Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Author: Thang Nguyen 555
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Thought I saw the last of it. Snow again. The element of surprise, overused, lessened with each encore. I saw Paul Anka the other day on PBS. He did it “his way”. And then another encore. Again. The audience was on their feet, not wanting to leave. But then, everything, including good times, has to end.…
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Remember ABBA‘s Happy New Year refrain? Seems so far away, yet so near. Remember those resolutions? To finish a book, lose a few pounds and pick up a new skills? Almost 80 days into the year. Even in the days of hot air balloon, people would have finished circling around the globe. There has been…
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It’s only been a bit more than 15 years since the Internet entered our homes (You’ve Got Mail). Before that we got to run errand, with multiple stops e.g. at the library, bookstores and retail stores. Now, just Google it. Price-comparison shopping, or just ordering it online. We find friends online, learn online and practically…
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Having lived in coastal cities for quite some time, I forgot what’s like to wait for Spring. We need Winter as a set up for Spring. Winter-Spring contrast is more striking than that of Summer-Fall. We also anticipated Spring more than Fall (some even wish for endless summers). Vietnamese literature and lyrics (Gold music) nevertheless, serenade Fall and…
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I once met a man who got a big screen TV. It was oversized given the small dimension of his living room. Since nearing retirement, he must have figured that it was worth the investment. He would be projecting himself onto that screen a lot, so might as well “live” large. A recent study about Facebook‘s Likes shows that on average…
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Long ago, when we still used snail mail, the lyrics went like this ” and seal with a kiss” (w/ lipstick marks). That’s analog. Now it’s digital. How are we going to add that something special? smiley for non-verbal? Communication has been intrusive and impersonal if not dehumanizing. No way around this. We sign off with…
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It’s on the Post. It’s on Linkedin. It’s in your face. It’s about tourism to America. Or the decline of. You would think people love to flock to the big Apple, to Disneyland and to Las Vegas. But lately, it doesn’t happen (tourists prefer destinations like Turkey over the USA). To top that, we got bad…
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Tonight we turn the clock forward. Day light saving time. At least, for once, we can advance time, unlike other occasions when waiting for a test result might seem like an eternity. From Ulysses we found this timeless advice: “Hold on to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past”. It matters that we exist and…
Thang Nguyen 555 