I think Dan and George deserve to be sent out for a drink together, what do you think? Oh
Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology Clark University [email protected] https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 8:06 PM Stephen Guerin <[email protected]> wrote: > > ___ > > On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> >> By the way, did your-guy Dan see the caption, "I told him to get the >> vaccine in November." Sounds like maybe not. >> > > Actually that was it's biggest suggestion was how to incorporate mumps > vaccination and the doubt around it into the image itself. and reinforcing > that real mumps is growing again due to political mumps. > > Note Dan says: > > For an image emphasizing the epidemic's spread due* to lack of > vaccination*, consider: > > - Multiple Uncle Sams, each with mumps, symbolizing different > institutions. > - include *a Mumps vaccine shot potentially available* > - The donkey looking sick too hinting at the spread of the mumps > - Include an elephant to show bipartisan consequences. Put more mumps > on the elephant than the donkey. The elephant emotion is more complex. It > is both loyal, propping up a weak Uncle Sam, and also filled with doubt* > considering the mumps vaccine shot* offered to Uncle Sam. > - A wider hospital setting with more infected patients, emphasizing > scale.maybe just two beds with curtains as flags of Canada and Mexico > > > >> >> Nick >> >> On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM Stephen Guerin < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I liked it, Nick! And your new ability a political cartoonist. >>> >>> I think the cartoon is 80% there. I gave it to Dan and asked him to >>> provide an extended critique: >>> >>> Nick Thompson’s cartoon effectively uses exaggerated caricature to >>> illustrate Uncle Sam’s illness, likely symbolizing America’s political >>> state. His swollen face suggests mumps, which, given the caption, >>> metaphorically ties to "Musk + Trump," implying their political influence >>> as an unchecked infection. The Democratic donkey’s concerned presence hints >>> at a party aware of the problem but possibly unable to act decisively. >>> >>> The double meaning in "mumps" is clever but might not be immediately >>> apparent to all viewers. The visual metaphor could be stronger if there >>> were additional elements hinting at an epidemic—perhaps multiple figures >>> sick in bed or a spreading rash-like effect on the flag. >>> >>> For an image emphasizing the epidemic's spread due to lack of >>> vaccination, consider: >>> >>> >>> - Multiple Uncle Sams, each with mumps, symbolizing different >>> institutions. >>> - include a Mumps vaccine shot potentially available >>> - The donkey looking sick too hinting at the spread of the mumps >>> - Include an elephant to show bipartisan consequences. Put more >>> mumps on the elephant than the donkey. The elephant emotion is more >>> complex. It is both loyal, propping up a weak Uncle Sam, and also >>> filled >>> with doubt considering the mumps vaccine shot offered to Uncle Sam. >>> - A wider hospital setting with more infected patients, >>> emphasizing scale.maybe just two beds with curtains as flags of >>> Canada and >>> Mexico >>> >>> >>> _________________________________________________________________ >>> Stephen Guerin >>> CEO, Founder >>> https://simtable.com >>> [email protected] >>> >>> [email protected] >>> Harvard Visualization Research and Teaching Lab >>> <https://hwpi.harvard.edu/eps-visualization-research-laboratory/home> >>> >>> mobile: (505)577-5828 >>> >>> >>> On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 12:45 PM Nicholas Thompson < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Steve, and others, >>>> >>>> Thanks for taking the meme idea seriously for a moment. I have these >>>> moments of giddiness in which an idea just seems so good that the world >>>> must have it. I actually imagined that my inbox would be full of copies >>>> of my own cartoon sent to me by people who did not know its source. Crazy >>>> as a loon, I know it, but they are wonderful moments, and I could not write >>>> [live?] without them. Narcissism Unbounded. Thanks for playing along. >>>> >>>> Nick >>>> >>>> On Sun, Mar 16, 2025 at 3:18 PM steve smith <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> It seems to me they haven’t this through so good. Thousands of NIH, >>>>> NSF, and DOE funded scientists out on the international market. Add to >>>>> that reduced regulation on advanced scientific equipment and services. >>>>> Augment with a general sense of doom and self-interest and alienation from >>>>> their country of origin. Sounds like a recipe for foreign-based >>>>> companies >>>>> to scoop them up, if not other governments. I won’t suggest particulars, >>>>> but I think it is obvious how this could result in bad outcomes. >>>>> >>>>> My molecular biologist daughter is in the breach/sights of this >>>>> nonsense. She dedicated her career to 3rd-world focused virology (flavi >>>>> like West Nile, Dingue, Zika) and is now faced with the triple-whammy of >>>>> reduced funding/interest in third-world problems, reduced *health* >>>>> funding, >>>>> and the spirit that suggests as a woman in science she might somehow have >>>>> gotten her funding through DEI biases. She is not a candidate for >>>>> "defecting" to China or Russia in this context but has been made crazy by >>>>> watching her mid-career colleagues defect from academic research to >>>>> profit-focused big pharma. She got pulled off Flavi's to chase Coronas >>>>> for a year or more because her institution had more funding than they >>>>> could spend and her funding was a little more fungible... I think she >>>>> can (probably) hang in there through the current storm (years) but not >>>>> clear and it might actually be better for her (career) to move to a >>>>> European Institution (though I don't know if that is even possible given >>>>> what EricS suggested about demand/supply. >>>>> >>>>> After the fall of the Soviet Union, I participated in a brief project >>>>> reviewing US State Dept proposals by (former) Soviet scientists seeking an >>>>> alternative to becomeing rogue nuclear scientists for who knows? Seems >>>>> like we are about to have our own problem of that nature? >>>>> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. >>>>> --. / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >>>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >>>>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >>>>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>>>> archives: 5/2017 thru present >>>>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >>>>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Nicholas S. Thompson >>>> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology >>>> Clark University >>>> [email protected] >>>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson >>>> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. >>>> / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >>>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >>>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>>> archives: 5/2017 thru present >>>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >>>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >>>> >>> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. >>> / ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>> archives: 5/2017 thru present >>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >>> >> >> >> -- >> Nicholas S. Thompson >> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology >> Clark University >> [email protected] >> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson >> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / >> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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