As someone said, the main potential trouble spot already has their own security force.

This is an interesting point, although they seem to need Carter a lot. Like to rescue burning scientists. But the paintball/sick day thing bothered me too, and I'm satisfied with the above explanations.

My ex was a detective in a sheriff's department in a small county, and even with more officers, the job is more reacting to calls than patrolling. This works pretty well, because in a small town, everyone knows everyone else's business, so if a stranger started taking things out of someone's house, his neighbor would call the sheriff. Jo had her pager, and I'd bet that every person in town has both their home numbers.

I'm willing to handwave that whacking the generator just turned the AI off momentarily and reset the programming. It really didn't look like a generator you could destroy with a baseball bat. I can also handwave that they're staying in the house because Fargo added that back door to the programming and and programmed in more failsafes. My wrists are getting tired, though.

I wish I understood how payment works in Eureka. Carpe Diem is free but you have to pay for pizza and chocolate? I am confused.

My guess would be that they have some kind of online account for each person. If you go to a restaurant (or, I'm assuming, whatever they have that's a grocery store), you scan your little display unit or whatever and it charges your account. Zoe probably took it without letting anyone know. Maybe Jack didn't want to use his card because he was sick of Eureka and all its tech?

::handwaving makes a nice breeze::

Maybe Jack didn't want to use his card because he was sick of Eureka and all its tech?

Or the cash part was actually just the tip. I have a friend who always tips with cash, rather than adding it to the credit card bill.

This is an interesting point, although they seem to need Carter a lot. Like to rescue burning scientists.

That's the part I don't get. Security is always available to chase after missing congressmen and to retrieve the bodies of employees, but I can't recall ever seeing it used within the facility itself other than down in Section 5.

I don't think the bat whacking could really do much damage, but if it interuppted the power flow long enough for the AI to drop offline and let the back-up (BRAD) take over. That's my handwave and I'm sticking to it.

Another real-world nitpick on Eureka: When Jack was out sick and Jo was off playing paintball, who was left to guard the town?

If Eureka were to have full time coverage, it would mean that Jack and Jo would each have to pull 12 hour shifts seperately, 24-7, 365.

Maybe Jack didn't want to use his card because he was sick of Eureka and all its tech?

Tipped employees have to report all credit card tips because they're trackable and hence taxed. Some people will pay with credit cards, tip with cash so the employee has the choice of how much to declare for tax purposes.

Not that I've ever committed such heinousness myself. *cough*

The bat-whacking was like when you hit the side of the TV to make it stop scrolling or whatever.

I've got tons of PTO days left here at work, so I just scheduled next Tuesday off so I can tape the Eureka marathon and get it all on one 8-hour tape by zapping the commercials (yes, I haven't entered the 21st century yet by getting a Tivo). Oh, and there's a book coming out that day, too, so I'll probably be reading and watching at the same time (as usual).

I was half expecting Stark to get in some Fargo-bashing and say "You installed a nuclear power source that could be taken out by a baseball bat?!"

When Jack was out sick and Jo was off playing paintball, who was left to guard the town?

Shoot, who's their backup if they get in a jam?

Goober Pyle?

Lots of small towns don't have complete 24/7 coverage with their police force. The next town over from mine has no police force at all. They have just a single town constable. Jo was on-call, and had her pager with her. As someone said, the main potential trouble spot already has their own security force.

...and Eureka probably has less crime than most towns. The inhabitants are mostly government employees (except for their kids) and have all undergone extensive background checks. Most infractions probably happen in the name of science and depending on the outcome of the experiment (i.e. huge success!) may be overlooked or waived by DoD.

I'd like to see a better explanation of Carter's working relationship with GD security. It seems like he's always the first responder. Does that mean that he is actually their Chief of Security? If not, it seems like he would be mostly involved with crimes in town and not at the lab.

It would also be amusing, maybe in a dark way, to see him deal more with juvenile crime. Just think of all the trouble that bored, smart kids could get into.