Percentage of business executives and CEOs with an average household income of $187,000 who say that golfing with a business associate is a good way to establish a close relationship, according to a survey conducted by Guideline Research & Consulting Inc.: 97

Percentage who say that it's a good way to make new business contacts: 92

Percentage of executives who say some of their biggest deals have been done on the golf course: 43

Source: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

Percentage of working people who are seeking additional job training or certifications to move their career forward who say they are doing it to make more money: 53

Percentage who are eager to learn or are a seeking self-satisfaction: 40

Percentage who say they want to create a better life for their family: 38

Percentage who say they want to improve their resume: 35

Source: Toluna QuickSurveys.

Projected amount that consumers will spend on graduation gifts this year, according to the annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics: $5.6 billion

Percentage of respondents who will give cash as they seek to help students with the costly transition from high school to college, or college to the "real world": 53

Ranks of greeting cards (41 percent), gift cards (33 percent), apparel (16 percent) and electronics (11 percent) on the list of the most popular gifts: 2, 3, 4, 5

Source: NRF.

Percentage of security professionals who have used or still use birthdays, addresses, pet names or children names for their work passwords, according to a survey conducted Thycotic: 30

In 2016 alone, number of user credentials/passwords that were stolen -- 95 credentials and passwords stolen every second -- according to Thycotic and Cybersecurity Ventures' Password Report: 3 billion

Source: Thycotic.

Percentage of America's top math students who are involved in volunteer activities, according to a survey sponsored by the Moody's Foundation: 55

Percentage who eat healthy foods most of the time, while 24 percent prefer healthy foods but frequently eat fast food or junk food: 47

Percentage of respondents who said they are naturally interested in math: 51

Source: Moody's Economy.com.

Percentage of Americans who believe climate change is caused by human activity, according to the results of an Ipsos poll: 51

Percentage who believe it is caused by natural patterns: 31

Percentage who do not think climate change is really happening: 6

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of women who said "broken trust" is the best way to ruin a relationship, according to a survey commissioned by epi24: 61

Percentage who said "self-absorption" can also be a deal-breaker: 22

Source: epi24.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, rank of the peanut on the list of America's favorite snack nuts: 1

Whether roasted in the shell, used in salads and stir-fry recipe or in cookies, average number of pounds of shelled peanuts each American eats per year, about half in the form of peanut butter: 6

In 2014, value of the peanut export market: $450 million

Percentage that went to Canada: 22

Percentage that went to Mexico: 18

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of Americans who are planning to take a long weekend trip this summer, according to the Travelzoo summer survey: 74

Percentage of travelers who said they were likely to take more long weekend trips than they did last year: 56

Percentage of travelers who named visiting family and friends as their main reason to take a long weekend trip: 85

Source: Travelzoo.

Percentage rise in credit and debit card fraud alerts from two years ago, according to a CreditCards.com report: 15

Percentage of U.S. adults who have received a fraud alert regarding a credit card: 31

Source: Bankrate.com.

Idle Thought

"Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in." -- Bill Bradley

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

Percentage of college seniors who feel "very prepared" for their careers, according to the results of McGraw-Hill Education's fourth annual future workforce survey: 44

Ranks of a good work/life balance, attractive salary and benefits, and opportunities to learn and grow as a professional on the list of factors students said would make them feel most fulfilled in their careers: 1, 2, 3

Source: McGraw-Hill Education.

Percentage of global citizens who think their nation's economy is rigged to the advantage of the rich and powerful, according to Ipsos Global Trends 2017: 76

Percentage of Americans who agree: 78

Percentage of Mexicans who agree: 94

Percentage of Swedes who agree (the lowest percentage in the survey): 56

Source: Ipsos.

Percentage of small-business employees who are happy in their current job, according to an Aflac report: 84

Percentage who agree that most or all of their happiness in their current job is actually because they work for a small business: 48

Compared to working at a large company, percentage of employees who indicate that small businesses make them feel more appreciated: 67

Source: Aflac Inc.

Considered funny (by 52 percent of respondents), cool (28 percent) and unique (24 percent), rank of the GEICO Gecko as the most recognizable spokescharacter with an awareness score of 56, according to E-Poll Market Research: 1

Rank of GEICO's Caleb the Camel (56 percent) on the list of characters with the most appeal: 1

Source: E-Poll Market Research.

