BajaNomad - Mexican tourism is saved! Come visit the Swine Flu Boy statue... Mexican governor hopes statue will draw tourists!

Mexican tourism is saved! Come visit the Swine Flu Boy statue... Mexican governor hopes statue will draw tourists!

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 08:48 AM

You can cancel the Baja Expo... Mexico has already found its secret tourism weapon. I suppose if you're going to be famous as the host nation for something- it might as well be for the swine flu?! I'm sure there is a "Home of Malaria" statue somewhere in Panama too. A tourist draw?... OMG- totally SOS.

From Today's Union Tribune:

Edgar Hernandez, the Mexican kindergartner who is the first person known to have contracted the swine flu now circling the globe, may soon have a statue erected in his honor in the mountain village where he lives.

Gov. Fidel Herrera of the coastal state of Veracruz said the statue of Edgar, 5, could help attract tourists to La Gloria, a poor village where hundreds of residents came down with mysterious flulike symptoms beginning in late winter, in what experts say may have been the beginning of the spread of the new influenza strain.

As of yesterday, the World Health Organization had tabulated more than 12,500 confirmed cases of swine flu, with 91 deaths.

The Mexican government has been pushing the view that the flu strain originated elsewhere and was brought to Mexico, which epidemiologists say remains a possibility.

Herrera, an eccentric politician from the opposition Revolutionary Institutional Party, agrees.

He considers Edgar to be not "Patient Zero," the source of a global outbreak, but rather the Erst person in the world known to have survived the virus. In an interview with local reporters Sunday, the governor likened the statue, which might be made of concrete or bronze, to the Manneken Pis in Brussels, Belgium - the sculpture of a little boy urinat- ing in a fountain.

Edgar, a personable boy who wears his hair slicked back with gel, suffered flulike symptoms in early March but recovered after what his mother described as a few listless days home in bed.

Later, when scientists began suspecting that a mysterious virus was spreading, his nasal and throat swabs were tested and Edgar was found to have had the H1N1 virus.

Since then, television crews have been a fixture at Edgar's home, and Herrera has delivered a soccer ball to him and walked him to school.

La Gloria, where dirt roads outnumber paved ones, is about five miles from one of many pig farms in the area that Smithfield Foods Inc., the largest pork producer in the United States, operates with a Mexican subsidiary. Residents of La Gloria have attributed their sickness to the pigs, but scientists who have tested the pigs in recent weeks have found no evidence that they were the source of the virus. Smithfield had once proposed putting a pig farm in La Gloria itself, but residents protested the move, and ill will between company and villagers remams.

Meanwhile, a Chicago resident has died of swine flu, the first death in Illinois and the 12th nationally from the illness, health authorities said yesterday.

"With as many cases of H1N1 influenza that have been reported in Illinois, we have been concerned that there would be fatalities," said Dr. Damon Arnold, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The state lists 896 confirmed cases of the illness.

At least 46 countries have confirmed cases, according to the WHO. Puerto Rico reported its first case yesterday, making it the second Caribbean island to confirm the illness.

[Edited on 5-26-2009 by Woooosh]

flyingpigs.jpg - 21kB

DENNIS - 5-26-2009 at 09:31 AM

This has to be a joke.

CaboRon - 5-26-2009 at 09:39 AM

All hail the pig boy :lol:

JESSE - 5-26-2009 at 09:50 AM

Herrera is such an idiot.

Bajajack - 5-26-2009 at 10:47 AM

:rolleyes:

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajajack
:rolleyes:

yes, it does leave most people speechless- doesn't it?

Other failed attempts to draw tourists (one or two may be fictional):
1. Swim with the crocs! (Australia)
2. Enjoy the refreshing Cholera-infested waters! (Kenya)
3. Sleep with the fishes and enjoy eternal peace (Sicily)
4. Come to a stoning- it isn't just for locals any more! (Saudi Arabia)
5. Enjoy a one week, no-frills barefoot cruise and obtain instant wealth (pirates of Somalia)
6. Come watch nationalization happen before your very eyes (Venezuela- sorry, no USA credit cards please)
7. Support the "2009 Freedom Swim to Miami" (Haiti)
8. Come visit the Holy Land now before Iran turns it into glass. (Israel)

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 03:16 PM

Does anyone know if there are decent hotels and pubs anywhere near this new 'tourist spot' I am planning a trip down this year and after running the deathrace 2000 through TJ and Rosarito I thought a little culture to give me a taste of recent Mexico history and culture would be in order.

