Percentage of workers who said that a "too hot" work environment made it difficult to concentrate, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 22

Percentage of workers who said the same about a "too cold" workplace: 11

In an effort to save money, percentage of workers who feel that their company has turned down the office temperature this year: 19

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of people who, if they were able to turn back time, would choose to retake a family portrait, according to Nikon's "Picture Yourself" survey: 25

Percentage who believe they look better in person than in pictures: 79

Source: Nikon Inc.

Percentage of entrepreneurs who said that being your own boss is one of the advantages of starting and running a family business, according to a Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s (MassMutual) research study: 75

Percentage of all family-owned businesses that survive into the second generation: 30-plus

Percentage that still will be viable into the third generation: 12

Percentage of all family businesses that are operating at the fourth-generation level and beyond: 3

Source: MassMutual.

With all the talk in the media about infidelities, percentage of Americans who revealed they'd never even thought about swapping partners, according to Adam and Eve's "Great American Sex Survey": 62

Of the 38 percent of respondents who admitted they have thought about swapping partners, percentage who said it was simply because they wanted to try something naughty or taboo: 64

Percentage who said they had thought about it because they were excited by the idea of being with someone new: 27

Source: Adam and Eve.

Percentage of workers who think their workplace will be impacted in some way by the swine flu, according to a survey by Adecco: 77

Percentage of employers who are taking proactive measures to address the issue of swine flu in the workplace: 80

Specifically, percentage of employers who have established a policy on how to prevent swine flu from spreading in the workplace: 34

Source: Adecco.

Percentage of companies worldwide that plan to hire more mothers for part-time jobs over the next two years, according to a global study of over 11,000 corporations across 15 countries commissioned by Regus: 44

Among U.S. firms, percentage that reported plans to recruit more part-time working mothers: 46

Source: Regus.

Percentage of women ages 25 to 49 who have made a New Year's resolution to manage their weight, according to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Kellogg: 56

Percentage of resolution-makers that don't make it through week one: 41

Average amount of time women last before abandoning their resolution: four weeks

Source: Ipsos North America.

Percentage of technology executives across multiple industries who cited organizational resistance as the primary roadblock to new workplace technologies, according to a survey by Deloitte: 40

Percentage of the respondents who pointed to budget and cost constraints as the main deterrents: 28

Source: Deloitte.

Range in the cost of early termination fees -- one of the ways that contract-based cell phone service providers keep customers from switching to lower-cost cell phone alternatives, according Consumer Action: $175 to $350

Percentage of Americans who do not know what penalty they would pay if they canceled their cell phone service, according to an Opinion Research Center survey: 40

Source: Consumer Action.

Percentage of cell-phone-owning teens ages 12 to 17 who say they have sent sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of themselves to someone else, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project: 4

Percentage who say they have received sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of someone they know via text messaging on their cell phone: 15

Source: PEW Internet and American Life Project.

Idle Thought

"The idealists and visionaries, foolish enough to throw caution to the winds and express their ardor and faith in some supreme deed, have advanced mankind and have enriched the world." -- Emma Goldman

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

Percentage of Americans who said their quality of life would improve if they were better organized, according to a survey conducted on behalf of the National Association of Professional Organizers: 71

Percentage who described their home as at least moderately disorganized: 65

Percentage who said disorder keeps them from being effective at work: 27

Source: National Association of Professional Organizers.

Number of Americans who visited food Web sites in 2009, consuming 11 billion pages of food-focused content, according to Allrecipes.com: 1.5 billion

Percentage of homes that now have computers dedicated to their kitchen: 20

Percentage of respondents who use this computer to view recipes while cooking: 86

Source: Allrecipes.com.

Average percentage of their lives that Americans spend sleeping, according to a Consumer Sleep Study released by Sit 'n' Sleep and conducted by Harris Interactive: 33

Percentage of adults who said they sleep more during the winter months: 55

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of men who would give up sex for at least a whole football season for their team to win the Super Bowl, according to a poll commissioned by Caesars Pocono Resorts: 15

Percentage of them who would give it up for however long it takes: 11

Number of NFL teams that have never won the Super Bowl: 15

Source: Caesars Pocono Resorts.

When asked to identify the most effective activities for creating and identifying career opportunities, percentage who cited "networking," according to research from ExecuNet: 70

Percentage who said "responding to online job postings": 14

Percentage who said "posting resume in an online database": 5

Source: ExecuNet.

