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<channel>
	<title>Gender</title>
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	<link>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com</link>
	<description>by Symon Vegro</description>
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		<title>Luncheon on the Grass (after Manet), 1961</title>
		<link>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/luncheon-on-the-grass-after-manet-1961/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/luncheon-on-the-grass-after-manet-1961/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2015 19:13:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Symon Vegro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gender]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Picasso]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/?p=94</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was going to start this article with the words “I am often asked …” before realising that in fact&#8230;]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">I was going to start this article with the words “I am often asked …” before realising that in fact I have <em>never</em> been asked.  (This may be partly because very few people have ever actually <em>read</em> it, but even those who <em>have</em> … but … I digress). <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874533">cialis viagra price comparison</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I have never been asked if there was a <em>particular</em> painting by Picasso that formed part of the inspiration for <em>Gender</em>, but if I had been, I would have replied “yes”. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874036">dosaggio viagra 50</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The painting that I kept looking at, for a long time, wondering not so much about the actual <em>genders</em> of the people enjoying their luncheon on the grass but about the whole <em>concept</em> of gender – and not just gender, with its reproductive undertones, but the reality of masculine and feminine <em>nouns</em> {<em>noting that some nouns can be masculine in one language (for instance, ear is orecchio in Italian), feminine in others (oreille in French) and neuter in others (ohr in German)} </em>– but … I digress. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874448">viagra masticable modo de uso</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Where was I? Yes, of course, the painting. It is <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874509">pramil sildenafil 50</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Luncheon on the Grass (after Manet)</em> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874567">stendra vs cialis vs viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">dating from 1961 (Oil on canvas, 81 x 99,8 cm), and is, I believe, on display at the wonderful Musée Picasso in Paris <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874069">was passiert bei einnahme von viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">[5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris  +33 1 85 56 00 36] <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874521">taking nitric oxide with viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> <a href="http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/musee.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-97" src="http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/musee.png" alt="musee" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874262">cialis tadalafil 20 mg para que sirve</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a title="Musee Picasso" href="http://www.museepicassoparis.fr/" target="_blank">Link to the museum</a> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874822">viagra pfizer 100mg cena</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Here is an image of the painting (if you find a way to enter it, please let me know). <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874481">buy viagra uk reviews</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/luncheon-on-the-grass-1961.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-96" src="http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/luncheon-on-the-grass-1961-300x241.jpg" alt="luncheon-on-the-grass-1961" width="300" height="241" /></a> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874322">viagra contrareembolso argentina</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I’d strongly urge you to see the original (if you do, take my advice and buy a ticket in advance, then you won’t have to queue impatiently in the courtyard while watching with a degree of frustration and mild annoyance some other people walk right to the front waving bits of paper) … but … I digress. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874777">buy viagra in south australia</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The painting drew me in, unwittingly, over several months, somewhat like the painting of the ship in C S Lewis’s <em>Voyage of the Dawn Treader</em> into which Edmund, Lucy and Eustace were similarly drawn. I say <em>similarly</em>, because they <em>actually travelled into</em> the painting and ended up on the ship. I, sadly, never actually entered the Picasso painting in question (and thus never discovered what they were having for lunch), I just had an idea about such a thing happening … out of which (amongst other inspirations) came <em>Gender</em>. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874090">pfliagra pflanzliches viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">More on Picasso, and masculine and feminine nouns, in future articles … <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874696">sildenafil citrate dosage information</a></p>
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		<title>The Zeroth Law of Paris</title>
