The Massively Faulty Tower of Dubai

Good thing you didn't decide to buy one of the 1,000 apartments for sale in the tallest tower in the universe, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the now cash-strapped Emirate of outrageous excess in the Persian Gulf.

If you had you might be hiking up a zillion stairs to your home, lugging groceries.

Just a month after we saw the fireworks red glare at the building's much ballyhooed debut, the news arrived that its observation deck is shut down due to some unexplained snafu, perhaps electrical or something to do with the half-mile high tower's 57 elevators.

This being the Middle East, though, information wasn't very forthcoming about what happened. Latest reports say the deck will reopen on Feb. 14th, so visitors can pay $108 per person (or $27 if you book in advance) to have a bird's eye view of...other big ugly buildings and sand.

Also uncertain is whether electricity in other parts of the building were knocked out -- not that it's a big deal because there's hardly anyone living or working on the 106-or-so floors (nobody knows the exact count) of residential and office space, thanks to Dubai's recent fall from financial grace and real estate meltdown.