Ranks of wine (47 percent), beer (27 percent) and mixed drinks (18 percent) as the drinks of choice on weekdays for nighthawks, according to a survey by Zagat: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of mixed drinks (59 percent), wine (20 percent) and beer (16 percent) as the drinks of choice on the weekends: 1, 2, 3

Source: Zagat.

Year of the first drive-thru restaurant, the idea of Robert Peterson -- founder of Jack in the Box restaurants in San Diego, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1951

Estimated number of fast food restaurants in the U.S. today: 187,000

Amount generated by these establishments in sales each year: $117 billion

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans (a majority for the first time) who say the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress are low or very low, according to Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics of Professions list: 55

Percentage of Americans who perceive several other professions as having low integrity, including stockbrokers, HMO managers, insurance salespeople, car salespeople and lawyers: 40

By contrast, percentage of Americans who say nurses have either very high or high ethical standards, positioning them at the top of Gallup's 2009 ranking of various professions: 83

Source: Gallup.

Rank of Italy (25 percent) on the list of top international destinations for packaged travel in 2009, according to the U.S. Tour Operators Association: 1

Ranks of Egypt (20 percent) and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador (15 percent) on the list: 2, 3

Source: United States Tour Operators Association.

Percentage of chief information officers (CIOs) who said their IT departments are understaffed in relation to current workloads, according to a survey developed by Robert Half Technology: 43

Source: Robert Half Technology.

Idle Thought

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

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

Date of the probable first flight of Santa's sleigh, a versatile, all weather, multipurpose, vertical-short-takeoff-and-landing vehicle capable of traveling vast distances without refueling and deployed, as far as we know, only on Christmas Eve (and briefly for a test flight about a month before Christmas), according to NORAD: Dec. 24, 343 A.D.

Length of the sleigh, built by the North Pole-based Kringle and Elves Inc.: 75 cc (candy canes), or 150 lp (lollipops)

Weight at takeoff: 75,000 gd (gumdrops)

Propulsion: 9 rp (reindeer power)

Armament: Antlers (purely defensive)

Climbing speed: One "T" (Twinkle of an eye)

Max speed: Faster than starlight

Source: NORAD

Ranks of Peyton Manning, Tony Romo and Tom Brady on the list of of quarterbacks who men said they would want to play on their team but wouldn't want near their girlfriend, according to a survey by Avalanche LLC: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of Tony Romo, Philip Rivers and Eli Manningon the list of quarterbacks who women would want to play on their team, and then tackle later: 1, 2, 3

Source: Date.com.

Percentage of Americans who report that they personally need an "underwear overhaul" this holiday season, more than anyone else on their shopping list, according to a survey by Jockey International: 43

According to a previous Jockey survey, percentage of Americans who own underwear that's 5 or more years old: 25

Source: Jockey International.

Percentage of travelers who plan to see relatives over the December holidays, according to TripAdvisor's Holiday Travel Survey: 80

Percentage who have cut a family trip shorter than planned because they were "family-ed" out: 19

Source: TripAdvisor.

Approximate number of real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. every year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association: 25 million to 30 million

For every real Christmas tree harvested, number of seedlings that are planted the following spring: 1 to 3

Percentage of artificial trees worldwide that are manufactured in China, according to the U.S. Commerce Department: 80

Source: National Christmas Tree Association.

Average price for evergreens this year, making it difficult for tree vendor to break even, according to IbisWorld research: $25 to $30

Source: IBISWorld.

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

Percentage of proposals that occur in December: 15

Source: About.com.

Percentage of Americans who celebrate Christmas who get six hours or less of sleep the night before gifts are exchanged, according to a new Ipsos Public Affairs conducted on behalf of sleepbetter.org: 49

Percentage of Americans who use the Christmas vacation to sleep in more than usual: 43

Percentage who say they sleep better than usual over the Christmas vacation (even though many are deprived the night before the gift exchange): 22

Source: Ipsos Reid Public Affairs.

Percentage of renters who say they are trimming back their holiday budgets this season and are spending less on gifts, travel and entertainment than they did in 2008, according to Apartments.com: 65

Percentage of renters who said they are pinching their pennies due to the loss of a job or taking a pay cut at work: 30

Source: Apartments.com.

Percentage of moms who plan to shop at mass merchandisers/supercenters for the holidays, down 2 percent from 2008, according to a survey conducted by The Marketing to Moms Coalition: 85

Anticipated holiday shopping percentage increase for department stores this year: 10 to 47

Source: Marketing to Moms Coalition.

Idle Thought

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." -- George Bernard Shaw

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