I have a mini rubix cube on my desk. And there it has sat, unsolved, for over a year.

A few weeks ago, Ed P. walked in. Ed P., it turns out, is one of those rubix cube guys who can solve a cube in 41 seconds. He saw it, picked it up, and started turning. He commented on how the small rubix is significantly more difficult than the large and that mine in particular doesn’t turn very smoothly.

Then he put it down. The white side was complete, and the top edge aligned with the centers of each side.

Today he walked back into my cube, picked up the rubix again… fiddled… and about 12 seconds later the middle row was in perfect alignment.

It was a little magical. Here is a man who knows the algorithms of a rubix cube and can solve it. It’s almost like knowing a second language except more mechanical and less useful.