• Officials of the Ulm Minster in Ulm, Germany, the world's tallest church (530 feet high), said in October that they fear it might eventually be brought down -- by visitors who make the long trek up with a full bladder and no place to relieve themselves except in dark alcoves, thus eroding the structure's sandstone. A building preservation representative also cited vomit in the alcoves, perhaps as a result of the dizzying height of the view from the top. (News of the Weird has reported on erosion damage to a bridge, from spitting, in Mumbai, India, and at the Taj Mahal, from bug droppings.) [Washington Post, 10-25-2016]
• The Dubai-based Gulf News reported in November that 900 Kuwaiti government workers had their pay frozen during the current investigation into no-shows, including one man on the payroll (unidentified) who reportedly had not actually worked in 10 years. Another, who had been living abroad for 18 months while drawing his Kuwaiti pay, was reduced to half-pay, but insisted he had asked several times for assignments but was told nothing was available. (Gulf News reported that the 10-year man is appealing the freeze!) [Daily Mail (London), 11-10-2016]
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