I have always been admired by those nameless, but the main people of humanity, who gave the world their ingenious inventions.

Beautiful blond woman drinking hot tea outdoors

They gave it, because their creations are so ingeniously simple that once they see it, anyone can repeat the miracle: Fire Wheel Sail Bow Lever, but you never know ...

Each of these things has divided the history of mankind into "before" and "after".

This is not some redneck iPhone, from which they will soon take money even for charging the battery ...

Truly great discoveries - ingenuous and understandable - I saw, bungled, applied the feeling that your entire tribe began to work only for you ...

And as a director and seeker of strong emotions, I have always been interested in people's reaction to a miracle.

And then one day I was lucky. I saw with my own eyes how the ancient people, who had been pulling loads on themselves all their lives, saw the wheel for the first time ...

Winter, Ivanovo region. Dense forest. The cameraman and I came to shoot a documentary about local crafts. A student from Finland, Ilma, was handed us a load. A Finca is like a Finca, small, strong like a stool, cheerful, sociable and speaks Russian. Well, not a burden.

Concentrated Ilma ran with her camera through the deep snow and with her thick knitted mittens somehow managed to press the REC button. Thesis is not a hukhry-muhry.

The lumberjacks were afraid of us and, just in case, were cordial and welcoming, as we had tea with their governor yesterday. You never know, suddenly he will let the wind blow to them by the thirty-degree frost, then in general there is a pipe.

The shooting was fun and brisk, otherwise you could freeze.

I measured the length of the shadows from the pine trees, then stuck a stick into the snow and figured out the ratio of its height to the length of the shadow, divided, multiplied, counted steps and got the point at which the top of the cut tree should fall.

Then I put a camera in this place (just in case, without an operator) and Ilma (who for some reason believed my calculations, after all, I kept silent that at school in geometry I had a solid, almost deuce).

But everything went like clockwork. Lumberjacks "smiled" the trunks in the right direction and the mighty hundred-year-old pines fell with a crash right at the feet of our tripod and the boots of the brave Finka.

However, we got stiff enough and decided to take a break for hot tea.

The lumberjacks began to fuss - one began to briskly cut firewood for the fire with a chainsaw, the second trampled down the place, the third climbed into the tractor for special fittings and a hammer to hang the kettle over the future fire.

The fourth brought a huge frying pan with wires tied to it and boasted that these wires were his personal invention, otherwise everyone had to take turns holding the handle over the fire until the potatoes were fried ...

The operator and I rubbed our chilled hands in joyful anticipation and only Ilma asked with a pleading voice:

- And you can first have hot tea and lunch, and only then a bonfire and others winter fun? Excuse me, but I'm very cold ...

The lumberjacks looked at each other, grinning stupidly, but realizing that everything in Finland is not the same as in Russia, they tried to patiently explain that, they say, we don’t know about you, but in our forest in the thirty-degree frost it’s impossible to brew tea without a fire. Here is a dear young lady, there is no gas, no sockets. So you have to wait. Here Sanya will cut a couple more branches and there will be a fire, then you will warm up.

Ilma did not understand anything about the gas or about the socket and, irritated, said:

- So I ask - no need for a fire - it takes a long time, just make a fire - boil the kettle and warm up ...

Here the lumberjacks were already slightly tense, one even either jokingly, or seriously held out a lighter to the Finn.

She took it, put it in a mitten and asked Sanya for a chainsaw.

Sanya gave.

And the Finn from a novice director instantly turned into a fabulous little robber. She famously cut out a large log of pine, about thirty centimeters in diameter, and put it on the end, it turned out to be up to her waist. We watched her like children at a magician, it was clear that a chainsaw is as familiar to her as a hairdryer is to our girls.

Then the Finn unscrewed some kind of lid and poured a few drops of oil from the chainsaw into the center of the wooden cake, splashed a little gasoline from the tank, gave the owner the unit, took out the lighter from the mitten and struck ...

From the beginning of her work, until the appearance of the most real gas stove exactly one minute passed. After another ten, we were all drinking Mint tea, and potatoes with bacon were already squirting on the wooden burner.

