Los Angeles Times

choi

(1) Phil Wilson and Rosanna Xia, Chinese Delegation's Visit to Riverside School Stirs Confusion; The event unleashed a flurry of claims and denials that a deal had been struck to turn the unopened campus into a school for students from China as well as the United States. Los Angeles Times, Oct 21, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chinese-school-20111021,0,6570856.story

My comment: Guangdong Experimental High School 廣東實驗中學 (traditional Chinese characters were used in a California ceremony) is not setting up a satellite school in US, despite Chinese media to the contrary. That is the bottomline of this report. There is no need to read the rest.

(2) Barbara Demick, Apple Is Top Banana in China; Consumers there can't get their hands on iPads and iPhones fast enough. Los Angeles Times, Oct 20, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nati ... hina-apple-20111021,0,3466575.story

Note:
(a) top banana
(i) definition:
(n; First Known Use 1950-1955):
"1.a leading comedian in musical comedy, burlesque, vaudeville, etc.: For many years he was top banana on the circuit.
2.the chief person in a group or undertaking."
Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/top+banana
(ii) origin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Banana
(Top Banana is the starring act in a Vaudeville performance. Originally, the phrase "Top Banana" was coined by comedian and Vaudeville Performer Harry Steppe)
(b) There is no need tor ead the report.

(3) PJ Huffstutter, Monsanto Sprouting a Produce-Seed Line. The agribusiness giant already has quietly stepped into the marketplace with vegetables grown from its seeds. The goal is to use its technology to create produce that tastes better and plants that yield more product, while letting farmers use fewer resources. Los Angeles Times, Oct 20, 2011.
http://www.latimes.com/business/ ... vegetables-20111020,0,6564083.story

Quote:

"Grocery customers in California and elsewhere are chopping its onions that produce fewer tears, stir-frying its broccoli that decreases cholesterol and biting into tiny orange tomatoes that last longer on the shelf.

"genetically engineered produce has already made some inroads into US grocery stores. The University of Hawaii's genetically modified papaya, resistant to the papaya ringspot virus, has been growing and sold for years. Biotech giant Syngenta has been selling biotech sweet corn for nearly a decade.

Note:
(a) Monsanto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto
(headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri; founded in St. Louis in 1901 by John Francis Queeny, [who] gave the company his wife's maiden name)

(i) Creve Coeur,  French for "heartbreak," is a western suburb of St Louis.
(ii) The Spanish and Portuguese surname Monsanto is a place name in Beira, Portugal meaning "sacred mountain." (santo means saint).

(b) Flavr Savr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavr_Savr
(produced by the Californian company Calgene; sold 1994-1997; acquired by Monsanto)
(c) Still the produces mentioned in the quotation are produced by the Seminis brand of fruit and vegetable seeds in Monsanto, WITHOUT use of genetical engineering.

Seminis. Monsanto, undated.
http://www.monsanto.com/products/Pages/seminis.aspx
("If you’ve ever tasted or grown Big Beef tomatoes or Valentino green beans, you’ve actually tasted a Seminis® product. Seminis is the world’s largest developer, grower and marketer of vegetable seeds.  Using traditional plant breeding techniques and modern science, Seminis develops innovative types of vegetables and fruits that offer greater nutrition, convenience and have better flavor.")
(d) Papaya Ringspot virus. The American Phytopathological Society, 2010.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/i ... aRingspotvirus.aspx
(e) There is no need to read this report, except the quotation.