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: Electric vehicle

  • Continuous Improvement

    Before Telecommuting and Online Retailing,  we got Management by Walking Around . Then the gurus told us to “re-engineer” the corporation (Japanese influence). Then, Toyota was on the roll with Continuous Improvement (Al Gore was buying into this when trying to re-invent the US Government). True to its form, Toyota continuously improves its R&D, from EV racing…

  • An American Invention

    Dr Lloyd Tran never stops and hardly sleeps. For a right reason. He is an inventor at heart. He started out as a chemist. Then worked for huge corporations such as Monsanto. Then he invented and manufactured his own drug release device in Irvine, CA (right at the time companies started to look elsewhere to outsource…

  • Music was saved

    When Steve Jobs came up with his 99-cent song idea, he saved musicians from the curse of piracy. It’s all in the ether. But musicians get paid, however long the tail. Better than nothing at all. More people get to hear those beautifully written pieces. I walked by a coffee shop yesterday. On its walls…

  • End options

    There are not many options at the top. There are even fewer at the bottom. Earth soon will be home to 9 billion by 2050. What do we have to do to accommodate “incoming freshmen?”. Plan, plan, plan. At planet level. Some want wine. Others beers. But they all come to the party. Barbecue smoke or…

  • Un-Detroiting

    While video recording and taking photos (time lapse) of our Electric Vehicle Tech session, I couldn’t help thinking about Detroit. You see, these students have sat through 10 weeks of theory. Now they have a go at “degutting” the Internal Combustion Engine, to essentially make a “glider” (shell) for Electric components. The intended end-product is…

  • 30 years on

    USA Today celebrated its 30th anniversary issue, with bolder graphics and fonts (thanks! we can use larger fonts now). Those papers we pick up outside our hotel rooms when traveling on business  (to be left behind at airport lounges). Anyway. This issue features some “futurists” in each sector: urban architecture, space travel, transportation (Ford), internet (Twitter’s…

  • Enduring trends

    Technologists are enthusiasts. Their progress are documented in hockey-stick trends. Meanwhile  we as ordinary human are still reacting out of fear as if we were still living in caves. The reptilian brain vs rapid rise of chip speed, guns vs germs, technology vs anthropology! As early as 1950’s, graduates would hear something like: “boy, you get…

  • the Invisibles

    They are out there, sleeping in street corners, behind dumpsters, in the park and parking lot. They move about collecting bottles and cans, junk and juice. We have trained our eyes to tune them out, to ignore their pleas and pitches. We certainly don’t read their signs. We already knew, since it’s written on cardboard…

  • The thrill of a trip

    Essentials only. Portable stuff. Restricted carry-on. Off we go. Leaving behind the desk top, roof top and all  the stuff on the counter-top. While traveling, we put on more weight. Eating “lesser-of-the-two-evils” choice of foods. Meeting and making small talks with people we had never met. It’s  a thrill nevertheless. The exchange of goods and…

  • Confidence

    2.5 per cent. That’s US growth figure. Enough? Confident? Could be better? I am glad we are growing even when it feels like we are running in place. Perception vs Reality. Like how they feel now at Microsoft, at Yahoo. Even at RIM and Facebook. Something is missing. Mojo? Passion and Pride. Exuberance and Exhilaration.…