Annual amount of money spent by insurers and consumers on home health services (including home rehabilitation, skilled nursing, chronic therapy services, and hospice and palliative care), according to international research firm Parks Associates: $50 billion

Source: Parks Associates.

Percentage of teens -- a cohort that has seen an increase in fatal crashes -- who would use social media behind the wheel, according to research compiled through National Safety Council surveys: 35

Percentage of teens who feel their own distraction may have contributed to a crash: 17

Percentage who believe they can have up to three drinks before they are not safe or too impaired to drive: 71

Source: National Safety Council.

Number of Americans who are married or have a partner who keep all of their bank accounts separate, according to a new study from Bankrate.com: 22 million

Percentage of younger millennials who are most likely to opt for separate accounts: 37

Percentage of those making less than $30,000 per year who are most likely to opt for separate accounts: 35

Source: Bankrate.com.

Percentage of luxury consumers (defined as those with $250,000 to $1 million in investable assets) in the United States, United Kingdom, India, United Arab Emirates and China, who are confident in the housing market in their respective countries and are ready to purchase a home within the next three years, according to Sotheby's International Realty: 85

Number of areas these consumers are most interested in (waterfront, metropolitan and historic homes): 3

Source: Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates.

Percentage of fitness-conscious Americans who would still work out even if they could be fit and healthy without doing so, according to a study conducted by Great Blue Research for Zoom: 76

Percentage of these fitness-conscious Americans who work out every day: 44

Percentage who work out four or more times a week: 48

Source: Zoom.

Percentage of Americans who say that mosquitoes limit their family's outdoor activities during the months they're most active, according to a Harris Poll: 85

Percentage of Americans who are concerned about protecting themselves and their family from Zika or other mosquito-borne illnesses: 66

Source: The Harris Poll.

Idle Thought

"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom." -- Theodore Rubin, psychiatrist and writer

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

Percentage of Americans who planned to put their tax refund toward necessary expenses, such as student loans and credit card payments, according to a study from investment company Edward Jones: 53

Percentage who are planning to invest their 2016 tax refunds this year: 6

Percentage who planned to save their refund: 31

Percentage who planned to put it toward something fun, like a vacation or entertainment: 9

Source: Edward Jones.

Percentage of Americans who tend to focus more on healthy lifestyle choices leading into the warmer months, according to Toluna QuickSurveys: 58

Of those people, percentage who say they try to drink more water in an effort to lose weight and get healthier: 61

Source: Toluna QuickSurveys.

Percentage of all adults polled who are concerned that past exposure to loud noise in leisure settings may have harmed their hearing, according to a survey commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: 41

Percentage who said loud noise has reduced their enjoyment of out-of-home activities: 33

Ranks of bars/clubs and concerts on the list of the top noisiest places in the ASHA polling: 1, 2

Source: ASHA.

Today, estimated number of people in the U.S. who work for themselves, according to WalletHub: 15 million

Percentage of the labor force this represents: 10

Source: WalletHub.

Number of dogs in U.S. homes, according the U.S. Census Bureau: 78 million

Number of cats in U.S. homes: 86 million

Number of birds: 8 million

Number of rabbits: 3.2 million

Annual value of the animal food manufacturing business: $60 billion

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of new nursing jobs (RN and LPN) in the U.S. from 2012 to 2016, according to CareerBuilder: 3.5 million

Projected growth in the number of jobs in 2017: 3.6 million

Projected growth from 2017 to 2021: 3.9 million

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Percentage of Americans who prefer to spend their money on traveling, according to the annual global travel survey from travel search engine Momondo.com: 25

Americans' typical vacation length, compared to the global average of 7: 14 days

Rank of London on the list of the most searched international destinations among Americans: 1

Source: Momondo.

Percentage of Americans who say they enjoy reading books, according to a survey by Ipsos: 81

Percentage who say they rarely read because they prefer TV: 44

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of singles who thought it "cringe worthy" if their date used a fork to eat sushi, according to a poll conducted by Grubhub and Tinder: 56

Percentage who thought it "adorable" to skip the chopsticks: 44

Source: GrubHub.

Ranks of coffee (48 percent), Netflix (44 percent), and sex (39 percent) on the list of items millennial women would be willing to give up for a month to be free of unwanted body hair for one year, according to a survey conducted by Kelton Global: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of bikini line, underarms and legs on the list of the biggest offenders: 1, 2, 3

Source: Kelton Research.

Idle Thought

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends." -- Maya Angelou, poet

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