The fire did not need to be supported in any way, it burned by itself - beautifully and evenly burning the log from the inside, as if an ingenious gas-cylinder structure was hidden in the middle of the log. And it lasted not five or ten minutes, but almost an hour ...

Ah, what picturesque faces experienced lumberjacks had. It is a pity that the camera is frozen, otherwise I would have filmed it for history. At first, they whispered incredulously, expecting a trick, but when they realized that there would be no trick and that their life was divided into "before" and "after", then they poured out their souls with joyful interjections:

- About them ...

- Your mother ... well ...

- Fuck ... b ...

If Ilma suddenly shouted - "On your knees!"

I have no doubt the lumberjacks would have fallen.

No one else worked that day, they tore each other's saws and built wooden stoves, still not believing their happiness.

And when we were leaving the forest in the back of a tractor, we were accompanied by a snowy clearing decorated with dozens of magic lights and joyful running people who, from that day on, didn't need any firewood, no brazier, no wire in a frying pan ...

If you only knew how nice it is to be at least attached to Prometheus ...

“Everything ingenious is simple,” the amoeba loved to repeat, basking in the sun's ray. Joke? Of course! But how often, finding an elegant and original way out of a difficult situation, we utter this catch phrase. It has become so familiar that we no longer think about its deep meaning, or about who owns this statement.

Meanwhile, it is very difficult to find its author: numerous sources attribute authorship to various great people. For example, Albert Einstein, who allegedly once dropped this thought. Alas, this is not the case. The creator of the theory of relativity, of course, followed the principle that everything brilliant is simple, if he claimed something like that, then not in such a version. Or Winston Churchill, who noticed not without reason that all great things are simple (the same thing, by the way, was said by our writer E. I. Zamyatin). Very close and similar, but some semantic difference is felt.

The most likely author of this catchphrase still has to be considered Joseph Goebbels, who used this formulation in his article "Twenty Tips for a Dictator ...". In the same place, the Reich propaganda minister wrote that small people tend to hide insignificance behind complex things. Well, useful thoughts are sometimes encountered in the works of villains, although genius and villainy, as you know, are incompatible.

However, one should not ascribe to Goebbels “full-fledged” authorship: he just paraphrased the great Leonardo da Vinci, who argued that simplicity is the ultimate limit of experience and the last effort of a genius. This, by the way, sounds fairer, because the difficult path traveled by the creator often goes unnoticed, and the result of his searches seems simple and logical. But can Leonardo's sculptures, Newton's laws or general relativity be considered simple? Then it should be noted that nothing is given as difficult as apparent simplicity!

Columbus can be considered another "author" who clearly proved the truth of the principle "all ingenious is simple". According to legend, he offered his interlocutor, who arrogantly asserted that it was not difficult to discover new lands, a simple task: to put the egg vertically. When he failed to cope with the task, Columbus cleverly solved it, broke the egg at one end, and then put it on the table.

But it turns out that we need to look for the original source of the well-known phrase even deeper, in the days of early Antiquity, turning to the work of the ancient Greek Euripides, playwright and philosopher. In the play "The Phenicians", he noticed earlier than anyone else that the words of truth are simple, and it is certainly difficult to argue with this.

These, and probably many more thinkers, scientists, pioneers, should be considered the authors of the wisdom about simplicity and genius, which we use with pleasure, getting out of confusing situations or solving difficult problems. But we can take the risk and assume that they only carefully read what Nature herself wrote in her great book, which, as you know, is very fond of simple, graceful and beautiful solutions to complex issues. Perhaps it is she who needs to give this controversial authorship.

Image source: albrainger.ru

Industrial design is, generally speaking, a very complex thing. But its results should be as simple as an orange - and even simpler: only then will they cause an exclamation: "Wow!" and an envious thought: "And how did I not think of this? Obviously!" Exactly such ingenious and simple packaging design solutions we have collected in today's review. Enjoy!

Packaged knife

This solution is just ... just brilliant... When you buy disposable oil, there is usually nothing to spread it with. A dense knife-shaped lid that can be used to spread butter on daily bread is an invention of the designer from Korea Yeongkeun Jeong.

