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Qatar: A World Cup in the Clouds

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Qatar, Environment, Humor, Ideas, Sport

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 [1] newspaper wrote a brief, three paragraph article describing research at Qatar University for an “artificial cloud”, attributing the story to an Arabic newspaper.

Qatar University's "artificial cloud" stadium. Image from Qatar University. [2]

Qatar University's "artificial cloud" stadium. Image from Qatar University.

Two days later, the story made it onto the BBC Sports page [3], this time including an animation of the robotic “cloud” from Qatar University.

And then the next day, it was on CNN:

And by now, it's had a run in Time [4], NBC Sports [5], Fast Company [6], Bldg Blog [7], the Daily Mail [8], Engadget [9], and io9 [9], 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 [10].

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:

Still from The Simpsons cartoon television show.

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:

@thatbilloakley: [11] Qatar better be paying me residuals on this idea: http://yhoo.it/g1EcMo

In its many iterations and reprints, the World Cup “cloud” story has garnered thousands of tweets.

@sgmansfield: [12] Qatar to make man made clouds for the 2022 World Cup… anyone ever heard of sunblock? http://bit.ly/ghd2Ur

@staffordmasie: [13] Nice! Qatar University to create artificial robotic cloud; potentially drop temps significantly on World Cup pitches http://t.co/RnleHP9

@mabdrabbo: [14] Robot Cloud for Qatar 2022 WC ? Cool ! What about the noise of it ? http://bit.ly/dLRoKK #qatar #worldcup #2022 #football

Some joked:

@digitalcastro: Cloud Over Qatar Stadium ;) Great Idea http://twitpic.com/4dohml [15]

@digitalcastro: Cloud Over Qatar Stadium ;) Great Idea http://twitpic.com/4dohml

@hmalsabah: Is this the Qatar Cloud taking over #kuwait? :p http://plixi.com/p/86752846 [16]

@hmalsabah: Is this the Qatar Cloud taking over #kuwait? :p http://plixi.com/p/86752846

Others, however, have expressed exasperation at the seemingly endless life of this thinly-sourced story:

@DavidQatar: [17] @james_Corbett this cloud story is spreading like wildfire-no connection at all to Q2022 – one prof at qatar uni muses on his research..boom

@dohanews: [18] Is the Qatar World Cup artificial cloud story going to circulate on Twitter forever and ever??

Whether or not this US $500,000 construction will be gracing the stadia of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar though, remains to be seen.