1. Number of manhole covers stolen from the streets of Beijing in 2006: 24,000
2. Increase in value since 2005 of The Barclays base metals index, which tracks the prices of copper, aluminum, lead, tin and zinc: 95 percent
3. Hours of operation at the New York Stock Exchange at its inception in 1887: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and two hours on Saturday.
4. Percentage of workers who believe they can perform their boss’ job better than their current manager: 73 percent
5. Number of months in 2007 in which sales of new homes have increased over the previous month: 2
6. Percentage change in sales of new homes on the West coast June 2006 to July 2007: 22.4 percent
7. On the East Coast: -24.3 percent
8. Number of consecutive months the UBS/Gallup Index of Investor Optimism declined from June to August 2007: 3
9. Percentage of 3,000 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) users surveyed who couldn’t recite their home phone numbers: 25 percent
10. Percentage of people over 50 who memorize family birthdays: 87 percent
11. People under 30 who do: 40 percent
12. Number of negative news stories about U.S. corporations in major newspapers worldwide in 2006: 10,131
13. Number of patent lawsuits filed in 2006: 2,700
14. Taser International’s record in winning product liability lawsuits generated by its line of stun guns: 52-0
15. Percentage of members on the boards of publicly traded organizations in Norway who are women: 26.6 percent
16. In the U.S.: 13.6 percent
17. Major U.S. city with the highest percentage of bicycle commuters: Portland, Ore.
18. Guaranteed paid vacation days and paid holidays in Finland: 39 days
19. In the U.S.: 0
20. Increase in U.S. book sales from 2005 to 2006: 6.5 percent
21. Percentage of increase not attributed to sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 0.05 percent
22. Rank of New Jersey, Alaska, and Mississippi (respectively) by median income: 1, 7, and 50.
23. Percentage of solved cases of identity theft in which the victim and the perpetrator were acquainted: 52 percent
24. Average wait to see a dermatologist to remove a suspicious-looking mole in the US: 38 days
25. Average wait to see an orthopedist for a knee injury: 17 days
Sources: 1-2 The China Daily; 3 Morningstar; 4 Korn/Ferry International; 5-7 Commerce Department; 8 UBS/ Gallup Index of Investor Optimism; 9-11 Trinity College, Dublin; 12 Institute for Crisis Management; 13 Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics; 14 Business 2.0; 15-16 Center for Corporate Diversity, Norway; 17 U.S. Census Bureau; 18-19 Center for Economic and Policy Research; 20-21 Publishers Study Group; 22 U.S. Census; 23 Javelin Strategy and Research; 24 University of California at San Francisco; 25 Merritt, Hawkins & Associates
