Why Didn’t I Think of That?!
Five clever – no, BRILLIANT – fixes to some truly vexing problems
IT USED TO BE ALGEBRA THAT MADE US SWEAT
Here’s the problem Young kids sitting in classrooms fidget by nature. Add maths to the equation and you’ll have kids chatting, bouncing off the walls, passing notes – anything but concentrating on schoolwork.
Why didn’t I think of that?! A US maths teacher installed small bike-pedal exercisers – think cycling machines without the seats or handles – under students’ desks with the hope that the kids would work off nervous energy and stay focused. “Before, they were drumming on their desks; they were touching other people,” the teacher, Bethany Lambeth, told a local news outlet. “They don’t do that anymore. Their feet are getting the movement out. There has been a huge increase in the quality of our students’ work and a decrease in the amount of missing work.”
FOR SHE’S A JOLLY GOOD STEALER!
Here’s the problem A Dutch department store had suffered countless petty thefts, but threats of arrest did not deter the shoplifters.
Why didn’t I think of that?! The store switched to a more painful deterrent: public shaming. The management hired a marching band, bought flowers, and made signs celebrating a “10,000th shoplifter”. Then, when security spotted a woman on the in-store cameras nicking some clothes, employees descended on her, jubilantly saluting her light-fingered ways. The embarrassed woman stood stunned amid the fracas. Then she pulled the party hat off her head, took a piece of ‘10,000th shoplifter’ cake and made her escape – with the band in hot pursuit.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
Here’s the problem Every day thousands of food retailers toss out perfectly good unsold food. The financial losses are easy to imagine, not to mention the volume that ultimately becomes garbage and landfill.
Why didn’t I think of that?! At the age of 20, Australian student Monica Davis hit upon the idea of connecting retail outlets with the public in real time to solve this highly wasteful problem. At day’s end, retailers snap photos of surplus food and post them to an app called Rumbl, along with a heavily reduced price. With that info fed directly to your phone, customers, charities and others in need can zero in on nearby bargains. Retailers gain a small profit for unsold food, those in need can have a good meal at a discount, and the volume of organic waste going to landfill is massively reduced. That’s a winwin-win for us – and another for Ms Davis, who earned herself a Young Innovator of the Year award for her brilliant solution.
GONE FISHING … FOR HELP
Here’s the problem A gas and utility company working on a Detroit street dug a 1.2-metre wide, 4.5-metre-long, 1-metredeep hole – and then inexplicably left it there. Meanwhile, thanks to a broken water main nearby, the hole quickly filled with water. For three years, community members asked the city council for help, but they came up empty (unlike the hole). Why didn’t I think of that?! Neighbours turned their urban crater into a glorious fishing spot by filling it with carp, bream and even goldfish. One neighbour told fox2detroit. com, “Why not do something positive out of something negative in our community?” And thanks to the publicity, the leak was fixed, the hole patched and the fish placed in a bathtub in preparation for removal to their new home in a community garden pond.
GOOSING THE GOOSE-STEPPERS
Here’s the problem Every year, neo-Nazis parade through the German town of Wunsiedel on the birthday of Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, who was buried there before his remains were disinterred in 2011 and cremated. And every year, Wunsiedelians are less than thrilled.
Why didn’t I think of that?! The German antiNazi group Fight Against Right hatched a plan to surreptitiously turn the 2014 march into an anti-Nazi walkathon. For every metre the skinheads walked, local businesses and residents donated €10 to EXITDeutschland, an organisation devoted to reforming neo-Nazis. News of the campaign helped line the march with people ironically cheering on the 250 Nazis while holding signs that read ‘If only the Führer knew’, reported vice.com. When it was over, the parade had raised almost €10,000 for EXITDeutschland. Tweeted one German: “This is how one should fight neo-Nazis – and not by behaving even more violently than them.”