Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of employers hiring seasonal workers in the fourth quarter this year who said they plan to pay more than $10 an hour, according to a survey from CareerBuilder: 54

Percentage of hiring managers who said their No. 1 pet peeve when hiring seasonal workers is a lack of enthusiasm: 59

Percentage of hiring managers who said they are turned off by workers who appear to want employee discounts more than the opportunity: 31

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of Americans who would rather get up early than sleep in while on vacation, according to the relaxation survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Princess Cruises: 55

While on vacation, percentage of respondents who said that they would rather be spontaneous than schedule their day: 60

Ranks of reading (25 percent), having a drink (20 percent) and listening to music (19 percent) on the list of activities that most aid their relaxation while on vacation: 1, 2, 3

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of men who believe it's becoming more socially acceptable to date an older woman, according to a survey by AreYouInterested.com: 85

Percentage of women who would not be offended if they were called a cougar: 73

Percentage of men who would date an older woman because she may expect less than a younger woman who may be looking for marriage: 51

Source: Linden Alschuler and Kaplan Public Relations.

Percentage of U.S. online consumers who say having their questions answered by a live person while they are in the process of shopping online is one of the most important features of a website, according to Forrester Research: 45

Source: Forrester.

Percentage of Americans who are in favor of legalizing the use of marijuana, according to Gallup's annual crime survey: 46

Source: Gallup.

Estimated percentage of the 139 million U.S. workers who do their jobs from home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 4

Rank of Montana on the list of states with the greatest proportion of people working from home -- just over 7 percent: 1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Estimated percentage of the nation's estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants who are of Hispanic origin, according to a survey of Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center: 80

Percentage of Latino adults who say the unauthorized immigrants should pay a fine but not be deported: 53

Percentage of Latinos who support providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if they pass background checks, pay a fine and have jobs: 86

Percentage of the general public who feel the same: 68

Source: Pew Hispanic Center.

Percentage of Americans who took a last-minute trip last year and had planned those trips an average of just six days prior to their departure, according to a Ypartnership/Harrison Group 2010 Portrait of American Travelers survey: 27

Percentage of recipients of "flash sale" e-mails (by travel service suppliers trying to liquidate what would otherwise be unsold inventory) who report purchasing a travel service as a result: 14

Percentage of airfare services booked as a result of a flash sale: 47

Source: Ypartnership Public Relations.

Percentage of adult children with retired parents who said they had detailed discussions with their parents about their parents' income and expenses, according to research from EBRI, the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute: 47

Percentage of adult children with retired parents who said they knew the approximate amount of their parents' income: 42

Source: EBRI.

Despite screaming headlines proclaiming the death of the printed book due to burgeoning digital content and electronic reading devices, the percentage of college students who purchased an electronic book of any kind during July, August and September, according to findings of a study by OnCampus Research: 13

Of that 13 percent, percentage who stated that the primary purpose of their e-book purchase was required course materials for class: 56

Percentage of students who said they preferred print over digital: 74

Source: National Association of College Stores.

Idle Thought

"Boredom is a vital problem for the moralist, since at least half of the sins of mankind are caused by the fear of it." -- Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate

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

Number of hours:minutes that the average American watches TV per week, according to Nielsen Media Research: 35:34

Number of hours:minutes that kids aged 2 to 11 watch TV per week: 25:48

Number of hours:minutes adults over 65 watch TV per week: 48:54

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Percentage of American workers who drink two or more cups of coffee during their workday, according to a survey commissioned jointly by Dunkin' Donuts and CareerBuilder: 37

Ranks of nurses, physicians, hotel workers and designers/architects on the list of the professions with the highest proportions of workers stating that they are less productive without coffee: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of consumers who spend nothing in monthly bank fees for services such as checking account maintenance and ATM access, according to a survey by the American Bankers Association conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs: 53

Percentage who said they spend $3 or less: 14

Percentage who said they pay $10 or more: 14

Source: American Bankers Association.

Percentage of American adults who rely on the Internet for their sexual information, according to results from an Adam and Eve's survey: 70

Percentage who chose books: 23

Percentage who said friends were their favored resources for sexual information: 18

Source: Adam and Eve.

Average length of time that advertising and marketing executives say it takes to determine whether an employee is well-suited for the job, according to a study developed by the Creative Group: Nine weeks

Source: The Creative Group.

Rank of mystery, crime and thriller novels on the list of the most-read genres, according to a Harris Poll: 1 Ranks of Stephen King, James Patterson and John Grisham on the list of America's favorite authors: 1, 2, 3

Among those who read fiction, percentage who read mystery, thriller and crime books: 48

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of senior managers and executives who agree or strongly agree that communication skills have been articulated within their organizations as priorities for employee development, talent management and succession planning in the next one to three years, according to a survey by the American Management Association: 79

Percentage of executives who also cited critical thinking as a priority: 73

Percentage who cited collaboration/team building: 72

Source: American Management Association.

