Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of human resource managers who reported they typically review 25 applications or less for open positions, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 48

Percentage who said, on average, they spend less than a minute reviewing a resume: 38

Percentage who spend less than 30 seconds: 18

Percentage of human resource managers who said they pay more attention to resumes that are tailored to their open positions: 79

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of U.S. TV households that own one TV: 16.3

Percentage of TV households that own two TVs: 28.4

Percentage of TV households that own three TVs: 24.4

Percentage of TV households that own four or more TVs: 30.9

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Percentage of Americans who say President Barack Obama bears a great deal or moderate amount of blame for U.S. economic problems, according to a Gallup poll: 48

Percentage of Americans who blame former President George W. Bush for the economic problems: 71

Source: Gallup Organization.

Number of calories and fat content packed in the Big Mac, McDonald's signature sandwich, according to an analysis from dietitians with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: 540 and 29 grams of fat

Number of calories and fat content contained in a double quarter pounder with cheese: 740 and 42 grams of fat

Number of calories and fat content contained in a McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal: 840 and 37 grams of fat

Rank of the McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal on a recent PCRM list of the five most unhealthful fast-food meals marketed to children: 1

Source: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Year the federal government went into debt for the first time, according to the Census Bureau: 1789

Amount Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton arranged to borrow from the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America to pay the salaries of President Washington and members of the first Congress: $192,000

Length of time it took to pay off the loan: less than 1 year

Amount of the president's annual salary today: $400,000

Estimated amount of the national debt today: $13 trillion.

Source: Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who say it is "unacceptable" for homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments, according to a Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey: 59

Percentage who say the practice of "walking away" from a home mortgage is acceptable, at least under certain circumstances: 36

Percentage of homeowners who say they owe more on their mortgages than their home is worth: 21

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of moms who consider themselves "very green" or "somewhat green," incorporating environmentally friendly practices and products into their families' everyday lives, according to a survey from Marcal Small Steps and Kiwi magazine: 59

Percentage of moms who mistakenly believe anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent or more of all U.S. paper products are made from 100 percent recycled paper: 62

Percentage of household paper products sold in this country that are actually made from 100 percent recycled paper: 2

Source: Marcal.

Rank of how a guy smells on the list of factors that determine whether a girl will find him attractive, according to scent expert Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, in a survey commissioned by AXE: 1

Percentage of girls who say they won't date a guy who smells like their dad: 56

Source: Edelman.

Percentage of the 36 million Americans with a hearing problem who actually use hearing aids, according to a public opinion survey commissioned by HearUSA: 25

Source: HEAR USA.

IDLE THOUGHT

"It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life." -- Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

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

Percentage of wannabe millionaire Brits who would give up sex for a year to become a millionaire, according to the results of a study into British attitudes toward getting rich by InterCasino: 49

Percentage who would shut down their Facebook profile: 33

Percentage of guys who admit that they would sleep with a stranger to make a million: 45

Percentage of women who would do the same: 17

Source: InterCasino.

Percentage of parents who are saving for their children's college education, up from 59 percent last year, according to a survey of parents across the country by the College Savings Foundation: 65

Percentage of parents who weren't saving at all, down from 41 percent in 2009: 35

Source: College Savings Foundation.

Percentage of American commuters who would be willing to commute as long as necessary to accept a new job they found very interesting, according to The Hartford's 2010 Drivability Survey: 10

Percentage of drivers who would at least consider a job offer that involves a commute of more than 30 minutes each way: 77

Source: The Hartford.

Percentage of divorcees and widowers who want to find a partner but do not want to remarry, according to a survey by Meetcha.com: 53

Percentage of never-married singles who shared this sentiment: 36

Percentage of respondents who said what they like least about dating at this time is that it is hard to meet others their age: 74

Source: Meetcha.com.

Percentage of children in the U.S. who live with a grandparent, a percentage that rose sharply from 2007 to 2008, the first year of the Great Recession, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data: 10

Percentage of all children who live with a grandparent (or grandparents) that are also being raised primarily by that grandparent: 41

Number of children this represents: 2.9 million

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

After new versions of the iPod were recently launched, percentage of Facebook users who voted the portable media playing device their "most prized possession," according to a survey carried out on behalf of insurance firm Protect Your Bubble: 12

Percentage who voted for the Blackberry: 11.5

Percentage who said their iPhone: 10

Source: Protect Your Bubble.

