At 90 decibels the alarm clock is louder than most lawnmowers and matches the volume pumped out by a speeding lorry on a motorway.

Sleepers that are hard of hearing, who find this is not loud enough to wake them up, the clock also comes with a vibrating pad. This can be slipped under the pillow and when the alarm goes off the clock sends a wireless signal to the pad, which starts to vibrate.

The amplicom TLC 200 is available on specialist websites for those with hearing difficulties, including bootshearingcare.com, m2cshop.com and hearingdirect.com. It costs about £40.

Harry Moss, chairman of Amplicom, admitted that the clock might not make people popular with their neighbours. "If the person living next door doesn't have hearing problems – they may be waking up with you."

The company said it was confident it was louder than anything else on the market, either in Britain or America.

The clock needs to be powered by the adaptor, but it comes with built-in rechargeable batteries to keep the alarm and clock going for a limited time in circumstances of a power cut. Customers can also hook it up to a telephone to amplify the ring sound.

The market for mobile phones, door bells and televisions designed especially for those who are hard of hearing has been increasing in recent years.

Here are some signs and notices written in English that were discovered throughout the world. Enjoy them!

In a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.

In a Vienna hotel:
In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.

In the offices of a loan company:
Ask about our plans for owning your home.

In the window of an Oregon store:
Why go elsewhere and be cheated when you can come here?

In a City restaurant:
Open seven days a week and weekends.

A sign seen on a restroom dryer at O'Hare Field in Chicago:
Do not activate with wet hands.

Hotel brochure, Italy:
This hotel is renowned for its piece and solitude. In fact, crowds from all over the world flock here to enjoy its solitude.

At a Budapest zoo:
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.


At a zoo in Nanjing, China:
Please don't hurt the animals while teasing them.

Outside a Paris dress shop:
Dresses for street walking.

In a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
We take your bags and send them in all directions.

Sign in Egyptian hotel:
If you require room service, please open door and shoud, "Room service!"

In a Tokyo hotel:
Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such thing is please not to read notis.

Tokyo hotel's rules ad regulations:
Guests are requested not to smoke or do other disguisting behaviors in bed.

In another Japanese hotel room:
Please to bathe inside the tub.

On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong:
Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life.

A sign on the door leading to an outside smoking area in Japan:
Building asks a smoked visitor in the outside smoking section that you cannot smoke in.

An advert for Tokai University Open House Day:
Tokai University Open campus for your mind only.

In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency:
Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee no miscarriages.

In a Yugoslavian hotel:
The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.

In a hotel in Athens:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 a.m. daily.

In a Nairobi restaurant:
Customers who find our waitresses rude ought to see the manager.

On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi:
Take notice: when this sign is under water, this road is impassable.

In a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

Spotted in a safari park:
Elephants please stay in your car

Notice in a field:
The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges

On the menu of a Polish hotel:
Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.

Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:
Would you like to ride on your own ass?

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.

1. An October 2008 CNN Poll showed:

• A majority of us, 48 percent, believe in ghosts.
• Twenty-two percent of Americans say they’ve seen or felt a ghost.
• Women are more likely to say they believe in ghosts than are men.
• More than half of younger Americans aged 18 to 45 believe in ghosts.
• A whopping 78 percent of us believe in life after death.

2. The next full moon on Halloween night will be October 31, 2020

3. Many historic events have happened on Halloween Day – among them:

834: The first Halloween (All Hallows Eve) is celebrated
1876: A cyclone hits Bengal, killing about 200,000
1918: Spanish flu kills 21,00 people in the U.S. in one week
1922: Mussolini becomes the Premier of Italy
1926: Harry Houdini dies in Detroit
1941: Mount Rushmore is completed
1952:The first thermonuclear bomb was detonated in The Marshall Islands
1968: President Johnson issued a “cease all bombing” order in North Vietnam

4. Adults love Halloween, too. It is estimated that one-third of all adults don costumes and join-in the “spookiest- night” festivities. The 2005 season had almost 4 million of us wearing a “Witch” costume. That’s 16.4% of all adult Halloweeners. And...we like “Vampires” too – 1.4 million wore the vampire cape and fangs in 2005. Costumes for famous people and celebrities tied with monsters at about 7.5 million each. The child’s “Princess” costume was most popular in 2005, almost tripling the sales of 2004’s most popular costume, Spiderman.

5. One of the "most filmed" movie characters (if not the most filmed) is Dracula.

6. What are the "most thrilling" movies of all time? The American Film Institute polled 1,500 members of the film industry. Their Top 10 are: (1) Psycho, (2) Jaws, (3) The Exorcist, (4) North by Northwest, (5) The Silence of the Lambs, (6) Alien, (7) The Birds, (8) The French Connection, (9) Rosemary’s Baby and (10) Raiders of the Lost Ark.

