Thinking outside the box

[Glenn]

I found this reply interesting.

 

On 6/12/2016 at 0:04 PM, Glenn said:

DO NOT build a box, that way you do not have to think outside the box. ALL options can then be considered.

 

One example of the freedom to solve problems is the following:

What is half of eight ?  Most people will say 4, from the days of the school room (box).

For those that do not build a box or live in a box, the answer is 3 if you cut 8 in half N to S.  If you cut 8 in half E to W the answer would be 0.

All three answers would / could be correct depending on your mindset at the time of the question.

 

What are some examples where someone had a clever way to solve a problem, or the solutions that free thinkers have come up with to solve a problem, outside the box ?

 

[Mark Ling]

well, a while back I was telling a joke that went like this-" you have 7 oranges in one hand, and 9 pears in the other, what do you have?" the answer was "really big hands" but the person I was telling it to said " 25 oranges" because when I said "9 pears in the other hand" he thought I meant 9 pairs in the other hand. so he multiplied 9x2 and got 18 and then added 7 and got 25. I thought it was a clever misunderstanding.

                                                                                                      Littleblacksmith

[John in Oly, WA]

I'd say you have the start of a fruit salad.

 

[Glenn]

When you see a lug wrench in the form of an X with three sockets and a pry tool for removing the hub cap, do you see a tire tool?

Or do you think I could bend two of the arms 90 degrees and make a 3 candle holder or candelabra ? Just use the pointed end to stick it in a wooden stump or the ground.

[ThomasPowers]

I see large spiders climbing up the walls...

[JHCC]

Sometimes you have to be creative about thinking into the box. I remember reading in of the "old timer" profiles in one of the Foxfire books an anecdote wherein the teller of the tale related the frustration of someone who couldn't fit a handsaw into his toolbox and offered anyone five dollars if they could get it in:

"So I took a screwdriver, popped out the screws from the handle, chucked the whole thing in the toolbox, and said, 'Gimme the five bucks!'"

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

I see large spiders climbing up the walls...

I told you to stay away from the brown acid!

[ThomasPowers]

You should be down here when the tarantulas go on walkabout! 

[gote]

Quiz master: You have a 6 feet long board if you cut it into two, how long are the pieces.

Paddington: 6 feet.

Quz master: Haha wrong they are 3 feet long.

Paddington: I cut lengthwise!

[Glenn]

You can also cut corner to opposite corner on the diagonal to make a wedge.

[Frank Turley]

That's all very well and good, but I'm still on occasion trying to get into the box, so to speak. That is, I see the works of Fritz Kuhn, Alfred Habermann, Johann Georg Oegg, or some other master, and try to figure out how they did some of the things that they did.

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, Frank Turley said:

That's all very well and good, but I'm still on occasion trying to get into the box, so to speak. That is, I see the works of Fritz Kuhn, Alfred Habermann, Johann Georg Oegg, or some other master, and try to figure out how they did some of the things that they did.

Or to quote the great Japanese poet Bashō, "We do not seek to imitate the masters; we seek what the masters sought."

[Frosty]

Reminds me of a job we were doing in Fairbanks. There was a local cafe not far from the college who had a great soup and bread daily special. A bowl of almost always darned good soup or chili and a small loaf of bread. Being a college haunt it was always full of kids and generally a fun pace to eat and hang for a while. One evening there's a fellow, older than the average kids and holding court in a booth across the isle.

As I was waiting and listening I attempted to join in on the joking as I did with most of the other kids. Unfortunately the fellow evidently didn't like the competition and I was too young and dumb to read the signs. I did however butt out. When my soup and bread came I proceeded to slice my mini loaf . . . lengthwise. I'm a dip, I love to dip sandwiches, etc. in soup so I sliced my mini loaf to maximize dippage.

The fellow cultivating followers eyes actually lit up I could hear the voice in his head say, 'AH HAH!' and he asks loudly enough to be heard in half of the cafe, "What are you doing?"

I replied . . .slowly, "Slicing my bread."

"You're doing it wrong, you're supposed to cut across the loaf!"

I replied even more slowly, "I'm slicing it with the grain."

Once again the AH HAH! glint came to his eyes and he said. NO FOOLING! Loudly enough to be heard in the entire cafe, "Idiot, bread has no grain!"

I didn't have to fake my look of stunned disbelief, he'd fallen for a line out of "Dobie Gillis" from the early 60s, hook line and sinker. Nobody said a word, everybody just stared at him as the look of shock converted his victorious expression to one of . . . I don't know, he just got up and left.

We were in Fairbanks for another couple weeks till we finished up the projects and I ate dinner at that cafe every day. some form of "cut your bread with the grain" had become sort of a moto.

Okay, so what's this box you guys keep taking about? I don't see no box.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Yea, more of a giant soap bubble, lol