Interesting Facts

According to the ATL, teachers nowadays receive presents as high-end as Tiffany bracelets and Test match tickets. (A survey revealed that some teachers had receive gifts like Mulberry handbags, theatre vouchers, champagne and very strangely a brace of pheasants. What's wrong with an apple?)

The Indian military is going to use the world's hottest chilli as a new weapon in the fight against terrorism. (The thumb-sized "bhut jolokia", which is usually used to cure stomach troubles, will be employed to pepper suspects with the tear gas-like grenades. Of course London's Thai Cottage sparked a terror alert that led police to break down the restaurant's door when it dry cooked a pot of bird's eye chillies. )

According to Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen, Germany got more than 10 percent of its energy in 2009 from renewable sources. (The sources include, the renewable sources included biomass, geo-thermal, hydro-electric, solar and wind power. The goal is to make that 18 percent by 2020.)

According to Ofcom's annual Children's Media Literacy Audit, one in five children between eight and 12 years old ignores age restrictions to use Facebook. (That's shocking! Do you mean that children ignore age restrictions! My goodness they'll be trying to get into pubs next.)

Bhut jolokia - also known as "ghost chilli" is the world's hottest chilli. (They are over 125,000-times spicier than a jalapeno. On the Scoville scale, the scientific measurement of a chilli's spiciness, it measured more than 1,000,000 Scoville units: Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.)

A study into tipping etiquette by TripAdvisor revealed that three-quarters of Britons don't research tipping customs before holidaying abroad. (As a result, 15% said they had been confronted by staff for not leaving a tip and 6% said their holiday had been ruined because of this type of experience. Leave a tip, then you won't get into trouble, I can't imagine anyone complaining because you've left a tip.)

A new study by TripAdvisor has revealed that Spanish tourists are the least generous when it comes to tipping on holiday. (80% of Spanish travellers questioned said that they did not always tip when they visited other countries. They were closely followed by 78% of Italians and 76% of French, while 57% of British people surveyed said that they didn't always reward service staff. I worked as a waitress once, so I usually tip, but not if the service was really bad.)