Quote Originally Posted by dragonrider
So, are you saying it isn't actually practical to go through a black hole in a barrel? Shit! What am I going to do with this damn barrel?
That's right, the gravity would actually kill you before you reach the event-horizon (the point where nothing excapes).

Another interesting thing about black holes is that if you were to watch someone jump into a black hole as they got closer to the event horizon they would appear to slow down and never cross the horizon(they eventually would but not in your lifetime). The reason is that the light coming from your friend would be slowed down by the gravity and eventually be not allowed to reach you sitting safely at a distance.
WakingDream Reviewed by WakingDream on . new, massive black hole found US astronomers spot massive, record-setting stellar-mass black hole - Yahoo! News Rating: 5