Figuratively Speaking

Percentage of managers who said beginning or ending late tops their list of meeting pet peeves, according to a survey developed by Accountemps: 31

Percentage who said getting the group together unnecessarily was their top pet peeve: 27

Source: Accountemps.

Ranks of smile (52 percent), eyes (37 percent), backside (6 percent) and hair (5 percent) on the list of attractive features as cited by the opposite sex, according to a poll by the dating service It's Just Lunch: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of bad teeth (31 percent), smoking (29 percent), overweight (27 percent) and someone who still lives at home with their parents (11 percent) on the list of the biggest turnoffs: 1, 2, 3, 4

Ranks of kindness (34 percent), intelligence (19 percent), confidence (14 percent), ambition (6 percent) and humor (2 percent) on the list of character traits most looked for in a first date: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: It's Just Lunch/American Way.

Percentage of Americans, growing more wary of mounting student loan debt and the value of higher education, who say the expected average level of student loan debt of $29,000 is too high, according to a Country Financial survey: 81

Percentage who say, given the rising costs, a college education is not a good financial investment, up seven points from 2010: 26

Percentage of parents who say it is more important to save for their own retirement over a child's college education, up three points from 2010 and four points from 2009: 46

Source: Country Financial.

Percentage of food shoppers who believe prices in food stores are escalating, according to Deloitte's Consumer Food and Product Insight Survey: 87

Percentage who say the size of some packaged goods is smaller: 74

Source: Deloitte.

Percentage of Americans who say the most important financial problem their family faces today is a lack of money and low wages, according to a Gallup Poll: 17

Percentage who say they worry most about health care costs: 12

Percentage who say they have too much debt and not enough money to pay debts: 11

Source: Gallup.

Estimated number of dogs that reside in more than 46 million U.S. households, according to the American Pet Products Association: 78 million

Percentage of dog owners who have driven with their dog at least once a month in the past year, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety: 56

Percentage who take their attention away from the road to pet their dog: 52

Percentage who have reached into the backseat to interact with their dog: 18

Source: AAA.

Among younger American workers age 18 to 29 who said workplace training would be more valuable if it were available remotely through handheld mobile devices, according to a Work Place Options poll: 75

Percentage of respondents age 30 to 45 who held this view: 40

Percentage aged 46 to 65 who reflected this view: 26

Source: Work Place Options.

Percentage of adults who prefer to have sex during evening hours, according to the results of the Adam and Eve Great American Sex Survey: 52

Ranks of late night (47 percent), morning (33 percent) and afternoon (21 percent) on the list of preferred times: 2, 3, 4

Source: Adam and Eve.

Approximate percentage of annual revenues at theme parks that are accounted for by admissions, according to Mintel: 60

Percentage that is accounted for by food and beverage: 17

Percentage accounted for by merchandise: 10

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they will not be going away this summer, according to the results from an IBOPE Zogby interactive poll: 58

Of those who will be traveling, percentage who say they plan to spend less than in years past: 56

Source: Zogby International.

Idle Thought

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." -- William James, psychologist and philosopher

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

3

MACINTYRE 7/31/11

Percentage of shift workers who believe that they are negatively impacted by their shift work and report issues associated with work productivity, negative emotions, concern about sex life and decreased time spent with family, according to the Men's Health Network: 79

Percentage of shift workers who want a change in job or hours, but who don't think it will be possible in the near future: 52

Percentage who feel that they will have the same job until they retire: 44

Source: Men's Health Network.

Year the ice cream sundae was introduced by Wisconsin druggist Edward Berners to skirt the strict Sabbath laws of the time, according to the Census Bureau: 1881

Year the ice cream cone became popular at the St. Louis World's Fair: 1904

Average number of pounds of frozen dairy products eaten by Americans each year: 25

Source: Census Bureau.

Number of coupons marketers distributed in 2010 -- the largest single-year distribution quantity ever recorded in the United States, according to a report released by Valassis: 332 billion

Percentage growth in grocery coupon redemption volume in 2010 compared to the prior year, and up 29.4 percent since 2006: 10

Source: Valassis.

Percentage of all Americans -- and even more parents -- who admit they can't afford to be sidelined by health issues for three months or more, according to an Anthem Blue Cross survey: 50

Estimated number of lost work hours per year in America, due to stress and health problems: 2.8 million

Odds that a new worker will experience a long-term disability before retirement, according to the Council for Disability Awareness: 1-in-3

Source: Blue Cross.

