My daughter, Meghan playing with the Apple Photo Booth app.  She is beautiful, even when her head is a little distorted.

Stunning, Dad!!

154 people have viewed my blog!  This includes 3 times reading my own blog!!  This (the 151 viewers, not my 3 personal reviews) is only important because it motivates me to keep writing.  I have no interest in being popular, only in being useful and enlightening.  I also have a minor sense of competing against my son, Jason, who also just started a blog.  How many viewers have you had Jason?  I have told Jason my whole life that I want to write a book and I am worried that he will beat me to it!!

Today was my first day being a "world class leader".  This is a designation that I shared with my wife recently when I stated "well, I am not a world class leader".  She then motivated me to become a world class leader and has been calling me one ever since.  I am not certain what the statement means, however, being called one and acting like one has definitely helped me to have a better day.

Here are the top 10 characteristics of a world class leader (in the Scott Goobie view of the world):

1) Humble
2) Patient
3) Decisive
4) High Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
5) Authentic
6) Generous Listener
7) Strong Presence
8) Deeply Passionate
9) Exceedingly Courageous
10) Visionary
11) Resonant (like a well tuned piano - in terms of relationships)
12) Left Brain Strong (analytical like an engineer)
13) Right Brain Stronger (creative like an artist)
14) Compassionate
15) Strong Willed

Yes, there are more than 10, so you can pick out the ones you like.  If I had to shorten the list to 10, I would combine #12 and #13 into 1, #8 and #15 into 1, and add sense of humour to #4.  I would combine #2 and #14 into 1 and then say, I can only reduce the list to 12.  Finally, I would add highly ethical to #5 and, in order to feel complete and help explain why there are still 12 top characteristics in my list of top 10, I would add "comfortable with ambiguity" to #4.

Now, if I boiled all 12 of those together and created the magical creature that had all of these in abundance, I am certain that the outcome would be somewhat different from me.  I am measuring those gaps and learning the practices and seeking the experiences that will grow Scott Goobie into this hopeful emerging future.

Thanks, Darling, for believing in me!!

Love, Dad

Good Morning,

In the latest court case which Apple lost, it seems that Apple had arranged with other publishers of  ebooks to pump up the prices of ebooks to address their concern over the low prices offered on Amazon.com.  It is hard to understand why this would be necessary given Apple's record profits, revenues and cash holdings.

This comes a month after it was revealed that Apple was also pumping up their earnings by skillfully moving their revenue around from country to country to avoid a reasonable level of taxation.  The term "reasonable" when applied to taxes is a difficult concept, when it is considered appropriate in most circles to do what ever is legally acceptable to lower the amount of tax that you are required to pay by sheltering your income.

For me, if the largest consumer products company in the world is achieving a tax rate below 10% of it's income, then this is unreasonable.  The company is employing practices which are uniquely possible due to it's overwhelming size and global reach.  It has lost it's shine as an attractive and reputable company in my view, due to these 2 recent events.

I remain a supporter of free markets and will continue to put freedom as our most cherished strength in North America.  The strength of all of our institutions is increased when companies and leaders and families and individuals follow good practices.  When we stop following good practices, trouble for all is sure to follow.

Be free and be good.

Dad

Welcome to my blog

I can foresee a time when my thoughts and words will be a benefit to someone.

Lighthearted, in love and always learning - my favourite place to be.  Airplanes, one of my favourite things to think about.

Something interesting about aircraft:  When a plane is taking off, it's performance limits (how far it can go, how many passengers it can carry) is calculated based on the requirement to continue to safely climb and land, even if one of the engines fails at the most critical point in the takeoff.  The most critical point in the takeoff is right as the aircraft is passing the point at which there is no longer enough runway remaining to stop the aircraft safely.  At this point, the aircraft is committed to taking off.  If one engine failed completely at that point, the aircraft would continue to takeoff safely and would declare an emergency and be permitted to go around the airport and land immediately.

The likelihood of an engine failing at any time during a flight is approximately 1 in 100,000 flights.  The probability, therefore, of 2 engines failing during the same flight (for reasons that are related to the engine and not to other problems like running out of fuel) is therefore 100,000 x 100,000 as the 2 engines are completely independent of each other.  That is 1 in 10 Billion, or essentially never.  Although the probablity of an engine failure is 1 in 100,000, the timing of the failure is also statistical.  The failure is more likely at takeoff than at other times of the flight because at takeoff the engines are producing the most thrust possible.  Assume, for example that the probability of failure of an engine during takeoff is 1/10 of the probability of failure at any time during the flight.  That is biased high, as the takeoff is normally a very small fraction of the total time of the flight (approximately 1 minute vs 2 hours for an average flight, or 1/120).   This means that the probability of an engine failure on takeoff is approximately 1 in 1,000,000.  The period of the takeoff that is critical right as the aircraft passes the point on the runway at which it must takeoff is only a few seconds.  If it is assumed to be 5 seconds, then the probability of an engine failure during that period is approximately 1/10 of the probability of an engine failure during takeoff, or 1 in 10,000,000.  Even if this failure did occur, the aircraft is still fully capable of a safe takeoff and landing with a full load of passengers and fuel.

Conclusion - aircraft are designed very conservatively to be safe - enjoy your flight!!!!

Dad