Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How large is Flanders today?
The present-day Flemish Region covers 13,522km2 (5,221sqmi) and is divided into five provinces, 22 arrondissements and 308 cities or municipalities.
Today's canal is actually the fourth version. The first version, built from 1827 to 1832, has a gauge of only . Just over 20 years later, 1854, work began to create a "large gauge" canal (today's medium gauge) of on certain sections, which was completed in 1857. Ambitious enlargements began again with the lock at Flanders' Gate (Porte de Flandre) in Brussels, which was expanded to a gauge of 600–800 t (590–790 L/T/660–880 S/T).
Flanders was one of the first continental European areas to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century. Initially, the modernization relied heavily on food processing and textile. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was famine in Flanders (1846–50). After World War II, Antwerp and Ghent experienced a fast expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. Flanders also attracted a large majority of foreign investments in Belgium. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession. The steel industry remained in relatively good shape. In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of Belgium continued to shift further to Flanders and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[23] Nowadays, the Flemish economy is mainly service-oriented.
Old Flanders lace began by making Torchon lace, then used early five-hole ground. Today, the term Flanders lace is more usually applied to a late 19th century revival of the five-hole grounded lace.
The expenses are as follows per policy area:
The Flemish Government owns the rights to Flanders Today, an English-speaking online and print newspaper focused on current affairs in Flanders and Brussels. The project was launched in 2007 by Geert Bourgeois – then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism -, for three main reasons:
In May 2017, the Flemish Government announced it wouldn’t be rebidding the Flanders Today project. Both the print and the online version of the paper are to be shut down in October 2017.
Zeelandic Flanders is the north-eastern part of the large historical region of Flanders which today lies mostly in Belgium. It shares a land border with the Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders. It is a latitudinally oriented strip of land along the Western Scheldt, a North Sea estuary, and has no land access to the rest of the Netherlands. The area of Zeelandic Flanders is of which is land and is water.
Pete Oliva of "North Texas Daily" said the episode "proves that it is possible to laugh and cry at the same time without being able to control either response." Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "When Flanders Failed" shows that even if "The Simpsons" is not dealing with famous celebrities or "high profile places", the writers can still "wring uproarious comedy out of their cast of regulars. Flanders is a special creation in the canon of humor, a regular guy who is funny because of how hyper-normal he is compared to his Neanderthal neighbors. The focus on people who are left-handed, and the whole idea of being a lefty, is an unusual basis for a television show. But then again, nothing about "The Simpsons" is ever common." Hock Guan Teh of DVD Town also praised the writers, stating that they "are able to craft a downtrodden tale for the perpetually clueless Flanders family that serves to illustrate how dark emotions can eventually be overcome by Homer's guilt. A memorable episode." Niel Harvey of "The Roanoke Times" called "When Flanders Failed" a "classic bit of Simpsonia." The episode's reference to "It's a Wonderful Life " was named the 26th greatest film reference in the history of the show by "Total Film"'s Nathan Ditum.
The main objectives of the organization were the development of the Flemish economy and to improve the status of Flemish as a business language in Flanders. It is an important partner of the Flemish government on business in Flanders, and also participates in the Socio-economic Council of Flanders.
In 2004, VEV formed an alliance with the Flemish Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI’s) to create . Today, there are still eight Voka - Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in Flanders (West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp-Waasland, Kempen, Mechelen, Halle-Vilvoorde, Leuven and Limburg). Together with the VEV, these eight CCI's form the Voka-Alliance, the largest Flemish network of enterprises.
In 1191, her brother, the count of Flanders, died childless, and she as his heir claimed the county of Flanders with the support of her spouse. Her claims was questioned by the king of France who, with support of Ghent, declared Flanders escheated to the crown due to the lack of male heirs, a problem that was not solved until the Treaty of Arras by the mediation of the archbishop of Riems. They met some unrest among the nobility of the area, foremost by her brother's widow, who was given a large dower lands in the coastal and Southern Flanders where she provoked considerable unrest by high taxation. 
The spelling used today both in the Netherlands and in Flanders (Dutch-speaking Belgium) is based on an orthography originally intended only for use in a dictionary. An ambitious project was proposed in 1851 at the Taal- en Letterkundig Congres (Linguistic and Literary Congress) in Brussels at which both the Netherlands and Flanders were represented. The project aimed to produce a large dictionary: Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (WNT) (Dictionary of the Dutch Language), incorporating vocabulary of the past centuries.
The Flanders virus is similar to the antigentic make-up of the Hart Park virus. Both the HP and Flanders viruses are part of the Rhabdoviridae family and are both agents of "Culex" mosquitoes. The Flanders virus was named after the town in which it was first discovered in 1960. This town, in New York is a hamlet that provides the ideal habitat for mosquitoes because of its relatively long coastline. The access to large standing bodies of water are perfect nesting grounds for the "Culex" mosquitoes to begin laying eggs, away from potential predators. Similarly, the Flanders virus typically infects wild birds. The primary targets of the Flanders virus are red-winged blackbirds, house sparrows, and starlings.
In 1941 when there was no longer enough space to store the collection in Flanders's home, she donated it to Middlebury College in Vermont. Today the Flanders Ballad Collection is housed in Special Collections and includes not only her papers but nearly 4,500 field recordings. Copies of these recordings are also available at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress and at Harvard University. The American Folklife Center also has files of Flanders's correspondence.
Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders is a historical term for the part of the County of Flanders in which Romance languages were spoken, such as varieties of Picard. Today the region straddles the border of France and Belgium.
