Percentage of Americans who would pay off debt if they won a million dollars, according to a nationwide survey of consumers conducted by Compass Bank: 48

Percentage who said they would continue to work until they reached retirement age: 41

Percentage who would call in sick the next day and never return to work: 20

Source: Compass Bank.

Percentage of women employees in the U.S. who say they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace last year, nearly double from 2006, according to a survey conducted by Novations Group: 38

Percentage of male U.S. employees who said they heard at least one sexually inappropriate comment in their workplace in 2007: 45

Source: Novations Group Inc.

Percentage of U.S. employers who say stress, caused by "working long hours/doing more with less," is affecting business performance, according to Watson Wyatt's 2007/2008 Staying@Work Report: 48

Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by work/life balance issues adversely affects business performance: 32

Percentage of employers who believe stress caused by widespread use of technologies that expand availability, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants, are greatly affecting business performance: 29

Source: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Percentage of respondents who admit that they've thanked their vehicle, according to national survey commissioned by Jiffy Lube International: 46

Percentage who have complimented their cars on their dependability: 33.5

Percentage who admit they have given a nice rub to the dashboard or some other sweet spot: 17

Percentage who have tried to bribe their vehicle into behaving by offering such things as a car wash or premium gasoline: 17

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Percentage of full-time, commuting U.S. workers who say their commute to or from work has been affected by "severe weather" in the past three months, according to a survey conducted by Kronos, The Workforce Institute and Harris Interactive: 33

Percentage who arrived late to work as a result: 23

Percentage who left early: 16

Percentage who lost pay because of their affected commute: 20

Source: Kronos Inc.

Percentage of U.S. employees who say they are open to a new career opportunity in 2008, according to a survey conducted by Yahoo! HotJobs: 72

Percentage who say they would be willing to leave their current job because they either dislike their boss's management style or feel there is a lack of mentorship at their company: 43

Percentage of U.S. employees who agree with the statement, "People don't leave companies; they leave managers": 55

Source: Yahoo! HotJobs.

Estimated total value of all online advertising revenue in 2007, according to a study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers: $21.1 billion

Approximate total value of all online advertising revenue in 2005: $12.6 billion

Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Percentage of single women who contribute regularly to retirement, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute's Family Matters study: 21

Percentage of traditional families that consistently contribute to their retirement accounts: 41

Percentage of blended families that do the same: 29

Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute.

Percentage of Americans who were able to correctly estimate how interest compounds over time, according to a survey conducted by TNS in partnership with professors at Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College: 35

Percentage of respondents who did not understand how minimum payments are calculated and applied to a principal balance: 50

Source: TNS.

Number of top 10 beaches that are in Florida: 4

Number that are in Hawaii: 3

Source: TripAdvisor.

Idle Thought

"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability." -- Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Percentage of Americans who say they would definitely sign a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement if their spouse or partner asked them to, according to a survey by Thomson West: 14

Percentage who said they might sign one: 27

Percentage who said probably not: 21

Percentage who said definitely not: 20

Source: Ipsos.

Date when old analog TVs that receive "over the airwaves" signals will go dark unless consumers get connected to a special set-top converter box, according to the Texas Campaign for the Environment: Feb. 17, 2009

Estimated number of American households that could wake up on that day to find that there's literally nothing on TV: 21 million

Estimated number of new digital TVs that Americans are expected to purchase in 2008, according to the electronics industry: 32 million

Source: Texas Campaign for the Environment.

Percentage of U.S. workers who say drama is the type of movie genre that best describes their workplace, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey: 32

Percentage of workers who said comedy: 28

Percentge of workers who said a horror or a war movie: 6

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of people who would consider participating in an office betting pool, according to a Spherion Workplace survey: 44

Percentage of respondents who named office camaraderie as the main reason for participation: 49

Source: Spherion.

Percentage of students in first through eighth grades from across the country who say that they would not want to be president of the United States, according to an election year poll by Scholastic News: 55

Percentage of boy respondents who said yes to being president: 66

Percentage of girl respondents who said yes to being president: 19

Source: Scholastic News.

