some stuff. This is proven to work on newer versions of Mozilla and Safari; if it doesn't work on your browser just mail me and tell me so. (This news will still be at www.mzrg.com/oldnews.html for a week or so - remember this in case you can't see the new site).
10/29/05
I've been trying to get SSI to work for a week or so now. When I can, I'm going to CSSize the header, menu, and (random) footer so I don't have to use tables. Then I'll just copy an include statement into the top and bottom of all my HTMLs. Easy. I might have to use an iframe or some javascript for my menu, though. It's pretty simplistic now. Anyway, I changed the math problem solution to have a simpler solution and a much smaller image; I finished the set of Kururin Paradise pages and modified the Records page to look better and accomodate more games soon (Mario Party Advance, Banjo Pilot, etc.); and I added a few things to the links page.
10/14/05
Well, I added a solution for one of the math problems. But that's about it. Very-soon updates will be a section in the FAQ for where to find stuff, a better projects page, and possibly a non-frames method of reloading part of the page. We'll have to wait and see.
10/10/05
Lots of random updates this time. First off, the Flash stuff should work now. Go in Animations under the Programming menu. Second, I put up some math stuff. Graphs has a new page of graph pictures, and Puzzles has some math problems I've made. Third, under Random and Articles, there's a little evolution/creationism article I wrote. Fourth, I added Method of Communication to the Vital Stats page. Fifth, I added a Kururin Paradise records page under the Games Records section, but there's a 99% chance you've never played that game so you probably won't go looking there. I'll have more stuff there later, promise. See? All this stuff is coming... slowly....
10/05/05
I added a few things to fill up the links on the left. In a few days to a week every link there should at least go to a page, even if there isn't much at all there. So I put in the laws and made a new MZRG page (complete with SI units!), put in the juggling page, and collected a bunch of images I'm going to use to make an image gallery. Yay. I also put up the HTML page on the Programming section. If you've been looking for my games, they're in the VB section there; sorry if that isn't obvious. I think I should put that in the FAQ.
Oh hell is that todo list long. I think I'm going to put up a todo list just to show you how annoyed I am that every time I get bored and feel like I have nothing to do I'm too bored to actually want to work on the website. It's so annoying. You have no idea.
10/04/05
Due to an idea from a friend who doesn't have Java, I've changed the juggling pages so that if you don't have Java instead of berating you it helpfully tells you the siteswap that that particular animation is animating. Also, it's colorful now. It's not aesthetic; it just makes it easier to follow the balls, especially in the harder patterns that will come later.
Oh yeah, and if the annoying page's link didn't work, it's your fault for not using Firefox or Mozilla. Shame on you. But it doesn't really matter, it just opens a new window that's even more annoying than a link that should work but doesn't. Yay. I fixed that too. Now it displays on prime numbers! Just try to escape! Muwahahahaha...
And I added about two links. I'm lazy.
9/30/05
First of all, Disaster Labs is back up, so I took down the mirror. Second, I have a new links page that, although I've worked on it for at least an hour, isn't at all done yet. Third, I've made a new annoying page. OK. Go away now.
9/25/05
What have we here? An actual update? Not really. You see, Disaster Labs is (possibly permanently) down, and a comic I sort of like was there, so I decided to make a mirror of it. I've downloaded all of the images and made the HTML neater (not that you care, but I really do) and put it here. Enjoy. Or not.
9/24/05
I added a page for 5 ball juggling... No, seriously! That's it! I have to work on the USAMTS in the next week because I haven't done it yet... But there's some cool new stuff coming. I'm planning a video game music page, a series of FAQs, reviews, codes, etc. on certain video games, a bunch of cool math problems I've collected, some pages on Sudoku, Griddlers, and Slither Link, a very much updated links page with a bigger scope (puzzles, games (FAQs, Mario, Nintendo), Rubik's puzzles, juggling, programming (HTML, CSS, C++, Java, VB), etc.), a more up-to-date projects page, some of my video game records (especially in Planarity), a minisite specifically for Mr. Driller, a bunch of cool patterns on the 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 Rubik's Cubes, a video game ROM/OST request page, an actual link to all of the old stuff, a little dictionary of Mario-based stuff, some new Flash animations, some pictures and stories of cool money (I got a bunch of old German and etc. notes a while back), a better list of all those laws, some actual C++ stuff, a more complete Googol, a discussion of permutation group sizes of various algorithms on the Rubik's Cube, a page of my juggling records and accomplishments, possibly some videos of video games, geometrical considerations of various ratios on polyhedra, a page for the Cool Graph Contest (for which I'm accepting applicants for the 2005 one, and in a few months the 2006 - just wait), some origami that I like or that I have made, a discussion of mental math techniques and hints, an image gallery for all the crazy random stuff I've made, a bunch of political and otherwise articles, and some kind of treasure hunt where you go to different pages to find something. Just wait! It's all coming within the next few months/years! It'll be awesome! Or not. Just wait...
9/05/05
I've been working on a juggling page (it's the first thing under the juggling menu on the left), but it doesn't have a lot of meat on its bones yet. I've been preparing for school - it starts tomorrow. Maybe I'll work on stuff a bit more then. Who knows...
8/24/05
Nothing exquisitely major, but I have basically been moving stuff around on the site. The links that have places to go should work now (or very soon), and the blue backgrounds have mostly been changed into white. Yay. If you notice something that still says "©2004" then tell me, though, OK?
8/18/05
So it's the summer. Going into 11th grade, etc. But I finally have some free time! So here it is... the new model for the site. Don't update your bookmarks just yet, though; what is www.mzrg.com/new now will be the home page from very soon on. (The old stuff will be in www.mzrg.com/old/.) Notice that: (1) I've changed the background to white; (2) There are only a few menu items; (3) this is the first update in ten months. Yay. I'll change everything over when I finish the transfers and get all the stuff over there. And about those Laws: I have about twenty of them somewhere.
OK, I have to tell about the stuff I've done. The new sections separate basically anything I'd want to put on the site into seven categories. "About Me" is stuff about me personally, and about the website (the FAQ, descriptions, news, etc.). "Programming" is games, animations, etc. that I've made myself. "Cubing" is everything having to do with the Rubik's Cube and its various incarnations. "Juggling" is (predictably) stuff having to do with juggling. "Gaming" is games, of course, but there are a few sections: a record tracker, a video page, a little dictionary thing maybe... I dunno. The "Math" is math and science, basically cool stuff that requires intelligence to fully comprehend. Finally, "Random" is everything else - image galleries, rants, articles, unfinished and finished projects... Yeah.
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