Anyone?

Bajahowodd - 5-26-2009 at 03:17 PM

When the press describes a politician as eccentric, you can take it from there. The idea is idiotic. But, although I know the post wasn't about it, I am still curious regarding the reference, at this late date, that the flu may have started outside of Mexico. Maybe, we'll find out. Maybe not.

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 03:38 PM

It would seem reasonable to me that where the flu started is of no real importance except in the instance of where a certain country is once again trying to hinder its culpability as per the flu in question.
You follow.

Don Alley - 5-26-2009 at 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
... I am still curious regarding the reference, at this late date, that the flu may have started outside of Mexico. Maybe, we'll find out. Maybe not.

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&am...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/06/swine.flu.origins/

and, of course...
Obama Did It

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Don Alley

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
... I am still curious regarding the reference, at this late date, that the flu may have started outside of Mexico. Maybe, we'll find out. Maybe not.

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&am...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/06/swine.flu.origins/

and, of course...
Obama Did It

I was waiting for the Obama connection. It did seem co-incidental to his visit to Mexico City. So will Mexico still claim the H1N1 for tourism reasons? It'd be a shame to "export" the boy and his statue and loose all those pesos. Or will Mexico claim it had the H1N1 stolen from it?!

woooosh-note: People who claim I am critical of all things Mexican have to stop providing the material. Just wait until George Lopez hears about this- he was already calling himself and his fellow Mexicans "carriers"- now he has a place for the "carrier pigeons to roost.

Bajahowodd - 5-26-2009 at 04:45 PM

Levity helps in most situations. What astounds me is that considering the worldwide reaction to this thing, from virtually locking down cities, banning travel, slaughtering hundred of thousands of pigs, the latest figures show 92 deaths worldwide. Incredible reaction. More people probably slipped, fell and killed themselves in their own bath tub yesterday.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd
Levity helps in most situations. What astounds me is that considering the worldwide reaction to this thing, from virtually locking down cities, banning travel, slaughtering hundred of thousands of pigs, the latest figures show 92 deaths worldwide. Incredible reaction. More people probably slipped, fell and killed themselves in their own bath tub yesterday.

That just might be true. "According to the National Safety Council, one person dies everyday from using bathtub/shower in the United States." Worldwide, who knows?

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DanO

Quote:

That just might be true. "According to the National Safety Council, one person dies everyday from using bathtub/shower in the United States." Worldwide, who knows?

I think on one person in six worldwide even has access to a bath/shower.

DENNIS - 5-26-2009 at 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
I think only one person in six worldwide even has access to a bath/shower.

Every person in France has both. They just refuse to use them.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 05:26 PM

Alright (and because I want that damn turtle bust thread OFF of the front page DENNIS et al.), let's do some math. I will assume, conservatively, that 5 out of 6 people in the US (population 307 million) has access to a bath and/or shower, i.e., roughly 256 million. One of them has a fatal accident per day.

Applying Wooosh's one in six ratio to the world population of 6.782 billion means that worldwide, 1.130 billion people have bathtubs and/or showers. Applying the 1 death in 256 million bathers per day ratio to the world population of bathers less the U.S. population of bathers (there are about 874 million non U.S. bathers if Wooosh's hypothesis is correct) leads to the conclusion that slightly more than 3.4 people per day outside the U.S. lose their lives to a bathtub or shower per day, for a worldwide total of just over 4.4 deaths per day. A far cry from 92, indeed. I stand corrected.

DENNIS - 5-26-2009 at 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DanO
Alright (and because I want that damn turtle bust thread OFF of the front page DENNIS et al

The thread morphed. It's no longer about turtles or anything like that. Now, it's a garbage pail thread, a place where lost souls can gather and say anything about anything. This site and all others should have a garbage pail where folks can put their garbage in safe keeping and talk about it. Garbage has value and should be respected. I respect garbage as everybody here should know. After all...I've offered to share my garbage over 7000 times here on Nomad. I'm a generous guy.
Thank You.

