Dear Amos,
Thanks for your kind comments.
Actually, we do not know if the final result of the black hole evaporation is a puddle (having dimensions of order of the Planck scale) or if, instead, the black hole completely evaporates. In fact, avoiding evaporation is usually claimed when one invokes the Generalized Uncertainly Principle which should stop evaporation at the Planck scale. In any case, in quantum physics the complete information in a system is encoded in the wave function representing the quantum state of the system. i.e. in eq. (36) of my Essay. The wave function (36) represents a pure final state rather than a mixed final state. Thus, information is surely preserved because the evaporation process rigorously obeys the laws of quantum mechanics.
In general, it is possible to apply method of analysis concerning black holes to the whole universe, but one has to be very careful because, although they have similar features, a black hole is different from the whole universe. In General Relativity the analogy depends on the issue that in both universe and black holes the ratio between mass and radius is of order 1 in natural units. I did not worked on information leaving a universe, thus I do not know if the analogy works also in this case.
I do not think that in General Relativity, although gravity is king at long distances, everything loops back on itself, if you will. In fact, for example, particles can be attracted by others gravitational fields. We see the light of the sun and of distant stars on Earth. Thus, those photons do not loop back on them-self. Instead, they arrive to us. Then, one does not need quantum mechanics in order to have light rays going indefinitely outwards.
The definition of singularity in science is not simple. From an intuitive point of view, a singularity is visualized as a point at which a particular mathematical object is not defined. For example, the function 1/z is not defined in z=0. A rigorous definition of singularity in the gravitational collapse can be obtained following B. G. Schmidt, Gen. Rel. Grav. 1, 269-280 (1971). For example, in standard Schwarzschild coordinates one tells that in the internal geometry all time-like radial geodesics of the collapsing star terminate after a lapse of finite proper time in the termination point r = 0 and it is impossible to extend the internal space-time manifold beyond that termination point. I suggest you to search further details in the book C. W. Misner, K. S. Thorne and J. A. Wheeler, Gravitation, W. H. Feeman and Company (1973).
Although in General Relativity the speed of light can be different for different coordinates, an event horizon is defined as "the point of no return", i.e. photons emitted from beyond the horizon can never reach an outside observer.
What do you mean with "weird 1/4 area to volume rule"? The famous formula of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy claims that the entropy of a black hole is 1/4 of its area in Planck units, but this is not connected with the information paradox.
I regret for your statements claiming that "For all the math here, it seems a little one-sided, the other side maybe not even existing!" and that "I read more abstract math here than pictorial verbiage, which vaguely results because some maths just don't condense to easy imaging". In my Essay I used mathematics and physics on the same level of university studies on quantum mechanics. I read that you are currently an undergraduate physics student. Maybe, you have not yet completed your studies on quantum mechanics. On the other hand, rules of FQXi request verbatim that the Essay must be "Accessible to a diverse, well-educated but non-specialist audience, aiming in the range between the level of Scientific American and a review article in Science or Nature." I think that readers of Scientific American and review articles in Science or Nature should know mathematics and physics on the same level of university studies on quantum mechanics. Of course, this is not a criticism for you! In fact, I invite you to read again my Essay when you will end your graduate studies. I am sure that you will completely understand it.
Finally, black holes evaporate because of quantum effects near the event horizon. Hawking provided a theoretical argument for this effect improving ideas by Parker, Zeldovich and Starobinski. In Hawking's original computation black hole radiation was a perfect black body radiation (purely thermal) which has a specific spectrum and intensity that depends only on the temperature of the body. By using arguments of energy conservation, Parikh and Wilczek have instead shown that the black hole emission is not exactly the one of a perfect black body. Hawking claimed that because of the strict thermality, information should be loss in black hole evaporation. As the radiation is, instead, not exactly the one of a perfect black body, Hawking's claim breaks down.
I hope to have partially clarified your mix up.
Cheers,
Ch.