Figuratively Speaking

Dear old dad, it seems, is a little starved for attention, even on his big day -- projected amount consumers will spend on Father's Day, according to BIGresearch: $8.23 billion

Estimated amount consumers spent for Mother's Day: $11.25 billion

Rank of Father's Day as the year's busiest collect-call day for AT&T: 1

Source: BIGresearch.

Percentage of all new marriages in the U.S. in 2008 that were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from one another, according to a report by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project: 14.6

Percentage of respondents who say they have an immediate family member or close relative who is married to someone of a different race: 35

Source: Pewsocialtrends.org.

As of the first week of June, number of tweets that had been sent by Twitter's 105 million users, according to the findings of a Harris Poll: 15 billion

Estimated number of active users on Facebook -- more members than the populations of Japan, Mexico and Russia combined: 400 million

Percentage of online Americans who use social media: 64

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of small-business owners who say they would give up 10 percent of their company in exchange for a guarantee that they'd be protected from negative economic effects in 2010, according to a survey released by Brother International Corp.: 15

Percentage of small-business owners who say that the economy has taken a toll on their well-being and who find that their stress level is at the highest it's ever been: 51

Source: Brother International Corp.

Percentage of consumers who said they would miss aspects of reading paper books if they switched to reading e-books: 41

Ranks of touch (36 percent), portability (13 percent) and making notes (13 percent) on the list of the top aspects consumers said they would miss most: 1, 2, 3

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings (excludes the value of primary homes and defined-benefit pension plans), up from 39 percent in 2009, according to the EBRI 2010 Retirement Confidence survey: 43

Percentage who said they had less than $1,000, up from 20 percent in 2009: 27

Percentage who say they have confidence in their ability to save enough for a comfortable retirement, the second lowest point in the 20-year history of the survey: 16

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of Americans with a positive opinion about the federal government's handling of a British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a Zogby Interactive survey: 16

Percentage of respondents who have a positive opinion of British Petroleum's handling of the spill: 14 (Down 11 percentage points since the previous poll in late May.)

Source: Zogby International.

Percentage of global consumers who say online content of any kind will have to be considerably better than what is currently free before they will pay for it, according to a Nielsen survey across 52 countries: 71

Percentage of people who would no longer use a website that charges them: 79

Percentage who believe that once they purchase content, it should be theirs to copy or share with whomever they want: 62

Source: Nielsen Analytics.

Percentage of Americans who deem terrorism and federal government debt as their most worrisome issues when they consider threats to the future well-being of the U.S., according to a Gallup Poll: 79

Percentage who call each an "extremely serious" threat: 40

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of companies that outsource their IT infrastructure today, according to a study commissioned by Savvis Inc.: 17

Predicted percentage that will outsource their IT infrastructure in 2020: 64

Source: Savvis.

Idle Thought

"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards." -- Baltasar Gracian, philosopher and writer

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Percentage of teens who send more than 100 text messages a day, or 3,000 texts a month: 33

Percentage who send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month: 50

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of consumers who said they would miss aspects of reading paper books if they switched to reading e-books: 41

Ranks of touch (36 percent), portability (13 percent) and making notes (13 percent) on the list of the top aspects consumers mentioned said they would miss most: 1, 2, 3

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Ranks of Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland on the list of cities with the world's best quality of living, according to Mercer's 2010 Quality of Living Survey: 1, 2, 3, 4(tie)

Ranks of Honolulu and San Francisco on the list (the top-ranked U.S. cities for overall quality of living): 31, 32

Rank of Baghdad, at the bottom of the list: 221

Source: Mercer.

Percentage of singles who confessed to negative feelings about the wedding season, according to a poll by CatholicMatch.com: 20

Percentage who said that they're dreading it: 13

Percentage who said that it would be "kind of a drag": 7

Source: CatholicMatch.com.

Percentage of Americans who agree that many of the jobs lost during the recession are not likely to come back, and that many employers will ask more of current employees instead of hiring new ones, according to a Zogby poll: 60

Percentage who believe America's best days still lie ahead: 43

Source: Zogby International.

Percentage of human resources managers who said formal evaluations are effective in improving employee performance, according to a survey by OfficeTeam: 91

Percentage who said they were very effective: 40

Source: OfficeTeam.

