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For me, some images just stick….In long-term memory; there was childhood flooding, night thief, day bully, monk-burning and later, nuclear-power-plant melt-down. But two events never elude me, amnesia withstanding: the last scene from the Saigon river the day I fled Vietnam and 9/11 Twin Towers collapse. I have spent the whole year (pandemic-bound) to do…
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First was the ball. Then the radio. Last but not least, the guitar and the Larousse (French-Vietnamese). Water needed to be hauled in. No fridge. No TV. No nothing. By the time the walls got another coat of paint, and the paintings up, then it’s time to flee. A lifetime of memories – clustered around…
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Soon…just like the Vietnam Memorial….WWI and WWII Memorial…Windows of the World looking for missing persons (9/11). Commander-in-Chief, Comforter-in-Chief, Consoler-in-Chief… The world inflicted pain on the US; the US rightfully struck back, or has been up until now (July 9th, 2021). a long knee-jerk reaction. We are more united in grief. More determined for closure, for…
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The left-behind, ghost towns, abandoned air fields and ammunition supplies, heaps of them: pick your weapons. Kabul! Ka-boom! Warlords, landlords leaving in droves (the elites, the elite wanna-bees – just like those orphans flights out of Saigon decades ago. What we feared most – the end, the destruction etc.. ended up materialized, self-inflicted. Back then,…
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Just a modest proposal. State of play. Give ‘m free apps. Free phones…Free broadband. Spend hard dollars on soft infrastructure (internet and cyber infrastructure) and softwares. Go nimble. This should drain the recruiting pool and drive the ISIS and Taliban of the world crazy. they can’t find young recruits…who are busy posting on their Tik…
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They say your brain cells stop developing after 50. Translation: short-term memory not good. Long-term? OK. Let’s test the hypothesis. Long ago, during the movies, they would test “subliminal seduction” by flashing a few frames, which with 30 frames/second, viewers couldn’t detect consciously. All to sell some Coke and (pop) corns. Then commercials went global…
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In the 70’s there were only three major TV Networks competing for the shares of audience. It’s simple and dignified (think Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee; the News Room independence.) e.g. even though head-to-head competition selling soup, soap and cereals, there were this camaraderie….and professional esprit de corps. Today, Artificial Intelligence crammed in ads and…
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“It” here was the war, NAM. My friend and I often chatted that had it lasted as its Afghan counterpart, we would have been long dead. Our version of “It’s a Wonderful life”…we wouldn’t be around to affect changes, to do some damage or contribute to build others’ lives better. The immediate next generation wouldn’t…
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Less than 100 days before the Fall of Saigon, like you, I was worried stiff. Of course the American were slowly and steadily pulling out, so as to avoid a full-blown panic. Equipment, man and materials – logistically retrieved…after years of build-up and mission-creep (3/4 of multiple Trillion of dollars were for logistical-robotic supports vs…
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Empires ended. Products expired. People with own timetables…. with either sudden or slow deaths. We can do without a lot of things, such as pandemic or climate change. Speaking of on the road….with pot holes and parking tickets. Speed traps and traffic schools. No one wants to stay home. Even the PBS Newshour panelists, now…
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Thang Nguyen 555 