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DanO
Alright (and because I want that damn turtle bust thread OFF of the front page DENNIS et al.), let's do some math. I will assume, conservatively, that 5 out of 6 people in the US (population 307 million) has access to a bath and/or shower, i.e., roughly 256 million. One of them has a fatal accident per day.

Applying Wooosh's one in six ratio to the world population of 6.782 billion means that worldwide, 1.130 billion people have bathtubs and/or showers. Applying the 1 death in 256 million bathers per day ratio to the world population of bathers less the U.S. population of bathers (there are about 874 million non U.S. bathers if Wooosh's hypothesis is correct) leads to the conclusion that slightly more than 3.4 people per day outside the U.S. lose their lives to a bathtub or shower per day, for a worldwide total of just over 4.4 deaths per day. A far cry from 92, indeed. I stand corrected.

Turtles huh? hmmm. ok.

I used the 1 in 6 number because that is the worldwide guestimate of people worldwide that have access to clean running water. It doesn't mean they can flush it or stand under it. It doesn't mean they have nice tiled bathrooms and tubs to slip, fall and die in. So the number goes still lower.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 05:59 PM

One man's trash may well be another man's treasure, but everybody's got to empty their recycle bin once in awhile.

Garbage

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 06:04 PM

Why would anyone be bothered with a bunch of posts to have to go away and steam over it. Seems like one has way too much time on their hands and not enough electronic activity in the attic.

Woooosh - 5-26-2009 at 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mexipep
Why would anyone be bothered with a bunch of posts to have to go away and steam over it. Seems like one has way too much time on their hands and not enough electronic activity in the attic.

You made 12 posts so far today- your first day, and you criticize others for having trime on their hands? Welcome to the board. You'll fit right in.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh

Quote:

You made 12 posts so far today- your first day, and you criticize others for having trime on their hands? Welcome to the board. You'll fit right in.

I hear you're supposed to wash for 30 seconds in hot soapy water when you get trime on your hands.

:lol:

Sensitive crowd in here.

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 06:24 PM

Opinions are worth what you pay for them. It seems you folks are wound a little bit tight.
Fitting in is something feet and clodhoppers do together.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 06:31 PM

Quote:

Ordinarily I don't care about what gets posted here, other than the occasional call for censorship (a bad idea). Ignore and move on, that's my motto. But there is a point at which even the most bored, jaded and blase amongst us must take a pointless and comical stand against The Stupid. At least it's something for those us without a bat in the belfry to do with our time, in between our less-frequent-than-we'd-like electroshock therapy sessions (I assume that's what you mean by "not enough electronic activity in the attic," but maybe I'm wrong and you can clarify). Of course, if you've had a few pints, it's easy to miss my subtle comedic shadings, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Welcome to the board and have another.

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 06:35 PM

Looking through the bottom at you. Cheers.

DanO - 5-26-2009 at 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mexipep
Opinions are worth what you pay for them. It seems you folks are wound a little bit tight.
Fitting in is something feet and clodhoppers do together.

As for opinions, I could not agree more. Actually, there's a saying about opinions and a particular body part that may even be more apt under the circumstances in connection with your second sentence. But I digress from the real point of this exercise, which is to examine sentence number three. I'm slow and had a little trouble understanding it, which I hope you'll excuse. Let's break it down, shall we?

I'm pretty clear on what feet are, but clodhopper stumped the band. So I go to my electronic dictionmanary thingy, which tells me the following:

Clodhopper:

1. A clumsy, coarse person; a bumpkin.
2. A big heavy shoe.

OK, if it's #2 we're talking about, I get that feet fit into big heavy shoes. Not sure what the point is, but whatever. However, if we're talking #1, then I had to consult the confuser again, to find this:

Bumpkin:

An awkward, unsophisticated person; a yokel.

Hey, now I get it! Some of us are feet, and some of us are clumsy, coarse, awkward and unsophisticated (I'd like to think I fall into the latter category, thanks), and together we force all others to fit in or die in the smoking wastes of Internet purgatory (which looks a lot like Eastern Arkansas)! I bet you never thought I'd figure it out.

I am impressed

mexipep - 5-26-2009 at 07:42 PM

Very good young man. The english language while spread out over many countries is still easy to understand if one takes the time.

