Median number of vacation days available to employed Europeans, according to the results of a survey by Expedia: 28

Approximate number of vacation days available to U.S. workers: 15

Approximate number of vacation days taken by U.S. workers: 14

Percentage of Americans who feel "very" or "somewhat" vacation deprived: 54

Source: Expedia.

Ranks of saving more (55 percent), paying off debt (20 percent) and spending less (17) percent) on the list of top three financial resolutions, according to The Fidelity New Year Financial Resolutions Study: 1, 2, 3

Of those who say they made a resolution at the start of 2014, percentage who now feel they are better off financially: 51

Of those who did not make a resolution, percentage who can say the same: 38

Source: Fidelity Investments.

Percentage of Americans who say colleges should treat student-athletes as amateurs who compete primarily for love of the sport and educational opportunities -- and that they should not be compensated beyond scholarships, according to a national survey by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute: 50

Percentage of people who say that the focus of college sports should be opportunities to participate: 71

Percentage who say that the focus should be producing the highest level of play possible: 30

Source: Saint Leo University Polling Institute.

On Billionaire.com's top 10 list of the world's most expensive properties, number for sale that are in the United States: 5

Ranks of The Manor, Los Angeles ($150 million), Beverly House, Los Angeles ($135 million) and Rancho San Carlos, California ($125 million), as the three most expensive properties in the U.S.: 1, 2, 3

Source: Billionaire.com.

Percentage of workers who stated that communicating the value of their work to company leadership was difficult, according to a survey commissioned by AtTask: 55

Ranks of conflicting priorities (29 percent) and lack of communication or miscommunication (22 percent) on the list of the most common sources of conflict with other departments, groups or teams: 1, 2

Percentage of workers who say lost productivity is among the most common consequences of conflict with other teams: 39

Source: AtTask.

Percentage of executives who say their businesses will expand in 2015, according to a survey conducted by Korn/Ferry: 74

Source: Korn/Ferry International.

In the U.S., percentage of people over age 5 who speak a language other than English at home, according to the Census Bureau: 21

Number of people this percentage represents: 61 million

Of those, number who speak Spanish, the most widely spoken non-English language: 37 million

Number who speak several Chinese variants: 2.8 million

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Ranks of Facebook Messenger (53 percent) and Skype (45 percent) as the preferred application among messaging app users, according to Parks Associates: 1, 2

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of small business owners who choose alternative financing options over traditional bank loans, according to a study of small business owners conducted by Merchant Cash and Capital: 40

Percentage who received cash loans from family and friends: 33

Source: Merchant Cash and Capital.

Date that President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law, according to Harris Interactive: Dec. 28, 1973

Percentage drop in population sizes of vertebrate species between 1970 and 2010, according to the World Wildlife Fund: 50

Percentage of adults who believe that variety among life-forms on Earth, also known as biodiversity, is important to the well-being of humans: 90

Source: Harris Interactive.

Idle Thought

"To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men." -- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet

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

Age at which a child's habits regarding chores, studying and media consumption do not change without parental intervention, according to findings by the Learning Habit: 9

Percentage of parents who report that their child will quit when asked to perform a strenuous or difficult task: 40

Number of minutes of homework per grade in school that was positively correlated with children's grade point averages (excess time on academic homework showed no additional benefit): 10

Source: Good Parent Inc.

Percentage of American workers who are late for work at least once a week, according to a survey by YouGov: 19

Percentage who are never late: 48

Source: YouGov.

Ranks of frozen pipes (average claim $18,000), hail damage (average claim $10,000) and tree collapse ($6,000) on the list of the top three costliest winter weather claims, according to The Hartford insurance analysis: 1, 2, 3

Source: Hartford Insurance.

Percentage of Americans with debt who say they will never get out of it, according to a new CreditCards.com report: 18

On average, age at which Americans expect to achieve debt-free status (including credit card debt, car loans, student loans, mortgages and other types of debt): 53

Source: Creditcards.com.

Percentage of men who are likely to admit to having passed gas around others, compared with 30 percent of women, according to findings by Omnibus for YouGov: 41

Percentage of women who are likely to admit to having talked to someone while watching a film, compared to 28 percent of men: 42

Source: YouGov.

