Why Prototype 1 Will Be Named “Mr. Yoshi’s Birthday” Names changed because Internet At about 16 I was in an Algebra class at a relatively small private high s

Why Prototype 1 Will Be Named “Mr. Yoshi’s Birthday” Names changed because Internet At about 16 I was in an Algebra class at a relatively small private high school in Fort Worth, and Mr. Yoshi was the teacher. Many of my classmates were older and had been on a less rigorous math-course track. Mr. Yoshi was Japanese and spoke with accented English, an even tone without many inflections which reflected his very calm personality, and I can still hear his personal way of saying “parabola” in my memories. Some of the older classmates, like Ron and Kevin, liked to try and get a rise out of Mr. Yoshi. One morning, Ron came in and said, “Happy birthday, Mr. Yoshi!” “Oh Ron,” Mr. Yoshi replied, “today is not my birthday.” Eventually Kevin, Ron’s pal, started doing it too. Every class, upon walking in, Ron and Kevin would tell Mr. Yoshi “Happy birthday” and every day he would give the same, calm response informing them of their mistake. It wasn’t mean spirited, it was just goofy. So one day while Kevin is mouthing off to Mr. Yoshi, he got personal. “Mr. Yoshi, what did you used to do before this? I mean, why would you want to be here with us?” “Before this,” Mr. Yoshi replied, “I worked for NASA designing and testing wings.” You could hear a pin drop in that classroom. Kevin even had to think for a minute. “Wait, Mr. Yoshi, you mean that you used to work for NASA and you left that to teach US?” “Yes, it was very boring.” Once the disbelief set in, I can honestly say that the room had an incredible amount of new respect for Mr. Yoshi. Here was a guy who worked at one of the premier places of science and math deciding that he wanted to teach immature teenagers Algebra and other math. It was mind blowing. Oh, and so I don’t leave you hanging – though our class with Mr. Yoshi had finished the previous semester, in the next semester, when it was Mr. Yoshi’s birthday, Ron, Kevin, and some buddies made sure to bring a cake and some balloons for him. I wasn’t there to see it, but I heard how he responded with a smile: “Oh yes, today is my birthday!”