Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Facebook
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The paper announced “a A student committed suicide for not passing Vietnam‘s first IBM-graded SAT“. So, my classmates showed up at my house the next morning for condolences. True story. Not having seen the column the day before, I was completely taken aback. Hence, my first exposure to bad journalism, and Vietnam’s first trial run…
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What if you had a third eye in the back of your head? (one of the Creativity Test questions). Or how would it turn out if Earth goes without 0xygen for 5 seconds? If you were a car, what would that be? Gone are the days of “you can have the model T’s in any color…
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I had my share of empty TV studio, that is, between broadcasts (6PM and 10PM). Now, there is no recoup time. We have evolved to Office 365, with servers resided in the “cloud” instead of the (telco) closets. Mobile working has evolved from CB radio, to Motorola brick phones, from Skypage to Skype chat. Cryptography moved from…
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If it weren’t for people like Shawn, I wouldn’t be where I am today. You see, Shawn was a shy Penn State student of the Horticulture department who wanted to volunteer his time. It turned out that the Foreign Student Conversant Program matched us together in our first year of college. That year as it…
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Verifiable profiles. Matching up people of similar professional stature and standing. Enlarging the network beyond geographical boundaries. Crowdsourcing that creates valuable content and demographics. Most solid Who’s Who list on Earth. In and of itself, LinkedIn could be the greatest company on the planet, if all members contribute their wisdom and help second degree connection connect.…
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Even the President couldn’t help visiting Facebook campus in Palo Alto two weeks ago, and in Austin. California companies now talk of an Austin strategy, just like GE back in the 90’s with India. I finally realized the wisdom of Alex who made millions from his dollar-per-dot concept. Except this time, it will be the buttons (Like by…
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On the list of “cities that might get worse”, many are from California (Stockton, Bakersfield…but surprisingly, San Francisco as well). Even with and despite boosted help from Tinsel Town. My first impressions of Los Angeles were formed back in the midst 80’s, during the commercial real estate boom (remember Michael Douglas and the Japanese gangs, or automobile…
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Years ago, I was fascinated with the California flea market. Back East, we got garage sales or moving sales. But the Bay Area markets sold vinyl albums, “flower” clothing, books and even gourmet meals on wheels. A Vietnamese family even offered sugar cane juice next to a hot-dog stand. Fast forward 20 years. A random walk…
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The Year of the Cat. Al Stewart in white suit. Cyclical, eternal and in sync with nature. No “dominion over the land and seas” as in Western theocracy (in an ironic twist, outside my window, the work crew keeps digging, plowing, flattening and paving the sidewalks – one after another, from water to power, cable…
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Charlie Chaplin would keep filming until he got it perfect (100:1 filming ratio to get the ladder to swing just right etc…). In “the Kid“, the little girl would throw rocks at windows, while our handyman walks right behind to fix them. Gillette would give away razors just to sell the blades (HP has done…
Thang Nguyen 555 