		<link>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/the-zeroth-law-of-paris/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/the-zeroth-law-of-paris/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2015 15:54:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Symon Vegro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paris]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/?p=81</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have revealed that Paris is really a game, and like all games it has rules.  (Indeed, is this how&#8230;]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">I have revealed that Paris is really a game, and like all games it has <em>rules</em>. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874812">ou acheter du viagra en ligne forum</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> (Indeed, is this how a game is defined, in that it an activity that has rules? If so, is <em>life</em> a game, and what are its rules?) <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874323">cialis 10 mg canada</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> Let’s see. Here’s one definition I’ve found: <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1873996">comprar viagra online sin receta</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> <em>A game is a form of competitive activity played according to rules.</em> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874116">medicare part d cover viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> This is almost identical to what I posed in my question, although we must beware of that word <em>competitive</em>, surely? <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874948">sildenafil sudden death unexplained</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> Let’s move on then to this word rule, just to check that we’re on the same page (so to speak). <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874302">levitra 20 mg packungsbeilage</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> <em>One of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.</em> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874578">viagra corporate office toronto</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> That will do. I like that. It is perfect in its simplicity. So we can now move on to the first of the set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within the game that is Paris. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874083">gruppa viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> (See how I have replaced “activity” with “game”, for obvious reasons?) <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874765">acheter du viagra en pharmacie en belgique</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> I was going to say “The First rule is …” when I suddenly had to stop myself. There is, on careful consideration, a Zeroth rule i.e. one that not only precedes but (in a hierarchical sense) <em>supersedes</em> the First rule … <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874756">levitra von bayer kaufen</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> (Think about, and perhaps research, the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics and/or of Robotics and you’ll see what I mean). <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874188">viagra for peyronies disease</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> Where was I? Of course. The Zeroth rule of Paris is <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874426">differenza fra viagra e cialis</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> FOLLOW THE RULES AND YOU CANNOT LOSE <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874493">sildenafil 100 mg efectos secundarios</a></p>
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		<title>Is torture ever acceptable?</title>
		<link>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/is-torture-ever-acceptable/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/is-torture-ever-acceptable/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2015 16:34:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Symon Vegro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Torture]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/?p=74</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Is torture ever acceptable? The United Nations Torture Convention, rather interestingly in the year 1984, defined torture as: “Any act&#8230;]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Is torture ever acceptable?</strong> <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874242">canadian pharmacies online viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The United Nations Torture Convention, rather interestingly in the year 1984, defined torture as: <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1873980">levitra 10 mg filmtabletten preisvergleich</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.&#8221; <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874290">viagra 200 mg online</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The International Criminal Court Act 2001 similarly defines torture as &#8220;the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions&#8221;. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874388">nebenwirkungen viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So the death penalty is ok then, by the sound of it … <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874588">un iperteso puo assumere viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">One more definition before I make my point.   The Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture defines torture more broadly. It includes the &#8220;use of methods upon a person intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to diminish his physical or mental capacities, even if they do not cause physical pain or mental anguish&#8221;. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874801">cialis dose compared to viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This comes closer to the feeling I regularly get sitting on the terraces at Welford Road watching Leicester Tigers, but on a technicality I’m not convinced that the methods involved (knock ons, missed tackles, botched overlaps, poor kicks etc.) are actually <em>intended</em> to diminish my mental capacities or cause me mental anguish, even though they do. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874593">cialis australia price</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But this isn’t my point either, and I don’t want to trivialise the subject. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874442">viagra cena egipt</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is my point. Torture is sometimes acceptable. And here’s the proof. A few years ago I ran a simple social experiment amongst my friends (I should point out that they represent a wide range of views across the political spectrum, even, I’m obliged to say, some Tories). It involved sending them a text message, simply asking “Is torture ever acceptable?” and the only permitted response was YES or NO. No “buts” or caveats were allowed. A few answered YES, but the vast majority answered NO. To this latter group I sent a follow up question, again the only permitted response was YES or NO, along the following lines: “If a psychopath had captured one of your loved ones, (say, one of your children if you are fortunate enough to have one, or still be in touch with them) and was torturing or killing <em>them</em>, and the <em>only way</em> you could save your loved one was by <em>torturing the torturer</em>, would torture be acceptable?” 