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: Vending machine

  • World on wheels

    You want to see wheels at work, you come to Saigon. (Baby) strollers, scooters, (food) stalls, all on wheels. But instead of having you walk up to a vending machine, here the merchandise come to you. Ladies in cone hats would walk about with all sorts of knickknacks on their shoulders: toe clippers, wallets, key…

  • Out with the self check-out!

    Albertson is your store. No wonder you just walked in, took the items, and walked out (after paying the machines). http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/officehours/2011/jul/12/albertsons-will-take-self-checkout-lanes-out-stores-doesnt-affect-area-albertsons-stores/ I still remember having lunch at Woolworth, or stopping at full-serve  stations back East. “coffee refill?” ” oil check?” We are heading toward a self-serve nation (or as in a recent feature in the WSJ,…

  • My machine vs yours

    When Henry Ford put together two motor cycles side by side to invent the automobile, he wasn’t interested in pleasing his customers, “you can have any color you want, as long as it’s black”.  Now, car turns commodity, the Chinese came up with Cherry, the pink car designed to please its female customers  Bye bye…

  • Machine and Me

    Sir Chaplin showed it best in “Modern Times”. Jacques Ellul took a step further to analyze all things “technique”. The 70’s OPEC oil embargo triggered  cost-cutting craze, starting with the elimination of gas station full-service to Smart cars and EVs. I took a trip this past Thanksgiving. At rest area, the vending machine took my…