I never worked for big law, but medium law is terrible. Partners can just order the IT department to do anything. We had a new head of IT that tried to implement some common sense changes for an organization that handles sensitive data. Basic stuff: Block websites that tend to be malware vectors, don't let users be admins on their own machines, restrict USB storage to certain users, etc. We were forced to override it on the partners machines almost immediately.

Restricting partners usb access? Restricting websites and restricting install permissions.

Overkill and probably the opposite of what they envision an IT department doing.

Something similar is actually a plot point in Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep".

I had the great fortune of knowing Andrzej Jesmanowicz, one of the participants in this story. He did MRI research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He was also a helicopter pilot, skydiver (how I met him), and total maniac in the best possible way. Andre died in 2016 and some of his friends got together to spread his ashes over Wisconsin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZhCCohSBg

Do you know if any of these guys were ham radio operators by chance? Sounded like ham ingenuity to me.

They were radioastronomers.

Looking at the Bosox 2009 schedule, it looks like the horizontal line indicates home games.

Indeed. 2nd paragraph on the linked page:

"This example is from Tufte's site, and was made in collaboration with Adam Schwartz. The presence of a horizontal line represents a home game."

On the flip side, when I am interviewing a candidate I always ask when they would be able to start if we were to make them an offer. A currently employed candidate who says "tomorrow" raises huge red flags.