- Qatar University’s “artificial cloud” stadium. Image from Qatar University.
A report of a remote-controlled, solar-powered hovering shade, which could be used to cool soccer stadiums in Qatar, has taken on a life of its own, putting the small but wealthy Gulf nation in the spotlight once again.
Almost a week ago, The Peninsula newspaper wrote a brief, three paragraph article describing research at Qatar University for an “artificial cloud”, attributing the story to an Arabic newspaper.
Two days later, the story made it onto the BBC Sports page, this time including an animation of the robotic “cloud” from Qatar University.
And by now, it’s had a run in Time, NBC Sports, Fast Company, Bldg Blog, the Daily Mail, Engadget, and io9, to name a few.
Perhaps the most amusing – and most retweeted – take on the story though, was by Yahoo! Sports: Qatar stole its artificial cloud idea from television cartoon The Simpsons.
- SIMPSONS
In the legendary two-part 1995 episode entitled “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” nefarious power plant owner C. Montgomery Burns devises a plan to create a giant shield that will block the sun and keep Springfield in perpetual darkness:
Their claim that “while Qatar may have added their own twist … the core idea is clearly ripped from a 16-year-old cartoon”, even illicited a response from a former Simpsons show writer:
Author : Omar Chatriwala
