Monday, December 19, 2011

"do you know why a soup can is shaped the way it is? Why a soup can is a cylinder?" My dad would say.

I had never given it much thought, a soup can is a soup can is a soup can... it is what it is. I never thought of why it is what it is.

"Because they figured out, using calculus, that a cylindrical shape would hold the largest volume of liquid using the smallest amount of tin. Math is important." Then he would smile and walk away. I never checked his facts. As a child i found my parents to be the authority on everything after P found the fault in my logic I merely ceased to care about tin cans and calculus. I still don't much care about tin cans and calculus.

My dad never gave me advice, not real life advice. He is not that kind of person and that's perfectly ok.

One day my dad asked me what the fastest land mammal was. I responded with the cheetah, It was my favorite animal. A dog-like cat with a bone structure similar to a great dane. He told me I was wrong, that the correct answer was an ostrich. Not only is an ostrich considerably slower than a cheetah, its not a mammal. He was wrong. I was 8 and I corrected him.


My being right was wrong. Its frustrating.








1 comment:

  1. Wow, if anyone has ever related to that pain, it's me. This was very interesting and as I'm sure, good for you to write.

    ReplyDelete