Rank of New York City as chosen from a list of 48 major cities as the best place to do business, according to a global survey by Ipsos MORI on Global @dvisor, covering 18,147 people in 24 countries: 1

Rank of Zurich as the best place to live, according to the survey: 1

Rank of Paris as the best place to visit: 1

Source: Ipsos Mori.

Percentage of Americans who say they are "very happy," according to a Harris poll conducted in 10 major metropolitan markets: 33

Percentage of respondents in the Dallas/Fort Worth region who said they were "very happy," the highest among the 10 areas polled: 38

Percentage in the San Francisco market who qualified as "very happy" (least happy of the 10 areas measured): 28

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of 35- to 55-year-old U.S. males with $100,000 plus in household income, an associate's degree or higher, an interest in relationships with women and an openness to dating online who have the intention of finding a serious relationship, according to a survey conducted for AnastasiaDate.com: 70

Percentage of these men who are open to dating a woman outside the U.S.: 78

Percentage who would definitely or probably travel to see a woman from another country whom they met online and with whom they had a connection: 50

Source: Anastasia International Inc.

Percentage of insurers who estimated that insurance fraud costs represent 5 percent to 10 percent of their total claims, according to a survey of U.S. insurers by FICO: 35

Percentage who said the cost is as high as 20 percent: 31

Source: FICO.

Percentage of parents who admit to having driven without their child buckled up in a car seat or booster seat, according to a study by Safe Kids Worldwide: 25

In 2011 in the United States, number of children ages 12 and under who died in motor vehicle crashes: 679

Number of these children who were riding without a child safety seat or seat belt that could have saved their lives: 221

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide.

Percentage of Americans who shop for groceries on a budget and worry about going over it, according to a study by the American Marketing Association: 33

Percentage more a budget shopper will spend when using a smart shopping cart -- a cart that displays the total price of the goods in a shopping cart: 22

Source: American Marketing Association.

With cold-and-flu season on its way, percentage of Americans who are germ anxious, according to a study by Kimberly-Clark Professional: 33

Ranks of the average desk where many people eat their lunch and the break room on the list of office germ "hot spots": 1 (tie)

Average number of germs per square inch found in these places: 20,951

Percentage reduction in average hot-spot germ counts that is accomplished by practicing good hand and surface hygiene: 59

Source: Kimberly-Clark Professional.

Percentage of America's children under the age of 18 who live with at least one grandparent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 10

Estimated number of those grandparents who are responsible for the children's care: 2 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of document processes in financial services that are still driven by paper, according to an IDC Financial Insights Market Spotlight: 37

Source: Ricoh Americas Corp.

Rank of San Jose, Calif., with an average weekly pay of $1,464, high-income concentration of 42.8 percent and economic growth of 17.6 percent, on the list of the top cities for the promise of high-paying jobs, according to a study by CreditDonkey: 1

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Idle Thought

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words." -- Robert Frost

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

Percentage of Americans under the age of 60 who expect to receive an inheritance, according to a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Interest.com: 27

Percentage of Americans age 60 and older who expect to leave an inheritance to family members: 64

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Average age Americans would like to live at if they could skip time and live forever in good health at a particular age, according to the results of The Harris Poll: 50

When The Harris Poll asked this question 10 years ago, the perfect age cited: 41

Source: Harris Interactive.

As U.S. consumers continue to recover from the Great Recession, percentage of households where the level of debt they are carrying is causing significant stress in their lives, according to research from Mintel: 25

Percentage who state that the amount of debt they have impacts their day-to-day lives: 25

Percentage of American households who think people would disapprove if they knew how much debt they were in: 13

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of shoppers who feel guilt or shame after shopping -- one of the warning signs of a shopping addiction, according to a poll by CreditDonkey.com: 36

Percentage who hide purchases from their families: 20

Percentage who check available credit at least once a week: 27

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Total tab being left to future generations, representing today's official debt plus future unfunded government obligations, according to a report by The Can Kicks Back, a nonpartisan and millennial-led campaign to defeat the national debt and reclaim the American Dream: $200 trillion

Sum of lifetime federal benefits, in excess of taxes paid, that will have been collected by a senior turning 65 this year: $327,500

Lifetime tax rate on all future Americans if they are forced to pay the bill being racked up by today's Americans: 60

Source: The Can Kicks Back.

Percentage of singles who have played wingman (the successful dater's essential sidekick) for a friend, according to a Zoosk survey: 69

Percentage of singles who say the most important quality for a wingman to possess is trustworthiness: 46

Source: Zoosk.

