Percentage of Americans who say that the lack of any non-white actors in this year's nominations for the Academy Awards is because the best performances happened to be by white actors, according to research from YouGov: 51
Percentage of white Americans who say that it was simply because the best performances were by white actors: 62
Percentage of black Americans who say that it was because of a lack of diversity: 75
Source: YouGov.
Percentage of men and women who say that lying is sometimes justified, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll: 64
Percentage of Americans who say it's OK to lie in order to avoid hurting someone's feelings: 56
Percentage who say it's OK for a parent to lie to his or her child about the parent's own past misbehavior: 54
Percentage who say it's OK to exaggerate the facts to make a story more interesting: 52
Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.
Year that female representation in the global professional and managerial ranks will reach 40 percent of that workforce, according to Mercer's second-annual "When Women Thrive" global report: 2025
Percentage of organizations that offer women-focused health and financial wellness programs: 9
Rank of the U.S. globally for having the largest number of organizations that offer women-focused wellness programs: 1
Source: Mercer.
Ranks of North Korea (16 percent), Russia (15 percent), Iran (14 percent) and China (12 percent) on the list of countries Americans perceive to be the greatest enemies of the United States, according to a Gallup poll: 1, 2, 3, 4
Source: Gallup Organization.
Year that the idea of insuring cars against accidents began, when the Traveler's Insurance Co. issued a policy to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo, New York, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1898
Cost of Dr. Martin's policy, giving him $5,000 in coverage: $12.25
Estimated number of cars in the country at that time: 4,000
Estimated number of farm horses at the time, a main cause of concern for Martin regarding accidents: 18 million
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Percentage of computer repair calls attributed to Windows App and Windows O.S. trouble, according to a report by RESCUECOM: 61.5
Ranks of poor computer performance/slowness, printer issues and viruses/spyware/malware/pop-ups on the list of problems requiring computer repair calls: 2, 3, 4
Source: RESCUECOM.
Percentage of Americans who think black cats are actually good luck, according to a survey by Skout: 59
Percentage of people who have owned a black cat who say they have won a contest or the lottery (vs. 40 percent of people who have never owned a black cat): 46
Percentage of respondents who have owned a black cat who have had a near-death experience and lived to tell about it (vs. 54 percent of people who have never owned a black cat): 64
Source: Skout.
Percentage of professionals who have increased their commitment to their personal life over the last year, according to research from staffing firm Robert Half: 54
Percentage of those polled who said they are more committed to their career: 38
Source: Robert Half.
Percentage of American adults who report that they have used online dating sites and/or mobile dating apps, up from the 11 percent who reported doing so in early 2013, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center: 15
Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who report having used online dating, up from just 10 percent in early 2013: 27
Percentage of 55- to 64-year-olds who use online dating over the same time period, up from 6 percent in 2013: 12
Source: Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends.
Percentage of Americans who expect to pay a little or a lot more for health insurance in 2016, according to a survey by GOBankingRates.com: 43
Percentage of respondents who expect to pay less than last year: 20
Source: GoBankingRates.com.
Idle Thought
"A fellow of mediocre talent will remain a mediocrity, whether he travels or not; but one of superior talent will go to seed if he always remains in the same place." -- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer
(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)