Written by Fred Patten, and published on the LASFS Rex Rotary, June 1, 1966. Intended for Apa L, Eighty-Fifth Distribution, LASFS Meeting no. 1503, June 2, 1966. Address: 1825 Greenfield Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90025. Phone: GRanite 3-6321.

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An awful lot seems to've been happening to me lately, not the least of which was a trip to the Grand Canyon this last weekend, with Al Lewis, John & Katwen Trimble, and George Locke. However, I think I'll save the writeup of that event for one of my other fanzines -- I do publish others, and I don't want them to consist of nothing but the dregs from RR -- and instead give you some more of the flag laws I've been collecting.

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Art. 4. The national emblem is the tricolor flag, red, yellow and green with a black letter R in the middle of the yellow stripe.

The motto of the Republic is "Liberty, co-operation, progress."

...

The armorial bearings of the Republic are a seal representing the ideogram of a turtledove and the olive of peace, the hoe and scythe of work, the bow and arrow symbolizing the defense of democratic liberties, together with the motto of the Republic.

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JAMAICA

[This is not the formal law establishing the Jamaican flag, but an official description of the flag taken from the current Jamaican Governmental Yearbook.]

The Jamaican National Flag which came into use on August 6, 1962, Jamaica's Independence Day, was designed by a bipartisan committee of the Jamaica House of Representatives.

The Flag has a diagonal cross or saltire with four triangles in juxtaposition. The diagonal cross is in GOLD and one-sixth of the length of the fly of the flag; the top and bottom triangles are in GREEN; and the hoist and fly triangles are in BLACK. The exact shade of green used in the flag is Emerald T8 17, British Admiralty Bunting Pattern.

The flag follows the "Admiralty Pattern" and the proportion is 2 x 1.

"Hardships there are but the land is green and the sun shineth" is the symbolism of the Flag. Black stands for hardships overcome and to be faced; Gold - natural wealth and beauty of sunlight; and Green - hope and agricultural resources.

AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

"The third West Coast convention of the International Wizard of Oz Club is scheduled to be held at the La Caņada, California, home of Mrs. George Hurst on Saturday, August 20. Beginning at 9 a.m., introductions, viewing of exhibits, an Ozzy magic show, and an auction will keep the conventioneers well occupied until lunch time. The afternoon features will include an Oz quiz (with prizes), Oz films, speakers, and just conversation. Special activities are being planned for the children attending.

All West Coast Ozmopolitans, and others who will be in the vicinity on August 20, are cordially invited to write, for further details, to:

I'm particularly happy to see that this year's "Winkie Convention", as they're called (for reasons which Ozmopolitans will know), is being held early enough that I'll be able to attend it before leaving for the TriCon, sometime during the following week. The two previous West Coast OzCons were both delightful -- I had a write-up of last year's in the 37th Dist'n, if you can find your copy -- and there's no reason why this one shouldn't be likewise. I won't urge the formation of a "theatre party" to attend it, because if you like Oz &/or children's fantasy, you'll be attending it anyway, while if you don't, you'll probably be bored silly. But if you do like Oz, this is definitely something you should know about -- and I'm thinking of such people as June Konigsberg and Dave Fox, in particular. A large percentage of the attendees of the OzCon usually consist of entire families; a mother and father who read the Oz books when they were children, plus their young children who they're now initiating into the magic world. There will probably be a minor fee of $1 or $1.50, or the like. If any of you are interested in attending this year's West Coast OzCon -- last year's attendees included myself, the Trimbles, Elmer Perdue, and Blake Maxam -- I'd recommend writing to the above address right away.

-- BEING COMMENTS ON LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

If a lack of blank backsides, junk inclusions, and material not originally published for Apa L is any criterion for quality, this is one of the best Dist'ns that we've ever had. Let's hope for more like this in the future.

Jack Harness -- You could also acquire caterpillions by renting out your gorillasuits on National Gorilla Suit Day. Dawk? ## Is your comment about illustrating "The Man from H.A.S.I." a Yes or a No?

