Percentage of workers who stated that they need coffee to get through the workday, according to a survey commissioned jointly by Dunkin' Donuts and CareerBuilder: 32

Percentage of coffee drinkers who reported they are less productive if they don't drink coffee while on the job: 43

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage more likely that women are than men to give up sex to balance the budget, according to a survey from ING Direct USA: 56

Ranks of worrying about an unfaithful spouse, losing a job and accumulating debt on the list of issues women are likely to be upset by: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of losing a job, an unfaithful spouse and accumulating debt on the list of issues men worry about: 1, 2, 3

Source: ING.

Projected percentage of the $20.3 billion sports franchising industry for which the NFL is expected to account in 2010, according to IBISworld: 40 (or $8.2 billion)

Should an NFL lockout occur in 2011, estimated revenue loss to the league: $7.6 billion

Percentage of their potential NFL careers that players stand to lose, considering that the average career length for this sport is only 3.3 years with a median salary of $770,000 (2009): 30

Source: IBISWorld.

Percentage of managers who said they are more stressed at work today than they were one year ago, according to an OfficeTeam survey: 30

Percentage who expect their anxiety levels to increase in the coming year, compared to 8 percent who anticipate reduced stress: 28

Source: OfficeTeam.

Amount of money spent on all U.S. advertising in 2009, according to Nielsen: $117 billion

Percentage of all ad spending in 2009 that went into television: 57

Percentage that went to print media: 28

Percentage that went to Internet advertising: 7

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

With our increasing love of gadgets, percentage increase in annual home usage of electricity since 1990, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 17

In that period, percentage increase in our power bills: 69

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of types of shoppers that exist and transcend country boundaries, according to a study by Ipsos Marketing: 5

Percentage of shoppers who are "Brand Lovers": 19

Percentage who are "Indulgents" -- the most impulsive group -- attracted to new products in stores and more likely to choose the good tasting over the healthy option: 16

Percentage who are "Price Driven" -- on fixed budgets and go out of their way to find the stores with the lowest prices: 23

Source: Ipsos Marketing, Global Consumer Goods Sector.

Estimated number of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 who were the offspring of unauthorized immigrants, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center: 340,000

While a little more than 4 percent of the U.S. adult population is composed of unauthorized immigrants, percentage of the newborn population that is made up of their children: 8

Of the overall child population (those younger than age 18) in the U.S., percentage who are the children of unauthorized immigrants: 7

Source: Pew Hispanic Center.

Percentage of U.S. adults who actively plan vacations with the hope they will result in special memories for/about their children, according to a survey conducted by Ypartnership: 88

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that vacation memories occupy a prominent place in our psyche and that they think of them "often" or "very often": 72

Percentage of Americans who say vacations taken with immediate family are the most memorable: 89

Source: Ypartnership Public Relations.

Percentage of Americans who express a great deal or fair amount of trust in the U.S. government to handle international problems (down from 62 percent a year ago), according to a Gallup Poll: 57

Percentage who trust Washington to handle domestic problems, now at a record low: 46

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way." -- E.L. Doctorow, writer

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

Percentage of human resource managers who reported they typically review 25 applications or less for open positions, according to a CareerBuilder survey: 48

Percentage who said, on average, they spend less than a minute reviewing a resume: 38

Percentage who spend less than 30 seconds: 18

Percentage of human resource managers who said they pay more attention to resumes that are tailored to their open positions: 79

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of U.S. TV households that own one TV: 16.3

Percentage of TV households that own two TVs: 28.4

Percentage of TV households that own three TVs: 24.4

Percentage of TV households that own four or more TVs: 30.9

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

Percentage of Americans who say President Barack Obama bears a great deal or moderate amount of blame for U.S. economic problems, according to a Gallup poll: 48

Percentage of Americans who blame former President George W. Bush for the economic problems: 71

Source: Gallup Organization.

Number of calories and fat content packed in the Big Mac, McDonald's signature sandwich, according to an analysis from dietitians with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: 540 and 29 grams of fat

Number of calories and fat content contained in a double quarter pounder with cheese: 740 and 42 grams of fat

Number of calories and fat content contained in a McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal: 840 and 37 grams of fat

Rank of the McDonald's Mighty Kids Meal on a recent PCRM list of the five most unhealthful fast-food meals marketed to children: 1

Source: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Year the federal government went into debt for the first time, according to the Census Bureau: 1789

Amount Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton arranged to borrow from the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America to pay the salaries of President Washington and members of the first Congress: $192,000

Length of time it took to pay off the loan: less than 1 year

Amount of the president's annual salary today: $400,000

Estimated amount of the national debt today: $13 trillion.

