I agree with working it into Obligation somehow, but it's best if you're good at playing that part up narratively.  I've considered a house rule that allows the character to ignore the Strain of calling on the Dark Side, but at the cost of Dark Side obligation.  This is the tipping point at which the character is no longer just influenced by, or flirting with the Dark Side, but is willingly embracing it.  Consider a character who uses Move to slam an enemy into a wall.  With white pips, he's trying to defend himself and his friends.  He strikes out of necessity, 'cause sometimes you just gotta do that.  With black pips, in most cases, anger washes over him, and he slams the enemy out of fury, and then has a moment of, "What the hell was that?!"  His friends may not notice any difference, but he's winded by the dark emotions that flow through him.  Now if the Force User has had a rough day, and is already suffering a lot of Strain, he may take those Dark pips and say, "Aw yeah, we are DOIN' THIS!" and embrace the anger to slam the enemy around.  In the last case, the player chose not to suffer Strain, but takes a few points of Dark Side obligation.
 
Soon, this Obligation will add up.  When it's rolled during a session, the character is in a foul mood, and his friends are uneasy around him.  The lowered strain threshold means he may need to Embrace the Dark Side yet again, increasing his obligation and, well... you see where this is going.
 
If doubles come up, it's time for a test of his mettle.  The character should face a significant challenge that threatens to turn him fully.  If he can go the whole session without using Dark Side pips and still has some sort of success, he can reduce his Obligation.  If not, he may Fall.  It's up to the GM and the group to determine exactly what that means.

As far as I've seen, most folks still use BC and AD.  Being an atheist myself, I would, except that It's still measuring from the same point.  If we're measuring from Jesus' birth, let's acknowledge that.  Though since we're off by some years anyway, if we want we could measure from when the Roman senate gave Octavian the title, "Augustus."  Yes... the IMPERIAL ERA!  Bwahahaha!
 
Anyway, I imagine a lot of planets measure time according to their own calendars, so not only would their dates not match up well to Coruscant time, the length of their years varies widely.  Considering the autonomy of a lot of worlds, and the frequency with which the galaxy is plunged into chaos, the "official" calendar could be seen as a joke.  "Hey, Frank, what's the date today?  I think my mom's birthday is coming up."
"Let's see, on my planet it's Flarb 12th, 361, so on yours it would be... the 3rd Cycle of Dawn, 12th year of the Star Serpent?"
"What's that in Coruscant time?"
"I dunno, a bilion?"
"It's probably less than that."
"Fine, three.  It's year three.  Who cares?"

Wow, How to make sure your advice goes unheeded in one easy opening sentence.

I would say that there is always a singed hat that's left floating to the ground after you disintegrate someone.
"Wait, what?  That guy wasn't even wearing a hat!"
"Yeah, that's a side effect of particle disruption.  The physics are... complicated."

Too many questions, in my opinion.  I wrote a blog thing about this a while ago, trying to have only a couple questions, but get a bit more into them.  http://carrotstickheroes.blogspot.com/2012/02/trying-to-flesh-out-characters-from.html

Not exactly, but the Sense power allows you to beef up your defenses, which can easily be interpreted as deflecting blaster fire.
 
Edit: Endrik said it better.  Not sure if I would use that exact interpretation for returning the blaster fire, but it ain't a bad one.

If your group wants a "falling to the dark side" mechanic, I think a fairly simple solution would be to create a Dark Side Obligation. Those who call upon the dark side too often start gaining obligation, which will start to cause them problems. Perhaps if the obligation is triggered with doubles, the session focuses on this struggle. If the character chooses the quick and easy path, he falls to the dark side (maybe becoming an NPC). If he keeps it together, he works off some of that obligation.

If your group wants a "falling to the dark side" mechanic, I think a fairly simple solution would be to create a Dark Side Obligation. Those who call upon the dark side too often start gaining obligation, which will start to cause them problems. Perhaps if the obligation is triggered with doubles, the session focuses on this struggle. If the character chooses the quick and easy path, he falls to the dark side (maybe becoming an NPC). If he keeps it together, he works off some of that obligation.

You obviously haven't looked the providers list offered by ImperiCare.

I agree with the assertion that it's a matter of genre.  It's silly to say that "modern" gaming tries to avoid death.  If you're playing Legend of the Five Rings, Deadlands, or A Song of Ice and Fire, death is one stupid decision away.  And it's often a stupid social decision, like insulting the wrong person.  In Deadlands (and most Savage Worlds based games) that's a good thing, because it makes for a good story, and an experienced player can make a new character in ten minutes.  L5R... well it still makes a good story, but character creation takes forever.  You're probably sitting the rest of the session out.
 
But this is Star Wars.  In the original trilogy, only one Big **** Hero dies in combat, and it's an epic moment.  The heroes are supposed to survive almost everything, but they're not completely invincible.  As long as you don't pick fights with disruptor rifles, you should make it to the end.  Maybe missing a limb or kidney, but that's why we have cybernetics.

I agree with the assertion that it's a matter of genre.  It's silly to say that "modern" gaming tries to avoid death.  If you're playing Legend of the Five Rings, Deadlands, or A Song of Ice and Fire, death is one stupid decision away.  And it's often a stupid social decision, like insulting the wrong person.  In Deadlands (and most Savage Worlds based games) that's a good thing, because it makes for a good story, and an experienced player can make a new character in ten minutes.  L5R... well it still makes a good story, but character creation takes forever.  You're probably sitting the rest of the session out.
 
But this is Star Wars.  In the original trilogy, only one Big **** Hero dies in combat, and it's an epic moment.  The heroes are supposed to survive almost everything, but they're not completely invincible.  As long as you don't pick fights with disruptor rifles, you should make it to the end.  Maybe missing a limb or kidney, but that's why we have cybernetics.