Percentage of wealthy business owners who say they enjoy their work so much that they want to work until age 70 or later, according to a survey conducted by PNC Wealth Management: 43

Percentage who say they have written succession plans in place that would ease the transition of their business to family or other business associates: 33

Percentage who strongly or somewhat agree with the statement, "I will continue to work, no matter how much money I have": 61

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Combined projected spending on cosmetic surgery in Europe and the U.S. by 2011, according to a report by Datamonitor, an independent market analyst: $28 billion

Percentage of women in Europe and the U.S. who have considered cosmetic surgery: 20 to 30

Percentage who cited body shape as a major concern: 73

Percentage of consumers in Europe and the U.S. who are concerned about the signs of aging: 50

Source: Datamonitor.

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they made at least one New Year's resolution for 2008, according to a Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Health-Care Poll: 39

Ranks of exercising more frequently (23 percent), losing weight (22 percent), eating a healthier diet or less food (21 percent), getting more sleep (12 percent), stopping smoking (5 percent) and participating in stress-relief activities as the most popular resolutions of 2008: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (tie)

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of business travelers who say they take more than one cell phone, laptop or electronic device with them on business trips, according to a survey conducted by In-Stat: 31

Percentage of business travelers who say they take more than one cell phone on business trips: 15

Source: In-Stat/MDR.

Percentage of chief information officers who consider finding skilled technology professionals to be their greatest challenge, according to a survey by Robert Half Technology: 24

Percentage who say providing staff with adequate professional development resources to keep skills current is the greatest challenge: 23

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Idle Thought

"Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." -- William James, psychologist and philosopher

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600

Percentage of executives who said Tuesday is the most productive day of the week for employees, according to the findings of an Accountemps survey: 57

Percentage who said Wednesday: 11

Percentage who said Monday: 12

Percentage who said Friday: 3

Source: Robert Half International.

If current trends continue, projected population of the United States in 2050, according to new projections developed by the Pew Research Center: 438 million

Population in 2005: 296 million

Percentage of the increase that will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants: 82

Source: Pew Hispanic Center.

Ranks of rap, hip-hop and country music as the best selling record sale categories, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1, 2, 3

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Of dangerous Web sites analyzed (that is sites that cause major damage both to personal finances and to computers), the percentage that contained adult content, according to findings by Web of Trust (WOT) and based on the analysis of 17 million Web sites: 28

Percentage that were sites offering free and/or licensed software downloads over the Internet: 27

Percentage that were entertainment sites (movies, games, music, screen savers, smileys): 16

Source: Against Intuition Inc.

Rank of the U.S. among top telecommunications countries, according to a survey conducted by the London Business School measuring telecommunications quality and how it is used by consumers, business and government in 16 countries: 1

Ranks of Sweden and Japan: 2, 3

Rank of the U.S. among 30 countries in percentage of homes that have broadband access, according to a survey conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: 15

Source: London Business School. See also http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=4216582.

Average audience in the U.S. for Super Bowl XLII, according to the Nielson Co.: 97.5 million

Number of people who saw the Victoria Secret commercial, the most viewed commercial during the Super Bowl: 103.7 million

Source: Nielsen/NetRatings.

Gross revenue from goods and services sold at live auctions, according to the annual report compiled by Morpace Inc. on behalf of the National Auctioneers Association: $270.7 billion

Amount generated by the real estate auction market, one of the fastest growing auction sectors in 2007: $58.4 billion

Source: National Auctioneers Association.

Percentage of senior executives who ranked "improving energy efficiency across global operations" as a major priority addressed primarily or solely through real estate strategies, according to a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and co-sponsored by global real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle: 33

Percentage who ranked it as the leading priority: 19

Percentage who expect minimal benefit to profitability, but believe sustainable practices can reduce costs (particularly energy expenditure), open up new markets and improve their company's reputation: 80

Source: Jones Lang LaSalle.

Percentage of U.S. workers who now consider work-life balance and flexibility to be the most important factor in considering job offers, according to a Hudson Survey: 29

Percentage who said compensation when asked to name the primary reason they accepted their current positions: 23

Source: Hudson.

Idle Thought

"Like cars in amusement parks, our direction is often determined through collisions." -- Yahia Lababidi, writer (b. 1973)

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

4520 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 64111; (816) 932-6600