Actively disengaged workers undermine efforts

Percentage of the U.S. working population who are “actively disengaged,” meaning they are not just unhappy at work but they’re busy acting out their unhappiness by undermining what their engaged coworkers accomplish: 16

Percentage of baseball fans who say the problem with Major League Baseball is that the players make too much money, according to the Baseball and Steroids Study conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs: 27

Percentage who said the problem is the use of steroids: 27

Percentage who said it costs too much to attend a game: 22

Percentage of Fortune 1000 CEOs who say they would choose Tom Hanks as the Hollywood star that would make the best CEO: 19

Rank of Michael Douglas, Robert Redford, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in the survey: 2, 3, 4, 5

Rank of Howard Stern in the survey: 9

Percentage of e-mails received worldwide that contained viruses in 2004, according to a study done by MessageLabs: 6.1

Percentage of e-mails received worldwide that contained viruses in 2002: 0.5

Number of patent applications the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received in 2004, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: 376,810

Average amount of time it takes for a patent to be processed: 2.5 years

Percentage of all patents submitted that are approved: 65

Rank of firefighter, flight attendant and CEO as the sexiest jobs in North America, according to a survey by America Online and Salary.com: 1, 2, 3

Cost of the Zillion Dollar Frittata, an omelet served at Le Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City, which contains six eggs, lobster meat and 10 ounces of caviar: $1,000

Amount the Internal Revenue Service collected in 2004: $2.02 trillion

Number of tax returns processed last year, according to the IRS: 132 million

Average refund this year: $2,210

Average refund last year: $2,100

Percentage of U.S. television advertisers that have participated in branded entertainment projects (products embedded in program content) in the last year, according to a study released by the Association of National Advertisers: 63

Percentage who have participated in branded entertainment opportunities in magazines: 34

In movies: 31

In video games: 24

Amount made by children’s entertainment group The Wiggles, the highest paid entertainers in Australia in 2004, according to a report by BRW Magazine: $34.5 million

Amount made by Nicole Kidman, the second highest paid entertainer: $30 million

John MacIntyre is an author and former city magazine editor. His Figuratively Speaking column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.