Percentage of Americans who expect to experience incivility in the next 24 hours, saying that dealing with incivility has become a way of life for many, according to a poll by Weber Shandwick and public affairs firm Powell Tate partnered with KRC Research on Civility in America: 43

Percentage of Americans who continue to believe that the Internet encourages uncivil behavior: 70

Percentage of parents who reported that their children experienced incivility at school: 62

Percentage of Americans who personally experienced incivility at work: 37

Source: Weber Shandwick.

Percentage of senior managers who said they have accepted the blame in the office for something that wasn't their fault, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 47

Percentage of those who took the fall who reported they did so because they felt indirectly responsible for the problem: 34

Percentage who felt that when they did take the blame it was because the infraction was minor enough that it wasn't worth arguing over: 34

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of drivers in 24 countries who indicate they text, email or use social media while they are driving (even when they're at a stop sign or a red light), according to the findings of a poll conducted by Ipsos OTX: 22

Rank of the U.S. in this group: 6

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Every year, amount of food wasted in the U.S. as a whole, with only 3 percent of that food being donated or composted, according to a study from the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Restaurant Association: 35 million tons

Annual cost to Americans of this wasted food: $165 billion

Source: Food Nutrition & Science.

Idle Thought

"Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence." -- Honore de Balzac, novelist

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

Ranks of the Ty Warner Penthouse (Four Seasons Hotel), the Presidential Suite (St. Regis) and the Royal Plaza Suite (The Plaza Hotel) on the list of the most expensive hotel suites in Manhattan, according to a report on per day stays in NewYorkHotels.org: 1, 2, 3

Cost per day to stay at the Ty Warner Penthouse Suite, where guests are treated to sweeping views of Manhattan in every direction, bathroom sinks made of solid rock crystal blocks, a personal butler who is on call 24 hours a day and the use of a Maybach or Rolls-Royce -- with a personal driver: $40,000

Cost per day to stay in the Presidential Suite inside the St. Regis, where guests can brag that they stayed in the same suite as Salvador Dali, Babe Paley and Marilyn Monroe: $35,000

Cost per day to stay in The Plaza's Royal Plaza Suite, inspired by the ambiance of Louis XV's royal court: $30,000

Source: NewYorkHotels.org.

Percentage of singles who divulged that music is an integral part of their date-night prep, according to a survey by Match.com: 78

Percentage of men who choose to listen to classic crooner Barry White when getting pumped up for a date: 49

Percentage of women who choose current artists like Robin Thicke and Maroon 5: 44

Source: Match.com.

Rank of the 2013 Ram 1500 on the list of the top tailgating cars for 2013, partly because of a feature that lowers the truck to parking height for easier access to the truck's bed and its contents, according to Cars.com: 1

Source: Cars.com.

Amount of state tax on gasoline per gallon levied in California, the highest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 39.5 cents

Amount of state tax on gasoline and on diesel per gallon in Florida, the lowest in the country: 4 cents

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

When hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries were asked if they had two equally qualified candidates, which factors would make them more likely to consider one candidate over another, percentage who said the candidate with the better sense of humor, according to a CareerBuilder study: 27

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Ranks of addiction (sex, drugs and alcohol), mood disorders (depression, bi-polar disorder) and personality disorders (narcissism, borderline personality disorder) on the list of mental illnesses that plague marriages most, according to a survey of mental-health professionals by YourTango: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of mental-health professionals who agree that a spouse's ultimatum or family intervention is the most effective tool for kick-starting recovery: 54

Source: YourTango.com.

Percentage of research participants who state that they have "covered" their identity at work (a process by which individuals downplay their differences relative to mainstream perceptions, often in ways costly to their productivity and sense of self), according to a study from the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion and law professor Kenji Yoshino: 75

Percentage of straight, white, male respondents who report hiding their authentic selves on the job: 50

Rank of blacks (94 percent), women of color (91 percent), LGBT (91 percent) and women (80 percent) on the list of groups where the highest levels of covering occur: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Deloitte LLP.

Percentage of Americans who are working out at least once a week, according to the Timex/SodaHead.com survey: 73

Percentage who spend between 30 minutes and one hour on their physical activities: 29

Percentage who are spending between one and two hours exercising: 18

Source: Timex sodahead.

Percentage of Americans who gave themselves an A or B grade on their saving and investing knowledge, while giving the average American a failing grade of D, according to Genworth's Psychology of Financial Planning research: 52

Percentage of respondents who agree on the importance of financial literacy and the fact that they don't have enough: 88

Source: Genworth Financial.

Percentage of college football fans who say they wear certain clothes or shoes to help their favorite team beat their opponents, according to a survey by the Big Ten Network: 53

Percentage who felt looking away from the screen sometimes helped their team win: 40

Source: BTN.

Idle Thought

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." -- Ernest Hemingway, Nobel laureate

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