If it works, it ain’t stupid. Graceful and smart solutions don’t always have to be complicated—there’s a lot of beauty in simplicity. Especially simplicity that gives great results.
Today, we are featuring some of the coolest, most brilliant moments of out-of-the-box thinking to inspire you to approach challenges in a different way. Internet users took to a fun and enlightening online thread to share the silliest solutions to some of the most serious problems, and the stories are mind-blowing.
#1
Theres a story you get told in engineering school of a company that had a problem of empty boxes without product coming off the line and being shipped to customers. Hundreds of thousands is spent to refine the old equipment but it didn't solve it. Eventually a monitering system was designed and implemented to weigh each box as it come off the line and to flag and shut down the line each time an empty box made it through. This solved the issue as designed. Several months later the owner decides to check on the syestem and see how many empty boxes are being flagged and finds that in fact none are being flagged, however the problem with empty ones shipping hasn't reoccured either. He goes to to the plant floor to investigate and discovers that a low level employee, tired of having to restart the line every time a box is flagged has simply placed a large fan next to the conveyor prior to the weigh station, this blows the empty boxes off the conveyor while the ones full of product are to heavy to be moved by the fan.
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131points
#2
I worked in a restaurant and we would get big boxes of lettuce that were stapled shut. When you opened them you had to double check to be sure no staples got into the lettuce. If you couldn’t account for all the staples you had to search through the lettuce. Guy comes in from another branch. Lettuce arrives and he flips the box over. The bottom isn’t stapled it’s taped. Problem solved.
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104points
#3
Instead of having the confusion of a “men’s” bathroom and a “women’s” bathroom at my work, we just took the signs off the doors. Both are individual bathrooms, and have a toilet, sink, soap, paper towels, and a locking door.
Now, when someone needs to use the bathroom, all they have to do is knock first (courtesy) and then use whichever bathroom is available when they have to go.
No need to worry about men in the women’s, women in the men’s, or any of the nonsense about transgender people using the “wrong” bathroom.
Now, when someone needs to use the bathroom, all they have to do is knock first (courtesy) and then use whichever bathroom is available when they have to go.
No need to worry about men in the women’s, women in the men’s, or any of the nonsense about transgender people using the “wrong” bathroom.
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92points
Unfortunately, not all massive problems have simple solutions. Some issues—like climate change—are global, complex, and require an interconnected approach to solve not just the 'symptoms' but the underlying issues.
Protecting the environment on a global scale, for example, requires a massive shift in values and mindset, economic and business overhauls, changes in social structure, a different way of governing, and action on an individual scale.
The severity of climate change issues can’t be understated. Europe is dealing with massive heat waves right now. Half of France is under red heatwave alerts, as record-level temperatures are hitting the country. For instance, in Bordeaux, temperatures reached a whopping 40 degrees C on Sunday (that’s 104 degrees F).
Meanwhile, later this week, it is predicted that temperatures in parts of England could reach a mind-melting 38 degrees C (100 degrees F).
#4
Unsure if it's silly or genius but here is one
Back when cars were a luxury, a certain tire manufacturer was looking for ways to stay in business. When people aren't buying lots of tires you don't get the money - so what did they do? They distributed guides for good restaurants around the country that are worth a visit. Now car owners started going longer distances and had to replace their tires sooner because they would actually wear out.
That company is called Michelin.
Back when cars were a luxury, a certain tire manufacturer was looking for ways to stay in business. When people aren't buying lots of tires you don't get the money - so what did they do? They distributed guides for good restaurants around the country that are worth a visit. Now car owners started going longer distances and had to replace their tires sooner because they would actually wear out.
That company is called Michelin.
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70points
#5
Warsaw used mussels as part of its water contamination warning system. They literally attached sensors to mussels and watched whether the shells suddenly snapped shut. If enough mussels closed at once, the system would trigger an alert.
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69points
#6
So back in 1980 my dad was a detective and they were working what was called a "sting" where they pose as a pawn shop that also fences stolen goods. The problem was that they couldn't always get the suspects to look into the two-way mirror so that they could be secretly photographed. The solution was to frame the mirror with pictures of undressed women. They never had a problem with suspects not looking into the mirror after that.
This tactic was used in the hilarious 1979 movie "Hot Stuff" which I remember seeing in the theater with my parents in 1979.
Then dad used it in real life to nab some real life thieves.
This tactic was used in the hilarious 1979 movie "Hot Stuff" which I remember seeing in the theater with my parents in 1979.
Then dad used it in real life to nab some real life thieves.
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68points
The UN explains that some actions that you can take for the sake of a healthy planet include things like:
- Saving energy at home and changing your home’s source of energy
- Walking, biking, taking public transport, or switching to an electric vehicle instead of driving a diesel or gasoline car
- Reducing the amount you fly
- Reducing consumption, reusing items, repairing goods, and recycling
- Eating more veggies, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds instead of meat and dairy
- Throwing away less food
- Planting native species in your garden
- Cleaning up your environment
- Voting with your wallet by supporting responsible products and companies
- Engaging your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, business owners, and leaders about taking climate action
#7
Turning a device off and back on again. it sounds like a joke, but it's solved an embarrassing number of serious tech problems.
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67points
#8
We had a material that would seperate and form a crust if it sat in a warehouse too long. Customers would open the can and see the crust and complain. Our competitor had a similar problem with their product. Their solution was to put the cans in the box upside down, thus the crust would form at the bottom and the customer wouldn't notice until they were basically done using the product.
64points
#9
Aortic sleeves are a common treatment for weakened heart vessels because one patient happened to be an engineer who said "if it's just a bad pipe, why can't we put a graft around it to support it", as he would usually do for plumbing repairs.