Cover for weak fingers

Sometimes they count on some Ilya of Muromets: they are not up to the shoulder not only for fragile women, but also for many men. How to be? Change the shape of the lid a little - and voila! The lever gets bigger and the bottle opens wonderfully. The author of the idea is the South Korean Shao-Nung Chen.

Ingeniously simple spoon

"Both honey and a spoon" - alas, life does not always give us what we need. You open yogurt and you have to get dirty, because there is no spoon. But there is a cover! Another Korean genius, Cho Hye-seung, suggests using the lid as a spoon - you just need to bend it a little.

Best sippy bottle

For thousands of years, people vegetated in ignorance and poured wine on the ground, pouring it into mugs. In order not to be so upset, they even invented all sorts of gods who supposedly drink the spilled. But then she came into the world - and the wine stopped pouring past the glasses! Bacchus became sad and disappeared.

Simple non-spill lid

Another solution to the problem of non-spillage is a special cap. Invented by Japanese designer Shota Aoyagi, the Roofers cap makes liquid flow where it needs to be: under the action of surface tension, the water "sticks" to the elongated tongue of the plug.

Smoking is poison

The Ministry of Health warns, warns, warns ... And some just laugh. As a final proof for them, they came up with a pack of cigarettes in the form of a coffin. Ingenious, simple and earnestly... The authors are Kievites from the creative agency Reynolds and Reyner.

Cover with key

Some people do not spare their poor teeth at all: they make them open beer lids! But what if there are no sharp corners nearby? Is that to invent tin cover from beer with an opener built into it. Or call a boron ambulance.

Ingenious beer crate

Speaking of beer. The next proof of the thesis "all ingenious is simple" is a box that will cool foamy drink even in the heat. The method has long been known and used on beaches: you just need to fill a bottle with water. The transparent bottom of the Beer Crate, invented by Mexican designer Luis Luna, is a kind of plastic basin.

Simple utility cover

In the one we recently described, the control ring is not a simple one, but a golden straw. You can straighten it and drink it! True, the straw will turn out to be 9 centimeters long - more for a glass than for a bottle.

Wine corks with animals

Invented by the Dutch designer Charlotte van der Hors, they look lively and unusual: they seem to hint that since the animals are plunged headlong into the bottle, then you should have a drink with them. Cork connoisseurs claim that the designer just made good use of scissors, rubber animal figures and glue ... But it worked out well!

On this idea, we will conclude our review. packaging, simple to the point of genius... But this review is not the last - while there is still creativity in the powder flasks of industrial designers.

Have you decided to change the interior in your apartment and intend to use the services of a designer? Do not rush, because a creator lives in each of us! You can make the apartment brighter and more interesting on your own, using useful tips from our article.

Hang the curtain on these hooks. Perfect solution for those who live in a rented apartment or who are just too lazy to drill holes in the wall.

Are the old necklaces lying around? Use these to add a bohemian look to the room.

Change seasonal plants in the garden quickly and easily: just put in pots houseplants... Pots in pots - why didn't you get this idea earlier?

If your belongings are hanging in plain sight, cover the hangers with bright tape. Any bright summer dress on such a hanger will look simply incomparable.

Hide your router in a book cover. And if the thought of dismembering books seems awful to you, then take an old photo album or just a hardcover.

Draw patterns on the bulbs, and when you turn on the lights, they will cast cool shadows on the walls of your house.

Hang a beautiful wreath from an inverted hook, attaching it to the door.

Coarse rope on the curtains will give the room a rustic or sea ​​style... Loud applause for those who can tie a rope to real sea knots.

Cut an inexpensive bedspread in half for cute curtains.

If color is not enough for you, paint the side of the door. Not a bad compromise if you want to paint a room hot pink and your roommate doesn't.

By painting the sides of the drawers in the dresser, you will add some bright colors to the nursery.

Put tin can under a candle in a large vase - you will need much less filler, besides, the candle will stand more evenly.

Pour the mouthwash into a decanter. Why not feel like an aristocrat?

Light candles in the fireplace! Firewood? Who needs them?

Decorate your inconspicuous fan with colorful ribbons.

Cover the inside of the lampshade with glitter to create a bouncing effect. Great alternative disco ball.

Walls separated by paint will give the impression of higher ceilings.