#2204

Written by Fred Patten, and intended for Apa L, 2204^th Distribution, LASFS Meeting No. 3652, August 9,2007.
Golden State Colonial Convalescent Hospital, 10830 Oxnard Street, North Hollywood, California 91606-5098.
Telephone: hospital(818) 763-8247; personal (818) 506-3159 * eMail:fredpatten@earthlink.net

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Michael Burlake brought me to last week's LASFS meeting. It was so unmemorable that the only thing I can remember about it two days later was that I ate three Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The meeting ended early and there was no program, so we returned to the hospital early.

On Friday and again on Sunday my sister Sherrill brought me to her apartment to work at my computer & desk there, and to watch some anime on her TV. This is becoming enough of a routine that I no longer feel a need to document each visit. I already said that it is much easier to work at my desktop computer while sitting in my wheelchair in my study at Sherry's apartment than on my laptop computer on my stomach while in bed at the hospital. It is also much better to watch anime DVDs on her 42" TV than on my laptop, and she is a much better cook than the hospital's chefs (though admittedly she does not have the burden of cooking for around forty patients at a time, many with individual medical diets) when we eat dinner in, and the restaurants are better when we eat out.

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¡ZANAHORIAS ELECTRóNICAS!

-- Comments on Last Week's Distribution:

Godzilla Verses #151 -- (DeChancie) I have never had an egg cream, but from the descriptions, there seems to be little reason to have an egg cream if an ice cream soda is available instead, and at a soda fountain they should be. I was going to ask if egg creams are much cheaper than ice cream sodas, but Sherry took me to dinner at Solley's Deli/Restaurant on Sunday and I could see the menu prices for myself: $3.25 for an egg cream and $4.25 for ice cream sodas. I can afford an extra dollar for ice cream. ## My review of Monteleone's Seeds of Change is in the Eaton Collection at the UCRiverside Library, if anyone wants to see if it is favorable or unfavorable. I am pretty sure that I donated a set of Delap's F&SF Review to the LASFS Library during the 1970s, though whether the LASFS Library still has them I do not know.

I Am Very Much Annoyed - (Cantor) You may be entitled to your opinions, but I do not think you are entitled to grossly misrepresent others' opinions, outright or by implication. According to what I have been told about the LASFS' history and what I have read in the fanzines of the LASFL and its members during the 1930s, a frequent activity at meetings was Forry Ackerman's urging attendees to write letters to the movie studios after the release of every (all too rare) scientifilm (in 4SJ's newspeak) or fantasy film to congratulate them for it and to urge them to make more science-fiction movies; or to discuss any new s-f movies. A regular LASFL social activity outside meetings was organizing groups of fans to see s-f movies together. Most fanzines carried news of forthcoming scientifilms. You are certainly right that the early LASFS would have encouraged discussion of the films, and I would support promoting discussions of the Hugo-nominated features at the meetings after they are shown. However, I doubt that even in the 1930s the club had meetings long enough to show a feature-length movie and to discuss it at the same meeting; or that the members of the time would have turned down an opportunity to show a feature at a meeting just because they would not have had time to discuss it afterward. Showing the Hugo-nominated finalists at LASFS meetings strikes me as a perfectly legitimate activity for a s-f club. The lack of discussion is unfortunate and a problem that should be discussed and hopefully overcome; not used as a reason to not show the movies at the club. You say that there is no need to because "Anybody who wants to see these things can either go to a theatre or rent the film at Blockbusters or some other film outlet." You could use the same argument against the reading aloud of s-f stories or portions of novels at the club, since anyone who wants to read these things can either go to a library or buy the books at a bookstore. ## So John Purcell was an Apa L contributor thirty years ago. Thanks for letting us know. ## If Waterlow & Sons had been aware at all that Alves Reis' request to print additional Portuguese banknotes in secrecy was not legitimate, all they had to do was refuse to print the notes and inform the authorities and the Bank of Portugal of the attempted fraud. If they had printed the notes knowing that they were fraudulent, but otherwise made no effort to notify the authorities or to keep the illegal money from being released into circulation, no argument that they had deliberately duplicated serial numbers to help get the criminals caught would have saved them from being equally guilty.

Toony Loons #53 - (Zeff) I had to go through similar bureaucracy when I retired and applied for my Social Security benefits. I had to submit a certified (or possibly notarized) photocopy of my birth certificate, to prove that the birth certificate I was submitting as evidence of my birth date and age had not been altered in any way. ## You make Los Burritos sound even more tempting. Maybe I can go there some weekend. ## Apparently mourning cloak butterflies drive off or kill other butterflies entering their territory by battering them in midair with their wings. I never saw a mourning cloak attack another butterfly, but the one (or ones) in our yard would fly right into my face; and putting a dab of jelly on my finger and holding out my hand often got a mourning cloak to light on my hand, unfold its awesome tubular tongue, and suck the jelly. No other butterflies could be lured that close.

De Jueves #1542 - (Moffatts) We had two or three Billy Whiskers books, falling apart, in my home when I was a young child; I assumed that they had been my father's or mother's when they were children. All I dimly remember was that they described a rural America totally unlike the urban America of the 1940s that I was growing up in, with most Americans being farmers or small-town shopkeepers. ## Ugh. I remember elementary school penmanship exercises with those steel pens and inkwells. I won't say that I have forgotten how to handwrite, but my penmanship up just before my stroke had deteriorated to probably below my grade school level. I could hardly handwrite three lines without my hand cramping up. Fortunately, thanks to typewriters and computers, I hardly ever have had to handwrite since college. ## I got the distinct impression that the mourning cloak butterflies had to get right into my face, or a similar distance from any other part of me, to be sure that I was not an enemy butterfly. I could see them buzzing falling leaves, too. If birds can mistake their reflections in mirrors for rival birds, why should butterflies be any more intelligent? I am nearsighted enough that I could see the butterfly holding onto my finger with tiny claws, two on each leg.

Vanamonde #742 - (Hertz) The bootleggers in Lackadaisy who wear marigold boutonnières are the Marigold gang, and their rivals, the Lackadaisy gang, make their headquarters in the Little Daisy Café (although they do not wear any obvious emblem); sufficient reason for not wearing daisies, carnations, or some other flower, I would think. As to why they are named the Marigold gang instead of the Daisy gang or the Carnation gang, who knows? That is not included in the strip's list of Frequently Asked Questions. (Although "Is St. Louis a real city?", "Where is St. Louis?", and "What is Prohibition?" are.) Maybe marigolds are especially common in St. Louis. Why did Mark Twain name his hero Tom Sawyer instead of Bill Wheeler, Jack Nelson, or any other name? All of the information about Lackadaisy is at http://lackadaisycats.com/index.php where you can see a full-color full-figure portrait of Asa Sweet with his marigold boutonnière, and also buy Lackadaisy mugs, T-shirts, posters, prints, and mousepads.