Year the nation's telephone service options changed forever when AT&T complied with a Justice Department mandate to give up its local Bell System companies in what has been termed the most significant antitrust suit since the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1982

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who think the old, pre-recession economy will return, according to the latest Country Financial Security Index survey: 27

Percentage of these Americans who don't expect to see it return until 2015 or later: 50

Source: Country Financial.

Percentage of young adults in the United States aged 18 to 29 who expect their marriages to last a lifetime, even though half of all marriages end in divorce, according to a study released by Clark University: 86

Percentage of respondents who believe that couples should walk down the aisle and exchange wedding vows before having a child: 73

Source: Clark University.

Ranks of Vienna, Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver on the list of the top cities with the world's best quality of living, according to the Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ranks of Honolulu (28), San Francisco (29), Boston (35), Chicago (42) and Washington, D.C., (43) on the list of the top American cities: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Mercer.

Percentage of chief information officers who said their companies block access to online shopping sites (down from 60 percent last year), according to a poll by Robert Half Technology: 33

Percentage of respondents who said they allow access but monitor activity for excessive use: 55

Source: Robert Half.

Percentage of business technology professionals who say 20 percent or more of their IT operations are outsourced, up from 34 percent in 2010, according to Information Week magazine: 50

Source: Information Week.

Percentage of consumers who say the main reason they shop in stores is for convenience, according to the results of a survey by Continuum: 40

Percentage who say they don't trust the quality online: 22

Percentage who say they don't want to pay for shipping/returns: 17

Percentage who say they shop in stores for better prices: 17

Source: Continuum.

Percentage of consumers who say their health is good, according to the Consumer Health Mindset survey: 87

Percentage who say they are overweight or obese: 23

Percentage of those consumers who report being in good health who actually report height and weight that categorize them in the body mass index as overweight or obese categories: 53

Source: Aon Consulting.

In the year of the snake, the luxury spending per individual for China's ultra-high-net-worth individuals, according to predictions from Wealth-X: $570,000

Total luxury spending for the group, who number more than 12,000: $7 billion

Luxury spending per ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the U.S.: $1,350,000

Combined net worth projected to be reached (more than the GDPs of South Korea and Taiwan combined) by Chinese ultra-high-net-worth individuals: $1.7 trillion

Source: Wealth-X.

Average range of prices for Super Bowl XLVII ads, according to AdAge: $3.7 million to $3.8 million

Source: AdAge.

Idle Thought

"The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell." -- Confucius

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

Percentage of American millionaires who agree that each generation should be responsible for creating its own wealth, up significantly from the 65 percent who said the same thing in 2007, according to a survey from PNC Wealth Management: 82

Percentage who expect to pass on at least $500,000 of wealth to their heirs: 49

Percentage of millionaires who say they received some help from their own parents: 67

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of potential consumer electronics purchasers who are inspired by a consumer review to select a brand that had not been in their original consideration set, according to the "Buy It, Try It, Rate It" study from Weber Shandwick: 65

While consumer electronics buyers pay more attention to other consumers' reviews than to editorial reviews by a margin of more than 3 to 1, percentage who are concerned about the authenticity of consumer reviews, leading them to conduct considerable analysis before making their decision: 80

Source: Weber Shandwick.

Rank of "university professor" (median salary $62,050) on the list of least stressful careers for 2013, according to a report by CareerCast.com measuring work environment, job competitiveness and risk: 1

Ranks of enlisted military personnel ($41,998), military general ($196,300), firefighter ($45,250) and commercial airline pilot ($92,060) on the list of the most stressful professions: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: CareerCast.com.

A century ago, average life expectancy for a baby girl, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 56 years

A century ago, average life expectancy for a baby boy: 52

Average life expectancy for a baby girl today: 81 years

Average life expectancy for a baby boy: 76

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Football fans aren't the only ones enthusiastic about the Super Bowl -- percentage of advertising executives who say they would jump at the chance to work on such a high-profile campaign, according to a survey by The Creative Group: 74

Percentage of corporate marketing executives who said the same: 60

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage of Americans who indicate that they have either paid with a simple tap of their smartphone against the merchant's point-of-service terminal or have witnessed it first-hand, according to the results of a Harris Poll: 13

Percentage of Americans who indicated that they believe smartphone payments will eventually replace payment card: 66

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of companies that offer mentoring and coaching programs to employees, one of the key components put in place by winning companies, according to the latest findings of the National Association for Business Resources: 55

Percentage who use some type of survey to annually gauge employee engagement: 80

Source: National Association for Business Resources.

