Hard to beat the string algorithm for finding shortest paths on a positive weights network (e.g. build the network out of string where topologies match and link

Hard to beat the string algorithm for finding shortest paths on a positive weights network (e.g. build the network out of string where topologies match and link lengths are link weights, find the origin and destination nodes/knots of interest, grab the two nodes and pull until taut). Or the spaghetti approach to finding the largest value from a list of positive values (e.g. cut dry spaghetti noodles to length for each value, bundle them together and tap the bundle on a table, the one visually sticking out the most is the largest valued element).