ginovandewalle.com

One of the “musts” while in the Toronto area is a visit to the world famous Niagara Falls. It is only a one and a half hour drive from the city center of Toronto to the Falls, and I can tell you, it is worth the trip. Today was the third time in my life I saw them, and I was still as impressed as the very first time 21 years ago. Back in 1678, a French Father Louis Hennepin was looking for a route to the Mississippi River. Along the way, he became the first European to see what is one of the greatest natural wonders in the world. Niagara Falls was first settled by the Seneca Indians hundreds of years before the Frenchman would arrive.

The Falls were formed over 13 thousand years ago when glaciers retreated from this part of Ontario. In their lifetime, the Falls have retreated over 11 kilometers, and one day in the very far off future, this site will be little more than a river’s rapids. Niagara carries over 20% of the world’s fresh water, flowing from four of the Great Lakes. Travelling over 65 kilometers an hour, the water’s speed and huge volume (dropping 154 million liters of water every single minute on their journey downstream to Lake Ontario!) has immense erosive power. The brink of the Falls moved up to three meters every year until twentieth century engineering intervened to slow the rate down to only thirty centimeters every ten years.

If you are looking to get very, very wet, but you want to come up close and personal with the Falls, there are two ways to do so. You can either jump on a little boat called “Maid of the Mist”, or you can go on the “Journey Behind The Falls”. Over 12 million tourists visit the Falls each and every year, and I was told this afternoon that more film is sold at Niagara Falls than anywhere else in the world.

The Falls consist of two main drops, the American Falls entirely on the U.S. side of the border and the more spectacular Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. In 1901, 63-year old school teacher Anna Taylor became the first person to go over the falls in a barrel and survive. Not all who have tried this curious feat over the years have been so lucky and obviously, today this stunt is illegal. However, today 49 years ago, the only person who went unintentionally over the Falls and survived was young Roger Woodward. After a boating accident on July 9th of 1960, this seven-year-old boy was swept over the Falls wearing only a life jacket and a swimming suit. The crew of the Maid of the Mist II rescued Roger pulling him unharmed from the churning water. Roger’s seventeen-year-old sister was pulled from the river above the Falls by two onlookers, and the driver of their boat, Jim Honeycut, lost his life in this tragic event.

Somehow, during the settlement and development of Niagara Falls, it became known as the “honeymoon capital of the world” and to this day, tens of thousands of newlyweds still flock to the Falls to celebrate their nuptials.

Share on Facebook

This morning, I received a list with 40 life lessons from a very special friend of mine who lives at the other side of the pond. I went through the list a couple of times, and because there is a whole lot of truth in each and every point, I decided to publish it over here. The list was originally written by 90 year old Regina Brett, of The Plain Dealer, Ohio, United States. “To celebrate growing older, I wrote this list of different lessons life taught me”, she says. Apparently, it is the most-requested column she’s ever written.

As I said, I liked the different pointviews, so that’s why I just put them in this blog. So here it goes:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

10. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

11. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

12. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

16. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

17. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

18. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

19. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

20. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

21. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

22. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ”In five years, will this matter?”.

25. Always choose life.

26. Forgive everyone everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

31. Believe in miracles.

32. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

33. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

34. Your children get only one childhood.

35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

36. Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.

37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

38. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

39. The best is yet to come.

40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Share on Facebook

With the current communication tools we have, and especially e-mail, people all over the world receive a lot of information. Earlier today, I somewhere read that about 80% of all e-mails that are being sent around consist of spam. Every time I receive an e-mail from an address I don’t know, I always delete it. I don’t want to run any risks anymore. Only a couple of months ago, I received an e-mail which looked fine to me, but as soon as I opened it, my whole system was attacked by a very powerful virus. As a result of that, I had to buy a complete new hard disk. Fortunately, the computer guys were able to save most of the important information I had on the ruined disk. But sometimes, I receive pretty interesting information as well, for example the information below which I received earlier today from a very special friend of mine…

The things a cell phone can do:

1) EMERGENCY

The “emergency number” worldwide for mobile phones is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile area, and there is an emergency, just dial 112 and the mobile phone will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you. And interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

2) KEYS INSIDE LOCKED CAR

Have you forgotten your keys inside your locked car? Does your car have a remote keyless entry? This may come in handy some day. In this case, it’s good to own a cell phone.

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, or with somebody else. Call someone at your home, or the person who’s got your spare keys on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cellphone about one foot from your car and have the person who has your spare keys press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. This saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. The distance is no object. You could be hundreds or thousands of miles away. So if you can reach someone who has the other “remote” of your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

3) HIDDEN BATTERY POWER

Imagine your cell battery is very low. Now, every battery has got a certain hidden “battery reserve”. To activate, press the keys *2270#. Your cellphone will restart with this reserve and show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone the next time.

4) HOW TO DISABLE A STOLEN PHONE

To check your mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: *#06#. A fifteen digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can call your service provider and give him this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won’t get your phone back, but at least you know that who ever stole it can’t use or sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

When I received this information, I decided to put it over here, as it is good information to know. Maybe one day, sooner or later, this information will be of help for you.

Share on Facebook