Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of Americans who say the higher education system in the U.S. fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend, according to a Pew Research Center survey: 57

Percentage who say college is too expensive for most Americans to afford: 75

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

Percentage of men who feel it is hard to get going in the morning, according a survey conducted by StrategyOne on behalf of Schick Xtreme3: 70

Percentage who indicate they don't wake up with a feeling that they are ready for the day ahead: 43

Percentage of men who say they need to be refreshed after putting in too many hours at the office: 58

Source: Strategy One.

Percentage of Americans who said that if they could have only one child, they would prefer that it be a boy, according to a Gallup Poll: 40

Percentage who would rather have a girl: 28

Percentage who have no preference: 32

Percentage of American men who favor a boy over a girl: 49

Percentage of American women who say they would prefer a boy: 31

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of managers who said they weren't ready to become a leader when they started managing others, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 26

Percentage who said they didn't receive any management training: 58

When asked what the biggest challenge is as a manager, percentage of managers who said dealing with issues between co-workers on my team: 25

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Year of the first criminal case in the U.S. in which fingerprint evidence was admitted into court when burglary suspect Caesar Cella was convicted by prints identified by Detective Sergeant Joseph Faurot: 1911

Rank of the use of DNA samples from crime scenes on the list of the fastest growing area of forensic evidence: 1

Number of federal or state prisoners whose convictions were based this evidence: 1.6 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of senior leaders and hiring managers in America's Fortune 500 and other large companies (5,000 employees or more) who said their companies primarily engage in virtual teaming as a way to reduce travel and real estate expenses, according to a study conducted on behalf of Brandman University by Forrester Consulting: 61

Percentage who also use it as a way to recruit high-quality talent regardless of geography: 59

Source: Brandman University.

Percentage of advertising and marketing executives who said entry-level candidates have unrealistic career expectations, according to a survey by The Creative Group: 36

Percentage of respondents who said those who want to land a job should be prepared to ace the interview, as that meeting carries the most weight when evaluating applicants for entry-level advertising or marketing roles: 35

Ranks of resume, portfolio, references, social media presence and experience on the list of attributes considered most important when hiring an entry-level advertising or marketing professional: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage of U.S. consumers who report being aware of the recent news released by the World Health Organization that extensive cellphone use can increase possible cancer risk, according to a survey conducted by TNS: 80

Percentage of respondents who said they would decrease the overall usage of their cellphones: 8

Percentage who said they were now considering the purchase of a hands-free device: 8

Source: TNS.

Ranks of American, Spanish, Italian and Brazilian on the list of nationalities "best at making people laugh," according to a poll conducted by Badoo.com: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of German, Russian and Turkish on the list of nationalities least able to make people laugh: 1, 2, 3

Rank of Americans on the list of the world's funniest nationality, as the folks who brought us not just sitcoms like "Friends" and "The Simpsons," but innumerable great comedians as well: 1

Source: Badoo.

While watching TV, percentage of Americans who also surf the Internet, according to findings of an Adweek/Harris Poll: 56

Percentage who read a book, magazine or newspaper: 44

Percentage who go on a social networking site: 40

Percentage who text on their mobile phone: 37

Source: Harris Interactive.

Idle Thought

"The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else." -- George Bernard Shaw

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

Year that a device was demonstrated in Philadelphia (and that sparked a revolution in the way most Americans now live and work), the first commercial electronic computer, UNIVAC I, built for the U.S. Census Bureau to tabulate the 1950 Census: 1951

Year the public first became aware of the computer when it was used on television on election night to predict that Dwight Eisenhower would win the presidential contest: 1952

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of men who say that when they are on a first date the thought that is going through their head is: "Could I have a relationship with this person?" -- according to a poll by the dating service It's Just Lunch: 47

When women were asked the same question, percentage who said, "Do I want to see him again?": 50

Source: It's Just Lunch/American Way.

Percentage of Americans who have a six-month emergency savings cushion, according to a survey conducted by Bankrate.com: 24

Percentage who have no emergency savings whatsoever: 24

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Percentage of America's middle-income baby boomers who say that their financial situation, not age, is now the key trigger for when to retire, according to a study conducted by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement: 73

Percentage of middle-income Americans between ages 47 and 65 with income between $25,000 and $75,000, who say they expect to retire after the traditional retirement age of 65: 33

Source: Bankers Life and Casualty Co.

