Buzz,
That is a very interesting description. I have always sort of envisioned the center or singularity as being like the end of a tornado funnel. Not a very scientific way to describe it I admit, but If there were another end to it as some seem to think, then I would think that it would also be drawing more into itself from that end also. To answer Steve's question, a probe or satellite wouldn't last long enough to really get any good information back. It would most likely not be able to transmit because of the distortion of space and pull of gravity even before it was crushed into a tiny mass of particles. I wish it were possible to go to the very edge of one and just observe what goes on and not get caught in the pull.
Buzz, I am going to start doing some more looking too. I know from the shows I have seen on TV that a lot of what they taught when I was in school has been discarded as incorrect.
Ron