The original buildings, constructed from dung and straw, tended to collapse whenever hit by one of the country's frequent earth tremors.
This unmentionability can have other serious consequences: if girls can't afford sanitary napkins or cloths, they use straw, or sand, or newspaper, often resulting in infections.
In the end it wasn't Jeremy Clarkson's racist, homophobic or sexist comments, but a "fracas" with a colleague that became the final straw for the BBC, long urged to punish its highest-paid star.
(And, yes, would even give that Florida straw poll meaning, maybe for years to come – reporters will have "southern Ames" to wrap their coverage around).
But the straw poll's winnowing effect also has advantages – especially for those on the social conservative wing of the party.
After the many restrictions imposed on the judiciary and civil society, the internet issue may appear to them to be the last straw.
Suppression of press freedom might just be the last straw.
He then flawlessly attacks a straw man argument about socialism that no Democratic candidate has ever made in history: "they want to be involved in every aspect of [people's] lives.
A Guardian straw poll on York Road, where at least four of the contenders have rented empty shops for the campaign, suggests that enough Labour voters plan to defect or stay at home to dispel any complacency.
But the last straw for many came last week when team Cameron let it be known that the party was likely to impose a three-line whip on Monday's vote, ordering MPs to oppose the referendum that so many of their constituents want.
On Scarborough beach on Thursday, donkeys were wearing straw hats and a blue saddle square blanket embroidered with the "Yorkshire loves Le Tour" logo.