64points
What are some of the simplest, silliest, and weirdest solutions that you’ve personally seen or come up with for fairly serious problems?
From your perspective, what are the biggest issues that society or the world at large is dealing with? How would you go about solving them, realistically, if you had the power and a substantial budget?
Let us know in the comments.
#10
Using straw brooms for detecting and finding hydrogen fires around space rockets and launch pads.
Hydrogen is very flammable, very eager to leak, and has the nasty feature that flames are almost invisible (you'd see something if it's dark around, but in daylight - forget it). So you just walk with a broom, keeping it in front of you and checking any suspect spots. If the broom suddenly catches fire - bingo, you found the burning leak!
Hydrogen is very flammable, very eager to leak, and has the nasty feature that flames are almost invisible (you'd see something if it's dark around, but in daylight - forget it). So you just walk with a broom, keeping it in front of you and checking any suspect spots. If the broom suddenly catches fire - bingo, you found the burning leak!
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64points
#11
One way to improve fault detection in factories is to put googly eyes on things.
people get used to them and they notice when they're acting different, which means the machine is doing something unusual.
people get used to them and they notice when they're acting different, which means the machine is doing something unusual.
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64points
#12
Local pizza joint had a problem with juvenile delinquents hanging out on the stairs in front of the store. The solution was to paint the stairs pink and suddenly no one wanted to hang out there any more.
60points
#13
We used to take our 2 dogs out to the park but one had a habit of chasing birds until she was lost. We tried training, distracting with food. Nothing worked. The other one was good as gold. After nothing working. We attached the bird brains leash to the good as gold dog and eventually birdbrain learnt the lesson. .
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55points
#14
In Zimbabwe they had a prolonged drought that resulted in extreme water rationing. As a result of people not flushing often to save water, the sewage started drying out in the pipes, causing clogs. Their solution was to coordinate city-wide flushing at a specific time so that there was a torrent of water coming down with enough force to clear the pipes.
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53points
#15
The first particle accelerators had a problem: The inaccessible and extremely expensive interior pipes needed to be cleaned, but there was no reasonable way to clean them. They couldn't be taken out or opened without destroying them, and they couldn't get anything through the 300ft or so of their length that wouldn't horribly damage it in the process.
So they came up with a pretty ingenious solution: They trained a ferret to crawl through the particle accelerator while trailing a string behind herself. However this raised a new issue: her droppings wouldn't be cleaned by anything they could just pull through the accelerator by the string she was carrying...
The solution? Ferret diapers.
So they came up with a pretty ingenious solution: They trained a ferret to crawl through the particle accelerator while trailing a string behind herself. However this raised a new issue: her droppings wouldn't be cleaned by anything they could just pull through the accelerator by the string she was carrying...
The solution? Ferret diapers.
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50points
#16
When I was in college I was on a underwater robotics team. We were having an issue with the water rising our brushless motors. We figured we would need some sort of enamel coating that could be applied in a this enough layer so that it wouldn't slow down the motor casing.
We looked up how much something so specialized would cost and it was way out of our budget [very small because we were a community college]. Then I remembered some random fun fact that I have no idea where I learned it from: nail polish has enamel varieties and it even came with a tiny applicator [brush]. Cost is about $5 in 2013 money.
We took 5th on that years MATE competition and built the bot for $1500 [we got the "Biggest bang for your buck" award.
We looked up how much something so specialized would cost and it was way out of our budget [very small because we were a community college]. Then I remembered some random fun fact that I have no idea where I learned it from: nail polish has enamel varieties and it even came with a tiny applicator [brush]. Cost is about $5 in 2013 money.
We took 5th on that years MATE competition and built the bot for $1500 [we got the "Biggest bang for your buck" award.
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47points
#17
Ice cube. A company was shipping a product that had to stay below freezing. In a meeting they discussed the various sensors that could monitor temperature. The secretary said "Just put an ice cube in the box.".
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41points
#18
The original Apple Macintosh would sometimes not properly boot up and just stare at you with a sad Mac face, or it was show a blank screen. The problem was that the DRAM chips weren't sufficiently soldered to the logic boards so heat from running and (whatever) would cause the board to flex a bit and break the solder. The hac fix was "Lift the mac one inch off the desk and then drop it". That would usually cause the chips to make contact with the connection points again. It wasn't an official Apple fix but Customer Service would suggest it.
38points
#19
I worked at a large academic library years ago. We got a bunch of new computers that needed installed one summer, but we had a problem. They all came with internal speakers. A library is supposed to be quiet. We didn't want the speakers to be available to patrons because they will play their favorite music at full volume without any thought to the people around them trying to study. We also didn't want to disable audio completely. Headphones needed to work for student research or accessibility reasons. My manager figured out the Windows PCs the next day. We just unplugged the internal speaker wire the leads to the motherboard. No problem. The 12 Mac computers were still a problem though. Apple soldered their speakers to the board, and we couldn't cut the wires without voiding the warranty. Apple support and forums were useless. They basically all said that we should just mute the audio. (Not a solution to our problem) After a month of constantly telling discourteous users they had to turn off their audio and use headphones, I had a great idea. I spent around $30 dollars of the school's money to buy a dozen 1ft long headphone extension cables. I plugged them into the headphone jack on the back and zip tied the receiving end to the front of the unit. Apples are programmed to disable the external speakers when anything is plugged into the audio jack. Patrons sometimes unplugged the extension on back just to disturb everyone else around them, but most people got the message. They took out their headphones and plugged them into the extension cable.
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38points
#20
My dad had a hard time finding the light switches in the garage in the dark so he painted the light covers with glow in the dark paint.
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38points