South Vietnam
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That voice which slows toward the end of the song as the chord changes: “If you’re going to San Francisco…” accompanied by the 60’s signature tambourine, has died. But his one-hit wonder stays, perhaps more famous than the city itself. It’s a state of mine. A period in history, with in-depth expose by Tom Hayden…
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Machine is getting smarter (facial recognition). In “It might be you” Stephen Bishop sings about “if I found the place, would I recognize the face“. The face he has waited for all of his life. Babies could hear before birth (the logic behind classical music during pregnancy). Then psychologists theorize about us looking for that first trusted…
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When you karaoke in Vietnam, you are likely to hear Papa along with Hotel California and Casablanca. Something ends with an “a”. I have blogged about Mom’s Ao Dai. So to be fair, here is “Papa‘s shoes“. At lunch, I was joined by a boy and his Dad (it’s common in Asia at peak hours…
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We live in a world full of acronyms e.g. PPO, OPM (Other People’s Money), SOP, CDO, COD etc.. In big companies, Customer Service reps just get through their day, throwing around acronyms to feel they are on the inside, without thinking about “touchpoints” (problems as opportunities to upsell). My cable acted up two days ago. The…
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Lately, articles about “banh mi” started to appear in the Bay area publications. What should have accompanied those articles was Cafe sua da (Iced cafe-au-lait). The coffee chamber sat on the cup. Hot water drips down, one drip at a time, on top of condensed milk. Bitter and sweet, hot and cold. It’s a night-and-day difference from coffee…
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As soon as I got a copy of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report from Amazon, I put it away, for closure. We got similar “reports” such as the Pentagon Papers, the 9/11 Commission Report etc…just for record keeping There have been many levels of coping with this financial tsunami: million-dollar homes selling for half-price, giant…
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First wave: 1975, 4 “ports of entry”: Arkansas, California, Florida and Pennsylvania. Second wave: 1978 -2008 South Westward to California and Texas. Third wave: joining everyone else during this Recession to the Lone Star State, where 8% unemployment still looks better than 12% and 10% in Florida and California, respectively. Part of the American Dream…
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Vietnamese soccer fans are eager to get their hands on the instrument. It’s not surprising to see Vietnamese hot for soccer. I was there when Vietnam scored at the last-minute to win over Thailand. But it is quite amusing to hear how vuvuzela is also making its way from South Africa to South Vietnam. Isn’t…
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The bus rider paid for the fare in Trillions of Zimdollar. Or else, a live chicken will do. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090816/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe_zimdollar I experienced this back on May 1st, 1975 aboard a Seventh Fleet warship on the way to Subic Bay (thank you President Ford). We learned from word of mouth that the South Vietnam currency in our…
Thang Nguyen 555 