Percentage of Americans who now own a cell phone, according to research from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project regarding seven key appliances of the information age: 85

Percentage of young adults (18- to 29-year-olds) who own a cell phone of some kind: 96

Percentage of Americans who own either a desktop or laptop computer: 76

Percentage of American adults who own an mp3 player such as an iPod -- a nearly five-fold increase from the 11 percent who owned this type of device in early 2005: 47

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Number of calories in one medium-size (5.3 ounce) skin-on potato serving, according to research by the University of California, Davis and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology: 110

Number of grams of potassium in that potato, more than a banana: 620

Percentage of the daily value of vitamin C: 45

Amount of fat, sodium and cholesterol in a potato: 0

Source: United States Potato Board.

Ranks of creating jobs/reducing unemployment, securing the borders/addressing immigration issues and focusing more on the country's problems/people's problems on the list of things the federal government is currently not doing that Americans think it should be doing, according to a Gallup Poll: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of health care legislation, spending too much and wars on the list of things the federal government is currently doing that Americans think it should not be doing: 1, 2, 3

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul." -- Khalil Gibran

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

Percentage of women who find wealth attractive or somewhat attractive, according to a survey by dating site Diamond Daddy: 95

Percentage of women who like a man who sometimes or always spoils them: 80

Percentage of women who say they are seeking a "sugar daddy": 3

Source: Luxury Personals.

Number of messages per day received by the average knowledge worker, according to Basex: 93

If every knowledge worker in the U.S. were to send 10 percent fewer messages, estimated annual reduction in the cost of "information overload": $180 billion

Source: Basex Inc.

Ranks of banks (88 percent), personal e-mail accounts (86 percent) and Facebook (72 percent) -- all of which are rife with sensitive information -- on the list of the most commonly used password-protected sites among consumers, according to research commissioned by Webroot: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of respondents who have shared passwords with at least one person in the past year: 41

Percentage of people who use the same password to log into multiple websites: 41

Source: Webroot Software Inc.

Percentage of Americans who express "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust in themselves to make judgments under the country's democratic system, according to a Gallup Poll: 69

Percentage who say the same of the men and women in political life: 47

Number of percentage points that trust in politicians has fallen from when Gallup first asked the question in April 1974, as Congress was embroiled in the Watergate investigation that culminated in President Richard Nixon's resignation: 21

Source: Gallup.

Despite continuing warnings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the potential dangers of in-vehicle cell phone use, percentage of drivers who admitted to having used a hand-held cell phone during the past 30 days, according to a Kelley Blue Book poll: 22

Percentage who said they had used some form of hands-free/Bluetooth device: 10

Source: Kelley Blue Book.

In spite of one of the cloudiest and rainiest years in recent memory, amount of solar energy produced by Solar Pie atop the PEMCO Insurance roof in Seattle in its inaugural 12 months of operation: 8,106 kilowatts

Length of time that amount of power will run an average household in the state of Washington: 1 year

Over the past year, number of tons of carbon offset by PEMCO's solar panels, which represents the amount of greenhouse gases that would have been emitted if the same level of energy had been produced by fossil fuels: 6

Source: Solar Pie.

Ranks of Steve Jobs, Jay-Z and Oprah Winfrey on the list of the most-admired entrepreneurs by Houston teens, according to a 2010 Teens and Entrepreneurship survey conducted by Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of respondents who said they would like to start their own businesses someday: 60

Percentage who said they were most interested in an entertainment business: 18

Percentage who were interested in a technology-based business: 10

Source: Junior Achievement.

Due to the lingering economic downturn, percentage more do-it-yourselfers who are doing even more of their own auto repairs than in 2008, according to the 2010 DIY Report from AutoMD.com: 40

Percentage of DIYers who claim savings of over $1,000 yearly: 34.9

Percentage who say they save $500-plus: 67

Source: AutoMD.com.

Since the global financial crisis, percentage of Americans who have become more concerned about the price of food, according to a survey by the Financial Times and Harris Poll: 58

As a response to rising food prices, percentage of Americans who are spending more money on the same type of food that they have always purchased: 35

Percentage who are spending less money on either less food or on less-expensive food: 23

Source: Harris Interactive.

Estimated number of temporary positions created by the economy in just 12 months, according to analysis by Dice.com of Bureau of Labor statistics numbers: 400,000

By comparison, number of years it took to achieve that kind of growth during the last recovery: 3

Source: Dice.com.

Idle Thought

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is." -- Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry

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