Percentage of Americans who spend their vacation days dealing with personal obligations -- such as family emergencies, doctor's or dentist's appointments -- or attending sick children or loved ones, rather than actually vacationing, according to a survey of Princess Cruises: 54

Percentage of Americans who say they find it more stressful to ask for a few extra days off than to ask for a raise: 22

Source: Princess Cruises.

Percentage of U.S. adults who have a predicted heart age that is older than their actual age, meaning they are at higher risk for heart attacks and stroke, according to a new CDC Vital Signs report: 75

Estimated number of U.S. adults between the ages of 30 and 74 who have a heart age older than their actual age -- that's about the number of people living in the 130 largest U.S. cities combined: 69 million

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Percentage of American adults who say it is OK to use a cellphone on public transportation, according to a Pew Internet and American Life survey: 77

Percentage who say it is OK at a restaurant: 38

Percentage who say it is OK at a family dinner: 12

Source: PEW Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of men who think they are more attractive than their best friend, according to Skout's National BFF Day survey: 52

Percentage of men who say their best friend is a woman (vs. 35 percent of men whose best friend is a guy): 40

Percentage of women who say their best friend is a woman (vs. 24 percent of women whose best friend is a guy): 66

Source: Skout.

Year that several counties in a vast territory appended to North Carolina combined to seek admittance to the United States as the state of Franklin, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1784

Year that Franklin fell short of the votes in Congress for admittance, but existed for a few years as an independent republic: 1785

Decade that it was reabsorbed into U.S. territory -- the area now forms the northeast portion of Tennessee: 1790s

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of advertising and marketing executives who say a fellow colleague has tried to make them look bad, according to a survey by The Creative Group: 31

Percentage who said the best way to deal with it is to confront the other person: 41

Percentage who said the best way to deal with it is to alert the person's manager or human resources: 40

Source: The Creative Group.

Percentage of citizens surveyed in 24 countries who say there are too many immigrants in their country, according to an Ipsos global poll: 50

Percentage who say that immigration is causing their country to change in ways they don't like: 46

Against a backdrop where 81 percent of citizens indicate that over the last five years migrants have increased in their country, percentage who say immigrants make their country a more interesting place to live: 30

Source: Ipsos Global.

Rough estimate of the cost incurred by the average consumer in checking account fees each year, according to research by WalletHub: $470

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of college students who admitted to skipping class, according to Core Principle's Class120 technology and Crimson Hexagon, which identified and analyzed more than 3.1 million tweets sent by students on the topic of skipping class: 87

Percentage of the Twitter posts that referenced skipping class to spend more time with their friends: 37

Percentage of students who tweeted that they were sleeping or too tired to go to class: 32

Source: Class120.

Percentage of Americans who say they drink alcohol, according to a survey by Gallup: 66

Percentage who report using a mood-altering drug nearly every day: 19

Percentage who admit to using marijuana: 7

Source: Gallup Organization.

Idle thought

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas Edison

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

Percentage of U.S. employees who don't believe their bosses encourage them to take allotted vacation days, according to Randstad U.S. Employee Engagement Study: 39

Percentage who say their bosses don't help them disconnect from work while on vacation: 45

Source: Randstad.

Rank of Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg (who boasts a personal fortune of $41.6 billion) on the Wealth-X list of the wealthiest individuals under the age of 35: 1

Rank of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz (with an estimated net worth of $9.3 billion) on the list: 2

Rank of Huiyan Yang (net worth $5.9 billion) and the richest woman on the list: 3

Of the world's top 20 wealthiest individuals under the age of 35, number who are from the United States: 11

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of more than 23,000 Laureate students and more than 4,000 non-Laureate students in 22 countries who believe that their course of study will give them the career skills necessary to succeed, according to a survey of student attitudes by Laureate International Universities and Zogby Analytics: 75

Percentage of students around the world who say that universities should work directly with employers to help teach students the skills they need to be successful: 93

Source: Laureate Education Inc.

In the United States today, estimated number of students at all levels of schooling -- some 41.7 million from nursery through elementary school, almost 17 million in high school, and about 19 1/2 million in college: 78 million

Percentage of young adults who have a high school diploma: 80

Source: Census Bureau.

