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.

Tag: Apple

  • Reality bites

    It’s Sunday. Jamming Sunday. Singer-musician-owner of Van’s Unforgettable was kidding, after a round of live and unrehearsed performances that we should just play a commercially released CD  since we at times failed at recalling certain lyrics. He had a point. The age of automation and atomization is here. Each of us, with headset and  in private…

  • War’s reluctant start

    It’s true a century ago with the assassination of an Austrian baron. It’s true half a century ago with one ( or two) incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin. It’s true this very Labor weekend, even when we all saw photos of little bodies – dead by chemically induced weapon. Labor Day traditionally meant as…

  • Projecting your “Likes”

    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…

  • Brand America

    American Apparel ‘s tag line is “sweatshop free”. Nike‘s Just Do It (i.e. Just Buy It). Apple‘s – Think Different. Meanwhile, Haier and Huawei are trying to copy Hundai and Kia who tried to copy Honda and Toyota who had tried to copy VW and Mercedes. Brand building in and outside of America. What would John…

  • Dance clips

    My daughter went pro on YouTube with the Academy of Swag (Don’t Like, or Matrix, or World of Dance – International Hip Hop Competition). Happy New Year! She got my dancing genes. But more disciplined and better trained since the age of 6. With every successive generation, we witness a shift in speed, style and…

  • The build-up

    It’s like a can of worms, once opened, can never be put back. Yet, that’s what makes us human: from A to B, we insist that a straight line is not the shortest. We have to factor in free will. Even God respects that (by not forcing us to move quickly through Foxconn-like assembly line). Our…

  • Ma Belle

    She hit all the right notes. Struck the chords. Evoked the emotion. Great speech arouses. Got the audience on their feet. They were waiting to hear, not for a hand-out but for a herald. Together we can. But the disconnect is when it comes to action: People simply don’t believe either side i.e. the propaganda, the…

  • Leaders as human

    We miss those towering figures from WWII (remember the canes, the hats? and the saying  e.g.”Never never give up”). It’s a different landscape now  (Apple, Facebook etc… with CEOs without a tie). So it goes. New world order.  New icons. New  profiles and preferences. Still, they are human. Supposedly connected with their people. Leaders of…

  • Nature as reminder

    Scientists just found out that Earth is much older than previously thought. It certainly has a way to maintain itself.  Remember Tsunami and Fukushima? or the Louisiana oil spill and Katrina? At the time, we thought we couldn’t bear the grunt, but one by one, they are now behind us. Same thing with this summer ‘s drought and…