Percentage of Americans who agree that the SAT should be required for college admissions, according to YouGov Omnibus research: 37

Percentage who believe the SAT is a good indicator of future college performance: 36

Percentage who believe the SAT is a good indicator of how well an individual will do in life: 22

Source: YouGov.

Percentage of consumers who lack confidence in their knowledge or understanding of their personal finances, according to findings from a personal finance survey conducted for RetailMeNot: 49

Percentage of respondents who do not have enough money saved to last them more than a month if they were to lose all sources of income: 48

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Ranks of staying physically and mentally fit, spending time with family, eating healthy and maintaining an active social life on the list of the top priorities expressed by older consumers across 60 countries in a Nielsen global survey: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Nielsen Analytics.

Percentage of shoppers who said they often or sometimes feel guilty about purchases, according to a CreditDonkey.com survey: 54

Percentage who said they rarely feel that urge to return their purchases: 41

Percentage who never feel nagging guilt: 5

Source: CreditDonkey.com.

Percentage of U.S. consumers who use their mobile device to take photos, according McAfee's 2014 Love, Relationships & Technology survey: 98

Percentage who send or receive intimate content, including video, photos, emails and messages: 54

Percentage of respondents who are securing their smartphone with a password or passcode, a 30 percentage point increase from last year's result: 69

Source: McAfee Inc.

Years of Prohibition in America, considered a noble experiment that failed as the subsequent crime associated with bootlegging caused problems worse than the lone problem of drunkenness: 1920 to 1933

Year Congress amended the Volstead Act to permit beer of 3.2 percent alcohol to be brewed and sold: 1933

Today, estimated number of beer, wine and liquor stores in the U.S., with sales of over $36 billion: 31,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of teens who believe in God, compared to 74 percent of adults, according to a Harris poll: 80

Percentage of teens who believe in miracles, compared to 72 percent of adults: 76

Percentage of teens who believe in the devil, compared to 58 percent of adults: 65

Source: Harris Interactive.

Percentage of chief financial officers who said the job interview is where candidates make the most mistakes, according to a survey by Accountemps: 43

Percentage of executives who felt applicants most frequently slip up when writing their resumes: 19

Ranks of interview follow-up (11 percent), cover letter (10 percent) and phone interview/screen on the list of areas where CFOs said job candidates make the most mistakes: 3, 4, 5

Source: Accountemps.

Overall sales in U.S. convenience stores in 2013, in-store sales climbing 2.4 percent to $204 billion combined with motor fuel sales of $491.5 billion, according to figures released by the National Association of Convenience Stores: $695.5 billion

Percentage of in-store sales accounted for by tobacco (cigarettes and other tobacco products): 37

Percentage accounted for by food service (prepared and commissary food, and hot, cold and dispensed beverages): 18

Source: National Association of Convenience Stores.

Percentage of nonprofits that reported an increase in demand for services, the sixth straight year of increased demand, according the results of the Nonprofit Finance Fund's 2014 State of the Nonprofit sector survey: 80

Percentage who were unable to meet demand in 2013 -- the highest reported in the survey's history: 56

Percentage who expect 2014 to be easier than 2013 for the people they serve: 11

Source: Nonprofit Finance Fund.

Idle Thought

"Several excuses are always less convincing than one." -- Aldous Huxley

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

Average percentage more for car insurance that drivers pay as a result of committing a minor speeding violation (1 to 15 miles per hour over the legal limit), according to an insuranceQuotes.com report: 21

Average percentage more for car insurance that drivers pay as a result of following too closely: 19

Average percentage increase in car insurance rates upon DUI convictions: 93

Source: insuranceQuotes.com.

In 2013, average wedding cost, excluding honeymoon, according to the results of TheKnot.com's annual Real Weddings Study: $29,858

Average spent on a wedding in Manhattan, N.Y. -- the most expensive place to get married: $86,916

Average spent in Idaho -- the least expensive place to get married: $16,159

Source: XO Group Inc.

Rank of "a particular preference for print over electronic" on the list of the most popular reasons students cited for purchasing print instead of digital-based course materials, according to a Student Watch survey conducted by OnCampus Research: 1

Source: National Association of College Stores.

Percentage of organizations that believe managing critical talent is essential to success, according to Mercer survey: 64

Percentage of organizations that say they have programs that are "extremely effective" in achieving that goal: 30

Percentage of organizations that employ processes to identify critical talent with approximately 2 to 5 percent of the workforce categorized as critical: 75

Source: Mercer.

Percentage of consumers who are comfortable with a 10 plus years or "until it dies" vehicle life span, according to an AutoMD.com's survey: 78

Percentage of car owners who said they now have 150,000 or more miles on their current vehicle: 33

Percentage who said they planned to purchase a new vehicle: 10

Source: AutoMD.com.