Percentage of wine-drinking Americans who say there has been a decline in manners and etiquette over the past few decades, according to a survey conducted by Survey.com on behalf of Ecco Domani Wines of Italy: 79

Percentage who say generations younger than their own generally have poorer manners: 65

Source: Survey.com.

Among those who social network, average number of hours spent every day socializing online, according to a survey by Ipsos Marketing: 3.6

Average number of hours a day spent social networking by those under 35: 4.2

Source: Ipsos Marketing Open Thinking Exchange.

Percentage of vehicle owners who say they use a downloaded app on their smartphone for navigation in their vehicle, compared with 37 percent in 2011, according to the J.D. Power and Associates: 47

Percentage of owners who indicate they "definitely would not" or "probably would not" repurchase a factory-installed navigation system if their smartphone navigation could be displayed on a central screen in their vehicle: 46

Source: JDPower and Associates.

Idle Thought

"A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools." -- Spanish proverb

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

In 2010, percentage of all U.S. births that were to unmarried parents, up from 33 percent in 2000: 41

Percent of births to women ages 20 to 24 that occurred outside of marriage in 2010: 63

Between 1980 and 2010, percentage of women ages 40 to 44 who were childless, up from 10 percent: 19

Source: Population Reference Bureau.

Average number of iPhones, iPads, Galaxys, Kindle Fires and more that were activated daily during the first 20 days of December, according to Flurry Analytics: 4 million

On Christmas Day, number of devices that were activated, a 332 percent increase over the December baseline: 17.4 million

Source: Verizon Information Services.

Ranks of Italy, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and France on the list of America's most desired destinations for the new year, according to the findings of Fly.com: 1, 2, 3, 4 (tie)

Source: Fly.com.

Percentage of Apple fans who would like to have lunch with Steve Jobs, according to the results of a poll by ProtectYourBubble.com: 33.6

Percentage who would want to break bread with Albert Einstein: 27.3

Percentage who would want to hang out with Lady Gaga: 17.1

Source: Protect Your Bubble.

Percentage of current gym members who at least somewhat dread the New Year's resolutions crowd, according to a survey conducted on behalf of CouponCabin.com: 56

Percentage of those who have signed up for a gym membership as a New Year's resolution who quit before the year was over: 11

Percentage of those who have quit the gym within a year who quit within five months: 80

Source: CouponCabin.

Percentage of all interior designers who left the industry between May 2008 and May 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 23.2

Percentage of interior designers who feel underpaid for the amount of work they do, according to Design Success University's 2013 Interior Design Fee and Salary Survey: 98.5

Percentage of interior designers who earn less than $45,000: 60

Source: Design Success University.

When moms were asked which day is more of a fresh start -- Jan. 1 or back-to-school -- percentage who said they view the new school year not Jan. 1 as a fresh start, according to Global Customer Insights and Analytics survey: 76

Source: Wal-Mart Media Relations.

Total of 2012 retail e-commerce spending online during the entire November-December holiday shopping season, marking a 14 percent increase from 2011, according to comScore: $42.3 billion

Ranks of Cyber Monday ($1.465 billion), Free Shipping Day on Monday, Dec. 17 (up 76 percent to $1.013 billion) and Christmas Day (up 36 percent to $288 million) on the list of heaviest online spending days: 1, 2, 3

Source: Comscore.

Projected percentage increase in sales of smoking cessation products from 2011 to 2012, reaching $1 billion and expected to continue to grow through 2017, according to Mintel research: 3

Percentage of Americans who currently smoke or have previously quit who say, "It's hard to motivate myself to quit, because I enjoy it": 60

Percentage who say, "Health warnings about smoking scare me": 60

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of kids ages 8 to 15 who said they had made a resolution looking ahead into 2013, according to a survey by KidSay: 48

Percentage of those who told KidSay that "good grades" was top of mind: 24

Percentage who said a "healthier lifestyle": 16

Percentage who said "better at sports/more athletic": 6

Source: KidSay.

Percentage of business travelers who said they will travel more in 2013 than in 2012, according to a survey conducted by Frequent Business Traveler magazine: 33

Percentage who said they would be traveling more compared to two years ago: 50

Source: Frequent Business Traveler.

Idle Thought

"If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him." -- Francis Bacon

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