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Comment Re:What achievement gap? (Score 1) 638

by NumaNuma (#20105177) Attached to: Winnie Wrote a Math Book
Sounds to me like you're describing the "achievement gap" right there. While you may be right that there isn't very much of a pay gap given equal achievement, that fact itself supports the existence of an achievement gap. After all, if women overall have lower pay, yet get equal or greater pay given equal achievement, then logically there isn't equal achievement. Now, I don't know that I believe the axiom that given equal education/choices women aren't at a disadvantage, but at the very least according to your beliefs there exists an experience/achievement gap. That said, as a highly educated woman in a field that is traditionally male-centric, I still occasionally encounter certain assumptions about my ability (or inability) that only seem to occur in situation where the other party is aware of my gender, as opposed to online.
Security

FBI Data Mining For More Than Just Terrorists 130

Posted by Zonk from the my-secret-health-and-auto-insurance-fraud-ring-is-doomed dept.
jcatcw writes "Computerworld reports that the FBI is using data mining programs to track more than just terrorists. The program's original focus was to identify potential terrorists, but additional patterns have been developed for identity theft rings, fraudulent housing transactions, Internet pharmacy fraud, automobile insurance fraud, and health-care-related fraud. From the article: 'In a statement, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the report [on the data mining] was four months late and raised more questions than it answered. The report "demonstrates just how dramatically the Bush administration has expanded the use of [data mining] technology, often in secret, to collect and sift through Americans' most sensitive personal information," he said. At the same time, the report provides an "important and all-too-rare ray of sunshine on the department's data mining activities," Leahy said. It would give Congress a way to conduct "meaningful oversight" he said.'"

Robot Unravels the Mystery of Walking 134

Posted by Zonk from the ha-ha-i've-been-walking-for-years-now dept.
manchineel writes with a link to a BBC article on the lessons learned from a project in locomotive robotics. 'Runbot', as it is known, is the result of a modern technology combined with a 1930s physiology study into human locomotion. The study found that walking is largely an automatic process; we only engage our brains when we have to navigate around an obstacle or deal with rough terrain. "The basic walking steps of Runbot, which has been built by scientists co-operating across Europe, are controlled by reflex information received by peripheral sensors on the joints and feet of the robot, as well as an accelerometer which monitors the pitch of the machine. These sensors pass data on to local neural loops - the equivalent of local circuits - which analyse the information and make adjustments to the gait of the robot in real time."
Privacy

FBI Employees Face Criminal Probe Over Patriot Act 217

Posted by Zonk from the keep-your-fingers-to-yourself dept.
DevanJedi writes "According to an article at Wired.com , several FBI agents are under investigation for illegally acquiring information an American citizens. Overzealous agents used 'misleading emergency letters' obtain phone records of thousands of Americans. This marks the first time government officers have been prosecuted for misuse of the Patriot Act. From the article: 'Unit employees, who are not authorized to request records in investigations, sent form letters to telephone companies to acquire detailed billing information on specific phone numbers by falsely promising that subpoenas were already in the works. According to a third source, FBI officials also said at the meeting that some bureau employees have already been granted immunity from prosecution in the investigation. The third source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, did not recall, however, that FBI officials described the investigation as "criminal."'"
Input Devices

Submission + - Do-It-Yourself Steampunk Keyboard

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Who said there's no use for your old IBM "M Series" keyboards anymore? This

creative fellow shows us step by step how to convert the keyboards of yesteryear into keyboards of an even further distant, fictional time. H. G. Wells would be proud.

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