oddities

Figuratively Speaking for September 29, 2013

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | September 29th, 2013

Percentage of Americans under the age of 60 who expect to receive an inheritance, according to a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Interest.com: 27

Percentage of Americans age 60 and older who expect to leave an inheritance to family members: 64

Source: Bankrate Inc.

Average age Americans would like to live at if they could skip time and live forever in good health at a particular age, according to the results of The Harris Poll: 50

When The Harris Poll asked this question 10 years ago, the perfect age cited: 41

Source: Harris Interactive.

As U.S. consumers continue to recover from the Great Recession, percentage of households where the level of debt they are carrying is causing significant stress in their lives, according to research from Mintel: 25

Percentage who state that the amount of debt they have impacts their day-to-day lives: 25

Percentage of American households who think people would disapprove if they knew how much debt they were in: 13

Source: Mintel.

Percentage of shoppers who feel guilt or shame after shopping -- one of the warning signs of a shopping addiction, according to a poll by CreditDonkey.com: 36

Percentage who hide purchases from their families: 20

Percentage who check available credit at least once a week: 27

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Total tab being left to future generations, representing today's official debt plus future unfunded government obligations, according to a report by The Can Kicks Back, a nonpartisan and millennial-led campaign to defeat the national debt and reclaim the American Dream: $200 trillion

Sum of lifetime federal benefits, in excess of taxes paid, that will have been collected by a senior turning 65 this year: $327,500

Lifetime tax rate on all future Americans if they are forced to pay the bill being racked up by today's Americans: 60

Source: The Can Kicks Back.

Percentage of singles who have played wingman (the successful dater's essential sidekick) for a friend, according to a Zoosk survey: 69

Percentage of singles who say the most important quality for a wingman to possess is trustworthiness: 46

Source: Zoosk.

Percentage of Americans who expect to experience incivility in the next 24 hours, saying that dealing with incivility has become a way of life for many, according to a poll by Weber Shandwick and public affairs firm Powell Tate partnered with KRC Research on Civility in America: 43

Percentage of Americans who continue to believe that the Internet encourages uncivil behavior: 70

Percentage of parents who reported that their children experienced incivility at school: 62

Percentage of Americans who personally experienced incivility at work: 37

Source: Weber Shandwick.

Percentage of senior managers who said they have accepted the blame in the office for something that wasn't their fault, according to a survey developed by OfficeTeam: 47

Percentage of those who took the fall who reported they did so because they felt indirectly responsible for the problem: 34

Percentage who felt that when they did take the blame it was because the infraction was minor enough that it wasn't worth arguing over: 34

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of drivers in 24 countries who indicate they text, email or use social media while they are driving (even when they're at a stop sign or a red light), according to the findings of a poll conducted by Ipsos OTX: 22

Rank of the U.S. in this group: 6

Source: Ipsos Open Thinking.

Every year, amount of food wasted in the U.S. as a whole, with only 3 percent of that food being donated or composted, according to a study from the Food Waste Reduction Alliance, Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Food Marketing Institute and the National Restaurant Association: 35 million tons

Annual cost to Americans of this wasted food: $165 billion

Source: Food Nutrition & Science.

Idle Thought

"Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn't, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence." -- Honore de Balzac, novelist

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

oddities

Figuratively Speaking for September 22, 2013

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | September 22nd, 2013

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.)

oddities

Figuratively Speaking for September 15, 2013

Figuratively Speaking by by John MacIntyre
by John MacIntyre
Figuratively Speaking | September 15th, 2013

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.)

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