Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

recent posts

about

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: Facebook

  • Content and Creativity.

    Time spares no one. That continuum ticks on, breath by breath, counting down and counting you out. Yet family bond endures. It has been that way for centuries: hunting and gathering, agrarian and industrial society. The very moment we fear that the machine will take over, that’s when we got Social, from Twist to Tweet.…

  • Friendship and Fraternity

    At work or at home, we relate to a network of people e.g. parents, siblings, neighbors and co-workers. Now, on top of that, we got our online reputation to build and keep up. It’s the new currency. Trust and transparency. Amazon and Facebook model are built on that. Delivering what we are promised, on time…

  • Lonely crowd

    Back in the 60’s , David Riesman already concluded that “the more might not be the merrier”. Social network researchers have come up with diverse conclusions about Facebook and Internet use. Passive vs active participation makes a difference whether we are happier or less happy when using social media. We have yet fully exploited this…

  • My Cuore

    If you look, you shall find. In my case, that little book by Edmondo de Amicis, translated of course. It made an indelible impression on my little mind and heart. Years later, it still does. That is, after I have come in full circle, have travelled and traversed the geography of the heart. That “diary” genre…

  • 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…

  • Cranking up, hanging in

    Post-holiday blues. Cabin fever. And the return of routine. And the Oscar goes to…… We weeded out unwanted inventory and unfriended people. Clearing the deck and crank up the engine. Sports Illustrated illustrates tan and skin underneath winter jacket. While Readers Digest finally suffers inDigestion. Books of the Times and books of the Post. New…

  • Switching the script

    On film set, writer is often called out on short notice to fix the dialogue. Something is better left unsaid or sounded odd when in “live” context. In life, we can’t retrace our steps to switch the script. It’s live, and happened once only. There lies the importance of getting the right words first time around. Another…

  • 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…

  • Start-ups vs instutional memories

    Vincent Cerf is a case in point. He is perhaps the oldest employee at young Google. Before that, a lifer at MCI. But you need someone who has been there, done that. Who could connect the dots (or see them at all). Start-ups got money and the juice. Most of, start-ups got the goods and…

  • Love as motivator

    Fear, fun, money, dream, passion, human spirits are all strong motivators. This series cannot end without the mentioning of love. I came across a newspaper clip which showed two skeletons (male and female), still clinging to each other. Apparently they died in an earthquake. At least the saying “live together, die alone” doesn’t apply here. Talking…