November is tax-publicizing season in Finland, where, starkly unlike the United States, the government releases all individuals' tax records to help build public support for the country's vast welfare state. Thus, reported Foreign Policy magazine, Finnish society gets a "yearly dose of schadenfreude" … "opening the door for a media frenzy of gossip, boasting and fingerpointing" about "fair share" and who's more worthy. A few, however, proudly pay high Finnish taxes as a "badge of patriotism," rejecting common tax shelters. "We've received a lot of help from society," said one homegrown (and wealthy) entrepreneur, "and now it is our turn to pay back."

Easily offended

The British Embassy in Washington, D.C., apologized twice in August, first a tongue-in-cheek "apology" for England's War of 1812 attack on the White House and then for making that "apology" in the first place — because of a backlash on Twitter from Americans complaining the jokey "apology" was "offensive."

Bright ideas

David Van Vleet asked for certain supposedly public records in Tacoma, Wash., and was forced into federal court when the city turned him down. Van Vleet wanted data from the city licenses of strip club employees (dancers' stage and real names, date of birth, etc.) so that he could pray for them individually, by name, to make his appeals more effective.

The Washington, D.C., restaurant Second State recently added an accessory to its bar menu — "hand-cut rock," i.e., "artisanal" ice, for $1 extra (but free in premium drinks). The local supplier Favourite Ice assures that its frozen water contains no calcium to cloud it. A Favourite Ice founder said his frozen water resists drink-weakening longer than ordinary cubes do.

Ewwww, gross!

British singer Katie Melua recently survived a grotesque ordeal hosting a spider. The tiny spider apparently lived in her ear for a week, creating a constant "rustling" noise until her doctor vacuumed it out. She guessed that it came in through old earbud headphones on an airline flight. (Her spokesperson said the singer had no hard feelings and had released the spider into her garden.)

Chutzpah!

The Gothamist news site reported in October that bicyclist John Roemer, who was rear-ended by a driver in Brooklyn in May (and whose intensive-care bill was paid by the driver's insurance company), is now being sued by the driver in small claims court for $2,000 damage to her car.

Well, of course!

The owner of the world's largest corn maze (63 acres), at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, Calif., told Sacramento's KOVR-TV in October that "several" times this season, visitors have called 911 to come get them out of the maze. Said owner Matt Cooley, "When it's dark, all you see is corn."

Cliché come to life

In a $460,000 police-brutality settlement with the city of Birmingham, Ala., in October, plaintiff Anthony Warren will receive $1,000, with the rest going to his lawyers. (The un-angelic Anthony is serving 20 years for running over an officer during a high-speed car chase in 2008; he took a beating once officers caught him.)

Least competent criminals

Employees of the Marshalls department store in Longmont, Colo., said they had been hearing noises but were unable to locate the source for several days until finally, on Nov. 10, they summoned firefighters, who tore out an interior wall and freed a weak, injured Paul Felyk, 35, who had been trapped between that wall and an exterior wall after falling through the roof. A scrawled note near him was three days old. Burglary charges were filed against Felyk, who has a substantial rap sheet.

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