Ping-Pong Balls
This is a self-improvement short story from the third book of Nabil N. Jamal, 'HARVESTS OF CHANGE' . I will be posting a new story every day on Linkedin. In my book I have credited all sources of my stories, but it is to be noted that all stories were rewritten using my own words.
My book contains 80 short stories, and it is available direct from me: email: [email protected], mobile: +(961) 3.30.30.38 (Lebanon).
THE STORY:
In 1964, the freighter “Al Kuwait” sank in Kuwait Harbor, with a cargo of 6,000 sheep. This harbor also contained the main desalination plant that feeds drinking water to the entire city. There were immediate concerns, if the sheep carcasses were left to rot inside the ship, and eventually float into the water intake of the desalination plant, it would lead to an environmental disaster. It was vital that the ship be floated to the surface without breaking its hull to prevent the carcasses from breaking free.
The Kuwaiti government studied the emergency with several specialists in marine recovery, and the solution presented by a Danish engineer, Karl Kroyer was chosen. Kroyer’s solution was simple; he injected 27 million Ping-Pong balls into the hold of the Al Kuwait, and easily raised her whole without damaging its hull.
When Kroyer was asked how he came up with this ingenious idea, he answered it was not his at all, that he had adopted it from a Walt Disney’s Donald Duck comic book, where Donald’s boat had sunk, and he pumped Ping-Pong balls to raise it to the surface.
Today, Kroyer’s method is a staple in marine salvage operations.
THE TAKEAWAY:
Sometimes an absurdly simple idea is the solution to a complex issue as in this story. You never know where or how you’ll find inspiration to solve a problem; but to improve your chances of inspiration, consider all options, read a lot - in various subjects, watch scientific discoveries in the TV News, explore any source that helps you widen your scope of knowledge, think out of the box, creatively, differently from others, then your unique solution may hit you, and you will shine above the rest.