How often do you pull up the kitchen table with mobile phone,newspaper or magazine in hand?Growing up, my mother did not allow anyone, including my father,to bring reading material to the dinner table. Not that there wouldhave been enough room with five children. The only mobile phonesthat existed were installed in fancy cars. I’m certain there weretimes we’d rather my dad have something to read than talk to usabout school or assign chores.I received my first physics lesson from my father while we sataround the table. I’d been collecting aluminum cans for a fewmonths with a friend. We lived next door to a hospital and couldeasily find cans in and around the many waste receptacles.One evening, my father saw us crushing cans by placing them onthe driveway and then stomping on them. Once crus