An interesting retort, and not without merit. +1 (And thus my "generally" caveat.)

Doubly interesting when considering the correlations between prisoners and members of the military....

-bZj

Source is the same as cited: I was there, and that was the option on offer.

It falls under "refusing a housing move," or "refusing a job assignment" (all inmates are required to work and no inmate may refusing a housing move, per CDCR's regulating code, Title 15).

First link at www.cdcr.ca.gov/regulations

-bZj

CA inmate firefighters are paid between $2.xx and $4.xx per day . If they are on an active fire, they will earn $1/hr (and are generally on 24hr shifts). CA minimum wage is quite a bit above that. Also, if you are "eligible" for fire camp and refuse to go, you will receive a write-up, which will affect your security placement and your credit earning rate. This is what the quoted former inmate means when he mentions "duress." It may not be slavery, but it is not in any way equivalent to a "paid volunteer" situation (volunteers generally aren't 'paid' in any context).

Source: doing the books at a fire camp; being one of the more computer literate of the population. [It is indeed preferrable to prison, for most, and does feel better than rotting in a cell.]

-bZj

72310,272 right here. ;-)

1TB? I remember when we put a 120 MB Maxtor full-height MFM drive in a customer's Novell file server in 1987. The drive was around $3000 in 1987 dollars IIRC, and we just gazed upon it in awe, not being able to imagine even coming close to filling it up. Nowadays, I don't even want to be bothered with 128GB flash drives that hold more than a thousand times more than that and cost less than lunch. It's just ridiculous now.

And to clarify, "miserable" can often mean "at serious risk for heatstroke". Sweating doesn't do a damn thing to cool you off when the humidity gets high enough, and if the power's out during the summer, it can get into the upper 90s inside in short order.

My 44 has been an interesting year... But I'm giving it up... as of tomorrow.

Does that mean I'm over this "hump" of accelerated aging? Easy-going until I hit the big six-oh...?

-bZj

In contrast, it takes about 14 hours to get from Key West to Pensacola (one end of Florida to the other), also assuming no traffic holdups, and staying completely on big interstate highways. Not all states are that big, obviously, but given how backwater the U.S. is regarding mass transit, it's unfortunately something that a lot of folks need to consider.

+1

-bZj

They might be able to make a good case for constructive dismissal, but I agree that a lawyer should be consulted to better understand what the available options are.

A dead patient is no longer a source of revenue.

But their estate still can be.

I can't speak for others, but writing stuff down helps me a lot. When I was in school, I never studied before exams because I took copious notes, and the mere act of taking those notes made something click in my head to push that info into long-term memory and make it quickly available for later recall without ever having to look at the notes again. You're absolutely right about writing forcing you to organize your thoughts, but I suspect there are also other, possibly more subtle, benefits to be gained in the neurological and psychological realms.

Plus, the way a lot of modern cars are put together, it costs $750 in labor to disassemble/reassemble everything that needs to come apart just to get to the damned $40 part that needs replacing.

I actually used my phone as part of my HVAC system. The system has a Bluetooth service interface, so it was helpful to see if it had a clogged condensate line or other issue that I could take care of quickly. Unfortunately my login appears to not work anymore after an update, and I suspect the manufacturer has started cracking down to limit the use of the app by DIYers.

You don't even need to involve iCloud at all - you could include a printed TOTP secret that's associated with the device and will work with any TOTP app to generate a credential when needed, and don't be dumb enough to keep the secret anywhere on the device itself or in its bag/case. The pairing software will ask for a credential, and you give it when needed. Or you could provide the key as a YubiKey-like device, but that too would need to be kept separate from the phone/computer. Recyclers could pay a bonus for devices with a working key to encourage folks not to lose it.

This is just off the top of my head, and obviously the idea would need to be fleshed out, but the point is that there's no reason to make it a requirement that the manufacturer be involved anytime a device needs to be repaired while still maintaining a reasonable degree of anti-theft protection.