  Recent observations of supernovae, supernova remnants, and radio pulsars
suggest that there are correlations between pulsar kicks and spins, infrared
and gamma-ray line profiles, supernova polarizations, and ejecta debris fields.
A framework is emerging in which explosion asymmetries play a central role. The
new perspective meshes recent multi-dimensional theoretical investigations of
the explosion mechanism with trends in $^{56}$Ni yields and explosion kinetic
energies. These trends imply that the mass above which black holes form after
collapse is $\sim$30 M$_{\odot}$ and that supernova explosion energies may vary
by as much as a factor of four. In addition, new neutrino-matter opacity
calculations reveal that the inner cores of protoneutron stars are more
transparent than hitherto suspected. This may have consequences for the delayed
neutrino-driven mechanism of explosion itself.
