Thang Nguyen 555
Cultures on Collision Course
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Tag: Vietnam
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Stories of tourist boats that capsized, ship builder that went default on loan payment, and fishing boats got intimidated by a gigantic neighbor, kept coming out of Vietnam recently. When you live along a coast that spans from San Diego to North of Vancouver, sea-related incidents are bound to happen. The latest dispute centered in the…
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Vietnam Wall that is. Coming to the square near you. They did not reconstruct the WWII concentration camps on wheel. But they did it with Vietnam. And on June 13th, the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda will release the full version of the Pentagon Papers, originally commissioned by then DoD Secretary McNamara. Portion of the “white…
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Paradox: doomsday for all is not coming, doomsday for one, anytime (especially when you are old). Dilemma: too big to fail, the book then the movie (might not make it big at the box office). Irony: got to have a job to land a job (hence, the growth of internship i.e. free labor). Underneath it…
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If you look hard enough, you will find them: a Queen wearing Green, a show host wearing “color purple”, bidding farewell to a dream career a black, single mom couldn’t have imagined 50 years ago, or a fairy tale went awry with California Dreamer, bodybuilder that pumped more tragedy to the Kennedy clan than pumping iron. Reports…
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Younger generations are growing up digital. I grow old in post 9/11. We were bumping along, thinking the dot.com burst was the story of the Century. Then, the unthinkable happened. Brave were the men on United Flight 93. Our lives have never been the same since (collective survivor’s guilt). An act of outright violence needed to…
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An urban restaurant “closed the loop” by planting its own vegetables on roof-top garden, using bio-waste from its kitchen. Welcome to post-industrialized environment. A gym owner powered most of his appliances using energy generated from their Stairsmasters. Finally, the emergence of sharing-a-couch and sharing-a-ride economy (rule of thumb: if sharing stuff, they must be above $100 and small enough…
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In the wake of a huge catastrophe, we tend to rely on experts, in this case, geologists to lecture us on aftershocks, fault line, Pacific Ring of Fire etc… We tend to miss the human dimension of unsung heroes, the peacemakers. There were a Japanese crew, earthquake experts, in New Zealand trying to help out in…
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Years ago, I rode in the back , my friend and his wife in front, and I popped “The Essential Bob Dylan” on “to knock, knock ….on heaven’s door” all the way to a Vietnam beach. On April 10th, the singer will be there in person, finally. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20043290-10391698.html American celebrities with conscience have fascinated with…
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I read today about 10 jobs that did not exist a decade ago. http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/111973/jobs-that-didnt-exist-10-years-ago It quickly came to mind jobs that are now gone, for good: Telephone switchboard operators Gas station attendants (who used to wipe our windshields and check the oil) One-hour photo clerk (Remember Robin Williams?) Milkman, mailman, newspaper boy (fewer jobs) Typist…
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