Percentage of children who were more likely to "share" or "be helpful" in kindergarten who were also more likely to earn a high school diploma, according to findings of a 20-year study published in the American Journal of Public Health: 54

Percentage who were more likely to have a full-time job at the age of 25: 46

Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Percentage of people who said they would be willing to donate their kidney to a friend in need, if they are a match, according to a survey conducted by Skout: 81

Percentage who would be willing to skip alcoholic beverages themselves in support of a friend who's on the wagon: 59

Percentage of people who would drop whatever they are doing to help a friend with a broken-down car: 92

Source: Skout.

Percentage of Americans who don't know, even in general terms, what the nuclear agreement with Iran is all about, according to a poll from iMediaEthics: 75

Percentage who said it was to authorize Iran to have a limited number of nuclear weapons: 11

Percentage who said it was to allow Iran to use U.S. technology to build nuclear power plants: 9

Source: iMediaEthics.

Today, total number of wireless subscriber connections in the United States -- 36 million more devices than there are Americans and a wireless penetration rate of 110 percent -- according to the Wireless Association: 355 million

To meet the constant increase in Americans' demand for mobile devices and services, amount wireless carriers invested into the U.S. economy in 2014 capital expenditures: $32 billion

Source: CTIA -- The Wireless Association.

Percentage of Americans who have done at least an hour of yoga in the past month, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs: 20

Percentage who have done yoga on their own: 13

Percentage who have done yoga in a class or group setting: 7

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Average age of romance book buyers (down from 44 in 2013), according to Nielsen's Romance Book Buyer Report: 42

Percentage of these readers who are aged 18 to 44, which includes the coveted millennial demographic: 44

In the first quarter of 2014, percentage of romance books that were purchased by men, up from 12 percent in 2013: 15

Source: Nielsen Analytics.

Idle Thought

"The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves." -- P.D. James, novelist

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

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Rank of "The Bank of Mom and Dad" at 32 percent on the list of major sources of college funding, according to "How America Pays for College 2015," the national study from Sallie Mae and Ipsos: 1

Ranks of scholarships and grants (30 percent), student borrowing (16 percent), student income and savings (11 percent), parent borrowing (6 percent) and contributions from relatives and friends (5 percent) on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of employees who plan to work longer than the current retirement age in their country, according to a 34-country survey by Randstad: 77

Percentage of employers who believe workers 55 and older are less productive than workers under 35, despite studies showing them to be as productive: 37

Percentage who believe there is more absenteeism among older workers, despite studies showing there is less absenteeism: 36

Source: Randstad.

Percentage of employers who say the No. 1 behavior that hurts an employee's chances for promotion is having a negative or pessimistic attitude, according to a survey by Weber Shandwick: 62

Ranks of regularly showing up to work late and using vulgar language: 2, 3

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of people who say they'd prefer to kiss their pet over their significant other, according to a Skout survey taken in honor of International Kissing Day: 19

Percentage of people say they'd prefer to kiss their pet rather than family or friends: 43

Source: Skout.

Percentage of Americans, who consider themselves to be "haves" in U.S. society, according to a Gallup Poll: 58

Percentage who put themselves in the "have-not" group: 38

Percentage of Americans who say they do not think of U.S. society as being divided into groups of haves and have-nots: 54

Source: Gallup Organization.

During the Labor Day weekend, percentage of consumers who plan on relaxing at home, according to a Retailmenot.com survey: 64

Defeating the purpose of the holiday, percentage of employed Americans who will spend Labor Day weekend catching up on work: 14

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

In 2013, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags, the vast majority of this amount ($3.9 million) for U.S. flags made in China, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: $4 million

Dollar value of trade in 2013 between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our seventh-leading trading partner today: $100 billion

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of the U.S. population who are now listening to music online, according to Nielsen research: 79

Percentage of those who pay for streaming services, and are more likely to buy the album than free-streamers (6 percent): 14

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Percentage of Americans who say that the statement "I am concerned about the planet we are leaving behind for future generations" describes them completely or very well; according to the results of a Harris Poll: 44

Percentage of respondents who say the current focus on the environment in our society is not going far enough: 56

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of North American male senior executives who say they aspire to be a top leader of a large company some day, according to a survey of people working in large companies by Weber Shandwick: 22

Percentage of North American female senior executives who said the same: 9

According to the senior executives polled, the percentage of large companies with a female CEO: 23

Actual number that have a female CEO: 8

Source: Weber Shandwick.

Idle Thought

"Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time rich and cash poor." -- Cory Doctorow, author and journalist

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