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Greetings and welcome to our Newsletter! We wanted to share the many photos we have taken of places, people and things throughout the country and beyond. Each month our headline photo will be something new and different. The caption will present a small explanation. We hope you enjoy. Keep in mind, we don't want to waste your time. Articles will contain generally less than 250 words. Please have a look and give us your feedback. By all means, forward to a friend using the link at the bottom of the Newsletter. Thanks. Questions? Send me an email!

Imagination....

I recently saw a program with Dr. Wayne Dyer, who at age 74 looks like he just turned 50. Dr. Dyer has written more than 40 books, half of which were New York Times best sellers. He has also generated more than $250 million dollars for public television with his 10 PBS specials. His focus? A better you -- improving the spiritual aspects of your human experience.

Although he speaks of many things, there is one concept that to me speaks the loudest. We have the gift of imagination. When we talk about imagination, it always makes me think of Walt Disney and of course Mickey Mouse.

Our lives tend to get in the way of our focus but there is a truism; if you imagine it hard enough and long enough, your dreams will come true.

I have seen evidence so many times. Back in October of 2009, I blogged about the Vision of a Child and talked about an image book I had created in 1982. It was filled with pictures and ideas - things I wanted to accomplish, achieve or acquire. In 2009, when I reviewed this image book, I was astonished at all that I had achieved and acquired. And it seems the things that had not been achieved or acquired were things I really wanted.

So my Christmas wish for everyone is that you can empower your imagination with the things you want to achieve, acquire and accomplish. Take heed to this (anonymous) quote:

When our childhood ended, did we cease to dream? Hardly. Yet after quiet moments looking beyond the horizon, we hesitate to speak. We pull back, rationalize into insignificance. Are we embarrassed by the "childishness" of it all? What a loss. For, surely to benefit from seeing things anew, we must acknowledge the sense of wonder that remains with us. And grant that child freedom. So, share your vision, your big ideas. And just perhaps it will fly. 

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy dreaming!

Statistics are Fun?

Have you ever looked at trends? Before there was Internet, I always enjoyed Statistical Abstracts. Now there is a web service that will tell you much the same kinds of information. Find it at www.statista.com. For example, how much does the State and Local Lottery make, and chart it back to 1977? Have a look... 21 Billion in 2011. Or if you were interested in how many users sign up for World of Warcraft. Subscribers grew to 12 million in 2010 and now hovers at 7.5 million.

Or look at the national debt as compared to the gross domestic. It has grown from 65% in 2004 to 105% in 2014 climbing drastically after the 2008 debacle.

Take a look at social media. You will see that Facebook is still the leader with 1.3 billion followers compared to Google+ with 343 million and Twitter with 284 million. What you will also see is Qzone with 629 million active users. What is QZone? QZone is a Chinese social media website. But even in China, Facebook leads the way.

Look at over-budget construction projects and you will see the the Big Dig was merely the 3rd largest over-budget project in the world superceded by the Channel Tunnel project between Great Britain and France and the Three Gorges Dam project in China.

Lastly, look at the facts on Microsoft. Looking at their revenues over the last few years, they have steadily increased revenues from 28 billion to 86 billion in the last dozen years. With barely a hiccup in 2009 after the recession of 2008. More staggering is their net income which was more than 20 billion in 2013. Consider a 93% market share in PC's.

Fake Followers is Big Business

Going viral in Social Media is a big thing and it makes money. So it makes perfect sense that companies are sprouting up that sell followers. You can buy 50,000 followers on Facebook for $500, or 50,000 followers on Twitter for $250 or 50,000 followers on Instagram. Not just followers, but likes as well. You can buy likes! So I can post a picture on my Facebook (I have a couple of hundred friends) and then buy 5,000 likes for $100. What does that give me? Bragging rights? I am not sure. But do you think that Justin Beiber really has 57 million Twitter followers? I highly doubt it.

Prove this phenomena for yourself. Load up Justin's Twitter page and click on Followers and go down the list and look for a follower that has no picture and click on that follower. Here is an example. Jevypoo aka @LovelesBadBad has virtually no content, but is following 40 -- the likes of Kim Kardashian, Conan O'Brien, Universal Orlando, ESPN, Demi Lovato and LeBron James.

This means that a company has set up a fake user on the Social Media site, and sold the following of that user to all of these celebrities or companies. So the question becomes, What is the social media budget of Justin Beiber and how many followers are fake? The BBC claims that in excess of 50% have been purchased. This makes it possible for ytview.com to thrive - a business with no address, no phone number, a gmail email address and a private domain registered with GoDaddy.