Percentage of U.S. private companies that are embracing bold innovation initiatives, such as creating novel products and services never before seen by the marketplace, to help them fulfill their growth agendas, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S.'s Trendsetter Barometer survey: 39

Percentage of businesses that are focusing on products and services that would be newly offered by their companies but would not be new in the marketplace as a whole: 37

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Percentage of HR professionals worldwide who do not know how their workforce's potential is affecting the company's bottom line, according to SHL's Global Assessment Trends Report 2013: 77

Ranks of an organization's "need to engage their talent," "cultivate strong leaders," "performance management," "workforce planning/talent analytics" and "training" on the list of HR's 2013 priorities to drive change: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: SHL. Contact Media Relations at 609-279-0050 or email US@shl.com.

Despite St. Patrick's Day being one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the U.S., percentage of Americans age 21 and over who don't know that St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, according to a survey conducted on behalf of Tullamore Dew: 51

Percentage of respondents who falsely believe that the holiday (March 17) marks the saint's birthday (it marks the day of his death): 34

Source: Tullamore Dew.

Consecutive years that New York has hosted a St. Patrick's Day Parade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 249

The odds that a male born in 1970 is named Patrick: 1 in 162.4

Odds in 2008: 1 in 655.7

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of single adults age 50 to 75 who said they are open to dating, according to Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey data: 56

Percentage of all single baby boomers who are actively dating, but not necessarily looking for love and marriage: 45

Percentage who want to find love and get married: 11

Source: Del Webb.

Year that the ratification of the 16th Amendment (which established the modern federal tax law) was proclaimed, according to CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business: 1913

Estimated number of words in the tax code: 4 million

Number of words in the original amendment, nearly "tweetable": 164

Percentage "normal income tax" levied under the 1913 law on an individual's net income from $0 to $20,000 ($0 to $465,212 in today's dollars): 1

Source: CCH.

Ranks of uncomfortable seats/limited legroom, costly airline fees and ticket prices, unpredictable flight delays, and long security lines on the list of the biggest complaints about air travel, according to the results of the annual air travel survey by TripAdvisor: 1, 2, 3, 4

Percentage of respondents who say that giving "more legroom" is the No. 1 thing airlines should do to improve the in-flight experience: 38

Source: TripAdvisor.

Percentage of Americans who were able to locate the Central American nation of Costa Rica on a map showing Central America and the Caribbean and given five multiple choice options, according to the results from a research survey commissioned by the rental website forrentcostarica.com: 37

Percentage who believed the correct answer was not shown on the map: 20

Source: Picobarn.

Percentage of young girls between the age of 8 and 18 who have ever worn makeup who have negative feelings about their image when not wearing makeup, associating a "bare face" with feeling insecure and unattractive, according to a survey by The Renfrew Center Foundation: 20

Ranks of "self-conscious" (20 percent), "unattractive" (17 percent) and "naked/as though something is missing" (15 percent) on the list of ways these girls said going without makeup made them feel: 1, 2, 3

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of U.S. adults who have shopped for groceries online, according to a survey from CouponCabin.com: 15

Percentage of U.S. adults who haven't shopped for groceries online who said they would be at least somewhat likely to do so if online groceries were less expensive than buying them in the store: 70

Source: CouponCabin.

Idle Thought

"Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known." -- Michel de Montaigne

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

Of U.S. adults overhauling their finances, percentage who will focus on tackling debts for their credit cards, cars and/or mortgages: 43

Percentage who also intend to become a smarter shopper by using coupons and seeking sales/deals: 37

Percentage who will grow a six-month emergency fund: 27

Percentage who will focus on their 401(k), IRA or retirement fund: 18

Source: CouponCabin.

Number of residences, businesses and Post Office boxes that are reached by the U.S. Postal Service, the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation: 151 million

Number of retail locations operated by the Post Office: 32,000

Estimated annual revenue of the Postal Service: $65 billion

Estimated percentage of the world's mail delivered by the Postal Service: 40

If it were a private sector company, rank the U.S. Postal Service would hold in the 2011 Fortune 500: 35

Source: U.S. Postal Service.

By the next Year of the Snake, 2025, expected combined net worth of Chinese ultra-high net-worth individuals -- surpassing the projected collective wealth of their counterparts from New York, London and Paris, according to predictions from Wealth-X: $4.1 trillion

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of young American adults who expect to give up some of their career goals in order to have the family life they want -- with men as likely as women to have such expectations, according to a study released by Clark University: 61

Source: Clark University.

