Percentage of executives who said they value initiative and enthusiasm, and that job seekers should be encouraged to contact a prospective employer within two weeks after submitting a resume, according to a survey by Accountemps: 81

Percentage who said they should make contact within three weeks: 12

Percentage who said three weeks or more: 6

Source: Accountemps.

Year in which Roberto Clemente became the first Hispanic-American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1973

Number of league batting championships won by Clemente during his career: 4

In the U.S., estimated number of people involved in professional sports, including athletes, umpires and coaches: 258,000

Percentage who are Hispanic: 9

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Amount of money a college student spends each month on food, clothing, gas, travel, entertainment and personal care, according to "Under the Cover with College Students," a survey by leading social education platform, Chegg: $500

Percentage of students who are hopeful that the economy will turn around before they graduate, but are prepared to enter a difficult job market: 86

Percentage who are working at least part-time to make ends meet: 57

Source: Chegg.

Percentage of parents of children aged 5 to 17 (with household income between $15,000 and $75,000) who believe that they are a very important resource when it comes to teaching children about basic money management, according to an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of BMO Harris Bank: 89

Percentage of parents who agree (51 percent strongly/39 percent somewhat) that they are concerned about the younger generation's ability to manage money: 90

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Amount of money that Americans are projected to save at the pump under the higher miles per gallon (MPG) standards requiring automakers to achieve a fleet fuel economy average of 54.5 miles MPG and emit 163 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by 2025, according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Union of Concerned Scientists: $44.3 billion

Number of gallons of oil that will be slashed from the nation's dependence on that commodity by 2030: 23.7 billion

Source: Natural Resources Defense Council.

Percentage of British nationals with a partner who conceal a credit card from their significant other, according to research from MoneySupermarket: 8

Percentage of Brits with credit cards who deliberately make sure their partner doesn't see their credit card statements or bank statements: 11

Percentage of respondents who said their top reason for being deceptive was because they feared their partner would be annoyed by the amount of money they spent: 40

Source: Money Supermarket.

Percentage of football fans who have attended a tailgating event and partied with beer, burgers and bets, according to a survey by the Advertising Specialty Institute: 62

Percentage of respondents who report having gotten tipsy at a tailgate or football party: 38

Percentage of tailgaters who report painting a part of their body before a game: 17

Source: Advertising Specialty Institute.

Percentage of finance professionals who thought global economic conditions were deteriorating or stagnating, according to a survey undertaken by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: 75

Percentage who thought their government is not dealing correctly with current economic challenges: 45

Source: ACCA.

Percentage of information technology and business executives across the U.S. who are unaware if their organization has strategies, policies, procedures or technology controls in place to effectively enforce mobile security, according to Deloitte poll: 40

Percentage of respondents who feel their company is at risk for a cyber attack originating from a mobile security lapse: 87

Source: DeLoitte LP.

Percentage of Americans who always or often have their doctor or medical professional explain to them why a test was needed, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute: 73

Percentage who ask about the risks of treatment or side effects of medication: 67

Percentage who ask about the success rate of the treatment option: 57

Source: EBRI.

Idle Thought

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." -- Aldous Huxley

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

Number of potential trick-or-treaters in 2011 -- children 5 to 14 -- throughout the U.S. (though kids older than 14 and younger than 5 also go trick-or-treating), according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 41 million

Number of occupied housing units across the nation in 2010 -- all potential stops for trick-or-treaters: 116.7 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

For Americans with household incomes of more than $75,000 per year, percentage who said they don't put anything into savings each month, according to CouponCabin's first savings and spending report: 29

Percentage of U.S. adults who said they don't have a six-month emergency fund, which experts say is necessary money put aside to cover six months of living expenses: 52

Percentage of those with household incomes of more than $75,000 who said the same: 40

Source: CouponCabin.

Percentage of newly minted physicians who have received at least 50 job solicitations during their training, according to a survey conducted by Merritt, Hawkins, a national physician search firm: 78

Percentage who have received 100 or more: 47

Number of years that the number of new physicians being trained in the U.S. has remained flat while the general population has become both larger and, on average, older: 20

Source: Merritt, Hawkins and Associates.

Percentage of all the surgical and non-invasive cosmetic procedures in the U.S. that are performed on women, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons: 87

Percentage rise in male cosmetic procedures last year: 2

Percentage rise in male facelifts from 2009 to 2010, the fastest-growing procedure: 14

Source: American Society of Plastic Surgery.