On average, percentage increase in car insurance premiums after a claim, according to an InsuranceQuotes.com report: 38

Average percentage increase in homeowner's insurance premiums after a claim: 9

Percentage of Americans who think it's unfair that denied claims can cause car and homeowner's insurance rates to rise, which can even be true of potential claims that were never filed but were discussed with an insurance agent: 84

Source: InsuranceQuotes.com.

Population of Florida in 1910, according to the Population Reference Bureau: 752,619

Population of Florida in 2013: 19,552,860

Expected date when the Sunshine State is believed to have passed the Empire State in population: July 2014

Source: Population Reference Bureau.

Year that James Smith, a restaurant owner in Poughkeepsie, New York, cooked up the first batch of cough drops, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 1847

Estimated number of drugstores in the country, selling some $11.7 billion worth of cough drops and other nonprescription medicines annually: 40,000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Ranks of Vail and Aspen, Colorado, and Park City, Utah, on the list of the top ski resorts in the U.S., according to members of the American Society of Travel Agents: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of Whistler, Canada, Zermatt, Switzerland, and St. Moritz, Switzerland, on the list of the top international ski resorts: 1, 2, 3

Source: American Society of Travel Agents.

Estimated number of hours that today's children spend per week in extracurricular activities, according to a Liberty Mutual study: 20

Percentage of parents who say they drive and/or host other children in their home: 83

Source: Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Idle Thought

"If only I may grow: firmer, simpler -- quieter, warmer." -- Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations 1953-1961, Nobel laureate

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

Percentage of Americans who volunteered through an organization in 2014, according to research by the Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Conference on Citizenship: 25.4

Altogether, estimated number of hours Americans volunteered last year: 7.7 billion

Estimated value of this volunteer service, based on the average value of a volunteer hour: $173 billion

Source: Corporation for National and Community Service.

When American adults were asked to consider the top three people they admire enough to call a hero, percentage who listed a family member, with 26 percent specifically referencing parents, according to a Harris poll: 32

Source: Harris Interactive.

With winter officially under way, record low winter temperature among continental U.S. cities, held by Bismarck, North Dakota, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: 45 degrees below zero

Absolute coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. -- at Prospect Creek, Alaska, on Jan. 23, 1971: 80 degrees below zero

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who say they typically consider New Year's resolutions regarding their finances, according to the Fidelity New Year Financial Resolutions Study: 40 (down from 54 percent in 2013)

Percentage of respondents who are actually considering financial resolutions for 2015, down from 43 percent last year: 31

Source: Fidelity Investments.

Percentage of Americans who say that poor or insufficient sleep affected their daily activities at least once in the past seven days, according to the National Sleep Foundation: 45

Percentage who reported that they did not wake up feeling refreshed on any of the past seven days: 20

Percentage of those with less than good sleep quality who also report "poor" or "only fair" health: 67

Source: National Sleep Foundation.

Percentage of never-married Americans who would like to eventually tie the knot, according to a Pew Research Center report: 53

Among never-married women interested in marriage, percentage who said that it is "very important" to them that a potential spouse has a steady job: 78

Percentage of never-married men who said the same: 46

Source: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Percentage of American travelers who tabbed the back-bruising "rear seat kicker" as No. 1 on the list of the most aggravating airplane passengers, according to an Expedia survey: 67

Ranks of inattentive parents, the aromatic passenger, the audio insensitive and the boozer on the list: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Expedia.

Percentage of North American employees who plan to pursue new career opportunities in 2015, according to a poll by Right Management: 86

Percentage who say "Maybe -- I'm networking": 8

Source: Right Management.

Rank of Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma, the former English teacher-turned-billionaire entrepreneur, on the list of this year's biggest financial gainers, according to Wealth-X: 1

Percentage increase in Ma's fortune this year (from $10.7 billion to $29.2 billion): 173

Ranks of Warren Buffett (23 percent increase), Bill Gates, the world's richest man, (14 percent increase), Mark Zuckerberg (34 percent) and Patrick Drahi (65 percent) on the list of this year's biggest financial gainers: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of American adults who say they will probably or definitely purchase a wearable device of some type in the next 12 months, pushing this category ahead of other popular tech gear, including streaming media devices, eReaders and 4K TVs, according to research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT: 18

Percentage of adults who are very familiar with wearable computers: 41

Source: Ipsos MediaCT.

Idle Thought

"Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way." -- Alice Childress, playwright, author

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