Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Author: Thang Nguyen 555

  • Human ingenuity

    When you see population growth which doesn’t equate with starvation, it’s a testimony to our human ingenuity. The US has less than 2 percent of its labor force in agriculture, yet no one is without a hamburger (even when it’s thrown out by McDonald). From Malthus to Moore, we have moved up the value chain.…

  • buy-in behavior

    Ambivalence is a sign of maturity, the study concluded. But an ambivalent buyer produces anxiety and uncertainty. Here are the gist of a recent study, as published in the N Y Times. PEOPLE WHO SEE THE WORLD AS BLACK AND WHITE TEND TO… Speak their mind or make quick decisions. Be more predictable in making…

  • by faith and not by (in)sight

    A recent survey by Pew found most Americans, purported to be religious,  did not know common tenets about their faith. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_re/us_rel_religious_literacy_poll It’s like investing in a stock, without knowing P/E etc.. I watched Charlie Rose interview Oliver Stone and the two main actors. Josh Brolin says “at least, I day traded so I knew some…

  • library in peril

    Municipal libraries will soon be outsourced, away from being unionized.  The NYT  article mentioned a lady who had come to the library for 50 years (not being territorial, she must have felt somewhat invaded). So she signed up 1200 petitions against outsourcing. This was her second protest since her first (probably against the war) back…

  • Para-normal

    I am half-way through East Eats West, by Andrew Lam. In one of the pieces, he mentions “my parents speak to ghosts – ancestors shrine at home- and I, with my fingers on the key board, negotiating the past (Vietnam) and present”. One’s person sacredness could be viewed as “para-normal” by others. In a soon-to-be-published…

  • Unintended foreign husbands

    Udon. Thailand. Women married foreign husbands, as trophies. She wants economic security and status, he wants “wives like in the 50’s”. “When you married a woman, you are married into the village”, commented a ex-US serviceman. They discovered Thailand during R&R back during the Vietnam war. With money to splurge, little time to spend and…

  • Thank you Note

    We don’t thank people enough. That’s a fact. Bride and groom leave those thank-you notes at the door even pictures taken earlier in the banquet. Efficiency over gratitude. Sales people are advised to send Thank-you cards to get referrals. For job candidates, it’s a must. But what about situations other than wedding, sales referral request…

  • last leaf

    Skyline of West VA presents quite a scene and makes a case for Fall foliage. We used to play King of the Hill on top of a heap of dead leaves. Reminds me of the Last Leaf, a story about a terminally ill patient looking out the window and said “when those leaves all fell…

  • Go sell

    I switched the channel, and kept seeing X-Presidents and Prime Ministers on TV. Then I saw Obama on CNBC Town Hall. Apparently he took President’s Clinton’s advice to go out and sell his plan. Meanwhile, Mr Blair is on a book-signing tour (no sign of protest in the US, just in the UK). I kept…

  • Twitter speech

    Before there was “elevator speech” . Now Twitter speech (or CV) offers a quick summation of one’s career mission. Best and worst of  wise cracks and fortune-cookie wisdom. Modern-day equivalent of digital tombstones. Tombstones leave behind relationship-defining legacies  i.e. mother, teacher, sister etc… In The Last Lecture, the author expounded on the importance of relationships.…