Percentage of travelers who, unfortunately, have endured loud snoring from their seatmates on flights, according to a TripAdvisor flyer survey: 44

Percentage who have experienced obvious intoxication: 25

Percentage who have experienced excessive flatulence: 19

Percentage who have experienced couples who cannot keep their hands off one another: 11

Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of companies that have frozen salaries, up from 21 percent in December, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt: 55

Percentage of respondents who plan to decrease this year's bonus pool by an average of about 40 percent: 48

Percentage who have added a "clawback" (or monetary recoupment) policy: 23

Source: Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

As G-20 leaders met in London, percentage of people in the 24 countries polled who think "major changes" are required to the way the global economy is run, according to a global poll of people carried out for BBC World Service GlobeScan: 70

When asked whether the downturn in the global economy has negatively affected them and their family, percentage who said it had affected them at least "a fair amount": 62

Source: PIPA/WorldPublicOpinion.org.

Percentage of small business that at one point have had to search for an old or deleted e-mail for compliance purposes, according to a survey carried out by eMediaUSA on behalf of GFI Software: 47

Percentage that say it typically takes less than an hour to find an e-mail from 15 months ago or longer: 29

Percentage that do not feel they are sufficiently informed about compliance and e-mail archiving issues: 40

Source: GFI Software.

Ranks of taking on more projects/responsibility and working more hours as the leading concessions employees are willing to accept to keep their jobs, according to a Q1 Glassdoor.com Employee Confidence Survey of employed adults: 1, 2

Percentage who are willing to take unpaid leave: 34 (Up from 24 percent in December 2008.)

Source: Glassdoor.com.

Percentage of Americans who said they expected a tax refund this year, according to a survey by Econ4U: 83

Percentage who were planning on spending the refund: 31

Percentage who said they would use it to pay off existing credit card debt: 18

Source: Econ4U.

Percentage of American drivers who complained of an inability to focus while driving at night, according to a survey by the National Sleep Foundation: 18

Number of times higher the fatality rate at nighttime (6 p.m. to 6 a.m.) is than the daytime rate: 3

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Percentage of Americans who have gone without medical or prescription drug care in the past year, due to the cost, according to a survey by Zogby: 16

Percentage of those Americans with less than $25,000 in household income who admit to doing without medical care: 34

Percentage of those from households with more than $100,000 in income who say the same: 10

Source: Zogby International.

Percentage of Americans who chose Great Britain as America's greatest ally, according to a Gallup Poll: 36

Percentage who chose Canada: 29

Percentage who said Japan: 12

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of network video downloaders who favor watching ads in exchange for free video, according to the findings from Knowledge Networks: 80 (Up from 67 percent in 2006.)

Percentage of all Internet users who say they streamed TV network video -- from clips to full episodes -- during the three-month study period: 37

Source: Knowledge Networks.

Idle Thought

"The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else." -- John Updike, writer (1932-2009)

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

Percentage of U.S. companies that viewed their middle managers as unqualified to be promoted to the next level, according to a survey by ClearRock, an outplacement and executive coaching firm: 33

Percentage that rated their middle managers as "very qualified": 6

Source: ClearRock.

Percentage of all U.S. births in 2007 that were out-of-wedlock births, according to newly released preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics: 40

In a Pew Research survey, percentage of Americans who said that more single women having children is a bad thing for society: 66

Percentage who said that more unmarried couples having children is a bad thing for society: 59

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Ranks of promotion, cash, paid time off, boss shares achievement with senior management, and in-person "thank you's" on the list of the recognition valued most by managers, according to a study developed by OfficeTeam and the International Association of Administrative Professionals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ranks of in-person "thank you's," boss shares achievement with senior management, promotion, membership in a professional association, and registration for a conference or seminar on the list of the recognition valued most by administrative professionals: 1 (tie), 3, 4, 5

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of travelers who plan to use shared-ride shuttle services to get to the airport as a way to make budget cuts for this year's vacation, according to a survey conducted by GO Group: 53

Percentage who plan to book through discount travel Web sites: 46

Percentage who will stop checking luggage to avoid fees now imposed by the airlines: 24

Source: GO Group LLC.

Number of cosmetic plastic surgery procedures performed in 2008 -- up 3 percent over 2007, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons: 12.1 million

Amount spent on cosmetic procedures in the U.S. in 2008: $10.3 billion

Source: American Society of Plastic Surgery.

