September 16, 2015

Flashing boobs for beer at an Amsterdam cafe

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 4:53 pm

In a stunt claiming to support breast cancer but mainly getting some excellent free publicity, Café Ruig in Amsterdam will be the first café in the world to accept ‘Titcoins’, the digital coin of the porno world.

Women can soon go to Cafe Ruig, flash their boobs, let the bar staff take a picture that will be uploaded to the Titcoins site and will get a beer in return. The bar will eventually get real money for their Titcoins and part of the money is said to be going to Pink Ribbon to support breast cancer research.

‘Ruig’ means rough, and yes, the story seems a bit rough. The owner thinks tourists will go for it, but has no clue if it will be a success. He does have enough beer just in case. However, Pink Ribbon claims it is unaware of the stunt and has said it will not accept the money, but didn’t give a reason.

There’s so much wrong with this idea although it is funny. The idea of bar personnel, surely a barman – I doubt a woman would be up to doing this – having pictures of random racks on his mobile phone bothers me quite a bit. I’d rather just pay for my beer the old fashioned way.

(Link: at5.nl)

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August 10, 2011

Health minister pulls funding on successful breast cancer drug

Filed under: Health by Orangemaster @ 1:40 pm

Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers has decided to pull the plug on a breast cancer drug which can extend the lives of women who have an advanced form of the disease. Bottom line: the minister believes it’s expensive and has no added value, which is pretty much code for ‘they’ll die anyway, just later on’. Most people who get cancer do die of it, sadly, so the logic is elusive at best.

Although this pill-based chemotherapy treatment (read the data) prolongs life, stops the spread of cancer to the brain, is approved in nearly all EU countries and is registered with the European pharmaceutical authority EMA, the Minister is going ahead with her plans, and doctors are livid.

The Netherlands has the fourth highest rate of breast cancer in the world. By cutting this funding, it also shows it isn’t interested in a cure, just budget cuts.

The Netherlands is also terribly depressed, is the infant mortality leader in the EU and has questionable women’s health care practices, including lack of gynaecologists on weekends in hospitals, no routine check-ups, pap smears or echograms (still widely considered ‘for fun’), a preference for not using any pain killers during childbirth and other things that expats and international find very difficult to wrap their brains around.

You’ll still rather get sick here than in countries where health care costs are unaffordable for most people, although I’d retort by preferring to get sick in the UK, Canada and Australia.

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl, Photo of Bras by Jill Motts, some rights reserved)

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July 6, 2009

Faith healer says: “Always consult a physician”

Filed under: Religion,Science by Branko Collin @ 8:51 am

When faith healer Jomanda took to the stage yesterday for one of her sessions in Bergen op Zoom, Noord Brabant, she had a big sign with her that said “Raadpleeg altijd een arts” (“Always consult a physician”), an odd move perhaps for somebody who believes she is a healing medium between this world and ‘God’. On her website she even claims that “doctors merely apply the bandages, only God heals.” Jomanda was recently cleared from charges (Dutch) of contributing to comedy actress Sylvia Millecam’s death.

Millecam had been struggling with breast cancer and had been avoiding traditional medicine. The alternative ‘healers’ she sought out suggested that she merely had a bacterial infection, after which she died. The case against Jomanda and two ‘alternative doctors’ was unique in that for the first time a court held it had the authority to address the care duty of somebody who was not a legal care giver. Indeed, the court seems to take this for granted (Dutch).

The court considered it proven that Jomanda had violated her care duty, but cleared her of the charges because Millecam had also sought regular help during the time she consulted the medium, and that the medium merely had a “comforting” influence, not a decisive one. The justice department is appealing.

(Photo by Mike Locke, some rights reserved)

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