Average cost of a typical search engine paid-placement ad campaign in 2006, according to a survey conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization: $138,196

Largest expenditure on a search engine paid-placement ad campaign in 2006: $2,188,822

E-MAIL DURING MEETINGS

Percentage of senior executives polled who said it is common for the professionals they work with to read and respond to e-mail messages during meetings, according to a survey developed by Robert Half Management Resources: 86

Percentage who said it's OK to read and respond to messages during the meeting, but only if the messages are urgent: 37

Percentage who said it's never OK: 31

FEWER BUYING CDS

Percentage of U.S. consumers 12 and older who have purchased a physical CD in the past six months, according to research from Ipsos' quarterly study "TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Digital Music Behavior": 51

Percentage decline this represents from 2002: 15

Percentage of U.S. downloaders who purchased a physical CD of their favorite artist's last release: 62

Percentage who paid to download one or more individual tracks: 28

HEALTH COVERAGE

Percentage of U.S. adults who say that birth-control pills and other birth-control procedures should be covered by health insurance, according to a study conducted by Harris Interactive and the Wall Street Journal: 81

Percentage of U.S. adults who think medical insurance should cover drugs that improve memory: 65

Percentage of U.S. adults who say the same about weight-loss drugs: 59

Percentage of U.S. adults who say the same about drugs that treat erectile disfunction and other sexual disorders: 50

JUST GETTING BY

Percentage of Americans who say they regularly cross paths with people in their communities who are struggling to make ends meet, whether that would be contact through church, work or elsewhere, according to a nationwide survey by the Northwest Area Foundation: 45

Percentage of all households nationwide that have an annual income that falls below $25,000: 27

Percentage of Americans who say that a family of four living in their own community would need $40,000 or more to make ends meet: 69

Actual federal poverty threshold: $20,444

FEWER WORK FINANCE

Percentage of accounting and finance employers who say they currently have job openings for which they cannot find qualified candidates, according to a survey conducted by www.CareerBuilder.com: 48

Percentage of accounting and finance employers who say they plan to hire new employees in 2007: 83

Percentage of accounting and finance employers who cite the shortage of qualified workers as the biggest human-capital challenge: 47

WOMEN PAID LESS

Percentage difference in the total value of earnings of a female vs. a male employee holding a bachelor's degree upon one year of full-time employment, according to a study conducted by the American Association of University Women: 20

Percentage difference after 10 years of full-time employment: 31

AMERICA DETESTED

Percentage of Saudis and Egyptians who have negative opinions of the United States, according to a 2006 survey conducted by the Arab American Institute: 80

Percentage of Jordanians who have negative opinions of the United States: 90

SMALL-BIZ NATION

Percentage of the private, nonfarm gross domestic product that is generated by small business, according to a study released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration: 50

WELLNESS BONUSES

Percentage of European employers who offer employees incentives such as vouchers and bonuses to take fewer sick days, according to a study conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting: 27

Percentage of European employers who said that more than 80 percent of staff absence is sick-related: 25

Percentage of European employers who said that anti-discrimination legislation prevents them from managing absences in a timely manner: 22

IDLE THOUGHT

"Your neighbor's vision is as true for him as your own vision is true for you."

— Miguel de Unamuno, writer and philosopher