First, I love this podcast! I found it through I-Tunes and now am caught up in just a few days!

But the ideas behind black holes really have me thinking...so here we go:

1 - In most analogies of a black hole, people think of it as a larger vortex bringing things into it. However, that would mean that gravity is working as a vector...in one area and direction of the entire singularity. However, Gravity should be working in all 720 degrees of the singularity. This is kind of like me standing in American and gravity of earth is affecting a person in China the same way. If this is the case, then woulnd't there be a large sphere of bent light all around a black hole? Thus making it a very bright object rather then a very dim object?

2 - One of the basic laws of physics I was taught was that energy/matter can not be created or destroyed...only changed into something else. If a particle is popped into existance by a black hole...what is it created from? Also part of this...it has been described as a particle and anti-particle are created from the black hole...which causes it to evaporate. However, if gravity of a black hole is strong enough to hold light back...wouldn't the particle that escpaped need to go faster then the speed of light in order to do so? If it does not, wouldn't it feed the Black Hole?