Ranks of the Ty Warner Penthouse (Four Seasons Hotel), the Presidential Suite (St. Regis) and the Royal Plaza Suite (The Plaza Hotel) on the list of the most expensive hotel suites in Manhattan, according to a report on per day stays in NewYorkHotels.org: 1, 2, 3

Cost per day to stay at the Ty Warner Penthouse Suite, where guests are treated to sweeping views of Manhattan in every direction, bathroom sinks made of solid rock crystal blocks, a personal butler who is on call 24 hours a day and the use of a Maybach or Rolls-Royce -- with a personal driver: $40,000

Cost per day to stay in the Presidential Suite inside the St. Regis, where guests can brag that they stayed in the same suite as Salvador Dali, Babe Paley and Marilyn Monroe: $35,000

Cost per day to stay in The Plaza's Royal Plaza Suite, inspired by the ambiance of Louis XV's royal court: $30,000

Source: NewYorkHotels.org.

Percentage of singles who divulged that music is an integral part of their date-night prep, according to a survey by Match.com: 78

Percentage of men who choose to listen to classic crooner Barry White when getting pumped up for a date: 49

Percentage of women who choose current artists like Robin Thicke and Maroon 5: 44

Source: Match.com.

Rank of the 2013 Ram 1500 on the list of the top tailgating cars for 2013, partly because of a feature that lowers the truck to parking height for easier access to the truck's bed and its contents, according to Cars.com: 1

Source: Cars.com.

Amount of state tax on gasoline per gallon levied in California, the highest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 39.5 cents

Amount of state tax on gasoline and on diesel per gallon in Florida, the lowest in the country: 4 cents

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

When hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries were asked if they had two equally qualified candidates, which factors would make them more likely to consider one candidate over another, percentage who said the candidate with the better sense of humor, according to a CareerBuilder study: 27

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Ranks of addiction (sex, drugs and alcohol), mood disorders (depression, bi-polar disorder) and personality disorders (narcissism, borderline personality disorder) on the list of mental illnesses that plague marriages most, according to a survey of mental-health professionals by YourTango: 1, 2, 3

Percentage of mental-health professionals who agree that a spouse's ultimatum or family intervention is the most effective tool for kick-starting recovery: 54

Source: YourTango.com.

Percentage of research participants who state that they have "covered" their identity at work (a process by which individuals downplay their differences relative to mainstream perceptions, often in ways costly to their productivity and sense of self), according to a study from the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion and law professor Kenji Yoshino: 75

Percentage of straight, white, male respondents who report hiding their authentic selves on the job: 50

Rank of blacks (94 percent), women of color (91 percent), LGBT (91 percent) and women (80 percent) on the list of groups where the highest levels of covering occur: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Deloitte LLP.

Percentage of Americans who are working out at least once a week, according to the Timex/SodaHead.com survey: 73

Percentage who spend between 30 minutes and one hour on their physical activities: 29

Percentage who are spending between one and two hours exercising: 18

Source: Timex sodahead.

Percentage of Americans who gave themselves an A or B grade on their saving and investing knowledge, while giving the average American a failing grade of D, according to Genworth's Psychology of Financial Planning research: 52

Percentage of respondents who agree on the importance of financial literacy and the fact that they don't have enough: 88

Source: Genworth Financial.

Percentage of college football fans who say they wear certain clothes or shoes to help their favorite team beat their opponents, according to a survey by the Big Ten Network: 53

Percentage who felt looking away from the screen sometimes helped their team win: 40

Source: BTN.

Idle Thought

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." -- Ernest Hemingway, Nobel laureate

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

Cost of raising a child born in 2012 for 18 years for a middle-income average couple, excluding the cost of college education, tuition and living expenses, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: $241,080

Source: LoansForPoorCredit.net.

Percentage of Americans who say they could use more vacation time, according to a survey conducted this month by Choice Hotels International Inc.: 63

Percentage of Americans who report that they plan to take a leisure trip at the end of the summer or in the fall this year: 66

Ranks of just relaxing, seeing family and friends, visiting a city, hitting the beach and enjoying nature on the list of the things people like to do most: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Choice Hotels.

Compared with European and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) shoppers, rank of Americans among the most frugal shoppers and deal hunters, according to RetailMeNot's International Shoppers Trend Report: 1

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Percentage of teachers and principals who report regularly seeing hungry kids in their schools, according to a report by Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign: 75

On average, amount of money spent per month by teachers who buy food for hungry students: $37

Ranks of improvement in alertness, better attendance, fewer disciplinary problems, fewer visits to the school nurse and fewer tardy students on the list of benefits that more than half of teachers report seeing since implementing the Breakfast in the Classroom program: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry.

Percentage of Americans who believe the condition of a workplace restroom is an indicator of how a company values its workforce, according to a survey conducted by Bradley Corp.: 93

Percentage of employees who have experienced restroom troubles -- toilets that are clogged or not flushed; really bad smells; and towel and soap dispensers that are empty, jammed or don't dispense enough: 41

Source: Bradley Corp.