Equivalent number of the 1.8 zettabytes of information that is forecast to be created and replicated in 2011, according to the IDC Digital Universe study and sponsored by EMC: 1.8 trillion gigabytes

If every person in the U.S. were to tweet three tweets per minute for 26,976 years nonstop, number of zettabytes of data that would produce: 1.8

If every person in the world were to have more than 215 million high-resolution MRI scans per day, number of zettabytes of data that would produce: 1.8

Source: EMC Corp.

Percentage of men who say they do most of the household cleaning, up from 17 percent in 2006, according to research from Mintel: 31

Percentage of men who do household cleaning who say cleaning the house gives them a sense of accomplishment (compared to 62 percent of women): 55

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of employees who have little to no anxiety about missing work while on vacation, according to a survey by Aerotek: 68

Percentage of respondents who have no qualms about using some or all of their allotted vacation time: 65

Percentage who completely disconnect while on vacation: 52

Source: Aerotek.

In the U.S., percentage of women who say they like shopping for clothes, according to a Gallup Poll: 39

Percentage who go shopping when the clothes they currently own are literally wearing out and need to be replaced: 30

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of working fathers laid off over the last 12 months who say they have found full-time employment, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 84

Percentage who report working more than 50 hours per week on average, up from 19 percent last year: 22

Percentage who spend two hours or less with their children each day: 39

Percentage who spend one hour or less: 16

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of employees in the U.S. who tend to regard talent development programs as unfair and political, according to a survey of senior managers and executives conducted by AMA Enterprise (American Management Association): 24

Percentage who consider efforts to identify and develop future leaders flawed, but well-intentioned: 27

Source: American Management Association.

Idle Thought

"The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out." -- Thomas Macaulay

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

Estimated number of "stay-at-home" dads across America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 147,000

Percentage of fathers with employed wives who are the primary caregiver for their preschooler: 20

Percentage of dads with full-time jobs who regularly worked evening or night shifts and were the primary source of care for their preschoolers during their children's mother's working hours: 32

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of months that The New York Times reports consumers are holding onto new cars, up 4.5 months from a year ago and up 14 percent since the end of 2008: 63.9

When you add used cars, average length of ownership, according to the American Automobile Association: 52.2 months

Number of driving miles logged by Americans in 2010, the most vehicle miles traveled since 2007, according to Consumer Reports: 3 trillion

Source: AutoMD.com.

Percentage of human resources managers who said it's at least somewhat common for their company to award promotions without pay increases, according to an OfficeTeam survey: 22

Percentage of workers who said they would be willing to accept a promotion that doesn't include a raise: 55

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of executives who said employees who socialize outside of the office enjoy more productive working relationships, according to a survey by The Creative Group: 64

Percentage who disagreed: 19

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage increase in sales of organic fruits and vegetables over 2009, which represents 39.7 percent of total organic food value, and nearly 12 percent of all U.S. fruit and vegetable sales, according to findings from the 2011 Organic Industry Survey: 11.8

Percentage increase in organic dairy, the second-largest category, achieving a value of $3.9 billion, and capturing nearly 6 percent of the total U.S. market for dairy products: 9

Source: Organic Trade Association.

Percentage of Americans who attribute the series of public sex scandals in recent years involving politicians more to the heightened scrutiny they face than to lower moral standards among elected officials, according to a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and The Washington Post: 57

Percentage who say elected officials have lower moral standards than ordinary Americans: 19

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

Ranks of audiologist, dietitian and software engineer on the list of the nation's least stressful professions, according to the CareerCast.com 2011 report on the least and most stressful jobs: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of commercial airline pilot, public relations executive and corporate executive on the list of the nation's most stressful professions: 1, 2, 3

Source: CareerCast.com.

Percentage of daily deal buyers who never redeem the daily deal vouchers they've already paid for, according to Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of management at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business in his third study done to date on the daily deals industry: 21.7

Percentage of businesses that reported making money: 55.5

Percentage that lost money: 26.6

Source: Rice University.

Percentage of U.S. small businesses that have done a security audit review in the past six months, according to a survey by Shred-it: 24

Percentage of companies that have no protocol in place for storing and disposing of confidential data: 35.5

Source: Shred-it.

Percentage of smartphone owners who are interested in being notified directly by their carrier with suggestions for cellphone plan upgrades, discounts and special offers, according to the findings released by Upstream: 70

Percentage of cellphone users who prefer two or fewer notices from their carriers each month: 74

Source: Upstream.

Idle Thought

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -- Henry David Thoreau

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