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‘c’: More Than Just Fast as We Unpack the Universe’s Master Constant

Let’s dive into the universe’s ultimate speed limit: the speed of light. It’s a concept so fundamental that it underpins much of modern physics, yet so mind-bogglingly fast that, as you say, human intuition struggles to truly grasp it. We call it ‘c’, and its value in a vacuum is precisely 299,792,458 meters per second. That’s not just an estimate; since 1983, the meter has been precisely defined as the distance that light travels in a vacuum in exactly 1/299,792,458 of a second. So, light’s speed isn’t just something we measure; it’s a foundational pillar of our measurement system.

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The Delta Disaster of May 9, 2010

Sunday, May 9, 2010 was shaping up to be an excellent end to my honeymoon. My wife and I had spent a week in Disney World and were looking forward to getting home. Our flight was set and we were waiting by the gate. All of the hard work had been done — going through security, getting frisked electronically, and finding the right gate. All we had to do was wait until the time for boarding and go home — or so we thought.

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Do Not Delay HDTV!

Curiously, one of the first jobs of the Obama Administration is to delay — from February to June — the switchover from analog TV to the beautiful HDTV broadcast format.  6.8% of Americans have allegedly not yet upgraded their televisions because the $40.00USD coupon program offered by the FCC ran out of money.

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