Percentage of adults who report that they recycle, according to a national survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Yesterday's News: 87

Percentage who say they recycle every day: 51

Percentage who admit that they never recycle: 13

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Rank of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" on the list of films with the highest presale of all time, eclipsing all other movie releases, according to movietickets.com: 1

Number of other Harry Potter films on the top 10 list: 3

Source: Movietickets.com.

Amount lost by U.S. workers in earnings annually, including $7.2 billion in earnings from workers in the copyright industry or "downstream" retail industries, and $9.1 billion in earnings by workers in other U.S. industries due to offshore rogue websites distributing illegal, pirated content and counterfeit goods, according to the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI): $16.3 billion

Estimated amount lost by the U.S. government in tax revenues annually, including $1.8 billion in personal income tax and $800 million in lost corporate income and production taxes: $2.6 billion

Source: Institute for Policy Innovation.

Average self-reported daily consumer spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations and online per day during June, according to a Gallup poll: $69

Average upper-income daily consumer spending (among Americans making $90,000 or more annually) in June: $124

Source: Gallup Organization.

Percentage of dieters who were unable to keep the weight off past six months, according to a national survey by the Calorie Control Council: 66

Over a 12-month period, percentage of all dieters who attempted two or more weight-loss efforts: 50

Rank of "not enough exercise" (69 percent), "metabolism slowing" (62 percent) and "too much snacking" (52 percent) on the list of obstacles to achieving a healthy weight: 1, 2, 3

Source: Calorie Control Council.

Idle Thought

"Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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

In the past year, number of American adults -- 10 percent of the U.S. adult population -- who purchased a coupon from an online site such as Groupon or LivingSocial, according to a survey conducted for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants: 23 million

Percentage of coupons that were used for needed items: 49

Source: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Percentage of men who actually confessed to wearing their underwear two or three times between washes, according to a survey by the makers of Clorox Bleach: 12.5

Percentage of men who rely on a "sniff" test to determine if their clothes are fresh enough to wear, justifying their habit of wearing garments multiple times before washing: 49

Source: Clorox.

Percentage of travelers who think that people often violate some form of beach or pool etiquette, according to the results of the annual beach and pool etiquette survey by TripAdvisor: 74

Percentage who have asked a stranger to stop behaving rudely at the beach or pool: 26

Percentage of respondents who said blasting loud music is the most annoying poolside etiquette violation: 21

Percentage who said beach chair hogging: 18

Source: TripAdvisor.

When it comes to how well workers' education prepared them for their current position, percentage of full-time workers who said that while their education helped, they learned most of their skills on the job, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs-Randstad survey: 50

Percentage of workers who wished that they had more skills -- "hard skills" such as a degree or knowledge of a trade or industry and/or "soft" skills such as emotional, social, leadership and organizational intelligence: 62

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of motorists who cite checking tire pressure as a top fuel-saving tip: 75

Percentage of male motorists who properly check tire pressure: 20

Percentage of female motorists who properly check tire pressure: 9

Number of gallons of fuel wasted annually due to underinflated tires: 1.2 billion

Source: Rubber Manufacturers Association.

Percentage of adults who said they knew someone who had used paid sick time for reasons other than an illness, such as extending their summer vacation, according to a survey commissioned from Opinion Research Corp. and released by the Employment Policies Institute: 51

Percentage of respondents who said they had personally used sick leave for non-medical reasons: 21 (27 percent of males and 16 percent of females)

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Century when roller coasters were first chronicled as ice slides in Russia, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 15th

In the U.S., year that the first modern roller coaster opened at Coney Island, N.Y., built by Lamarcus Thompson, and called "the gravity pleasure switchback railway": 1884

Number of minutes the ride lasted: 1

Today, estimated number of amusement parks across the nation: 634

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of pet owners who say they consider their pet to be a member of their family, according to a survey by Harris Interactive: 91

Percentage of pet owners who say they frequently let their pet sleep in the bed with them: 57

Percentage of pet owners who frequently purchase holiday presents for their pet: 33

Source: Harris Interactive.

Across all backgrounds, ranks of education, the state of the economy, an individual's own skills and a person's income level on the list of factors considered the most important for success in America: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of respondents who believe that a person's racial or ethnic background is important: 2

Source: Allstate Insurance Co.

Percentage of non-retired U.S. investors (defined as those having $10,000 or more of investable assets) who say the cost of health care is a major determinant of when they retire, according to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index poll: 72

Percentage of non-retired investors who say being located near good medical facilities will be a major factor in determining where they will live in retirement: 60

Percentage of non-retirees who said low state and/or local real estate taxes would have an impact on where they would retire: 52

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle." -- Anonymous

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