Number of hours:minutes that the average American watches TV per week, according to Nielsen Media Research: 35:34
Number of hours:minutes that kids aged 2 to 11 watch TV per week: 25:48
Number of hours:minutes adults over 65 watch TV per week: 48:54
Source: Nielsen Media Research.
Percentage of American workers who drink two or more cups of coffee during their workday, according to a survey commissioned jointly by Dunkin' Donuts and CareerBuilder: 37
Ranks of nurses, physicians, hotel workers and designers/architects on the list of the professions with the highest proportions of workers stating that they are less productive without coffee: 1, 2, 3, 4
Source: CareerBuilder.com.
Percentage of consumers who spend nothing in monthly bank fees for services such as checking account maintenance and ATM access, according to a survey by the American Bankers Association conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs: 53
Percentage who said they spend $3 or less: 14
Percentage who said they pay $10 or more: 14
Source: American Bankers Association.
Percentage of American adults who rely on the Internet for their sexual information, according to results from an Adam and Eve's survey: 70
Percentage who chose books: 23
Percentage who said friends were their favored resources for sexual information: 18
Source: Adam and Eve.
Average length of time that advertising and marketing executives say it takes to determine whether an employee is well-suited for the job, according to a study developed by the Creative Group: Nine weeks
Source: The Creative Group.
Rank of mystery, crime and thriller novels on the list of the most-read genres, according to a Harris Poll: 1 Ranks of Stephen King, James Patterson and John Grisham on the list of America's favorite authors: 1, 2, 3
Among those who read fiction, percentage who read mystery, thriller and crime books: 48
Source: Harris Interactive.
Percentage of senior managers and executives who agree or strongly agree that communication skills have been articulated within their organizations as priorities for employee development, talent management and succession planning in the next one to three years, according to a survey by the American Management Association: 79
Percentage of executives who also cited critical thinking as a priority: 73
Percentage who cited collaboration/team building: 72
Source: American Management Association.
Percentage of Americans who now own a cell phone, according to research from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project regarding seven key appliances of the information age: 85
Percentage of young adults (18- to 29-year-olds) who own a cell phone of some kind: 96
Percentage of Americans who own either a desktop or laptop computer: 76
Percentage of American adults who own an mp3 player such as an iPod -- a nearly five-fold increase from the 11 percent who owned this type of device in early 2005: 47
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Number of calories in one medium-size (5.3 ounce) skin-on potato serving, according to research by the University of California, Davis and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology at the Illinois Institute of Technology: 110
Number of grams of potassium in that potato, more than a banana: 620
Percentage of the daily value of vitamin C: 45
Amount of fat, sodium and cholesterol in a potato: 0
Source: United States Potato Board.
Ranks of creating jobs/reducing unemployment, securing the borders/addressing immigration issues and focusing more on the country's problems/people's problems on the list of things the federal government is currently not doing that Americans think it should be doing, according to a Gallup Poll: 1, 2, 3
Ranks of health care legislation, spending too much and wars on the list of things the federal government is currently doing that Americans think it should not be doing: 1, 2, 3
Source: Gallup.
Idle Thought
"The lust for comfort murders the passions of the soul." -- Khalil Gibran
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)