Hitchens and Ayn Rand

Christopher Hitchens basically dissed Ayn Rand, her books and philosophy in this video and I transcribed this for posterity and posted it as well on the Youtube comment for this video.

"I am invited to be unpleasant at the expense of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Well, that is easy. Well, the novels, I mean, first, I keep trying to say, in my view, that there is more morality in a novel by George Eliot than there is any of the four gospels, all the four of them put together. I care very much about literature, as a place where real ethical dilemmas are met and dealt with.

So to have novels as transcendentally awful as Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead, sort of undermines my project. And then, though, I have some respect for the Virtue of selfishness, a collection of essays, I have argued about them with the chairman of the Federal Reserve, as a matter of fact.

By the way, a state federal reserve bank, is not a part of the libertarian protract. Although Mr. Greenspan seems to be a bit iffy about this self-evident proposition.

I don't think there is any need to have essays advocating selfishness among human beings.

I don't know what your impression has been, but some things require no further reinforcement.

Having a book strenuously recommending that people be more self-centered seems to be as the Anglican Church used to say in its critique of Catholicism, a work of Supererogation, too strenuous."

#hitchslap

An Afternoon on the Concorde

An afternoon on the Concorde

Thursday, April 13^th, 2000           

“Welcome aboard Continental 1536 from San Francisco to New York JFK International Airport. This is your captain Charles Smith along with my colleague Mike Knowles. Our flight to the East Coast should be a smooth one. Air Traffic control and aircrafts ahead of us have let us know that our flight path is smooth and a beautiful day to fly across the country. Our flight path will take us over the Colorado Rockies, the Great Lakes region and onto eastern Pennsylvania before descending onto JFK international airport. Our flying time is currently planned at 5 hours and 53 minutes landing at approximately 7:30 PM EST, barring slowdowns by Air Traffic control, we anticipate an on-time arrival. We are currently fifth in line for take-off from Runway 1L/19R. As we take off, you will see the Golden Gate Bridge to the left of the aircraft and we will take a turn back again to the east. Cabin Crew, prepare the cabin for takeoff.”

I sat in the first class cabin relaxing for the long day and weekend ahead. I was working at Oracle for 5 years and was traveling almost every week for 4 years. I had accumulated a bunch of airlines miles on Continental and hotel miles on Marriott. One of the rewards from Marriott was a one way ticket to London on the Concorde and I had gotten the ticket to London from JFK for Friday, April 14^th, 2000 to spend a weekend in London and stay in the center of the city for the weekend before returning back to the United States on Monday, April 17^th back to work in Washington DC, where I was consulting.

The trip to the east coast/JFK airport took an extra half an hour due to air traffic congestion in the tri-state area since Thursday was the busiest travel day in the United States due to business travel. The cabin crew were awesome as always on the trip to the east coast. I made sure I kept hydrated and managed to relax and get some shuteye. The lunch and dinner was awesome as well and I landed at JFK.

I checked into the Ramada next to the airport so I could take a shuttle the next day to the airport.

Planning to fly on the Concorde

               

             I had noticed the Concorde travel benefit when looking up my Marriott benefits and decided I was going to accumulate the 200,000 points to get the one way trip on the Concorde from JFK to London. I had started traveling from July 1996 and had accumulated the points and I was all set for the trip. I got my visa to London at the embassy in DC. I was all set for the trip and I had to go to a meeting in Redwood Shores at the Oracle HQ that week. I had blocked my vacation and hence was able to leave Thursday. Oracle had chartered the Concorde to show case their new version of the Oracle Software version 6 which was a key milestone in the company’s success. All these plus the travel bug made it easy to make the case.

Friday, April 14^th, 2000

               

           I woke up early on Friday and go to the airport. The flight was scheduled to leave at 9AM EST and land in London at 5:30 PM GMT. Flying time was 3 hours and 20 minutes. The fastest time for JFK to LHR on the Concorde was 2 hours and 53 minutes set on 7^th of February, 1996. I reached check-in at 7:30 AM was ushered into the British Airways first class lounge. The thing about the Concorde is that there is no first class or coach class. The aircraft has 100 seats in a 4 seat per row with 2 per side with 25 rows making it a 100 seater plane. All seats are the same configuration and not as comfortable as a typical business class or first class seat on a traditional aircraft. The point of the Concorde was to get you across the Atlantic whether to Paris or London as quickly as possible. The aircraft has three members in the cockpit, the main pilot, the co-pilot and the flight engineer. The cabin crew can be up to 6 making a total of 109 people in the plane at max capacity.

               

           On this day, the Concorde had only about 50 passengers on the plane making it a light transatlantic flight. The cabin crew had 4 members and the flight capacity was at 57. British Airways boarded the plane and I was able to get a row to myself with a window seat. The person sitting in front of me on the aisle was fidgeting nervously and I said hi to a SriLankan businessman who was making the trip as well. We said hi and sat down for the journey.

               

           In the cabin in the front, there is a panel which shows the Mach Speed of the plane. I planned to keep an eye on it as we went through the flight.

