Module development and code questions

I'm working in Xtemplate designing a custom block. I want to display "related content", so I need the Node ID# so I know what content is related. My code so far works, except that I can't figure out how to access the nid! $node->nid and for that matter $node are empty, global $node; doesn't seem to help, nor using $GLOBALS["$node"]. It seems like there must be a simple answer that I'm too new to PHP and Drupal to know when I've stumbled across it.

I created an alphabetic (a-z) index module for node titles and was wondering if anyone has experience creating Keyword in Context (KWIC) displays using PHP/MySQL.

Source for the module is here at alpha_index.module.phps. I apologize if my code is poor. Any suggestions on how to code this are appreciated.

Is anyone planning on updating forum_link? I was hoping that someone might consider making it so that forum posts and comments were the same thing. And or have the articles automatically placed under the correct taxonomy in the forums.

Cheers,
Tom

I'm doing some research on CMS for creating community-drive sites. Drupal has been one of the best I've seen out there. However, I'm wondering if there is a module written for Drupal that allows a site-admin to email all the members of the community site. A project I am working on (for an alumni group) requires this functionality. I see the mail handler module which allows folks to update the site through email, but not an email list kind of functionality.

Thanks in advance!!

webform is a new node type that enables you to create forms and questionnaires for your drupal site.
You can use them to let the visitors give you feedback, rerquest information, place a order or registered for a course.
Get it here.

I was just curious if whoever was behind the development of the image module was planning on updating it to 4.4 anytime soon as it is a great module. Hopefully it's in the works already but I was just curious. I'm still learning PHP and might try hacking at a module when I run into the requirements.