7. Moviegoers consistently vote for Silence of the Lambs, Psycho and The Exorcist as the scariest movies of all time. There’s no clear ranking within these three - we just think they are scary.

8. The Salem Witch trials of 1692 are known for burning so-called witches at the stake. Actually, not one witch died by burning; most were put to death by hanging. One unfortunate witch was “pressed” to death and several died in prison of natural causes.

9. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Utah, in 2004, had the highest proportion of its total population trick-or-treating in the 5-to-13 year old age group with Alaska following closely behind.

10. A new Guinness world record was set October 1, 2005 for the "Biggest Pumpkin." Larry Checkon of North Cambria, Pennsylvania is the grower of this 1,469 lb. giant. Checkon’s pumpkin outweighed the 2004 winner by about 23 lbs.

11. The gold standard among pumpkin growers is producing a pumpkin weighing at least 1,100 lbs., which is automatic entry into The 1,100 Club. Numerous professionals hint that you can grow a really, really big pumpkin by planting the Atlantic Giant pumpkin seed.

12. The first "Jack-O-Lanterns" were not pumpkins - they were hollowed-out turnips and originated in Ireland.

13. We love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups - so says ExtremeChocolate.com’s survey of our "favorite Halloween candy." The clear winner is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with 20.8 percent of the vote; second is Candy Corn at 15.8 percent and third is Snickers with 15.3 percent of the vote. One thousand people voted, and results were posted on September 13, 2006.

14. According to ExtremeChocolate.com: “Chocolate is much better than hard candy for you and your child’s teeth. Chocolate contains tannins, which slow down the formation of plaque on the teeth....Further, chocolate usually stays in the mouth a shorter time than hard candy, which is another dental benefit.”

15. "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" started 1950 in Philadelphia. A group of young trick-or-treaters, accompanied by their pastor, collected $17 for children-in-need overseas. The money was sent to UNICEF and an American tradition was born. According to UNICEF: Just $1 protects a child from polio, $1 immunizes one child against measles, $2 provides 66 children with Vitamin A capsules for one year, $2.46 buys school supplies for a child for a full year, and $9 buys a pack of 200 water purification tablets.

But how did an ancient pagan ritual grow into the most beloved kids' night of the year? Read on for details about October 31, from its humble beginnings to its big-bucks present.

Halloween history
.Many experts believe the druids were the first to observe Halloween. Dating back to 700 B.C., they celebrated the festival of Samhain (the end of the harvest and a time to honor the dead) on November 1. In the ensuing years, the night before became known as the Eve of All Hallows, a.k.a. Hallow Even, a.k.a. Hallow e'en.

.Ever wonder how trick-or-treating got started? The story goes that on the evening before Samhain, people left food on their doorsteps to keep hungry spirits from entering the house. Festivalgoers started dressing in ghost, witch, and goblin costumes so wandering spirits would leave them alone. To this day, these are Halloween's most popular costumes.

.The word witch comes from the Saxon word wicca, which means "wise one."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first official citywide Halloween celebration in the United States happened in Anoka, Minnesota, in 1921.

Amazing animals
.Black cats, those customary Halloween icons, were originally believed to be witches' familiars, a kind of cosmic sidekick who protected the witches' powers from negative forces.

.Some so-called vampire bats do drink blood, but they're not from Transylvania. They live in Central and South America and feed on cattle, horses, and birds.

U.S. place names with a Halloween theme
Candy Town, Ohio
Cape Fear, North Carolina
Frankenstein, Missouri
Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas
Pumpkin Hollow, New York
Scary, West Virginia
Skull Creek, Nebraska
Spook City, Colorado
Tombstone, Arizona
Transylvania County, North Carolina
Witch Hazel, Oregon

Food facts
.The biggest pumpkin in the world tipped the scales at a whopping 1,810.5 pounds in Minnesota's Stillwater Harvest festival in October 2010. This beats the last giant pumpkin record of 1,725 pounds, weighed in October 2009 in the annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off in Canton, Ohio.

.The biggest pumpkin pie on record was baked by the New Breman Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio in 2005. After baking for five hours in a special oven, it weighed 2,020 pounds and measured 12 feet, 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Ingredients included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 155 dozen eggs, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamon, and 2 pounds of pumpkin pie spice.

.Of all canned fruits and vegetables, pumpkin is the best source of vitamin A. Just a half-cup of the orange stuff has more than three times the recommended daily requirement.

.The per person consumption of candy by Americans in 2009 was an astounding 24.3 pounds, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Big business
.Halloween isn't just for kids. While 82 percent of children take part in Halloween festivities, a surprising 67 percent of adults also join in the fun.

