I think I agree with this.

Really the major problem that is unsolved, and the article mentions this, is our failure to reconcile general relativity with quantum theory into a satisfactory model of quantum gravity.

Guilty as charged, in fact even worse than guilty.

By my reading of the article, if the firewall exists, at one of the three things I mentioned above is wrong or incomplete in some fashion.

That and tidal forces would shred your very atoms.

Well, yes and no, I'm sure the tailors put in some shaping panels here and there when they could to make things a bit more conical. And there were limitations from the censors-no wet tee-shirts or nipple projection allowed. I assume the fabric had to be thick enough to prevent that from happening.

Well here's hoping the human trials are successful. I assume one of the limitations on this type of therapy is situations where the immune system doesn't recognize cells as cancerous. If the cancer cells are unrecognized, why would white cells come near them?

Why not? I mean at least it's more tasty than the Standard Model, which I think tastes bit like taro poi.

Jokes aside, this is a big deal because if it exists it points out at least three major problems in the Standard Model and our current understanding of gravity.

I too was particularly frustrated by this lack of description. I hope to find other articles that clears this up considering what a big problem it poses to the Standard Model and so on.

Yep, the tidal forces around black holes are so furious they pretty much destroy anything that gets close to the event horizon.

Actually we have no idea whatsoever what happens inside the event horizon of a black hole because that's where physics and even the math itself breaks down. What actually happens inside the event horizon as an object approaches the gravitational singularity presents many physical and mathematical paradoxes.

I'm sure the answer to this is skull meltingly complicated and it really isn't addressed in the referenced article either, but hazarding a guess by my very poor understanding of it—

I don't expect Hollywood to give us realistic movies about black holes but, having said that, I think Event Horizon has got this covered.

References to cheese-fest movies aside, here's why this matters.

It was a total cheese-fest and I'm glad it's not being remade.

I'm excited and can barely wait!

That solar prominence pretty much puts all human conceit in proper perspective doesn't it? "Look upon my works ye mighty and despair!"

Have these been seen before? Do we have records of earlier mariners in the north or south polar seas seeing stuff like this? Have these been seen in cold fresh or brackish water or only on cold oceans?