Outlier Lifestyle

2024-09-11

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Max Park’s 3.13-second world record underscores his dominance in speedcubing

American ‘speedcuber’ Max Park holds five world records in Rubik’s cube solving events. The 22-year-old also holds four average speed world records, which are based on five consecutive attempts with three counting towards the average.

In June 2023, Park set a new world record for solving the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube, completing it in 3.13 seconds. This broke the previous record of 3.47 seconds, set by Yusheng Du in 2018.

Speedcubers demonstrate exceptional speed and accuracy in manipulating the cube’s 43-quintillion possible configurations. Park won the World Cube Association World Championship in 2017 and 2023. He is one of only two speedcubers ever to win the title twice – the other being Australian Feliks Zemdegs.

Note: This chart was first published on 29 June 2023. Park has since lost the world record for average of five 3x3x3 solves with one hand (8.62 seconds), which he lost to Sean Patrick Villanueva from the Phillippines. Park was the first person to achieve a sub-10 second one-handed average in competition, with an average of 9.99 seconds on 13 January 2018.

2024-09-09

110kg

2024-07-22

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South African drivers are warming to hybrid EVs

South Africans are showing a preference for traditional hybrid vehicles over fully electric or plug-in hybrids. More than 6,000 traditional hybrid vehicles, which combine a internal combustion engine with a battery that charges while driving, were sold in 2023. This is 10 times the number sold in 2021.

Fully electric and plug-in hybrids remain less popular, with only 1,147 sold in same period. This is up from 384 in 2021.

According to AutoTraderSA, the most popular hybrid cars available in South Africa are the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid, the Suzuki Grand Vitara Hybrid, and the Honda Fit HEV.

The local market is far from developed by global standards. Fewer than 1% of vehicle sales in South Africa in 2023 were fully electric or plug-in hybrids (excluding traditional hybrids), while the global average was 18%.

All 500+ charts ➙

2024-07-12

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Mapping chess mastery: South Africa’s Jesse February shines as new African champion

South Africa’s Jesse February is the African women’s chess champion, winning gold at the 2024 African Individual Chess Championship. This is her second title, having first won in 2021.

The 27-year-old from Gqeberha is South Africa’s top-ranking female player and has held the title Woman International Master (WIM) since 2016.

Egyptian Shahenda Wafa, who came third at the African champs, is one of five African Women Grandmasters (WGM), the game’s highest title for female players. Her sister Wafa Shrook earned her title in 2013, while South African Melissa Greeff was just 15 when she received the WGM title in 2009.

South Africa’s only chess grandmaster is Kenny Solomon, who is one of three players from Sub-Saharan Africa to attain the title. The others are Zambian Amon Simutowe and Felix Izeta Txabarri from Senegal.

FULL STORY + CHART

2024-05-17

PostOwic

SA’s big e-sports winners

Twenty-five-year-old Ioannis Theodosiou is the top-earning South African e-sports player. His winnings to date amount to $196,451 (R3.7-million). Theodosiou, who goes by the player name JT, won most of his money by playing Counter-Strike Global Offensive. CS:GO is a first-person shooter game. Half of the South Africa’s top 10 highest-earning pro gamers also compete in the same game.

All 500+ charts ➙

2024-04-15

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Migration: Where South Africans are moving to

There were just more than 900,000 South Africans living abroad in 2020, with many choosing Australia and New Zealand as their new home.

2023-10-24

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What Census 2022 tells us about migration in SA

About 1 in every 4 people living in Gauteng was born in another part of the country.

2023-07-14

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Facebook stays a crowd favourite, while TikTok overtakes Instagram

South Africa’s social media scene: Facebook dominates, TikTok thrives and Threads takes on Twitter

2023-03-03

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The Outlier’s grocery basket: February 2023

Every month we take a look at the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across six major retailers – Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar, Food Lover’s Market and Woolworths.

2022-12-14

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Are all mince pies created equal?

No. Some are cheaper, others have more recyclable packaging, and not all come with nutritional information.