Percentage of Americans who identify Edward Snowden's leaking details of U.S. mass surveillance programs to the press as the "scandal of the summer," according to a Harris Interactive poll: 42

At a distant second, percentage who identified Paula Deen being fired from the Food Network due to allegations of racism: 16

Percentage who identified the performance-enhancing drug revelations and related suspensions in Major League Baseball as the "scandal of the summer": 12

Percentage who said revelations of additional sexting by Anthony Weiner: 9

Source: Harris Interactive.

When considering whether to include an online degree as part of companies' continued learning initiatives, ranks of a program's relevance to their respective business (94 percent), the flexibility/convenience it provides their employees (94 percent), selection of courses and degrees (92 percent), price (91 percent) and the reputation of the educational institution (91 percent) on the list of values HR executives look for most, according to a survey commissioned by Academic Partnerships: 1 (tie), 3, 4 (tie)

Among employees, ranks of upward mobility, promotion and increase in salary on the list of advantages of holding advanced degrees: 1, 2, 3

Source: Academic Partnerships.

Ranks of Samsung, Asus, Lenovo/IBM, HP, Toshiba and Apple on the list of computer manufacturers in Rescuecom's 2013 Computer Reliability Report (the physical reliability of the computers plus the after-the-sale computer support of the manufacturers): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Rank of HP on the list of the U.S. market share leaders in sales for 2012: 1

Source: Rescuecom.

Percentage of online consumers in 24 countries who indicate that in the past month they have shared some type of content on social media sites, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos OTX: 71

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Percentage of high school students who cross the street while distracted, according to a report by Safe Kids Worldwide: 20

Percentage of the students crossing the street while distracted who are typing on a cellphone: 39

Percentage who are listening to headphones: 39

Source: Safe Kids Worldwide.

Idle Thought

On why he keeps a piece of concrete in his pocket: "Because we don't ever want to forget where we're from ... the ghetto." -- Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus Williams

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

After a near telephone monopoly that existed for decades, the number of telephone carriers now available to consumers, according to the Census Bureau: 5,300-plus

Estimated number of Americans who carry cellphones with them every day at work, on errands and during leisure time: 300 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of those with a bachelor's degree who have ever worked who say that their education positively influenced being hired, compared to 41 percent of their counterparts who have worked but never earned a bachelor's degree, according to a survey from University of Phoenix: 78

Percentage of working adults who say they are currently taking an online course or plan to in the future: 59

Source: Kelton Research.

Among those Americans who have previously quit smoking or are interested in quitting, percentage who say gaining weight is their biggest challenge to quitting smoking: 41

Ranks of hypnosis, acupuncture and individual therapy or support group on the list of non-nicotine replacement-based methods: 1, 2, 3

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of academic leaders who rate the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face classes, according to a survey of online learning conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group: 77

Percentage of chief academic officers who believe their faculty should accept the value and legitimacy of online education: 30

Percentage of chief academic leaders who say online learning is critical to their long-term strategy (a new high): 69

Source: Babson College.

Percentage of American millionaires who say they are doing more for their own children than was done for them, according to a survey from PNC Wealth Management: 91

Percentage of respondents who say they have provided or expect to provide financial support for higher education: 84

Percentage of millionaire parents who strongly support basic purchases such as a car: 61

Percentage who support down payments on homes: 45

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

According to an Aon Hewitt analysis, total health care costs per employee in 2012: $10,522

Employers' share of that cost: $8,318

Source: Aon Hewitt.

Percentage of company data breaches that were reported by employees other than IT, according to a survey conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association: 47

Percentage that were reported by customers: 15

Source: Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Percentage of 20-somethings who identified "paying the bills" as essential to achieving financial independence, according to the second nationwide survey by The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.: 78

Percentage of those aged 25 to 29 who have achieved that milestone: 60

Source: PNC Wealth Management.

Percentage of large firms that offer retiree health benefits (down from 66 percent 1988), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: 25

Percentage of small firms that offer retiree health benefits: 4

Percentage of the cost paid by Uncle Sam for members of Congress, who get health coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: 72 to 75

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Net worth of Tiger Woods, outshining the combined fortunes of all others golfers in a top 10 ranking, according to data by Wealth-X: $590 million

Rank of Tiger Woods on the list of the world's wealthiest athletes who are still active in their sport -- more affluent than other top-earning athletes such as Swiss tennis player Roger Federer ($180 million) and NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant ($220 million): 1

Ranks of Phil Mickelson ($190 million), Vijay Singh ($70 million), Ernie Els ($60 million) and Jim Furyk ($55 million) on the list of the wealthiest golfers: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Wealth-X.

Idle Thought

"The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude." -- Aldous Huxley, novelist

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