Fake Beauty
Saudi Arabia’s popular King Abdulaziz Camel Festival invites the breeders of the most beautiful camels to compete for some $66 million in prize money. As many as 100,000 tourists are also expected daily. You might think this should be pretty ordinary, but it has become an event full of competitive intrigue. It turns out that camel owners are willing to take every advantage that modern chemistry to make their beast the most beautiful. Botox injections, face-lifts, and other cosmetic alterations to make the camels more attractive are strictly prohibited. Jurors decide the winner based on the shape of the camels’ heads, necks, humps, dress and posture. Authorities in Saudi Arabia have launched their biggest-ever crackdown on camel “beauty” contestants that received Botox injections and other artificial touch-ups with 40 dromedaries disqualified from the annual pageant. All contestants were first led into a hall where their external appearance and movements were examined by specialists, it said. Their heads, necks and torsos were then scanned with X-ray and 3D ultrasound machines, and samples were taken for genetic analysis and other tests. The camel beauty contest is at the heart of the massive carnival, which also features camel races, sales, and other festivities typically showcasing thousands of dromedaries. The extravaganza seeks to preserve the camel’s role in the kingdom’s Bedouin tradition and heritage, even as the oil-rich country ploughs ahead with modernizing mega-projects. Camel breeding is a multimillion-dollar industry and similar events take place across the region.
Humpback humor:
Did you know that camels aren’t indigenous to Australia? They were shipped there by the British. Oddly enough, so were the Australians.
Two camels are walking through the desert. One looks to the other and goes.“I don’t care what anyone says… I’m thirsty…”
You know that a camel with two humps is a Bactrian camel.
A camel with one hump is a dromedary camel.
What do you call a camel with no humps?
Humphrey
Riding a camel really isn’t as hard as they say it is.
Once you get over the first hump, the rest is easy.
December 13th Birthdays
1989 – Taylor Swift, 1950 – Wendie Malich, 1917 – Ann Richards, 1999 – Emma Corrin
1926 – Dick Van Dyke, 1964 – Bobby Flay, 1949 – Ted Nugent, 1967 – Jamie Foxx/sp