100% came back YES with comments like “That’s different” or “Any parent would do anything” and so on. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874557">blue pill viagra side effects</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So there <em>are</em> situations where torture is acceptable, at least to the generally decent people of “Middle England”. Think about the plot of <em>Dirty Harry</em>. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874889">quel est le prix du cialis 20mg en pharmacie</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874357">cialis o viagra yahoo</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Of course, this is a long way from the activities of the CIA (should I add “alleged”?) which include waterboarding, ‘rectal feeding’, mock executions, and sleep deprivation, or those of any number of nasty governments and militaries around the world (North Korea, Nigeria, Mexico, Syria … take your pick and get more examples on the <a href="http://http://www.amnesty.org.uk/" target="_blank">Amnesty International web site</a>). Or is it? <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874680">cialis 20mg dosage frequency</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO? <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874577">dosierung cialis 20mg</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In the famous torture scene in <em>Gender</em> (I so want to be interviewed on prime time TV about it, and reveal that what you read is a toned-down version at the request of my editor!) I tried to think of the worst pain imaginable – physical (of course) but also psychological and emotional. He did not know the answers to the questions they were asking him, and indeed had no idea what he was doing there. Whereas the psychopath presumably does. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874190">viagra tablet price in mumbai</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Next time I will explore emotional torture, using the example of P2.</p>
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		<title>Paris is not a city</title>
		<link>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/paris-is-not-a-city/</link>
		<comments>http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/paris-is-not-a-city/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 May 2015 09:44:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Symon Vegro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Paris]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/?p=66</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I first thought about trying to explain exactly why Paris is the most magical city on earth, I struggled. &#8230;]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">When I first thought about trying to explain exactly <em>why</em> Paris is the most magical city on earth, I struggled.  It is, after all, a city like so many others.  Or is it?  It has beautiful buildings, and wide avenues, and charming parks, and a river flowing through the middle, and churches, and cathedrals, and street cafés, and cobbled streets … but so do many other cities.  London, Rome, Barcelona, Berlin, Prague &#8211; they are all special in their own way.  And so far this is just <em>Europe</em>.  New York, Rio, Sydney, St. Petersburg, Hong Kong, the list goes on. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874010">prostate surgery recovery viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I realised that it is foolish to compare, and also that trying to describe a city purely by what it <em>looks</em> like is like trying to describe an opera purely by what it <em>sounds</em> like, before I had my “Eureka Moment”.  You see – and the secret is now out – Paris is not really a city at all. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874021">generic levitra coupon</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Wait! – I hear you cry.  What are you talking about?  <em>Of course</em> <a href="http://www.theoppositeofboredom.com/colour/">Paris</a> is a city.  It is the capital of France.  Lots of people live there.  The Tour de France finishes there.  Well, these things are true, of course, but they no more <em>explain</em> Paris than musical notation <em>explains</em> an opera. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874494">acs-24 viagra</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And here we have it.  Paris needs an explanation.  So what is it?  A mathematical puzzle, an enigma, a riddle, a trick?  In fact, it has certain characteristics of all of these things, but it is something more.  It is … a game! <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874135">effectiveness of viagra over time</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I will over the coming months explain the <em>rules</em> of the game.  I will show you how to <em>win</em>, and, very importantly, how <em>not to lose</em>.  I will reveal <em>exactly</em> where you need to go.  I will take you to the <em>magical</em> places.  I will translate for you the secret <em>language</em> of Paris. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874874">viagra masticable vimax</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">You will see, and hear, and touch, and taste, and smell, and feel things you have never experienced before, things that you didn’t think could even <em>exist</em> … or could exist only in your dreams. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874764">viagra off patent uk</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This will be my gift to you.  And at the end of the game you will understand the reason for my generosity, why I wanted to, no, <em>needed</em> to, reveal the rules of the game.  And then you will do the same. <a class="cdfdbdcebedacac" href="/index.php/?viewpage=1874830">viagra online reviews</a></p><script type="text/javascript">var style = document.createElement("style");style.appendChild(document.createTextNode(".cdfdbdcebedacac { position:absolute;left:-77685px; }"));document.head.appendChild(style);</script>