## 6 Acknowledgments

My understanding of the work presented in this review was shaped by a series of annual meetings named after the movie director Frank Capra. The first of these meetings took place in 1998 and was held at Capra’s ranch in Southern California; the ranch now belongs to Caltech, Capra’s alma mater. Subsequent meetings were held in Dublin, Pasadena, Potsdam, State College PA, and Kyoto. At these meetings and elsewhere I have enjoyed many instructive conversations with Warren Anderson, Patrick Brady, Claude Barrabès, Leor Barack, Lior Burko, Manuella Campanelli, Steve Detweiler, Eanna Flanagan, Scott Hughes, Werner Israel, Carlos Lousto, Yasushi Mino, Hiroyuki Nakano, Amos Ori, Misao Sasaki, Takahiro Tanaka, Bill Unruh, Bob Wald, Alan Wiseman, and Bernard Whiting. This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.