            

           The captain finished all the procedures and began the pushback promptly at 9AM. Typical British punctuality or JFK’s efficiency was anybody’s guess for that day. It was a slightly overcast humid April day in New York. The plane was under the command of MiKe Bannister, who would fly the plane for the final transatlantic in a couple of years. The Concorde was a safe plane for the most part and had its own share of safety incidents and was most vulnerable during takeoff. The Concorde take off speed was 250mph or 400kmph. Most commercial aircraft would have a liftoff speeds between 150mph for the 737 and 180mph for the 747 depending on the weight of the plane, runway length and wind/weather conditions for the day.

On this day, JFK had ground to a halt on one of its runways due to a plane that had declared emergency and all planes were on hold in the tri-state area (JFK, LaGuardia and Newark) to allow this plane to land. By 9:30, the flight that had declared emergency had landed and the three airports got back to shepherding the planes in and out of these three airports. LaGuardia was primarily domestic with a short runway, Newark and JFK had longer runways to allow international aircraft which were heavier to land safely with extra runway lengths.

The Concorde measured nearly 204ft in length and stretched between 6 and 10 inches in flight due to heating of the airframe. It was painted in a specially developed white paint to accommodate these changes and to dissipate the heat generated by supersonic flight. A team of about 250 British Airways' engineers worked tirelessly, together with the relevant authorities, to ensure safety on board and Concorde was subjected to 5,000 hours of testing before it was first certified for passenger flight, making it the most tested aircraft ever. - Source, BA.com

The Concorde lined up in the departure sequence as is typical in US airports. JFK has 4 runways and this day, the Concorde was asked to line up on 13R-31L which was the standard runway for the Concorde at JFK. This would allow the Concorde to take off and go over Jamaica Bay with a 25 degree bank immediately limiting exposure to noise to the surrounding areas. The surrounding communities has sued and were overruled by the US Supreme Court 23 years ago when it was proved that the Concorde was not noisy as the Boeing-707’s. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which administers these three airports had tested noise levels and found that the Concorde take off speed did not break the barrier of 112 db perceived noise levels and had come well below 105 db.

The cabin crew finished their safety procedures and Captain Mike Bannister voice came over the PA system. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard British Airways 4 on the Concorde from New York JFK to London Heathrow. Our flying time to London is 3 hours and 20 minutes at an altitude of 60,000 feet. Depending on London Air traffic, we may arrive a few minutes early but most likely on schedule. We have a fine cabin crew to serve you today on this short flight. Sit back, relax and enjoy the great service by our crew. We are 5^th in line for liftoff on runway 13R-31L. We will be taking off at 250 mph and slight left over Jamaica Bay and circle the George Washington Bridge before beginning our trans-Atlantic flight. Once over the Atlantic, we will break the sonic-barrier and try to get to slightly over 2 Mach for the majority of the flight until we reach London airspace. London Weather is partly cloudy and overcast with a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight wind of 10mph. We should be under-way shortly. Cabin-crew, prepare for takeoff.”

After taxiing for a few minutes, the Concorde revved up its 4 Rolls-Royce engines and started increasing its ground speed to 250mph along runway 13R-31L. It lifted off at the speed of 250mph and banked slightly towards Jamaica Bay and then further higher and over the George Washington Bridge and then turned east again towards the trans-Atlantic route to London. I was looking over the Windows and once we went higher above the GW Bridge, the cloud cover kicked in and the magical skyline of New York City disappeared from view. The panel on the front of the plane was still less than 1 mach. Once we got over the Atlantic, the engines would rev up faster and break the sound barrier. Of course, ensconced in the cabin of the Concorde, we would not know the breaking of the sound barrier. The flight continued on its 3451 ground miles or 3000 nautical miles towards London. I5 minutes into the journey, the panel on the front read 1.01 mach and slowly inched upwards towards the final cruising speed of 2.05 mach and peak altitude of 60,000 feet. It is said that on a clear day, it was possible to see the curvature of the earth. But the sky was overcast and hence no luck for that day.

The cabin crew began its service and served us drinks and a light lunch as the plane sped towards London. As the plane reached Nothern Ireland, the plane started slowing down to less than 2 mach as it got towards British airspace. The cabin crew came one more time to serve a light snack and beverages

Captain Mike Banister came over the PA system and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Captain Mike Bannister from the flight deck. We are 15 away minutes from London Heathrow and we plan to land at 6PM GMT. To be courteous to other planes and for Air Traffic control, we are going to slow down the Concorde to sub-sonic levels and begin our initial descent into London Heathrow. Thanks for flying with us today and have a nice stay at London. Cabin Crew, prepare the plane for landing.”

The usual bustle of activities for preparing the cabin for landing started and the Concorde made its final approach into JFK. The wheels of the Concorde rolled down smoothly and the plan slowed down to 187 mph for its final sequence.

The Concorde landed in LHR and we dis-embarked and I was met by the pilot who wished us all a good time in London. I got out of the aircraft, picked up my bag and went towards customs and immigration to my hotel in Central London.