Percentage of respondents who believe that homeownership remains an essential part of the American dream, according to a LendingTree survey of homeowners: 79

Percentage who remain confident that if they wished to purchase a new home in the future, they would be able to sell their current home, obtain a mortgage and afford a down payment despite the recent recession and housing market crash: 76

Source: Lending Tree.

Percentage of couples who admit to arguing about cleaning at least once a month, according to a survey by Handybook: 37

Percentage of respondents who said their inability to find a maid leaves them feeling stressed: 50

Source: Handybook.

Estimated number of Americans who smoke, according to Legacy: 46 million

Each year, estimated number of people who die from tobacco-related diseases: 400,000

Number of new "replacement" smokers who become addicted each day: 1,200

Source: Legacy.

Percentage of singles who have had a "friends with benefits" relationship in the past (40 percent of women and 53 percent of men), according to survey by Match.com: 47

In 2012, percentage of these arrangements that turned into long-term relationships (a 24 percent increase over 2011): 44

Source: Match.com.

Estimated number of black-owned businesses in the U.S., representing a gain of more than 60 percent in the last five years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1.9 million

Number of people these businesses employ: 920,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Percentage of CFOs who find it very or somewhat beneficial to use temporary workers during employee absences, according to an Accountemps survey: 76

Percentage who cited maintaining productivity when they aren't ready to hire full-time workers as a benefit of using temporary staff: 72

Source: Accountemps.

Idle Thought

"Never cut what you can untie." -- Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

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

Number of Americans (36 percent) who believe it's socially acceptable to have a poor credit score, according to a survey conducted by JZ Analytics on behalf of ID Analytics: 77 million

Number of Americans (35 percent) who are more afraid of becoming an identity theft victim than they were five years ago: 75 million

Source: ID Analytics Inc.

Number of times their final pay level that workers need to meet their financial obligations in retirement, according to a survey by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources solutions business of Aon PLC: 11

Number of times their final pay that the average U.S. worker comes up short in savings: 2.2

Source: Aon PLC.

Year that Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen (accidentally) discovered an image cast from his cathode-ray generator, and named the new form of radiation "X-radiation" (X standing for "unknown"), according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1895

Year that Americans got their first glimpse of this medical marvel in an exhibit in New York City -- it came quickly into use in U.S. medicine, and then into overuse, (Thomas Edison's assistant Clarence Dally, after long, unshielded experimentation with X-rays, had both arms amputated, and then died in 1904 from exposure to radiation): 1896

Estimated number of medical devices and supply manufacturing establishments in the U.S.: 12,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Percentage of American workers who had not yet taken all of the vacation days allotted to them by their employer as of the end of November, according to a survey by Adecco Staffing U.S.: 75

Percentage of workers who are allotted three weeks or more of vacation time annually: 36

Source: Adecco.

Percentage of men and women around the world who say, "Flirting is just playful fun," according to a survey from Zoosk.com: 41

Percentage of men who will flirt with a woman even if he is not interested in pursuing a relationship with her: 54

Percentage of women who will flirt with a man even if she is not interested in pursuing a relationship with him: 41

Source: Zoosk.

Percentage of U.S. adults who feel that they have little (33 percent) or no (12 percent) control over the personal information companies gather while they are browsing the Web or using online services such as photo sharing, travel or gaming, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Microsoft: 45

Percentage who say that they only minimally understand (17 percent) or are totally confused (4 percent) when it comes to personal online protection: 21

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs RS.

Ranks of Ellen DeGeneres, Mark Harmon, Jon Stewart, Jim Parsons and Bill O'Reilly on the list of America's favorite TV personalities, according to a survey by Harris Interactive: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Ranks of Denzel Washington, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt on the list of America's favorite movie stars: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of adults who report having been through an interview process, according to a poll conducted on behalf of Hire-Vue: 63

Percentage who say they have never done so (including 61 percent of those who are retired, and 45 percent of those without a college degree): 37

Source: Hire-Vue.

Percentage of global executives who are increasingly concerned about the growing risks to their supply chains and costly negative impacts such as margin erosion and the inability to keep up with demand, according to a survey from Deloitte: 53

Percentage of executives who say their supply-chain risk-management programs are only somewhat effective or not effective at all: 45

Source: Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP.

When asked about typical activities you'd do in a taxi, percentage of participants who responded that they talk, text or email on their phone, according to the annual global taxi survey compiled by Hotels.com: 76

Percentage who also said they slept: 56

Percentage who have shared a cab with a stranger: 35

Source: Hotels.com.

Idle Thought

"Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks." -- Charles Dickens

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