Percentage of empty nest opportunist (ENO) parents in the U.K. who said that when it comes to love lives, they had noticed a marked improvement since their children left, according to a survey by UNITE: 84

Percentage of ENOs who used their children leaving for college as a chance to make a clean break and leave an unhappy relationship: 19

Source: UNITE.

Percentage decline in 2009 from 2008 in drunk-driving fatalities -- those in crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or greater, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation: 7.4

Percentage decline since 2000: 19

Source: Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

Percentage of teachers who see alcohol as having the greatest negative impact on teens, according to the results of a national survey released by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest: 70

Percentage of police who agree: 51

Percentage of teachers who cited marijuana: 51

Percentage of police who agree: 69

Source: Fabrizio, Ward and Associates.

Ranks of living maintenance-free with convenient access to amenities, not being able to afford the costs associated with homeownership, living in great neighborhoods and flexibility to move among the top reasons to be a renter, according to an Apartments.com survey: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Apartments.com.

Idle Thought

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." -- Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher

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

Percentage of adult Americans who smoke, according to Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index data from 2009: 21

Percentage of adult Americans in Utah who smoke (lowest): 13

Percentage of adult Americans in Kentucky and West Virginia who smoke (the highest): 31

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of air travelers who said they had been surprised at the airport by unexpected fees for things such as checking bags, requesting a seat assignment, getting extra legroom or flying standby, according to a survey by the American Society of Travel Agents: 66

Percentage of travelers who said they were surprised by such fees often or nearly every time they travel by air: 29

Source: American Society of Travel Agents.

Year that people in lower Manhattan stood in awe when four streets, including Wall Street, started to glow with the light from 400 bulbs, the first public showing of electric lights staged by Thomas Edison, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1882

Even by 1940, percentage of U.S. homes that still were not electrified: 20

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Average percentage of money that can be saved on groceries by filling a shopping cart with store brands over national brands, according to a study from Consumer Reports: 30

In 21 head-to-head taste match-ups, number of times national brands won: 7

Number of times the store brand came out on top: 3

Number that resulted in ties: 11

Source: Consumer Reports.

Ranks of listening more intently, planning regular dates, and just turning off the television on the list of ways to promote passion, according to a survey of couples by the makers of Sensis condoms: 1(tie), 3

Percentage of respondents who say that ringing phones are a passion killer: 70

Source: Kelton Research.

Estimated cumulative perentage of the global lighting market by 2020 that will be made by LED (light emitting diodes) technology, according to The Third Cycle: 32 to 60

Estimated number of kilowatt-hours of electricity that will be saved in the next decade with the use of LEDs: 5 trillion

Number of full-size power plants that could be removed from the grid due to the energy saved by the full adoption of LED lighting: 559

Source: The Third Cycle.

In 2009, percentage more pay taken home by CEOs of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis than their peers at S&P 500 firms, according to the "CEO Pay and the Great Recession" study from the Institute for Policy Studies: 42

Average CEO pay at the 50 layoff leaders in 2009, compared to the S&P 500 average of $8.5 million: $12 million

Percentage of the firms that announced mass layoffs that did so at a time of positive earnings reports: 72

Source: Institute for Policy Studies.

Estimated number of TV households in the U.S. for the 2010-2011 broadcast season, an increase of 1 million homes from last year, according to Nielsen: 115.9 million

Ranks of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia on the list of the top local TV markets: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Nielsen Analytics.

Estimated percentage of the 139 million currently employed workers in the United States who suffered at least one spell of unemployment during the Great Recession that began in December 2007, according to Pew Research: 26 (or 36 million)

Percentage of the re-employed who say they are being paid more now than at their former job: 38

Percentage who say their current benefits are better: 28

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Salary for a production worker, reflecting only a 1 percent increase since 2009, according to the 2010 Compensation Data Manufacturing survey: $29,400

Salary for a tool and die maker, 2.4 percent higher than last year: $47,300

Salary for warehouse workers, up from $28,800 in 2009: $30,200

Source: Compdata Surveys.

Idle Thought

"You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: Make use of suffering." -- Henri Frederic Amiel, philosopher

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