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By The Numbers

Tallying the Secret Service’s ‘comedy of errors’

Tony Wagner Nov 14, 2014
36

 

That’s how many people have gotten over the White House fence since 1973, the Washington Post reports. An investigation found that many layers of security failed on Sept. 19, allowing a man to hop the fence, run across the White House lawn and into the East Room before he was detained. An agent with an attack dog was taking a personal call and didn’t have a radio on him. Several other agents overestimated the effectiveness of various barriers and didn’t react in time as a result. One congressman called the incident “a comedy of errors.”

 

$2.80

 

The Energy Department projects that the national average for the price of a gallon of gas will continue to drop throughout the end of the year to a low of $2.80 in December. That’s especially good news for low-income drivers, who generally drive less fuel-efficient cars. 

 

2.9 percent

 

That’s the annual tuition increase this year for in-state students at public four-year colleges. It fell under 3 percent for the first time since 1975, Vox reported. While tuition is not going up as fast, school is still more expensive than ever. The College Board found tuition at public four-year schools is three times higher than it was in the 1980s, when adjusting for inflation. Many of those hikes happened during the recession. Meanwhile, family income has fallen or stayed flat.

 

2 bounces

 

Don’t be fooled by decoy answers on this week’s Silicon Tally — the Philae space probe bounced twice before landing safely on the surface of a comet. But you already knew that, so why not take our quiz to test your knowledge of the week in tech news?

 

1 percent

 

That’s how many engineers at Facebook, Google and Twitter are black, and 3 percent are Hispanic. The vast majority of employees of these and other Silicon Valley companies are men. Bloomberg talked to dozens of women and people of color working in tech about their experiences. Employees spoke about feeling isolated and having far more incentive to try to fit in with the status quo than to push for more diversity at work.

 

50 Starbucks

 

That’s how many Starbucks exist in the Netherlands. Consider this as you’re sipping your Chestnut Praline Latte: On Friday, the European Union authorities accused the Netherlands of cutting Starbucks a deal (i.e. tax breaks) when the green mermaid announced it would move its European headquarters to the U.K.

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