.U.S. consumers spend as much as $ 1.5 billion on costumes each year, and more than $ 2.5 billion on other Halloween paraphernalia, such as decorations and crafts — more than $ 100 million of which is spent online.

.The first Halloween card was made in the early 1900s. These days, U.S. consumers spend about $50 million on Halloween greetings.

.Candy corn, anyone? With an estimated $ 1.93 billion in candy sales, Halloween is the sweetest holiday of the year, beating out Easter, Valentine's Day, and Christmas. In fact, one quarter of all the candy sold each year is purchased between September 15 and November 10.

.In 2009, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service reports, the major pumpkin-producing states produced a total of 931 million pounds of the orange gourd. Illinois led the pack, producing 429 million pounds. California and Ohio were also major pumpkin producers, producing at least 100 million pounds each.

If your spouse helps people or touches them for a living, be careful -- you might be headed for a divorce. Helping professions and hospitality workers have some of the highest divorce rates in the country, according to a comparison of divorce rates among occupations.

The conventional wisdom is that police officers have high divorce rates. But a year-old analysis of the top 15 jobs with the highest divorce rate that recently made the rounds of the Internet doesn't even list police officers among the worst offenders. Based on data from the 2000 U.S. Census, it found that law enforcement workers had a lower divorce rate than the general population.

Before we try to explain why some of these jobs might have high divorce rates, here are the top 15 professions and their divorce rates:

Dancer: 43%
Bartender: 38%
Massage therapist: 38%
Gaming cage: 34%
Extruding machine operator: 32%
Gaming: 31%
Factory: 29%
Phone operator: 29%
Nursing: 28%
Entertainers, sports: 28%
Porter: 28%
Telemarketer: 28%
Waiter: 27%
Roofer: 26%
Maid: 26%

The national divorce rate in 2009 was 10 percent. It's hard to know whether the above jobs are prone to more divorce or whether more unstable people are drawn to those professions. Professional dancers, athletes and entertainers, for example, have more opportunity to cheat on their spouses because they often work away from home and are surrounded by adoring fans. At least that's Tiger Woods' explanation.

Helping professionals, such as massage therapists and nurses, have a high amount of stress and work long hours, spending less time with their families. Hospitality workers, such as waiters, maids, porters and gaming workers, also work irregular hours in high-stress jobs, and come in contact with people on vacation who might be feeling a little randy and have time and money for a tryst on the job.

No matter what the profession, divorces are highest among jobs where workers face high stress and temptations, said Debra Opri, a divorce attorney in Beverly Hills, Calif.. Those temptations include other women, gambling and alcohol, Opri said.

Jobs that require extensive travel, odd hours and are high in stress can lead to divorce because the worker is away from their spouse too much and doesn't know how to deal with the stress away from home, said Ike Vanden Eykel, a Dallas divorce attorney for 37 years, in a telephone interview with AOL Jobs.

Working odd hours and then spending more time with co-workers instead of a spouse isn't the only thing that can lead to divorce, Vanden Eykel said. "One of the biggest causes of divorce is economic pressure," he said.

"When you can't make ends meet, that adds an economic pressure that you can't avoid," he said, adding that even highly paid CEOs who feel pressure at work can have high divorce rates.

Nighttime work can also lead to higher divorce rates, said Richard Fitzgibbons, director of the Institute for Marital Healing, on the Catholic News Agency website. "Those who work in the evenings are a distinct disadvantage," Fitzgibbons said, "because the marital friendship usually suffers, with ensuing significant loneliness."

Some of these jobs also don't pay well, which can lead to more stress in a marriage. Better-educated workers tend to have higher-paying jobs, which can provide less stress in marriages.

Call it baby synchronicity.

Chad and Barbie Soper from Rockford, Mich., had a baby daughter, Cearra, on Oct. 10 -- 10/10/10.

That's a cool birth date, but what makes it even cooler is that the Sopers' second child, son Cameron, was born on 9/9/09.

Not impressed by the numerological alignment? Well, perhaps you should consider that the couple's firstborn, Chloe, arrived on 8/8/08.

The odds of having three children with sequential, symmetrical birth dates must be sky high, but it turns out the Sopers weren't leaving the arrival dates of Cearra and Chloe to chance. Because Barbie Soper had some health problems, labor was induced for both daughters' births, meaning their birthdays were chosen, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

"There is this window we had. We definitely had the option to shoot for that day [Oct. 10] and did," Dr. Andrew Van Slooten, Barbie Soper's obstetrician, told the newspaper. "But it wasn't like delivering her three weeks early just to hit that date."

Will the couple be aiming for another baby on 11/11/11?

"Definitely no," Barbie Soper said.

Read more at the Grand Rapids Press.