On average, amount by which the annual salary of workers with a bachelor's degree exceeds the salary of those with a high school diploma, according to figures announced by the U.S. Census Bureau that outline 2008 educational trends and achievement levels: $26,000

Average salary earned by workers with a high school diploma: $31,286

Average salary earned by workers with a bachelor's degree: $57,181

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Estimated number of worldwide e-mail users in 2009, according to a study from the Radicati Group Inc: 1.4 billion

Number of messages sent per day in 2009: 247 billion

Projected number that will be sent per day in 2013: 507 billion

Source: Radicati Group.

When asked which of four common investments is best for the long term, percentage of Americans who chose savings, according to a Gallup Poll: 34

Percentage who said real estate: 33

Percentage who cited stocks and mutual funds: 15

Percentage who said bonds: 12

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who indicated that a New Jersey Houston's restaurant was wrong for firing employee Doreen Marino for negative comments about the company and employees posted on a private MySpace forum, according to a study conducted by MediaCurves.com: 58

Percentage of respondents who say that this was an invasion of privacy on the company's part: 58

Source: MediaCurves.com.

Estimated number of households in the U.S. that had to replace computers in the past six months due to spyware, according to Consumer Reports National Research Center's "State of the Net" survey: 545,000

Estimated number of households that were victims of identity theft committed over the Internet in the past year: 1.7 million

Of those, percentage that said the incident occurred because of an online purchase: 66

Source: Consumer Reports.

Percentage of consumers who have used in-store or in-home technical support to solve a computer problem, up from 10 percent in 2006: 30

Percent of consumers who have used professional tech support for home networking problems, up from 6 percent in 2006: 15

Estimated revenue for PC and home networking troubleshooting services by 2013, due in large part to growing consumer demand and increased prevalence of connected devices: $2 billion

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of "echo boomers" (individuals born between 1982 and 1995) who would provide personal data (i.e., first and last name, age and city) in exchange for targeted advertising, according to a study by Q Interactive: 63

Percentage of baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) who would do the same: 53

Percentage of baby boomers who view advertisers "favorably" when they present an advertisement tailored to a personal interest: 56

Estimated total annual income of baby boomers, according to AARP: $3 trillion

Source: Q Interactive.

Estimated percentage of all marine litter that is made up of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, according to the study issued by the Media Office at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): 10

Weight of litter this represents: 640,000 metric tons

Source: FAO.

Percentage of working moms at companies that have had layoffs in the past 12 months who are working longer hours, according to a CareerBuilder's survey: 30

Percentage who have taken on second jobs in the last year to help make ends meet: 14

Percentage of these moms who reported that they are burned out: 34

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of American adults who have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life: 50

Age by which most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith: 24

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

Idle Thought

"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth." -- John Locke, philosopher

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

Percentage of executives who said they consider their assistant's opinion important when evaluating potential new hires, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 61

Percentage who said it was very important: 21

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of Americans who view big government as the most serious threat to the country in the future, according to a Gallup Poll: 55

Percentage who see big business as the greatest threat: 32

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of parents who have made budgeting a new topic of conversation for the entire family, according to a study from CoolSavings.com: 33

Percentage who feel budgeting is not a conversation for kids: 8

Percentage who see it in a different light -- as an important life lesson: 78

Source: Q Interactive.

Average salary for an executive chef in 2008, according to StarChefs.com: $77,611

Average salary in 2009: $74,869

Percentage more that male executive chefs make than female executive chefs: 18

Source: StarChefs.com.

Percentage growth over 2007 in U.S. sales of organic products, both food and non-food, according to results from the Organic Trade Association's "2009 Organic Industry Survey": 17.1

Percentage of all food products in the U.S. that are organic: 3.5

Source: Organic Trade Association.

Percentage of women who think they look younger than their actual age, according to a survey conducted by American Laser Centers: 58

Percentage of men who think they look younger than their actual age: 48

Percentage of women who said they would like to look younger than their actual age: 64

Percentage of men who said they would like to look younger: 51

Source: American Laser Services.