Book em .Dano

BajaDove - 5-27-2009 at 07:35 AM

Getting back to the subject, don't know how it would bring tourist, but having a healthy clean cut youth symbolizing survival sounds like a good thing.

Woooosh - 5-27-2009 at 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaDove
Getting back to the subject, don't know how it would bring tourist, but having a healthy clean cut youth symbolizing survival sounds like a good thing.

You may need to change your handle from bajadove to bajapigeon. He isn't really healthy or cleancut- or at least we can't tell that from what has been told about him. He is poor, hungry and alive with a great head of hair- not becasue of anything the Mexican gov't or any doctors did for him.

BajaDove - 5-27-2009 at 06:14 PM

quote "A personable boy who wears his hair slicked back with gel" That sounds reasonably clean cut to me for this day and age.
And the last person that called me pigeon was my mommy!

woody with a view - 5-27-2009 at 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajajack
:rolleyes:

Whoosh

you are the man!!!! right? i've never seen a foto :?:

?

edit: :lol:

[Edited on 5-28-2009 by woody in ob]

comitan - 5-27-2009 at 06:42 PM

Edgar Hernandez

edgar_hernandez_1392709c.jpg - 43kB

Attracting Tourists

MrBillM - 5-27-2009 at 07:55 PM

Perhaps they should build a 5-star Marriott next to the Oversized Pig Farm that seems to be their major industry. They could advertise that it would "Overwhelm your Senses".

IF the Swine Flu attracts decent numbers, they could then get serious and import Ebola or Bubonic Plague and make a real Killing.

Woooosh - 5-27-2009 at 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrBillM
Perhaps they should build a 5-star Marriott next to the Oversized Pig Farm that seems to be their major industry. They could advertise that it would "Overwhelm your Senses".

IF the Swine Flu attracts decent numbers, they could then get serious and import Ebola or Bubonic Plague and make a real Killing.

I wasn't even going to get into the absurdity of the location itself. Yes, pigs are the predominant industry and the family is surrounded by pig farms. That is one theory about how the virus may have crossed-over to the boy. Not really a great vacation spot- even for pigs.

Bajahowodd - 5-27-2009 at 11:43 PM

How many days has the so-called swine flu been active through out the world? As DanO noted, 4.4 deaths per day ..... times how many days? I think I was correct. Gawd. gonna miss mexipeppy. :no:

comitan - 5-28-2009 at 07:31 PM

The boy and his statue.

edgarhernandezlagloria.jpg - 11kB

Woooosh - 5-28-2009 at 07:34 PM

OMG! NO WAY!!! Mexico is saved! Long live the pig boy! Let the tours of the pig farms begin!

Home come Mexicans can do stupid things fast and the smart things never? Can they get this statue to FDT in time for his Baja By The Sea Event and bring the touirst dollars flowing to Mexico? It's piggy of the pig boy to keep it to himself. The statue shoulg go on tour to save all of Mexico.

:lol:

[Edited on 5-29-2009 by Woooosh]

CaboRon - 5-29-2009 at 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by comitan
The boy and his statue.

OMG they actually did it ?

Will the stupidity never end .....

This might attract mexican tourists but I don't see this attracting Americans at all ....

Stupid is as stupid does .... :lol:

Woooosh - 6-11-2009 at 04:04 PM

The swine flu is today officially a global pandemic- the first in 41 years!

The mother country must be so proud. Well- of course Mexico is proud or it wouldn't have bronzed the Swine Boy. So when does the tour of the statue begin? Can you get it up to the Del Mar Fair right away to promote Mexican tourism? Thousands are dying to see it! :rolleyes:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55A1U7200906...

[Edited on 6-11-2009 by Woooosh]

[Edited on 6-11-2009 by Woooosh]

CaboRon - 6-11-2009 at 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Woooosh
The swine flu is today officially a global pandemic- the first in 41 years!

The mother country must be so proud. Well- of course Mexico is proud or it wouldn't have bronzed the Swine Boy. So when does the tour of the statue begin? Can you get it up to the Del Mar Fair right away to promote Mexican tourism? Thousands are dying to see it! :rolleyes:

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55A1U7200906...

I am wondering if it was displayed at the San Diego Baja non event :lol:

[Edited on 6-12-2009 by CaboRon]