Ranks of Jack Nicholson ($390 million), Tom Hanks ($350 million), Robert De Niro ($310 million), Barbra Streisand ($310 million) and Sean Connery ($250 million) on the list of the top five wealthiest Oscar winners, according to Wealth-X: 1, 2, 3 (tie), 5

Rank of Sandra Bullock ($150 million) -- the only Academy Award winner on the list with a 2014 nomination: 10

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of Americans who will hit the road or sky for a long-distance trip this spring, according to a study from Wahl Therapeutic Massagers and conducted by Opinion Research Corp.: 35

Percentage of adults 18 years of age and older who experience physical pain while traveling: 92

Across all four modes of transport -- airplane, train, bus and personal vehicle -- ranks of back, leg, neck and arm/shoulder pain on the list of the types of pain travelers experience most often: 1, 2, 3, 4

Source: Opinion Research Corp.

Percentage of American consumers who plan to file tax returns using online services this year, according to a survey by RetailMeNot: 31

Percentage who prefer to prepare their taxes themselves: 18

Percentage of people who wait until April 1 or later to file their taxes: 15

Source: RetailMeNot.com.

Rank of Derek Jeter, entering his final baseball season with the New York Yankees, on the list of the most popular players in the game, according to a survey by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute: 1

Percentage of all people who say they are very (20 percent) or somewhat (27 percent) interested in following Major League Baseball: 47

Source: Saint Leo University Polling Institute.

Year that the first theological school to admit female students for divinity degrees was formed, when the Boston Theological Seminary merged with Boston University, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1871

Year the first female bachelor of divinity graduated: 1876

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Idle Thought

"There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to go -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall." -- Bernard Malamud, novelist

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

When asked what the first thing they would do if they won a substantial amount of money in the lottery, percentage of Americans who would pay off their debts, according to research by YouGov: 34

Percentage who stated that they would quit their jobs if they won between $1 million and less than $5 million: 26

Percentage who stated that they would quit their jobs for less than a million dollars: 13

Source: YouGov.

Percentage of drivers who admit to singing out loud, the No. 1 activity performed while driving, according to a consumer survey from DMEautomotive released in conjunction with National Collision Awareness month: 56

Ranks of talking on the phone (50 percent), eating (50 percent), reading a text message (26 percent) and sending a text message (20 percent) on the list of the top five activities performed while driving: 2 (tie), 4, 5

Number of people who were killed in distracted-driving crashes in 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Distracted.gov website, which does not include singing out loud on its list of distracted driving activities: 3,328

Source: DMEautomotive.

When asked what is the recommended percentage of income that should be spent on housing, percentage of Americans who answered correctly that it is 30 percent, according to the latest Country Financial Security Index: 31

Percentage of respondents who say saving for their child's college education is more important than saving for their own retirement even though one can borrow for college, but not for retirement: 43

Source: Country Financial.

Estimated amount that the average American pays in state and local taxes per year, according to a report from WalletHub's 2014 Report on the States with the Highest & Lowest Taxes: $7,000

Number of times more that taxpayers in the states with the highest taxes pay than those in the states with the lowest taxes: 4

Ranks of Wyoming (-66 percent), Alaska (-60 percent), Nevada (-52 percent), Florida (-48 percent) and South Dakota (-46 percent) on the list of states with the lowest taxes versus the national average: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: WalletHub.

When asked about their engagement experience, percentage of brides who said they knew it was coming, according to a survey by David's Bridal: 57

Percentage who said they were surprised by the proposal: 43

When asked which leading male characters they would like to say "yes" to, percentage who chose Ryan Gosling's romantic "The Notebook" character, Noah Calhoun: 40

Percentage who chose Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack Dawson of "Titanic": 30

Source: David's Bridal Inc.

Percentage of today's consumers who say that they eat snacks at least twice a day, according to Technomic's Snacking Occasion Consumer Trend Report: 51

Percentage who replace one or two daily meals with a snack: 45

Source: Technomic.

Year that the first commercially available frozen food (Clarence Birdseye's fish) became available, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1925

Today, estimated number of packaged frozen food wholesalers there are in the United States, selling $85 billion worth of heat-and-eat products: 3,500

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of businesswomen from 19 different countries and 30 different industries who indicated that they were mid- or senior-level leaders, according to "Women as Mentors" research conducted by Development Dimensions International: 75

Percentage of those who had never had a formal mentor: 63

Percentage who rated mentorship as highly important in helping to advance and grow their careers: 67

Source: Development Dimensions International.

Amount of revenue generated by the youth travel sector last year -- twice as much as the global video game industry, according to StudentMarketing CEO Samuel Vetrak: $203 billion

Year by which it's expected that young travelers will surpass business travelers in the number of international arrivals and revenues generated overall: 2015

Source: StudentMarketing.

Among U.S. adults who are aware of any data breaches at notable retailers, such as Target and Neiman Marcus, percentage who believe merchants are responsible for preventing future incidents, according to a study conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Feedzai: 60

Of those aware of any data breaches, percentage who say they started using cash for more of their purchases when shopping: 40

Source: Feedzai.

Idle Thought

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." -- Voltaire, philosopher (1664-1778)

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