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: Libya

  • Unintended use

    Charlie Chaplin uses lamp post for support, ladder for weapon and shoes for breakfast. When it comes to everyday use of common objects, there is no end. Here is my Top Ten: – shopping cart as walker – golf cart as janitorial vehicle – hand dryer as hair dryer – food freezer as mortuary (Libya) – ammunition…

  • Sand bag Body bag

    A Thai monk needs to lay more sandbags to stem the flow of water, while Libyan fighters can now lay down their guns since the Colonel was finally in the bag, body bag. One country exports rice, the other oil. Back in 1997, Thailand’s rising real estate bubble nearly took down neighboring Asian Tigers with it. This time, its rising waters will surely drive…

  • Twice the romance

    For almost a century, we have gotten used to Hollywood‘s sunset scenes of the Pacific (they could even make Skid Row desirable). Now, fiction is trumped by recent discovery of a two-sun planet. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/215013/20110916/planet-two-suns-star-wars-kepler-16-b-tatooine-seti.htm Sunset scenes will need to be re-cut. Twice the work. But also, twice the romance. As evolving species, we will adapt,…

  • What’s eating the man up inside

    Instead of more career choices, he now faces 20 choices of jeans. People are debating about a gender-free society (painting nail polish on his son’s toes). When he finally got his tie collection under control, they went “business casual” on him (Steve Ballmer couldn’t cope with this). Even though it says “Facebook”, most people just…

  • Delayed recriprocity

    The National Cherry Blossom Parade in the Nation’s Capital.  Washington Monument with cherry blossom in the foreground: picture perfect. Newly arrived immigrants learned that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the French (who coincidentally lead the Libyan incursion this time), and cherry trees, gifts from the government of Japan (twice, before and after WWII).…