Percentage of Americans who agree that getting hooked on good habits starts with making smarter choices in life, according to a survey conducted by ORC International on behalf of Nestle Waters North America Inc.: 97

Percentage who say they find it easier to break a bad habit when they can replace it with a good one: 88

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Percentage of large organizations that make minimal or no effort to identify high-performing employees, according to a survey of senior managers and executives conducted by AMA Enterprise: 27

Percentage of managers who described their organization's efforts to identify high potentials as mostly informal: 44

Percentage who described them as a combination of informal and systematic: 42

Source: AMA Enterprise.

Percentage of Americans who report having less respect for someone who smokes, according to a Gallup Poll: 25

Percentage who say they have less respect for a person who is overweight: 12

Percentage of U.S. smokers who now agree that smoking is "very harmful" to adults who smoke, tying the highest percentage who have ever said so: 67

Percentage of Americans who agree that secondhand smoke is very harmful: 54

Source: Gallup.

Projected amount of money that families with children in grades K to 12 will spend on clothes, school supplies and electronics compared with $606.40 last year, according to findings from a National Retail Federation survey: $603.63

Percentage of parents who said the economy is forcing them to shop smarter -- that they will be scouring bedroom closets and desks to take stock of what their children already have before making any purchase decisions: 43.7

Estimated amount of money back-to-school and back-to-college sales combined will reach: $68 billion

Source: National Retail Federation.

Although Congress and President Obama have agreed to raise the debt ceiling, percentage of Americans who say that the debt ceiling debate has made them feel less confident in the economy, according to the August RBC Consumer Outlook Index: 54

Percentage who say that it has made them less confident in their own finances and investments: 42

Percentage of Americans who say the U.S. is on the wrong path: 76

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of young Americans age 18 to 29 who either have delayed or will delay a major life change or purchase due the economic factors, according to a poll by Generation Opportunity: 77

Percentage who will delay buying a home: 44

Percentage who will delay saving for retirement: 28

Source: Generation Opportunity.

Percentage of adults who own a mobile phone, according to research from Experian Simmons: 90

Percentage of teens who own a mobile phone: 70

Percentage of kids who own a mobile phone: 20

Percentage of cellphone owners today who believe their phone will be the primary device for their entertainment needs in the future: 29

Source: Experian Public Relations.

Estimated decline in the number of nonemployer businesses -- those without paid employees; often including real estate agents, beauticians and construction contractors -- between 2008 and 2009, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau: 260,000

Ranks of Texas (8,260), Georgia (3,336), Louisiana (1,871) and the District of Columbia (462) on the list of states that added the most nonemployer firms between 2008 and 2009: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Estimated amount of traditional TV that women watch per month more than men, though men consistently spend more time streaming video online, according to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report: 16 hours

Rank of Asians on the list of leaders in time spent watching video on the Internet, averaging six-plus hours more per month than whites, and nearly four hours more per month than the next closest ethnic group -- Hispanics: 1

Source: Nielsen/NetRatings.

Number of times more effective that senior leaders who coach, develop and hold others accountable for coaching and development are at producing improved business and talent results, according to research from Bersin and Associates: 3

Percentage of senior leaders who actively coach on a regular basis: 11

Source: Bersin and Associates.

Idle Thought

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare." -- Mark Twain, author and humorist

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

Percentage of American kids who are visited by the tooth fairy, according to a Visa Inc. survey: 90

Not immune from the country's lingering economic challenges, average amount of money left by the popular cuspid collector in 2011, a 40-cent decrease from last year's $3 per tooth: $2.60

Percentage of children who receive no money from the tooth fairy: 10

Source: GfK Roper.

Percentage of teachers who favor getting rid of incompetent teachers, regardless of seniority, according to a national survey of public school teachers conducted by the National Center for Education Information: 90

Percentage of public school teachers hired since 2005 who entered teaching through alternative teacher preparation programs -- up from 22 percent of new teachers hired between 2000 and 2004, 8 percent in the '90s and 4 percent in the '80s: 40

Source: National Center for Education Information.

At a crowded beach, percentage of people who consider six feet to be the closest acceptable distance to sit next to another stranger, according to the results of the annual beach etiquette survey by TripAdvisor: 28

Percentage who are comfortable with three feet: 28

Percentage of respondents who consider it unacceptable for a stranger to request assistance with applying suntan lotion: 79

Source: TripAdvisor.

Number of times greater that the median wealth of white households is compared to that of black households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis that provides the first look at how the Great Recession impacted the wealth of white, black and Hispanic households: 20

Number of times greater that the median wealth of white households is compared to that of Hispanic households: 18

Source: Pew Research Center.

Year "The Shadow," one of the most popular programs heard on radio during its golden age, was heard for the first time, though its famous opening did not appear until several years later, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1930

Year the last show in the series was heard: 1954

Number of radio stations in the United States when "The Shadow" premiered in 1930: 618

Estimated number of stations there are today: 14,300

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of businesses that say they were planning a company picnic this summer with everything from Frisbees, dunk tanks and egg races to drinking games, jousting and medical testing, according to a survey from the Advertising Specialty Institute: 41

Percentage that say they were hosting a picnic for the first time or the first time in recent years: 8

Percentage of employees who say they generally attend: 50

Source: Advertising Specialty Institute.

Percentage of employees who said they want flex time (e.g. summer Fridays or ability to leave early on certain days), according to an Adecco Staffing U.S. survey of employees in the summer of 2011: 60

Percentage who said they'd like extra vacation days this summer: 53

Percentage of Americans who indicated they believe that it's appropriate to dress more casually in the summer: 74

Source: Adecco.

Percentage of Americans who track their spending against a monthly budget, according to a study conducted for Bankrate: 58

Percentage of Americans who reported higher net worth than one year ago: 26

Percentage of Americans who have adequate emergency savings: 24

Source: Bankrate.com.

Based on a five-point scale, where five is a great impact of caregiving on their performance at work and one is no impact, percentage of working caregivers who chose five, according to a special survey of Americans who self-identified as caregivers in Gallup Daily tracking surveys throughout 2010: 10

Percentage who picked somewhere between two and four: 44

Percentage of caregivers who reported one to five days missed work days per year because of caregiving duties: 36

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who believe that the state of sportsmanship is worse now than when they were growing up, according to the annual Awards and Recognition Association's survey on the state of sport: 71

Percentage of respondents who want good sportsmanship to be rewarded: 80

Source: Awards and Recognition Association.

Idle Thought

"A neurosis is a secret that you don't know you're keeping." -- Kenneth Tynan, critic and writer

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

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.)