A World Where Camel Jockeys Evolved From Toasters?!?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/05/kuwait.robot.reut/index.html
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Who said Arabs weren't innovative forward-thinkers? Looks like Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE are following through on their promise to begin using remote-operated robots (shaped like little boys!) as jockeys to race their camels.
--"We hope this sport, which is part of our cultural heritage, will be spared from suspicion," said Kuwait's Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah who opened the five-day championship.--
Because nothing says "Arab cultural heritage" like a boy-shaped trash can with a riding crop perched atop a camel.
Why now, you may ask? Why move to this technology at this time? Well, truth be told, it was the pesky human rights watchdog groups. They seemed to take issue with the estimated 40,000 children in the Gulf region who were being used as camel jockeys, many of whom "are said to have been kidnapped and trafficked from South Asia." Link Reportedly, some of these children are as young as four. (I suppose the three-year olds, while lighter, have problems staying on the hump. If you graphed those two variables, weight and hump stability, I'd imagine that four-year olds would be close to where they intersected for optimal conditions.)
--They say the boys are kept in terrible prison-like conditions where they are deliberately underfed to keep them light so the camels can run faster.--
The royal families of the UAE are impressed... and you don't even have to feed the robots!
--"We hope this sport, which is part of our cultural heritage, will be spared from suspicion," said Kuwait's Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah who opened the five-day championship.--
Because nothing says "Arab cultural heritage" like a boy-shaped trash can with a riding crop perched atop a camel.
Why now, you may ask? Why move to this technology at this time? Well, truth be told, it was the pesky human rights watchdog groups. They seemed to take issue with the estimated 40,000 children in the Gulf region who were being used as camel jockeys, many of whom "are said to have been kidnapped and trafficked from South Asia." Link Reportedly, some of these children are as young as four. (I suppose the three-year olds, while lighter, have problems staying on the hump. If you graphed those two variables, weight and hump stability, I'd imagine that four-year olds would be close to where they intersected for optimal conditions.)
--They say the boys are kept in terrible prison-like conditions where they are deliberately underfed to keep them light so the camels can run faster.--
The royal families of the UAE are impressed... and you don't even have to feed the robots!