Percentage of Americans who believe that the U.S. is either completely or somewhat responsible for the international financial crisis, according to a study conducted by HCD Research: 90

Source: HCD Research Inc.

Percentage of adult Americans who smoke, according to a poll conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index: 21

Percentage of today's smokers who earn less than $36,000 per year: 53

Source: Gallup.

Amount of money sent back to developing countries by migrants in the form of remittances in 2008, higher than the amount provided through foreign aid or foreign direct investment, according to World Bank figures: $283 billion

Source: FAO.

Percentage of U.S. households that take part in lawn and garden activities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 75

Percentage that grow flowers and plan their own landscaping: 33

Percentage that have vegetable gardens: 20

Percentage that grow their own herbs: 10

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of finance professionals who said that the Securities and Exchange Commission should soon establish a specific date that International Financial Reporting Standards would be required for U.S. public companies: 62

Percentage of respondents who support the movement toward a single set of high-quality global accounting standards: 75

Source: Deloitte LLP.

Idle Thought

"There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others." -- Michel de Montaigne, essayist

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

Percentage of moms who say their children think that money "grows on trees," according to a survey by Mom Central: 24

Percentage of moms who indicated that trying to save money was a significant stressor: 66

Source: Mom Central Inc.

Percentage of hourly hiring managers with responsibility to recruit summer employees who are most looking for eagerness to have the job and a positive attitude in their seasonal employees, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll conducted on behalf of SnagAJob.com: 36

Percentage who are most looking for someone who has the ability to work the daily schedule they need: 27

Percentage who are looking for previous experience in the industry, with the company or that particular location: 25

Percentage who most want the commitment to work for the entire summer and not to quit early: 12

Source: Ipsos Reid Public Affairs.

Percentage of all U.S. industries that are fortunate enough to be positively impacted by the recession, according to recent Recession Updates published by industry research firm IBISWorld: 5

Percentage of all industries that are negatively impacted: 60

Source: IBISWorld.

Percentage of Americans who agree that stocks remain a good long-term investment, according to a Gallup Poll: 53

Percentage of stock owners who agree with this statement: 67

Source: Gallup.

Number of hot dogs that will be served in ballparks around the country this season (enough to round the bases 30,186 times and stretch to and from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., the two sites of the 2008 World Series), according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's (NHDSC) annual survey: 21,733,839

Source: NHDSC.

Number of people worldwide who received a micro loan (generally a loan under $1,000) in 2007, according to the Microcredit Summit's 2009 State of the Campaign Report by Sam Daley-Harris: 154 million

Of these people, number who were among the world's poorest, i.e. those making less than $1 per day: 106 million

Number who were women: 109 million

According to the report, number of family members that this financing likely affected: 533 million (a figure that roughly equals the total population of Latin America)

Source: Microcredit Summit.

Ranks of Internet/broadband/World Wide Web, PCs/laptop computers, mobile phones, e-mail, and DNA sequencing and testing/human genome mapping on the list of the top 30 innovations of the past 30 years as selected by a panel of judges at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Knowledge@Wharton.

Percentage of employers surveyed who have a severance policy in place, according to the 2008 Compensation Data results: 57.9

Percentage of organizations that calculate severance pay based on years of service: 44.9

Source: Compdata Surveys.

Estimated total consumer debt in the U.S., according to the U.S. Federal Reserve and reported in a survey of working adults commissioned by Workplace Options: $963.5 billion

Percentage that is personal credit card debt: 98

Source: Workplace Options.

Among U.S. adults who use online resources to research and plan a vacation, average number of hours they spend doing so, according to findings from a hotels.com survey of U.S. adults: 8 (an increase of 48 minutes over the previous year)

Average number of reviews they read prior to booking a hotel: 8

Source: Hotels.com.

Date that P.T. Barnum and James A. Bailey merged their circuses to form Barnum and Bailey, the first circus to feature three rings and that became known as "The Greatest Show on Earth," according to the U.S. Census Bureau: March 28, 1881

Number of circuses operating in the U.S. today: 58

Estimated number of amusement and theme parks in the U.S., where most Americans now go for entertainment: 600

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Idle Thought

"Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you get a lot of scum on the top." -- Edward Abbey, naturalist and author

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