Percentage of horror movie fans who believe scary movies are scarier when watched in the dark, according to the Redbox 2011 National Halloween Survey: 90

Percentage of fans who are too scared to turn out the lights: 20

Ranks of demons or Satan, "creepy kids" from movies like "Orphan" and "The Ring," and "unsuspected killers" like those in "Scream," "Saw" and "Hostel" on the list of the scariest movie villains: 1, 2, 3

Source: Redbox.

Percentage of online daters who are more likely to confess to being a bit plump than acknowledge which government party they support, according to a survey by free dating site Smooch: 74

Percentage of online daters who include political interests on their profiles: 14

Source: Smooch.com.

Percentage of the country's leading retailers that reported an increase in the frequency with which organized rings committed shoplifting, according to a study by the Retail Industry Leaders Association: 50

Percentage that saw an increase in shoplifting by individuals acting alone: 41

Percentage of respondents that reported an increase in the theft of pharmaceutical products: 64

Source: Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Percentage of information workers who indicated they are more likely to ask their company's IT department to fix problems with personally owned consumer devices than they are to troubleshoot the issues themselves or seek support from the device manufacturer, according to a poll conducted by Unisys: 47

Percentage who responded that they turn to the primary technology provider: 11

Source: Unisys.

Percentage of adults who get at least some local news and information via their smartphones or tablet computers, according to a study produced by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: 47

Percentage of all adults who used a smartphone or tablet computer to check weather reports: 36

Percentage who used these mobile devices to find local restaurants or local businesses: 31

Source: PEW Internet and American Life Project.

Percentage of IT and security practitioners in 12 countries who said that social media in the workplace represents a serious security risk, according to research conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by content security provider Websense: 63

Percentage who report having the necessary security controls in place to mitigate it: 29

Percentage of respondents who report an increase in malware due to social media use: 52

Source: Websense.

Idle Thought

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." -- Peter Drucker, management consultant, professor and writer (1909-2005)

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

Percentage of employees who report feeling inspired to do their best at work, according to a survey from Randstad: 78

Percentage who are proud to work for their company: 76

Percentage who enjoy going to work every day: 66

Percentage of respondents who said they are unlikely to give consideration to or accept a new job offer in the next six months: 60

Source: Randstad-USA.

When singles were asked to define chemistry on a first date, percentage who said it was "feeling comfortable together," according to research conducted at ItsJustLunch.com: 44

Percentage who said "great conversation": 28

Percentage who were sparked by physical attractiveness: 20

Source: It's Just Lunch/American Way.

Percentage of Americans who have purchased groceries at large supercenters -- those that sell food, clothing, etc. -- in the past year, according to a Deloitte survey: 61

Outside of shopping at supermarkets and one-stop-shopping supercenters, percentage of consumers who met their grocery needs by visiting a dollar store over the past year: 32.6

Percentage who bought food at a drugstore: 22

Source: Deloitte.

Percentage of pet lovers in the U.K. who regularly take their dogs or cats on car journeys with them, according to a study of car owners and their pets by Confused.com: 39

Ranks of Adele, Madonna and Lady Gaga on the list of the most popular artists to keep pets happy on the move: 1(tie)

Source: Confused.com.

Percentage of moms who said they own or use a computer, up 9 percent from 2010, according to the results of a Disney Interactive Media Group survey: 96

Percentage of moms who have assumed the role of Household CEO: 79

Source: Disney Interactive Media Group.

Percentage of Americans who believe the Earth has been warming in the last year (up from 75 percent in 2010), according to an Ipsos poll conducted behalf of Stanford University and Reuters: 83

Percentage who believe that if warming has been happening, it has been caused either partly (45 percent) or mostly (27 perent) by things people have been doing: 71

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of shoppers who plan to start holiday shopping earlier this year, according to the results from a PriceGrabber survey: 53

Percentage of consumers who intend to spend less money during the 2011 winter holiday shopping season than they did in 2010: 45

Percentage of shoppers who say the economic climate will affect their overall spending: 68

Source: PriceGrabber.com.

Percentage of adults who agree that a bright or white smile makes a good first impression, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, and commissioned by Philips: 89

Percentage who believe that a person's smile is the best physical indicator of someone's friendliness: 55

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of Americans who believe weight-loss-themed reality television has a positive impact on the country's obesity problem, according to a survey from Thomson Reuters: 50

Among the 15 percent of respondents who regularly watch weight-loss-themed television programs such as "The Biggest Loser" and "I Used to Be Fat," percentage who said the shows have influenced their eating habits: 57

Percentage who said their exercise habits had been influenced: 48

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Percentage of Americans who say the nation would be better off if leaders followed public opinion more closely, according to a Gallup survey: 77

Percentage who say the nation would be worse off if leaders paid more attention to the public's views: 20

Source: Gallup.

Idle Thought

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." -- Abraham Lincoln

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