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Saturday, September 3, 2011

ICV 24 - International Congress of Vexillology's Vexi-Bits

Vexi-bits are a proud tradition at every NAVA meeting, likewise the 24th International Congress of Vexillology was no exception. Vexi-bits are small presentations centered on flags, they are mostly fun fact trivia items or miscellaneous anecdotes. Vexi-bits can basically be about anything - even flag 'stealing' squirrels.

The
Vexi-bits for ICV #24 took place in the open dining hall of Embassy Suites Alexandria, the forlorn Capital of the United States from 1790-1847,
The following vexi-bits are in no particular order:



Vexi-bit #1: Geoff Parsons - talked a wee bit about the UK flag, and maybe regular Brits will be able to fly the Union Flag without legal mumbo-jumbo. We learned about what they do at The Flag Institute. The UK Flag Institute does not yet have a royal charter but one may be coming soon. Nonetheless the UK Flag Institute continues to act as the leading flag recorder for the United Kingdom.



Vexi-bit #2: Marcus Schmoger spoke again about the arms and flag of San Marino. FYI, San Marino is a nation inside of Italy. Usually a nation is on the border with another or at least has a coast line. But San Marino is like Lesotho in South Africa.




Vexi-bit #3: Arthur Etchells talked about his vast collection of military flags for Czech, Austria and other Northern European countires.





Vexi-bit #4: Annie Platoff - more info on conspiracy theorists about US flag on the moon . Platoff said the flags for the Apollo missions varied. The Apollo 11 and 12 US flags were 3' x 5' and the flags for Apollo 13 thru 16 flags were 2.5' x 4' and the Apollo 17 flag was 3.5' x 6.6.'






Vexi-bit #5: Phillip Rault - spoke again about the deaths of flying the Confederate Flag at the Monaco Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia; other Confederate flags; and Irish starry plow flag. He also showed of his own flag for the of Brittany Liberation. It has a Celtic Sun with nine rays. The colours are black, orange and white in horizontal tri-bar form - black on the bottom, orange in the middle, and white up top. The middle orange bar is thinnest while the upper white bar is thickest.



Vexi-bit #6: Tony Burton - Showed us a comprehensive survey about flags of Australia. And showed us a Islamic War-Prayer Flag: white Arabic Calligraphy on black and the another that was black Arabic on a white background.






Vexi-bit #7: Chris Bedwell - Presented the city flag of Phoenix, Arizona. If is composed a North American bald eagle facing the fly with wings spread on top of a rather large yellow sun with many short red rays.





Vexi-bit #8: Peter Hans Van den Muijzenberg - Jacks and flags of Europe.







Vexi-bit #9: Bill Trinkle - gave airtime about the wonderful and virtual Bear Flag Museum. Spoke about native sons of the Golden West - who celebrated the 50 anniversary as a state in 1900. This group made extra effort to promote their flag. Showed us the California Democratic Convention flag of 1984 which fused the Dem Donkey in Cali-style. Trinkle also showed us a flag of Marin County - a horizontal tri-bar from the bottom up of blue, red, and orange. It has a double swallow tail, in the center is a white shape of the county, and by the fly are the letter M on orange, C on red, and F on blue near the fly. Ted Kaye suggested that it may not be the flag and rather represent the Marin County Fair.




Vexi-bit #10: Jim Farrigan III - Made a joke that - "sacred cows make the best hamburgers." He told the story of a printing error for the California State flag with blue bears. We were told about the origin of the California Blue Bear flags. It started out as a mistake, but were all sold as novelties. He knew the Democrats were going to loose the 1984 election because the CA democratic party wanted to rent a presidential flag instead of purchasing one.



Vexi-bit #11: Roman Klimes - spoke a wee bit about European Flags.





Vexi-bit #12: A bit about NY State flags


Vexi-bit #13: Ted Kaye - Enlightened us about the on goings of the Portland Flag Association. It has about 20-25 members with an average of 12 persons showing up for each meeting. This truly unique "Oregon-ization" has become the leading voice in Portland for effective flag design. Kaye also showed us the first semi-official vexillological 'Flag Police Padge.' In the center was a coloured version of the official state seal of Oregon.




Vexi-bit #14: Amy Langston - the youngest speaker and vexillologist at the ICV 24. She spoke about how she became interested in flags. She became aware of this congress though Wikipedia, and decided to attend. She like many vexilloligist recalled an interest in flags tracing back to the flag section in an Almanc that was foundational to her interest in flags.










Vexi-bit #15: Jelena Borošak-Marijanov - We saw a Croatian warship flag. It features the famous Croatian Checker Coat of Arms with two crossed golden anchors in the background.






Vexi-bit #16: Nick Artimovich - Exposed his methodology of getting old retired flags from the US State Department - that included old Afghanistan and old Finland flags.







Vexi-bit#17: Clyde Simpson - He added a discussion of science/chemistry with vexillology. Simpson also noted that it being his first ICV and enjoyed everyones warmth and friendliness.





Vexi-bit #18: Marlene Little - She showed us a South Korean Flag handbag that she got through her local church when visitors from South Korea came to visit. It is a combination of vexillology and fashion. The red and blue symbol is based upon the ancient Chinese philosophy of Daoism - which heeds a strong call for balance.





Vexi-bit #19: - A new UK Union flag was presented - including the Welsh Cross of St. David and Red Cross for Ulster. Virtual-Imaginary vexillology got a boost with presentation of imaginary Kingdom of Aefira. The flags of Aefira followed in format the official flag of the UK.














Vexi-bit #20: William Ang - Retro-60s/70s electronic vexi-art was shown. The US pyramid with flashing lights dazzled our eyes.





Vexi-bit #21: He told us to write on the heading any important places where you may fly a flag. We also saw a mini-model in proportion of the original Star Spangle Banner from the War of 1812.




Vexi-bit #22: Colin Simpson - He spoke about noticing flags while on a cruse in Alaska.



Vexi-bit #23: John Hartvigsen - a great talk about flag making with jokes and weird but true stories.



Vexi-bit #24: Ron Strachan from Australia spoke and showed us a colourful and design for the flag of Tiwi Island.










Vexi-bit #24: Christopher Maddish - I spoke about my flag proposals for the bodies of water on earth and flags for moons and any other heavenly body in our solar system.

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