Cost of raising a child born in 2012 for 18 years for a middle-income average couple, excluding the cost of college education, tuition and living expenses, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: $241,080
Source: LoansForPoorCredit.net.
Percentage of Americans who say they could use more vacation time, according to a survey conducted this month by Choice Hotels International Inc.: 63
Percentage of Americans who report that they plan to take a leisure trip at the end of the summer or in the fall this year: 66
Ranks of just relaxing, seeing family and friends, visiting a city, hitting the beach and enjoying nature on the list of the things people like to do most: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Source: Choice Hotels.
Compared with European and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) shoppers, rank of Americans among the most frugal shoppers and deal hunters, according to RetailMeNot's International Shoppers Trend Report: 1
Source: RetailMeNot.com.
Percentage of teachers and principals who report regularly seeing hungry kids in their schools, according to a report by Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign: 75
On average, amount of money spent per month by teachers who buy food for hungry students: $37
Ranks of improvement in alertness, better attendance, fewer disciplinary problems, fewer visits to the school nurse and fewer tardy students on the list of benefits that more than half of teachers report seeing since implementing the Breakfast in the Classroom program: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Source: Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry.
Percentage of Americans who believe the condition of a workplace restroom is an indicator of how a company values its workforce, according to a survey conducted by Bradley Corp.: 93
Percentage of employees who have experienced restroom troubles -- toilets that are clogged or not flushed; really bad smells; and towel and soap dispensers that are empty, jammed or don't dispense enough: 41
Source: Bradley Corp.
Percentage of Americans who identify Edward Snowden's leaking details of U.S. mass surveillance programs to the press as the "scandal of the summer," according to a Harris Interactive poll: 42
At a distant second, percentage who identified Paula Deen being fired from the Food Network due to allegations of racism: 16
Percentage who identified the performance-enhancing drug revelations and related suspensions in Major League Baseball as the "scandal of the summer": 12
Percentage who said revelations of additional sexting by Anthony Weiner: 9
Source: Harris Interactive.
When considering whether to include an online degree as part of companies' continued learning initiatives, ranks of a program's relevance to their respective business (94 percent), the flexibility/convenience it provides their employees (94 percent), selection of courses and degrees (92 percent), price (91 percent) and the reputation of the educational institution (91 percent) on the list of values HR executives look for most, according to a survey commissioned by Academic Partnerships: 1 (tie), 3, 4 (tie)
Among employees, ranks of upward mobility, promotion and increase in salary on the list of advantages of holding advanced degrees: 1, 2, 3
Source: Academic Partnerships.
Ranks of Samsung, Asus, Lenovo/IBM, HP, Toshiba and Apple on the list of computer manufacturers in Rescuecom's 2013 Computer Reliability Report (the physical reliability of the computers plus the after-the-sale computer support of the manufacturers): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Rank of HP on the list of the U.S. market share leaders in sales for 2012: 1
Source: Rescuecom.
Percentage of online consumers in 24 countries who indicate that in the past month they have shared some type of content on social media sites, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos OTX: 71
Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.
Percentage of high school students who cross the street while distracted, according to a report by Safe Kids Worldwide: 20
Percentage of the students crossing the street while distracted who are typing on a cellphone: 39
Percentage who are listening to headphones: 39
Source: Safe Kids Worldwide.
Idle Thought
On why he keeps a piece of concrete in his pocket: "Because we don't ever want to forget where we're from ... the ghetto." -- Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus Williams
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre(at)bwr.eastlink.ca.)