Estimated number of malware-infected computers (including corporate, government and consumer computers around the world) in a network discovered by Finjan's Malicious Code Research Center: 1.9 million

Number of government-owned domains (.gov) from the U.S., the United Kingdom and various other countries where computers were found to be compromised: 77

Number of people in the cybergang who control the Ukraine-based cybercrime server -- in use since February 2009 -- that's responsible for the malware: 6

Source: Finjan's Malicious Code Research Center.

Percentage of hourly hiring managers with responsibility to recruit summer employees who say the biggest competition for students trying to get an entry-level job this summer will come from other students: 54

Percentage who say this competition will come from workers who have recently entered the workforce because of economic pressures, up nine points from last year: 29

Average expected hourly pay for these workers (up 40 cents from the average amount reported in last year's survey): $10.20

Source: Ipsos Reid Public Affairs.

Percentage of the nation's home medical equipment and service providers that have formal plans to respond to a pandemic flu, according to a survey conducted by the American Association for Homecare: 53

Percentage that have stockpiled N95 masks or other supplies related to a flu pandemic: 23

Percentage that said they are working on a formal plan and expect to have one in place: 18

Source: American Association for Homecare.

Although the downturn in the economy has proven tough for workers, percentage of those still employed who say they're gaining more from the experience than just managing to keep their jobs, and cite at least one positive effect the recession has had for them, according to a survey by Accountemps: 77

Percentage who cite the ability to tackle new projects: 53

Percentage who have assumed additional responsibility: 52

Percentage who have taken on more challenging work: 52

Source: Accountemps.

Idle Thought

"The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind." -- Charles Darwin, naturalist and author

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

Projected percentage drop in Mother's Day sales this year, according to industry research firm IBISWorld: 14.7

Amount this represents: $12.9 billion

Source: IBISWorld.

Annual cost to the U.S. economy in lower productivity and throttled innovation -- in organizations of all shapes and sizes caused by information overload -- according to Basex: $900 billion

Source: Basex Inc.

If you address e-mail to an executive, percentage chance that your message will be intercepted by an administrative professional who may be charged with screening, deleting and ghostwriting the boss's e-mail, according to a survey by the International Association of Administrative Professionals and The ePolicy Institute: 59

Percentage of administrative professionals who now ghostwrite responses under their executives' names: 59

Source: International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Percentage of Americans who say lower-income people are paying their "fair share" of federal taxes, up from 32 percent last year, according to a Gallup Poll: 41

Percentage of Americans who say that middle-income people pay their fair share of taxes, as they have in six of the last seven years: 50

Percentage who say upper-income taxpayers pay their fair share: 23

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who do not know the current average interest rate on a credit card, according to TrueCredit.com Financial Literacy Quiz: 84

Percentage of consumers who revealed that they are not aware of exactly what information is included in their credit report, and mistakenly believe that a credit score is included in the report: 90

Source: TrueCredit.com.

Percentage of grooms who do the proposing, according to about.com: 99

Percentage of proposals that occur in December: 15

Average length of an American engagement: 14 months

Average amount spent on a traditional American wedding: $28,082

Source: about.com.

Number of gallons of gasoline saved each year by using public transit, according to PublicTransportation.org: 1.4 billion

Estimated number of gallons of gasoline saved per day: 4 million

On average, percentage less oil consumed by a public transit rider as opposed to an automobile rider: 50

Source: Kidd Transportation Group.

Percentage of women who said they feel forced to make some tough choices and give up the small things that make them happy when money is tight, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Degree Women Fine Fragrance Collection: 63

Percentage who said they would find it hard to give up chocolate: 40

Percentage who would give up their sweet treats to be able to afford their favorite beauty products: 56

Source: Unilever.

Year that the people in Paris, Tenn., inaugurated their town's annual claim to fame as host of the world's biggest fish fry (where 100,000 people consume about 10,000 pounds of catfish, along with several tons of hush puppies, and attend a carnival, a rodeo, parades and even catfish races), according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1953

Estimated number of farm-raised catfish produced each year: 550 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of U.S. farm subsidies that go to large farming businesses, according to a WorldPublicOpinion.org poll: 80

Percentage of Americans who favor such subsidies: 36

Percentage who oppose them: 61

Source: WorldPublicOpinion.org.

Idle Thought

"It is not how old you are, but how you are old." -- Jules Renard, writer

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