P.S. ... to monitor water/temp might consider something like a "APC AP9340 -- Environmental Manager Sensor Monitor" (or something similar). This particular model has a built in network switch, and can connect to a remote alarm and {Warning} light. There are others (more "modern" versions available); based on your need/budged.

#1: this is a good question (topic), worthy of discussion -- if it is kept on topic.

#2: In case it doesn't make it... my thoughts:
You talk about a concrete slab. That would act as a great thermal break -- keeping the head down. Unfortunately, as noted -- water is a concern (pipes). I had a crawlspace that I opened to a basement. (Note: DO NOT do as I do, just buy a house with a basement if you need one). In my "Basement" ...it is opened to the outside. I've had a couple servers down there for about 5 years, with no problems (located in Seattle, WA) with moisture. Dependent on humidity in your area, you millage will very. I would recommend a full on "server" - rack mount. You can get one for a decent price (eBay / craigslist) and if you spend a little extra, get one that still has support. Will full server... that would (potentially) include redundant everything. Run the OS with the manufactures diagnostic software, and if you have remote access (Dell DRAC for example) you can power the system up remotely. Raise the unit off the "floor" (vermin, water and the like). Floor thickness & insulation will impact chose of surround (white noise from the fans running). If the system is to loud for you, adding insulation (rocksol insulation wold be a good candidate). If vermin a concern, creating a custom "box" (with rocksol insulation) and a door / vents might be an option [Consider placing rat poison to keep those vermin that might attempt to enter at bay]. Might consider using this as a place to mount other appliances -- such as router, modem, net work switch -- for example. Make sure you can replace any wiring ... rats EAT the shielding on network (and TV) cable (First hand experience here -- they also eat the metal shielding on the @$%@ cables!).

In court room....
Defense attorney: Did you test it for purity?
Cop/CSI: No
Defense attorney: Did you test to determine percentage of illegal substance?
Cop/CSI: No
Defense attorney: Can I borrow a bill from your wallet? (if necessary... Here, I'll let you keep one of mine.)
Defense attorney then runs water over bill into a small container. Then tests water for cocaine (80% chance that it will test positive)
Defense attorney: (several actions ... )
1. Move to suppress evidence as Cop/CSI is/has a (potential) conflict -- he has drugs on his person.
2. Move to suppress evidence as anyone including Cop/CSI has drugs on their person.
3. Move to suppress evidence as anyone including Cop/CSI has drugs on their person, as something as simple as a dollar bill from anyone can show drugs on their person, there must be a test or standard to show purity and quantity -- and show evidence that something other than contact with a dollar bill to needs be established before evidence can be entered. (this one is under the assumption of large distribution quantity)
....or any other such / similar action

Not a big fan of execution (takes to long, cost to much, arbitrary application) ... however:
Why not use such drugs as cocaine, heroin and the like? There should be a good stock pile of it, they need to test the purity for trials, and when the when necessary dispose of it (the drugs). During the execution ... the perpetrator won't feel a thing ... and if they did, they wouldn't care about it.

Knowing of mortality; my daughter was murdered, my father died to cancer and my wife was recently diagnosed with cancer. The thought that comes to mind - and as a geek you might see it: What was done on Terminator. Record everything you can. Show her that - you were there for her as much as you can. There was a movie -- I watched as a child where a lady found out that had cancer, and wasn't going to live. She made tape recordings for her daughter (I wish I could remember the name)

You might also consider gifts and/or recordings for her -- example 16th birthday, 18th birthday, graduation and so on. Start now, learn to become comfortable with your recordings. The recordings might be video, audio both ... what you feel comfortable with. What little I have of my father are songs that he had song to my mother, and very little of photographs.

As you make the recordings -- I believe that you will think more in terms of what legacy you can provide her. Telling her that she seems to have the same geek that you have, that you were hoping to guild her when she got older. Tell her about going out and getting her that gift for her 16th birthday, how hard it is for you now, and wishing that you were there with her. Much good advise is here on /.

... and management failed to implement policies and practices in place to prevent development from having direct access to production DB's (without oversight). (It did appear that backups were maintained)

Even some thing as simple as "database cleanup" can be a problem when not properly tested. In once instance I was testing a server/database migration/upgrade. In the Test Plan, I called out that permission issues could not be tested (security wouldn't allow it) and failure to test could result in data loss. As predicted - there was a problem that came to permissions that I was disallowed from testing -- that resulted in data loss (Self defense: I tested as best as I could around the known permission issue).

Some highlights:
o Worked for large co; found several "Sev 1" bugs on a product was was proposed to be released soon. I was put on inventorying computers; product became one of the larges failures in company's history due to -- bugs.
o Same co, later: needed to make a code drop to another business. My job: To make sure that the code worked as expected, and could compile. (they got a "special" version of the code.) I told the PM that we shouldn't have the code on a given storage server -- it (the code) could accidentally be "compiled" causing problems. PM said that would not happen. A few days later, someone compiled the coded on the storage server. PM required that I had to find a way to 'fix it'. At the same time I looked into 'who' compiled the code: The same PM. (This PM was also was responsible for a lawsuit that cost the company millions... and was promoted.) o Worked for a local utility. Was told that we were going to use a copy of "live customer data" for dev/testing. Objected, was told that "test" customer data could NEVER be visible to "real world". Two weeks into testing: Customer Service contact us -- customer billings were off. Sure enough: "test" was crossed over with "production". (My contract was suddenly "ended" shortly after I reported the security error - that was EXACTLY as I had predicted). About six months later, the state Attorney General was looking into the utility for using ... live customer data for testing.
o Worked for an aerospace co. Spend a week creating a detailed functional spec on a report needed by the business department. The developed report (delivered a month late) looked NOTHING like the spec. The totals didn't add up to anything, the columns were out of sequence, the colors were wild (not random -- just not anywhere near the spec.) Three days later, my contract suddenly ended.
o Worked for a company that managed big data. Found out that they had single point of failure ("fail-over"), and I had experience with fail-over situations. Was told that the data center could never be down for very long, and that this risk was minimal. About three months later, the data center suffered a catastrophic failure that took over a week to get minimal power restored. People involved with the failure were promoted.

So many, many, many more times: Like when development released product to production without consulting testing and caused customer data errors, like development removing all permissions on a SQL table to get their dev work done (when the permissions were re-applied, the code didn't work any more)

A good QA / Tester need to know all of the jobs: Development, PM, customer service and Testing to get the job done. Unfortunately QA never gets paid the level of knowledge that it has, the risk that it assumes, and - it's not unusual for bad management to (FREQUENTLY) have QA reporting to development; for bad management frequently blame the messenger. Interesting all the years that I've worked in QA -- I've never seen bad management get the blame.