There is another benefit to "falling back" in the Fall. It may reduce the time with sun after work/school, it does provide more light in the morning when kids are waiting for the school bus, increasing their safety.

That argument makes sense for the back, not so much for the front/display.

I know I'm showing my age here, but I can't see the term "sonic transducer" with out a Rocky Horror Picture Show flashback: This sonic transducer, it is I suppose some kind of audio-vibratory-physio-molecular transport device?

Quick, get your proposal into SyFy now, before someone else steals it!

I agree with the SG team feeling like a cliff hanger would save the show, and they didn't. But I would argue the the SG: Universe team didn't fully fall into that trap. Yes, the end could be considered a cliff hanger, but I saw it more as a solid ending point. They did need to leave a spot to continue from, in case, but I have no problems leaving the show as they did.

That's the government for you; An epic cluster fuck you wind up paying through the nose for.

Really? Then I guess we shouldn't be worried about the NSA, since they are a government agency and obviously can't do anything right? Oh, and the Social Security Administration must be missing printing out and distributing I don't know how many truck loads of payments everyone month, since they are.... And don't forget how the US Post Office can't delivery over 99% of our mail correctly.

Every large agency, public or private, have issues and humans have a tendency to focus on issues, not successes. And a lot of public agencies have to air their mistakes in public eventually. Big government isn't pretty or perfect, but it also isn't pitiful either.

From opensecrets.org:

NOTE: The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

So it isn't University of California as the university donating the money, but the UoC employees, or one of their associated groups, doing so.

They are sending each stage up with enough fuel to land under power? I wonder how much extra $/kg that costs relative to just using parachutes...

I may have the title of this wrong, but it is a well known rule of thumb in social media tech circles that of 100% of users, 90% pretty much just read, 9% post regularly, and only 1% are really active. So they have simply come up with the algorithm to determine that 1%.

As a side note, Excedrin Migraine is marketing genius. Compare it's ingredients to "normal" Excedrin sometime...

I know I'm bringing a "Think Of The Kids" argument here, but in the NE, DST allows the sun to start coming up prior to kids standing at bus stops waiting for the school bus. A bit of safety benefit there.

Also, traditional surveillance can be seen, with care, and cannot follow you onto private property. GPS trackers do not have those limitations. May not be a big difference, but one non-the-less.

Um, Ben did use a pseudonyms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Silence_Dogood). Granted that was when younger.

My wife 100% agrees with you. That alone killed the movie. We've since bought the Diana Rigg years on DVD and do our best to pretend that farce never happened.

There is also Villians by Necessity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villains_by_Necessity), which takes a view on what really happens when good wins and why that is bad.