If Tyson Mao looks familiar, it's because you probably know him from the “reality” tv show Beauty and the Geek 2. In this clip, he lives up to his title by solving a Rubik's Cube in front of a stadium full of San Francisco Giants fans, in less time than it takes him to sing the chorus from Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

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It looks like I need to add 5-year-old Sunwoo Ban to my list of amazing kids. At 5 years and 3 months, he could solve the Rubik's Cube in under two minutes!

Speaking of lists of amazing kids and Rubik's Cube, there is now an unofficial list of the youngest Rubik's Cube solvers available.

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Leyan Lo, according to Guinness World Records, currently holds the world record for fastest time to solve a Rubik's Cube, at 11. 13 seconds!

This video is also available on Google Video.

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I don't just write about mental feats, of course, I also perform them. So, I figured it was about time that I appeared on my own video blog! If you would like to learn this feat, you can read my original blog entry on the 15 puzzle magic square, which I posted about a year ago.

Update (7/2/06): I've just posted this same video over on Google Video.

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In this segment from the Brain Man documentary, some Japanese students demonstrate their amazing ability with the abacus. One part that is especially impressive in this clip is when the students use an imaginary abacus!

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ABS-CBN, the same Philippine television network that featured Ernesto Aragon, Jr., also has a talk show called “Homeboy”, with host Boy Abunda.

This particular segment features a math bee, in which regular guest “Mikee” is challenging fellow students from Ateneo de Manila University. The speed with which the answers are given to the challenges is simply amazing.

While the introduction is in Pilipino, most of the remainder of the clip is in English, so it isn't difficult to follow.

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Tony Fisher is a British archaeologist who, in his spare time, develops and sells original geometric puzzles that are fascinating variations on the classic Rubik's Cube. Above you see his overlapping cube. Before playing the movie, take a look at the still frame, and try and imagine how it could possibly turn. When you play the film, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

There are many other videos of Tony Fisher's wild creations on Google Video, as well. Watch them and be amazed at his imagination and workmanship.

Many of these are made with the existing mechanisms found in commercial puzzles, but with custom made pieces. If you have the time, interest and resources, perhaps all you need is some inspiration to get you started!

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Google Video

One simple, yet impressive, ability is being able to say the alphabet from z to a backwards. It can be learned in a surprisingly short amount of time, and with a little practice, is not difficult. The above video is not the only video of someone reciting the alphabet backwards. For example, Katie Wong can do this, as well.

The two aforementioned videos, however, are rarities in their own way, however. They're the only two I could find on YouTube which are done while sober (Update 6/24/06: I've found a third video of someone sober saying the alphabet backwards.). Almost every other video on YouTube, in which people are saying the alphabet backwards involves people drinking. I guess being able to say this while drunk would be handy, at least if this clip from Reno 911 is any indication.

If you would like to try learning it yourself, one simple way is to learn it like you probably learned it forwards, with a song. Thanks to The Famous, you can now learn a song for the bakcwards alphabet (Video courtesy of Eric Rice).

If you have difficulty learning it any other way, there is one other simple way to respond, if you're ever challenged to say Z to A backwards.

Update 6/25/06: On Google Video, there's a video of “Tyler” saying the alphabet backwards.

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Granted, my recent video entries have been a little focused on the Rubik's Cube, but that's only because I've managed to find plenty of impressive Rubik's Cube entries.

This video clip is of a Rubik's Cube competition on CCTV, a Chinese television station, and is almost 17 minutes long. The entire clip is in Chinese, but it is still quite easy to follow.

Before the contest itself, there is some discussion of Rubik's Cube variations, including Square 1, the Professor's Cube and Megaminx.

Next, the contestants perform demonstrate their talents. The first contestant quickly creates an L-shaped pattern on each side, which gives an amazing cube-in-cube look to the puzzle. The next contestant demonstrates his ability to solve the cube with one hand. The final contestant, picks up two solved cubes, and turns them each one handed until their sides read “CCTV”!

Finally, there is the competition itself. The challenge is to solve three randomly-scrambled Rubik's Cubes in the shortest amount of time. Who will win? Watch the clip and find out!

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Once you've managed to solve the Rubik's Cube, there are still plenty of challenges to meet. Solving the cube blindfolded is one way to make it more challenging. Another way to make the cube more challenging is to limit yourself to the use of only one hand, such as T. Wright in the above video, or Shotaro “Macky” Makisumi.

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I have very little information about this video. This is a math contest in a foreign country (China, according to the description) for 4th-graders. A long math problem is given verbally, and the two contestants work out the answer in their head, and then write them down.

The problem is given in English, so you can follow along if you wish, and see if you can do it in your head!

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How fast could the young lady in the previous entry get on the cube? If 6-year-old Chun Hoo Ulf Wong is any indication, there's plenty of room for improvement.

Chun Hoo Ulf Wong is able to solve the Rubik's Cube in only 37.89 seconds! With a speed like this, it's no wonder that his video can be found at many place around the web, including Google and MetaCafe.

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Continuing with our Amazing Kids Day, we have 4-year-old Yui Tomita from Japan who can solve the Rubik's Cube in only 3 minutes and 29.1 seconds!

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Being familiar with numerous math and memory techniques that make studying tasks much easier, I've often asked why techniques like this aren't taught in schools. Thanks to Willie Walker's Project Math Motivation, at least one school district is developing a generation of math whiz kids!

True, others such as Scott Flansburg are also teaching their techniques in schools, but I believe that techniques like this would be more beneficial if they were to become a regular part of every math curriculum.

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I've posted and linked to numerous videos of savants on this page, but Orlando Serrell is a very unusual case. He wasn't born a savant, and only became one after being hit in the head with a baseball when he was 10.

Since then, he can recall any day of the week for any given date, but on back to the date of the accident. He can also recall the weather in Virginia on that day!

The video also includes footage of Orlando undergoing an MRI scan, and an interesting analysis of the results.

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Speaker Bob Gray has a multitude of unusual talents. He can write upside-down and backwards in 7 different ways while blindfolded, and has a trained memory, both of which he demonstrates in this video (low-speed version).

He explains his unusual writing ability as the means by which he became a Canadian citizen, to prove he wasn't taking a job away from another Canadian.

The memory demonstration portion of the video is also impressive. In this demo, he recalls the capital cities of any given nation, and is able to give the population and area in square miles, too!

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Windows Media

This is Derek Clark, also known as “Tevinhead” (don't you love the online aliases that people choose?), who can recall Pi to 64 digits.

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YouTube