Tom Digby -- Nine-pound paper is usually more of a headache than it's worth, both to the publisher and to the collators (it's particularly hard to tamp down properly), though I must admit you've certainly justified its use here. ## Murray Leinster can doubtlessly tell you exactly what a thrid exclamation point looks like. ## Bĵo's cover for the 82nd Dist'n seems to've been particularly appreciated for home decoration, if your and Johnny Chambers' comments are typical. Actually, that piece of art was originally done several years ago, and about 125 copies of it were printed. It wound up in Bruce Pelz's files, and languished there until he just recently happened to need it for a fanzine cover. He only used 60 copies, and gave me the 60-odd left over for the cover of Dist'n #82, since it just used 'em up. We'll have to ask Bĵo to do some more art along that style. ## Brandon's colored-in LASFS coat-of-arms was quite attractive. Every now and then, someone (usually Walt Daugherty) comes up with the suggestion of drawing an officially colored LASFS coat-of-arms, using, naturally, the official club colors (so if we don't like green & brown, why haven't we changed 'em in the over 20 years we've had em?), proper heraldic tincturing (and just to reconcile those two), etc. The crest of the LASFS coat-of-arms, the old Science Fiction League's badge, will naturally have to be colored in its natural (original) colors. And so on. An interesting project.

Bruce Pelz -- Your Viewers' Institute certificate is quite good; I presume this is legitimate? I don't watch that much television, but if I stumble across any particularly nauseous examples, I'll let you know. One of my pet peeves is the hair gookup commercial that sounds more like an aphrodisiac -- don't dare use too much, or you'll have to fight women away.

Len Bailes -- I was wondering how long it'd be before someone else came up with the relationship between our Johnny Chambers and the Johnny Chambers of the comic (3X2(YZ)4A) books, though I must admit I was expecting to see it in K-a, the comic-book apa, first. ## Well, of course a Confederate victory at Gettysburg wouldn't have meant that the South would've gone on to win militarily. However, the points have already been brought out that: (a.) It would've carried the war into the North, for however brief a time; this would've had a very demoralizing effect on the North; (b.) A defeat at Gettysburg would've pretty well crumpled up the Army of the Potomac, certainly to the point that it wouldn't've been able to take another very decisive stand against the Confederates for a number of weeks; this might've prompted the recall of the Army of the Tennessee to the East Coast, meaning the loss of all the Union gains in the west; (c.) Any combination of these factors might well have meant that the Union would not have been in a strong enough position in 1864 to inaugurate Sherman's March to the Sea, which would probably have meant Lincoln's loss of the 1864 election to McClellan's negotiated peace platform. Also, a Confederate victory at Gettysburg and an appearance of Southern strength might have resulted in foreign recognition for the Confederate Government, especially from France. I think Gettysburg would've been quite decisive, no matter who won it. I agree, though, that the Confederacy probably would not have been able to hold together for long after the war, under the states'-rights terms of its Constitution. Either it would've split up, leaving a very Balkanized North America, or it would've had to tighten up to such an extent that there would no longer be any point in maintaining it as a separate government, and it would probably have reunited with the U.S. after a few decades (not necessarily have rejoined the U.S., but have both united into a new North American government, possibly even including Canada as well).

Lee Jacobs -- Welcome back, Mr. Jacobs. Your news reports are always highly enjoyable, sir, and we hope you will continue to honor us with their presence.

Dwain Kaiser -- Your thesis that people should breathe down the back of my neck to get copies of Apa L, with the implication that the only reason Fred Whitledge didn't get the extra copies he wanted was because he didn't breathe hard enough, reminds me of the old recipe for stopping a volcano from erupting by throwing babies into it. If it doesn't work, obviously the problem is just that you haven't thrown enough babies into it. Fred got his own copy fairly soon after I started handing Dist'ns out, as I recall, and didn't get any more no matter how much he pestered me; if he'd pestered me any more, I'd've been more likely to demand his own copy back rather than giving him any extras. Your God-given precepts on How to Best Collect an Apa L Dist'n are not appreciated. Perhaps we'd better, for the umpteenth time, repeat how Apa L works. Apa L does not have members. Apa L is a publication that is handed out free to people who attend LASFS meetings. Exceptions are made in the case of non-attending contributors; i.e., people who are not at the Meeting but have something in that week's Dist'n. (Special exceptions are made for such long-term out-of-town contributors as Andy Porter and Dave Van Arnam; if they should miss a week, they'll still get a copy.) Otherwise, there are no non-attending, non-contributing "members" of Apa L who have claims on our Dist'ns. If there are extra copies after everyone at the Meeting who wants one has gotten one, then they can go to non-attendees who would like to get them. In Terry's case, he was not present at the Meeting, and I was not aware that he had anything in the Dist'n, so I was not going to give Fred a copy for him unless there were extras after everyone else had gotten theirs -- which there weren't. Tough. ## It's nice that you were modest enough not to comment on your lettering of the heading on the ToC page of the 83rd Dist'n. I notice that nobody else considered it worth mentioning either -- even enough to say they thought it was "crappy". C'est la vie.