Flanders has been shown to call Reverend Lovejoy for advice often, even over minuscule things, to the point that Lovejoy has stopped caring and has even suggested that Flanders try a different religion. This was a running joke in the early seasons, but has been used less in the later episodes. In the eighth season, the episode "In Marge We Trust" would examine the relationship between Lovejoy and Flanders, and shows the history of their relationship and how Lovejoy became increasingly uninterested in Flanders' problems. Flanders is shown to have a room in his house filled with memorabilia of The Beatles. He claims that this is because they were "bigger than Jesus".
Flanders, by every definition, has figured prominently in European history since the Middle Ages. In this period, cities such as Ghent, Bruges, and later Antwerp made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, trading, and weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution but Flanders was at first overtaken by French-speaking Wallonia. In the second half of the 20th century, however, Flanders' economy modernised rapidly, and today Flanders and Brussels are significantly more wealthy than Wallonia and in general one of the wealthiest regions in Europe and the world.[2]
Flanders Expo is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in Ghent, Flanders, Belgium. Flanders Expo was founded in 1986 and officially opened in May 1987 with the third edition of Flanders Technology International. It serves as a venue to host a large variety of events including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs and sports. The first CEO was Marc Mortier from 1986 till 2002.
In October 1916, the Flanders Flotilla was finally reinforced by the German Admiralty with two full torpedo boat flotillas. The transfer of the 3rd and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas to Flanders had immediate consequences to the balance of power in the Dover Strait. Whereas before, the Flanders Flotilla had been equipped with only three large torpedo boats and several of the smaller inferior A-class torpedo boats, they now possessed 23 large torpedo boats capable of meeting the British Dover Patrol in combat. Due to the lack of large torpedo boats, the Flanders Flotilla had not sortied against the Dover Patrol in several months and as a result British defences were quite lax in the area.
In 1071, the sixth Count of Flanders, Arnulf III, was killed in the first Battle of Cassel by the forces of Robert the Frisian in a dispute over the succession to the title of count. Although Arnulf was numerically superior and was supported by King Philip I of France, Robert was able to defeat his rival's army and took the title of Count of Flanders with the acquiescence of Philip I after a further five years of struggle. The town was re-fortified, possibly by Robert, with a castle and a new set of walls built on the remains of the old Roman walls. The castle does not survive today – it was already in ruins by the early 18th century – but is depicted on old engravings as a large square tower, the "Tour Grise", dominating the western flank of the hill.
Flanders’ DRIVE is a Flemish non-profit organization. The aim of the organization is to support the vehicle suppliers with know-how through the Flanders’ DRIVE Network, and to provide infrastructure for the automotive industry through the Flanders’ DRIVE Engineering Centre.
"Homer Loves Flanders" was the last episode to be pitched by Conan O'Brien before he left "The Simpsons". David Richardson was assigned to write it, and Wesley Archer to direct it. Richardson wrote the episode at a Motel 6 in Hemet, California while he was dating an actress who was shooting a film there. In this season, the staff wanted to take a deeper look at the relationships of the characters. One of the things they wanted to explore in particular was what Homer and Flanders have in common and how they could turn into friends. Former show runner David Mirkin enjoyed making Homer and Flanders get along because they do not normally act that way.
Mollifiers were introduced by Kurt Otto Friedrichs in his paper , which is considered a watershed in the modern theory of partial differential equations. The name of this mathematical object had a curious genesis, and Peter Lax tells the whole story in his commentary on that paper published in Friedrichs' ""Selecta"". According to him, at that time, the mathematician Donald Alexander Flanders was a colleague of Friedrichs: since he liked to consult colleagues about English usage, he asked Flanders an advice on how to name the smoothing operator he was using. Flanders was a puritan, nicknamed by his friends Moll after Moll Flanders in recognition of his moral qualities: he suggested to call the new mathematical concept a "mollifier" as a pun incorporating both Flanders' nickname and the verb '', meaning 'to smooth over' in a figurative sense.
Ename is a Belgian village in the Flemish province of East Flanders. It stands on the right side of the river Scheldt and it is part of the municipality of Oudenaarde.
The territory was inhabited during Prehistoric and Roman times, and became a trade settlement during the 10th century. From the 11th century it was part of the domain of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Salvator, until its dismiss in 1795 during the French Revolution. 
The remains of the Saint Salvator abbey are today part of a major heritage project in Flanders, realised by the Province of East-Flanders. The Provincial Archaeological Museum of Ename displays the major finds that have been excavated on the abbey site.
Today the village of Ename hosts the Museumnacht in July and the Feeste t’ Ename with the traditional horse market that has been held for centuries during the celebrations of the patron hallow Saint Laurentius, on the 10th of August.
Howe joined the army as an Ensign of the 1st Foot Guards in 1745 and saw service during the Flanders campaign of the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1746 he was made an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland who led the Allied Army in Flanders. In 1747 Howe fought at the Battle of Laufeld. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1749 following the end of the war.
The phrase was popularized by a poem titled "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae which was inspired by his service during the Second Battle of Ypres. The fields were unmaintained for years before they were made into a memorial. Today Flanders Fields is home to tens of thousands of poppies.
Ned Flanders has been described as "The United States' most well-known evangelical". According to "Christianity Today", "today [in 2001] on American college and high school campuses, the name most associated with the word Christian—other than Jesus—is not the Pope or Mother Teresa or even Billy Graham. Instead, it's a goofy-looking guy named Ned Flanders on the animated sitcom known as The Simpsons. The mustache, thick glasses, green sweater, and irrepressibly cheerful demeanor of Ned Flanders, Homer Simpson's next-door neighbor, have made him an indelible figure, the evangelical known most intimately to nonevangelicals."