Increase in the demand for temporary workers in the U.S. over the same period in 2009, according to the Palmer Forecast: 10.8

According to the Sterling Resource Funding Corp. -- a company that provides funding to over 300 staffing companies -- percentage of its clients that are expanding in 2010: 80

In 2009, percentage that were shrinking: 80

Source: Palmer Forecast.

Percentage of U.S. travelers who plan to take leisure trips this summer, according to the results of TripAdvisor's annual summer travel survey: 91

Percentage of travelers who will take seven or more days of vacation this summer: 80

Percentage who say the recent volatility in the stock market impacts their plans: 11

Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of Americans who choose to eat a chocolate based on conditions that include their mood, the occasion, the time of day and even the weather, according to a survey by Lindt Chocolate: 61

Percentage of Americans who agree choosing their own chocolate is just as personal a decision as making their own menu choice: 70

Percentage of women who believe choosing their chocolate is just as personal a decision as selecting their lipstick or makeup: 66

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Percentage of working mothers with children younger than age 5 who said they didn't have enough time to do what they needed to do "yesterday," according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index: 41

Percentage of working mothers with older children who said the same: 34

Percentage of working women with no children younger than 18 who said the same: 28

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience." -- George Sand

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Percentage of senior executives and managers who keep a list of things to do every day, according to NFI Research: 93

Number of them who complete everything on the list by the end of the workday: 0

Percentage who finish 50 percent or less of their list each day: 51

Source: NFI Research.

When Americans were asked how they would rate the overall state of moral values in the country today, percentage who said "excellent," according to a Gallup Poll: 1

Percentage who said only fair: 38

Percentage who said poor: 45

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of business owners with between two and 10 employees who are earning more than they had hoped to make when they started their companies, according to a survey by SnagAJob.com: 21

Average number of hours these small business owners say they put in every week toward their business: 58

Source: SnagAJob.com.

Estimated percentage of the variance in math and reading grades that can be accounted for by children's social and emotional skills, according to a study conducted by the Devereux Center for Resilient Children and the Anchorage, Alaska, School District: 25

Source: Devereux Center.

Percentage of Americans who rely highly on Google searches as a source of health care information, according to a survey conducted by Capstrat and Public Policy Polling: 22

Rank of Google in terms of influence in seeking health information: 2 (Second only to doctors -- 44 percent.)

Source: Capstrat and Public Policy Polling.

Average amount of money that car owners can save annually by opting for their local independent repair shop versus the car dealership, according to AutoMD.com: $300

Approximate amount of money spent annually at dealership service centers: $56.7 billion

Source: AutoMD.com.

Year that the first disc-type phonograph record was demonstrated publicly, an invention of Emile Berliner of Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1888

Decade when these discs were replaced by compact discs: 1980s

In 2000, estimated value of CD sales: $13 billion

Today, estimated value of CD sales, as consumers turn to downloaded digital music: $13 billion

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of teen passenger deaths that occur in vehicles driven by another teen, according to an analysis of crash data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: 60

Percentage of teens who admit to feeling unsafe with another teen's driving, according to a survey by The Allstate Foundation: 75

Percentage who are willing to speak up in risky driving situations: 59

Percentage of teen girls who report they will say something in dangerous situations on the road, versus 66 percent of teen boys: 53

Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Percentage of firms with more than 1,000 employees that achieved at least a 6 percent increase in revenue compared to the previous reporting year, according to a survey of investment managers released by SimCorp StrategyLab: 52

Ranks of the introduction of new products, targeting new client segments and entering new geographic markets on the list of key growth acceleration strategies: 1, 2, 3

Source: SimCorp Strategy Lab.

Percentage of chief executives of Fortune 100 companies who have substantial international experience, according to a study by Healthy Companies International: 75

Percentage of top CEOs who had held a senior overseas assignment 10 years ago: 54

Source: Healthy Companies International. Contact Stephen Parker at 703-879-3381 or e-mail Stephen.Parker@healthycompanies.com.

Idle Thought

"A couple of months in the laboratory can save a couple of hours in the library." -- Frank H. Westheimer, chemistry professor

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)