FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING by John MacIntyre

Number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2009, a number eight times the population of Ireland itself, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 36.9 million

Ranks of German and Irish on the list of the nation's most frequently reported ancestry: 1, 2

Percentage of Massachusetts residents who were of Irish ancestry in 2009, compared to a rate of 12 percent for the nation as a whole: 24

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Average cost of a hospital stay in Spain, according to the International Federation of Health Plans in the 2011 Comparative Price Report detailing its annual survey of medical costs per unit: $1,825

Average cost for the same stay in Germany: $5,004

Average cost in the U.S.: $15,734

Source: International Federation of Health Plans.

Percentage of leading companies that anticipate natural resource shortages, including water, will impact their core business objectives in next three to five years, according to an Ernst and Young/GreenBiz Group study: 76

Percentage of respondents who used packaged software to handle a portion of their sustainability initiatives reporting, though the primary data collection tools remain spreadsheets, emails and phone calls: 25

Source: Ernst and Young.

Ranks of Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Honda Civic on the list of the most stolen and recovered vehicles by make and model in 2011, according to findings from LoJack's 2011 Vehicle Theft Recovery Report: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of California, Texas and Florida on the list of states with the most stolen and recovered vehicles in 2011: 1, 2, 3

Source: LoJack Corp.

Percentage of all American adults, age 18 and older, who consider themselves to be in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse problems, according to data released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services: 10

Number of American adults this represents: 23.5 million

Percentage ratio of males to females who say they are in recovery: 12 to 7

Percentage of addictions that start in the teenage years: 90

Source: The Partnership at Drugfree.org.

Percentage of automotive CEOs from 31 countries who plan to cut costs in the next 12 months as they balance the need to attract talent and invest in innovation, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' 15th global CEO survey automotive summary: 69

Percentage who intend to focus more heavily on innovating to improve existing processes and product development: 72

Ranks of China, (38 percent), Brazil (24 percent) and the U.S. (22 percent) on the list of projected top future markets: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of automotive CEOs who have modified products and services to accommodate the Chinese market: 59

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Percentage of IT professionals who say March Madness historically has impacted their network, according to a survey conducted by Braun Research on behalf of Modis: 42

Of those affected, percentage of respondents who report their networks have slowed down: 37

Percentage of IT professionals who still believe employees find their respective content-streaming policy to be fair: 71

Source: Modis.

Percentage increase in iPad usage among the small-to-medium-size business market, or SMB, over the past year, indicating that the iPad is the fastest-growing technology among the SMB market, according to The Business Journals' national study among SMB owners: 25

Percentage of SMB owners who report now being "very or somewhat familiar" with the device: 75

Percentage of iPad users in the SMB community who are tech-savvy and financially successful: 34

Source: The Business Journals.

Percentage of parents in the U.K. who say they read to their children less than once every two weeks, according to the Munch Time survey, commissioned by Munch Bunch: 10

Percentage of dads who say work is the reason for not reading to their children: 20

Percentage of parents who are likely to rely on others to read stories to their children: 36

Source: Munch Bunch Yogurts.

Percentage of IT and IT security practitioners in the U.S. who blame employee behaviors, both intentional and accidental, for at least one data breach within their organization over the past two years, according to a report released by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Trend Micro Inc.: 78

Ranks of employees' loss of a laptop or other mobile data-bearing devices (35 percent), third-party mishaps or flubs (32 percent), and system glitches (29 percent) on the list of the top three root causes of these breaches: 1, 2, 3

Source: Trend Micro Inc.

Idle Thought

"Never cut what you can untie." -- Joseph Joubert

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