Hi everyone,

Since many new people have been added to this discussion list after Kim's lecture on Wednesday, I'd just like to welcome them and to inform/remind everyone that information about the list (how to add/remove email addresses, locate old postings, etc.) can be found at

http://www.scienceintegration.org/list.htm

Also, I have a little more information related to one of the many good questions asked on Wednesday night: "How far away is the nearest black hole?" This is a tricky question because it's very difficult to determine conclusively that something actually *is* a black hole. But, one of the most promising candidates, which almost certainly is a black hole, is Cygnus XR-1, about 6,000 light-years from Earth - pretty nearby on the cosmic scale Kim talked about. More information about this and about the evidence for the existence of black holes can be found at

http://unisci.com/stories/20011/0112011.htm

If other people know more about this and the most recent evidence for black holes, feel free to chime in!

Todd