Friday news from Loulou

My goal today is to write a post that doesn't involve (much) mention of my children. Before having kids, I was very opinionated about many things and on top of all the news stories of the day. I loved discussions about politics and I could always get my friends going in a heated debate about one topic or another. Once I became a mom, my world shifted - and nothing was as important anymore. The only news I cared about was news that was related to babies and children - from Thomas the Train recalls, the safest way to put a baby to sleep, and of course, BPA in baby bottles. I'm going to take 'baby steps' here, and write a bulleted post with some pieces of information about what I want to talk about today. I'm sure if I keep at it long enough, my regular 'pre-mom' brain will emerge and more interesting posts will be written! (Don't get me wrong, though - my favourite topic to write about is still my children and everything children related!)

Here we go...

- I find this story fascinating: Quite possibly the biggest names in sports gear, Adidas and Puma, were brothers! Adold 'Adi' and Rudolf 'Rudi" Dassler were born in a small town in Germany in the1900. The two brothers worked together for their company, Dassler Brothers, making shoes. However, they got in a huge fight during the second world war, and Rudolf, 'Rudi' left to make his own shoes - which became the Puma brand. You think your kids have sibling rivarlry? These 2 brothers were at war with eachother! They have made a huge impact on the entire sports world. Their fight was so huge that the whole town became divided - residents declared their support and loyalty to either Adidas or Puma, according to the shoe they wore. The entire town, divided! No doubt, this rivalry made the brothers even more competitive with one another and made them even more successful. Too bad they couldn't just get along! (To find out more about this very interesting story, read: Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidads and Puma and the Family Feud that Forever Changed the Business of Sport, by Dutch journalist Barbara Smit).

- I know many of us were shocked to find out that Natasha Richardson died in what was considered 'not a bad' fall during her ski trip to Mont Tremblant. My initial reaction was, 'Great, something else to be worried about!' because as a mom (oops, there I go...) my children fall down a lot and bump their heads. So, when should we worry, and when should we just brush it off? I think no matter what - helmets on children should be mandatory on ski hills. My boys will certainly have their little heads protected when they start skiing. This week, officials on the city's protective services committee ordered the city to develop a bylaw requiring children to wear helmets at arenas, skakeboard and roller blade parks, and tobaggan hills. This came after a presentation by Dr. Michael Vassilyadi, a neorsurgeon at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. (He's also a personal family friend). He said that a majority of injuries could be avoided if people wore helmets. Accidental brain injury is the leading cause of death amont children aged 1 to 14 years old. 60% of these head injuries could have been avoided in helmets were worn. I would love for this bylaw to be passed, and soon. What is your take on the helmet debate?

- In other news, Ashton has beat CNN in the great Twitter Race of 2009! He was the first one to reach 1 million followers. I find this story a little bit annoying. I don't follow Ashton, because I don't see the point. I did however, follow his wife, but I 'unfollowed' her recently because, well, she just tweeted too much useless information. I think that CNN should still donate to wherever they said they were going to donate to, though. And move on to talk about the real news again!

- And I just found out that Bath and Body Works now ships to Canada! This is excellent news, because now when I go to the USA I can leave room in my suitcase for more clothes/purses/shoes since I can order my yummy soap online!

So there you have it, friends... my Friday post about news not having to do with my children! This has gotten the blood flowing in my brain again, so stay tuned for more posts that are not always baby related.

Edited to add: This is such a random post...