Backpacking Dad

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  1. An Explanation of the Fallacy in One Argument Against Public Breastfeeding

    6/28/10 8:20pm by Backpacking Dad
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    There’s an argument for supporting public breastfeeding (that is, for not pushing nursing mothers to cover up while they’re nursing in parks, restaurants, offices, etc…) that claims, essentially, that breastfeeding is a natural act and that is why it should be permitted or even encouraged. There’s a lot riding on that word, “natural”, and it’s a bit of a mischaracterization of the argument to reduce it to a single word and its implication.  Read more >

  2. The FTC and You: Blogging and Advertising

    10/5/09 3:14pm by Backpacking Dad
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    The FTC has released its changes to the 1980 Guidelines on advertising and endorsement and some of those changes involve considering Blog Posts to potentially, on a case by case basis, fall under the scope of the Guidelines on deceptive advertising.   The question the FTC considers is this:  Read more >

  3. Feminism and the Immersed Parent

    9/11/09 3:05pm by Backpacking Dad
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    It sounds strange to some people when I say I’m a feminist. To them all feminists have one thing in common: fem-ness. But feminism is a to-philosophy rather than a from-philosophy: it aims toward parity and equality rather than emerging from inherent traits. In fact, it is a from-philosophy that feminism is a reaction against: the philosophy that biological differences are relevant in non-biological spheres.  Read more >

  4. Hey ladies, my mind is up here.

    7/27/09 2:38pm by Backpacking Dad
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    I stood at the back of the "Vaginally Challlenged Bloggers" session red in the face from embarassment on at least three separate occasions.  Read more >

  5. Everything you wanted to know about Backpacking Dad, including the answer to "Who the hell is Backpacking Dad?"

    7/19/09 8:51am by Backpacking Dad
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    Hi. You don't know me.* My name is Shawn.** I'm a married dad with two kids, one who is outgrowing the backpack, and the other who is ingrowing it.*** I write a blog called Backpacking Dad that some people have described as "legible".**** I'll be going to BlogHer 09, and actually staying in a hotel and everything like I'm a fancy movie star. I might even spring for a taxi from the airport.***** I'm looking forward to meeting you.****** Shawn  Read more >

  6. California Supreme Court Inovkes Little Known Walt Whitman Clause

    5/26/09 12:38pm by Backpacking Dad
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    "Do we contradict ourselves? Very well then, we contradict ourselves (we are large. We contain multitudes.)"  In what can only be interpreted as a “punt” the California Supreme Court today ruled both that Proposition 8, the amended definition of marriage to be only between a man and a woman, did not violate the California Constitution and that despite what the definition of marriage in California is there are still 18,000 gay couples who are “married.” Hell. I’m offended. I’m offended as a philosopher.  Read more >

  7. Proposition 8: A Glimmer, A Glimpse, of Hope

    11/6/08 12:45am by Backpacking Dad
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    Acting with a swiftness that suggests, to the ironically-minded, a Boy Scout's preparedness, the ACLU very quickly filed a petition with the court today that provides a small ray of hope to the thousands of same-sex couples in California who face having their right to marry stripped from them by a ballot proposition amending the California Constitution.  Read more >

  8. Proposition 8

    10/26/08 10:29pm by Backpacking Dad
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    Whether you support or oppose Proposition 8, the proposed amendment to the California Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, you ought to do it deliberately. Making a deliberate choice means not only checking "yes" or "no", but doing so with the consequences  of that choice in full view, and accepting them. Making a deliberate choice means choosing for reasons that stand up to scrutiny.  Read more >

  9. Want to have a baby girl? Just put down the Snickers and Honey Bunches of Oats...

    4/23/08 1:02pm by Backpacking Dad
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    A new study out of Exeter and Oxford finds that pregnant women who consumed higher calorie foods, and breakfast cereals, around the time of conception had a higher chance of conceiving a boy than a girl. Says one doctor from the University of Sheffield: "I would urge women to not to start starving themselves in order to try influence the sex of their baby." Seriously, dude. Says one commenter on the BBC Website: "I will definitely use this research to try and influence my child to be a boy!"  Read more >

  10. Sophie

    4/20/08 2:47pm by Backpacking Dad
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    My great fear as a parent is that I will fail. No, that's too trite. My great fear is that despite an intellectual commitment to raising my children in as thoughtful, respectful, joyous and diligent a manner as possible, I will instead harm them with those thoughts and beliefs that remain hidden from the world, and even from myself; the submerged opinions formed in my own childhood that have long since been consciously rejected, but which perhaps persist, infecting my healthy parenting with a malady of anachronism. This is Sophie: Visit Backpacking Dad for the rest.  Read more >

Shawn Burns

Full Name
Shawn Burns
Member Since
March 2008
About Me: 

I am a dad. I have a backpack. My kids ride around in the backpack.

About Me Tags: 

parenting,humour,general storytelling and navel-gazing

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