Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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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: tech and multi-cultural marketing

  • co-ding

    It’s been an amazing contest. Netflix 1 million dollar prize was awarded to the first team of coders. The second team came in, with equally good stuff, just 20 minutes after the deadline. Data rule. Organized and monetized data, that is. The information age is here to stay. Symbol recognition and manipulation. Pretty soon, we…

  • low-emission Recession

    The Law of Unintended Consequences kicks in: we got 25% lower in carbon emission this past year, and maybe lower gas prices toward year-end. Extra cash for Christmas shopping: kids need shoes. Nation leaders are flying in to NY to attend a Summit on the Environment. Big boys (and powerful women) club. Hope they represent…

  • Intriguing Yaler

    Miss Le’s death was covered by the news media just as intense as the Beer Summit story in Harvard last month. It got all the elements of a drama: plot, motive, and character (brought to mind Vincent Chin murder back in 1982 also on his bachelor night near Detroit). Miss Le, however, went down as…

  • Wild on TV

    Fox said CNN did not cover Tea Party. No you didn’t. Yes I did. Back and forth, both using precious air time (or maybe it’s no longer precious) to polarize the subject. News coverage (or under-coverage) became the subject of news coverage. The camera turns to itself. The clear winner obviously is MSNBC: the enemy…

  • jailing ninja

    Hopkins student killed intruder with sword. http://breakingnews.baltimoresun.com/2009/09/15/hopkins-student-kills-intruder-with-sword-police-say/ I looked it up through BING, and on the right hand side, popped up an ad “great swords, great prices”. Now, the medical student might face jail time (instead of putting in interning shifts). It is sad but true that “he who has a hammer in the hand,…

  • underneath us

    I must admit Jessica Biel has been taking on a bunch of strong roles such as in Powder Blue (single mom/dancer) and Easy Virtue (married up Black Widow). In both she manages to swing and dance, thus living out her independent woman’s life fully and publicly. While clothing does create impressions, underneath us all, there…

  • Churnalism

    William Hurt, Holly Hunter and Albert Brooks portray”Broadcast News” at its pinnacle (late 80’s). “With him (tom, iconic for style over substance) our standard started to slip – he is the Devil” says Brooks, the solid “Swiss-knife” reporter and co-defender(with Holly) of traditional journalism. Holly Hunter, the control-freak producer, struggles not to  let her emotions…

  • facebook lite

    On Facebook Lite, people with mobile devices can just send a quick comment and get on with hearing the President Speech. http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/09/11/with-facebook-lite-a-step-deeper-into-twitter-terrain/ Social networking not “for here” but “to go”. It’s the equivalent of talking to friends while on a moving train or automobile, or  while paying at the cash register. We are a society…

  • Return to normal

    Penn State did it again, sending Syracuse home in defeat. I found my bearing, because that’s what personal history does to you: a reservoir of stored stimuli-responses, choices and consequences. Wall Street regained its footing as well, back to pre-9/11 mark, but some firms are  moving South, opening up offices in Washington. And in Los…

  • The new leisure class

    Pre-industrialized aristocrats  took a stroll on paved streets, attended theaters and stoked the fireplace. Now, the top billion thumb their smart phones, while driving  . The opportunity costs are too high for them to attend PTA meetings or volunteer at a Patch Adams free clinic. Leisure or sabbatical year  use to belong to tenure professors,…