as recently demonstrated by Cyprus

100% of insured deposits were protected.

People bitching about the amounts over that which got the axe is like whining to State Farm that you had extra stuff in your house that you didn't insure AFTER the fire.

Not only that, but we saw them coming .. that newfangled RADAR thing just couldn't be trusted.

Never greet him at the airport.

If it's old, then it's out of warranty. Yeah, I get the whole e-waste thing, and I'm sure it pains people to see a pallet of otherwise good 1TB drives headed off to be shredded into chips .. but remember they are 3-4 years old and having one go bad while is a far bigger PITA in terms of lost productivity, lost data, etc. than it is to just buy a new one for $100 and pay $1 for the old one to get securely scrapped.

You forgot the while().
You have to pay by the hour for the while().

There is a reason for this sort of gear
Time is money.

As an example, we have a couple thousand PCs that are dumped each year due to lifecycle replacement. Yes, these are perfectly good PCs that could be wiped and loaded with (whatever) and donated .. but THAT COSTS MONEY. Loosing even ONE hard drive with data on it puts us in the newspaper, hence the policy is :

No data storage device leaves intact, ever.

We have the guys in facilities run them through a giant metal bandsaw, and that's BEFORE they go to be shredded/recycled (which, ironically, we pay THEM for, despite the fact that we're talking about tons of aluminum/steel/whatever .. but they won't burn off the insulation out back like JimBob either).

The reason you don't use .45ACP or sledgehammers is one of liability. Before the bandsaw method we used sledgehammers until some idiot hurt himself. When somebody looses a finger due to stupidity we'll probably buy one of these.

Just southwest of that structure is what's obviously a pretty big electrical substation (you can see the transmission tower shadows leading to it) .. also, look further west and you see another U shaped building with no roof and what are obviously little rooms/cells .. so be it dormitories or whatever, I think you're on the right track.

That's a big substation though .. something need a lot of juice.

No, if you are professional staff (meaning EXEMPT) you work until the job is done. There is no overtime.

For those that say "if you want me to be on-call, you need to give me a toy" .. the policy is simple .. for this job, you must be reachable if you are on-call. We don't care HOW you are reachable, but you must be reachable.

To be fair, I worked at a car stereo store that installed cellphones (and this was in the AMPS days when handhelds were the size of a brick and bag-phones were the norm for folks that needed better range) .. I also had the very first sprint "brick" when those launched (only one phone, only one plan) which was when I was in college in the 90s.

Then it's a company-issued phone with company-controlled software. That means no angry birds or other goofing-off apps.
If you're allowing BYOD for company use you're asking for problems, but that too is manageable with the proper software containerization.

Is it reasonable? .. absolutely.
I routinely visit a location like this .. when you go through the metal detector/xray if they see a phone (or anything else with a microphone/camera) it gets confiscated and you get it back when you leave. I don't have any issue with this at all.

You're forgetting that you're being paid to WORK .. not attend to personal matters. You have a phone on your desk, don't you? .. I'm fairly certain that in an emergency, someone can call the main number of your employer and say "this is X's daycare, Y just fell down the steps .. we need to speak with Z immediately" and you'll get the call. Remember .. kids survived just fine before cellphones and Google calendar.

The malware concern is legitimate as well .. while it might be technically feasible to create separate networks or require MDM middleware for BYOD it's easier for them to just say "leave it in the car". Think about it .. a simple app can turn your smartphone into a GSM->Wifi bridge, webcam, remote bug, etc. Heck, just this week we reprogrammed a old Android phone and stuck it in a plant to catch somebody stealing out of the office fridge.

Lawyers, guns, and money.

When there is a state test that gives brownie points (and $) to the school district based on any of those classes, the district will offer them overnight. Granted, they still won't teach anything useful (same as the other exiting subjects) .. but at least you'll have a choice of which test to learn how to take.

Do they have a right to block you? .. absolutely .. it was probably buried on paragraph 327 part 6 of their terms of service (which you no doubt read in it's entirety) .. it probably said they reserve the right to suspend service for illegal activity or unsolicited commercial email. You are operating an semi-anonymous proxy service, what did you think was going to happen?

Look on OR-TALK (TOR mailing list) for all the problems those folks have with VPS providers and the like .. no, the server isn't *itself* doing anything illegal, and it's really not your fault that other people are using it for nasty stuff .. but what's easier when you're dealing with a $1/mo customer (hint: answer is not "spend hours on the phone letting you justify whatever it is you're trying to do").

Not the books themselves, per se.