Bintje Potato of Belgium

choi

Frances Robinson, In Belgium, Potato Fans Fret Over Fate of Frites; Bintjes Are Best, but the Storied Spud Is a Global Dud for Farmers. Wall Street Journal, Sept 17, 2011 (front page).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 73201537015890.html

Quote:

video caption: "Belgium's bintjes are small potatoes, literally."

"Belgium's per capita annual french fry consumption exceeds America's by about a third.

"the history of the bintje, created in the early 20th century by a Dutch schoolteacher, who named the new variety after one of his pupils, a girl called Bintje.

Note:
(a) The report says, "French fries aren't French—they're Belgian."

It is controversial.

French fries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries
(Distinguish, in UK, chips (which are traditionally fatter and less elongated); French fries are known as frites in French; section 2 2 Culinary origin: the potato did not arrive in the region until around 1735)

See also
potato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato
(Wild potato species occur throughout the Americas, from the United States to Uruguay; genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru, where they were domesticated 7,000–10,000 years ago; section 1 Etymology: spud)

(b) For Walloon, see Wallonia.
(i) Belgium is roughly separated into Flanders/ Flemish Region (the Dutch-speaking northern region) and Wallonia/ Walloon Region (the French-speaking southern region).
(ii) Wallonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallonia
(The root of the word Wallonia, like the words Wales, Cornwall and Wallachia,[4] is the Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers)

Quote:

Wallonia "makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium but with only a third of its population

"During the industrial revolution, Wallonia trailed only the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the region wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th centuries, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium. Since World War II, however, the importance of heavy industry has greatly declined, and the Flemish Region surpassed Wallonia in wealth as Wallonia economically declined.

(c) Bruges
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges
(d) The report quotes a Belgian as saying, "Just like Magritte's picture of a pipe, a potato is not just a potato."
(i) The Treachery of Images
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images
(ii) René Magritte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Magritte
(1898-1967l Belgian artist)

(e) The report mentioned an instruction: "fry them twice in beef dripping."

dripping (n): "fat and juices drawn from meat during cooking —often used in plural"
www.m-w.com
(f) The report talked about "Royal Academy of Fine Arts."

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy: King Albert II (1934- ; reign 1993- )
(g)
(i) Tournai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournai
(in the Walloon Region)

The report was dispatched from "Kain, Belgium." See the very beginning of the report.

(ii) Kain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kain
("Kain, a former municipality part of Tournai, Belgium")

choi

(1) 台湾保证言论自由： 删除“不得主张共产主义和分裂国土”规定. VOA Chinese, Nov 19, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... ions-133608353.html

Quote:

並 "删除了'人民入出境，应向警政署入出境管理局申请许可；未经许可者，不得入出境'

"台湾民主共产党的电话有人接，说是该党的负责人陈天福在上海从事两岸统一工作。陈天福是陈水扁的堂弟。而中华民国共产党负责人吕宝尧说，当初成立这个党之前，陈天福等人说大陆方面会给经费，成立以后才了解根本没有补助，他们由于缺钱而冻结了这个党。

My comment: The report says "这个 [立法院] 修正案有待总统宣布后生效,"  There is no check-and-balance mechanism in the constitution of Republic of China; president can not veto budgets or bills of Legislature. So the bill is final.

(2) 美众院台湾连线：对台军售须守六项保证. VOA Chinese, Nov 19, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... etta-133563423.html

(3) Taiwan, Japan Sign Open Skies Agreement. AFP, Nov 10, 2011.
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news ... 2691910900.html?x=0

Note:
(a) Taipei Times also publishes the same report, with additions supplied by the Taiwanese newspaper's staff, one being: "According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, Japan is the third country to sign an open skies agreement with Taiwan, following the US and Singapore."
(b) Open Skies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_skies
(section 3 Civil transport open skies)
(c) Open Skies Agreements. US Department of State, undated.
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/tra/ata/

Please click two tags:
(i) "Full List of Open Skies Partners"
, which shows Partner  14 Taiwan, Date Concluded  2/28/97)

The number "14" alludes to Taiwan being the fourteenth partner, in chronological order.

(ii) "Select a letter below to see all countries beginning with that letter."
, where T does not include Taiwan (not is Taiwan categorized in C, as Republic of China or Chinese Taipei, say).

(d) 2010 a Big Year for US Open Skies Agreements. Euromonitor, Mar 4, 2011 (blog)
http://blog.euromonitor.com/2011 ... ies-agreements.html
("Some key markets, however, still do not have open skies agreements with the US including, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Mexico and South Africa")


(4) Jialu Chen, Taiwan's Young Voters: Forget China, It's Jobs and Pay. Reuters, Nov 9, 2011.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/09/idINIndia-60407620111109

(5) Peter Clarke, TSMC: 28-nm Tech, Demand 'on Plan.' EETimes, Nov 7, 2011
http://www.eetimes.com/electroni ... C-28-nm-tech-demand
(TSMC "has pushed back against claims by market researchers at Gartner Inc that foundries are having problems with yield on 28-nm process technologies")

My comment: The Gartner report said chip makers had problems with 28-nm process, but did not mention TSMC by name.