Source: Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who say it is "unacceptable" for homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments, according to a Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey: 59

Percentage who say the practice of "walking away" from a home mortgage is acceptable, at least under certain circumstances: 36

Percentage of homeowners who say they owe more on their mortgages than their home is worth: 21

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

Percentage of moms who consider themselves "very green" or "somewhat green," incorporating environmentally friendly practices and products into their families' everyday lives, according to a survey from Marcal Small Steps and Kiwi magazine: 59

Percentage of moms who mistakenly believe anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent or more of all U.S. paper products are made from 100 percent recycled paper: 62

Percentage of household paper products sold in this country that are actually made from 100 percent recycled paper: 2

Source: Marcal.

Rank of how a guy smells on the list of factors that determine whether a girl will find him attractive, according to scent expert Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, in a survey commissioned by AXE: 1

Percentage of girls who say they won't date a guy who smells like their dad: 56

Source: Edelman.

Percentage of the 36 million Americans with a hearing problem who actually use hearing aids, according to a public opinion survey commissioned by HearUSA: 25

Source: HEAR USA.

IDLE THOUGHT

"It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life." -- Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (1867-1963)

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

Percentage of wannabe millionaire Brits who would give up sex for a year to become a millionaire, according to the results of a study into British attitudes toward getting rich by InterCasino: 49

Percentage who would shut down their Facebook profile: 33

Percentage of guys who admit that they would sleep with a stranger to make a million: 45

Percentage of women who would do the same: 17

Source: InterCasino.

Percentage of parents who are saving for their children's college education, up from 59 percent last year, according to a survey of parents across the country by the College Savings Foundation: 65

Percentage of parents who weren't saving at all, down from 41 percent in 2009: 35

Source: College Savings Foundation.

Percentage of American commuters who would be willing to commute as long as necessary to accept a new job they found very interesting, according to The Hartford's 2010 Drivability Survey: 10

Percentage of drivers who would at least consider a job offer that involves a commute of more than 30 minutes each way: 77

Source: The Hartford.

Percentage of divorcees and widowers who want to find a partner but do not want to remarry, according to a survey by Meetcha.com: 53

Percentage of never-married singles who shared this sentiment: 36

Percentage of respondents who said what they like least about dating at this time is that it is hard to meet others their age: 74

Source: Meetcha.com.

Percentage of children in the U.S. who live with a grandparent, a percentage that rose sharply from 2007 to 2008, the first year of the Great Recession, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data: 10

Percentage of all children who live with a grandparent (or grandparents) that are also being raised primarily by that grandparent: 41

Number of children this represents: 2.9 million

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

After new versions of the iPod were recently launched, percentage of Facebook users who voted the portable media playing device their "most prized possession," according to a survey carried out on behalf of insurance firm Protect Your Bubble: 12

Percentage who voted for the Blackberry: 11.5

Percentage who said their iPhone: 10

Source: Protect Your Bubble.

Percentage of empty nest opportunist (ENO) parents in the U.K. who said that when it comes to love lives, they had noticed a marked improvement since their children left, according to a survey by UNITE: 84

Percentage of ENOs who used their children leaving for college as a chance to make a clean break and leave an unhappy relationship: 19

Source: UNITE.

Percentage decline in 2009 from 2008 in drunk-driving fatalities -- those in crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or greater, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation: 7.4

Percentage decline since 2000: 19

Source: Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

Percentage of teachers who see alcohol as having the greatest negative impact on teens, according to the results of a national survey released by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest: 70

Percentage of police who agree: 51

Percentage of teachers who cited marijuana: 51

Percentage of police who agree: 69

Source: Fabrizio, Ward and Associates.

Ranks of living maintenance-free with convenient access to amenities, not being able to afford the costs associated with homeownership, living in great neighborhoods and flexibility to move among the top reasons to be a renter, according to an Apartments.com survey: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Apartments.com.

Idle Thought

"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." -- Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher

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