SQUARE Watermelons

Grow your own SQUARE WATERMELONS: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-grow-a-square-watermelon-250894/

Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts and therefore don't have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets want a space efficient watermelon, they asked themselves, how can we provide one? It wasn't long before they invented the square watermelon.

The solution to the problem of round watermelons wasn't nearly as difficult to solve for those who didn't assume the problem was impossible to begin with and simply asked how it could be done. It turns out that all you need to do is place them into a square box when they are growing and the watermelon will take on the shape of the box.

This made the grocery stores happy and had the added benefit that it was much easier and cost effective to ship the watermelons. Consumers also loved them because they took less space in their refrigerators which are much smaller than those in the US - which resulted in the growers being able to charge a premium price for them.

Read the whole story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1390088.stm
What does this have do with anything besides square watermelons? There are a five lessons that you can take away from this story: http://www.hardknoxlife.com/2008/06/18/lessons-of-the-square-watermelon/
1.) Don’t Assume
2.) Question Habits
3.) Be Creative
4.) Look for a Better Way
5.) Impossibilities Often Aren’t

See the video at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqktRZ9t1GM