Plenty of Nothing

Round Church

To St. George's Round Church the other night to hear Oh Susanna and Mary Gauthier. An evening of wisdom born of experience. The round church has its own stories to tell, built in 1800, and restored after a fire destroyed 40% of it in 1994. 

Sackville 2200

This version of Google Maps estimates the extent of inundation that would occur with each metre of rise in sea levels. I've captured a stretch of the Tantramar Marsh as it is might appear if the sea were to rise by five metres. You can see that Coles Island really earns its name, and the waterfowl park that runs into the downtown of Sackville is bumped up to a harbour. The Trans-Canada Highway and Canadian National Railway are submerged and would have to be relocated closer to the Northumberland shore.

I don't think anyone is projecting a five metre rise in ocean levels. The Dutch Delta Commission, which is pretty proactive in the matter of global warming, is working on the assumption that there will be a two to four metre rise by 2200. However, the thing about this map is that it doesn't take into consideration the effect of the tides. And, as you know, the Bay of Fundy experiences the highest tides on earth. Hard to say what a two metre rise would translate into at the head of the bay, but it probably would be a good idea for Mount Allison University to hold onto any land it has on the uphill side of Salem Street. D

Morton Versus Ross County

The Staggies wander into Cappielow Park today for their third league match against Morton. I seriously need a topic of discussion.

Oh but, Douglas, why don't you ever talk about the players?

I did plan to write about the players through this quarter of the season, but whenever I started to do the research the first articles I'd run up against were news stories about court appearances, which kind of put me off. Maybe in the last quarter.

So instead, today, the league history of Morton versus Ross County.

Ross County have only been in the league since 1994, and were obliged to start in the Third Division. They entered Division Two in 1999 and Division One the next year, where they have spent most of the time since.

Morton meanwhile were trending in the opposite direction, spending most of the Nineties in Division One, and then rapidly falling to Divisions Two and Three, before recovering lately.

Their paths crossed in 2000-01 in the First Division, when Ross County finished sixth and Morton ninth. Ross County won three of four and outscored Morton 7 to 3. Morton were relegated and Ross County continued in the First Divison, finishing as high as fourth twice.

In 2007 Ross County fell from the First Division just as Morton were promoted so they missed each other.

2008-09 found both clubs in the First Division. Morton finished sixth and Ross County eighth. Ross County won two games, Morton one, and there was a draw. Ross County outscored Morton 7 to 3 again. And they knocked Morton out of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

Last season Ross County finished fifth and Morton eighth. It was a good year for Ross County, highlighted by a Scottish Cup final. The Staggies won three against Morton with one draw. They outscored Morton 7 to 3 again, and knocked them out of the Scottish Challenge Cup again.

So far this season two clubs have tied twice ... and Ross County have knocked Morton out of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

[And Morton come from behind to win, 2 - 1! They don't move up because Partick also won, but they now have a goal difference in positive numbers.]

Would the University of Toronto Tear This Down?

There'd be a riot. (Well, a demonstration.) The blogger at Smash! sent a link to this photo, but I think it deserves to spend some time on the front page above the fold. It's the Memorial Library building at Mount Allison University, built in 1927, and slated for demolition, unless ... Petition.  Douglas

Moyashimon, the Drama

Moyashimon, the microbial manga, is now a live action TV show. Okay, the microbes are animated.

Kouji love to brew.

Mount Allison Value Added

This image, displayed on the Facebook page Mount Allison has already set up for its incoming Class of 2015, shows a detail from the Memorial Library building currently under sentence of demolition. If you compare this older postcard image you'll recognize it as the space just above the arched entranceway. However, in the postcard the square over the arch is empty, the reason being that the university crest was not added until around 1980. [Chronology iffy. See comments. The space did include a sign while the building was in use as a library, but was empty for a number of years after it was repurposed.]

I'm working from memory here, but I seem to recall that the metal sculpture was manufactured in the Fine Arts Department by a man named Sid Dobson, a mature student we referred to as The Fifty-Year-Old Freshman, who would have been born at about the same time as the Memorial Library was built. The crest was affixed to the building with a minimum of fanfare, but with the general feeling of warmth that comes from having completed a task set you an earlier generation. WSH Crawford, the last president to have come up through the university, would have been there.

There is still time to change the Regents' minds about destroying the Memorial Library. Go to this petition. They are meeting this weekend. Douglas

Scottish Cup, Round Four, Replay

Today Morton travel to Excelsior Stadium to meet Airdrie United in their Scottish Cup Round Four replay. Let us hope the weather is good and they get this done, and I don't have to come up with any more Airdire United-related copy.

What is the Scottish Cup history between Morton and Airdrie?

1891-92.  Morton host Airdrieonians in the 2nd round and win 3 - 1.

1923-24.  Airdrieonians host Morton in the 1st round and win 2 - 1.

1947-48.  Airdrieonians welcome Morton in a 4th round match. Morton win 3 - 0.

1950-51.  2nd round. Morton 3 - 3 Airdrieonians. Airdrieonians 2 - 1 Morton.

1951-52.  3rd round. Airdrieonians 4 - 0 Morton.

1974-75.  3rd round. Airdrieonians 0 - 0 Morton. Morton 0 - 3 Airdrieonians.

1988-89.  3rd round. Morton 0 - 0 Airdrieonians. Ardrieonians 0 - 1 Morton.

That's it up until this year. Total all-time Morton vs Airdrieonians Scottish Cup record:

Airdrieonians 4 wins, Morton 3 wins, plus three draws. Airdrieonians scored 15, Morton 12.

Hold on a minute, you say, isn't Airdrie United really Clydebank FC? Excellent point. Morton and Clydebank met in the 5th round in 1980-81. They played to a scoreless tie at Cappielow, and in the replay Morton shut out the Bankies 6 - 0. Morton also played a previous Clydebank incarnation in the 2nd round of the 1921-22 Scottish Cup. The two clubs tied 1 - 1 in Greenock, and then Morton won 2 -1 at Clydeholm Park. Morton went on to win their only Scottish Cup that year.

The complete Scottish Cup tale of Morton versus Airdrie United is:

January 18, 2011. Morton 2 - 2 Airdrie United.

And Morton win! 5 - 2! This is now a Good Cup Run.

Oishinbo Banana Cocktail

We have a little corner of Kingyo Used Books on our shelf -- two manga wide. A friend visited Japan in 1998 and brought back two manga magazines, a Weekly Jump and a Weekly Big Comic Spirits. I was flipping through Big Comic Spirits, June 29, 1998 the other day and recognized Oishinbo, the long-running food appreciation manga that made a splash in English translation in 2009. This chapter (which later appeared in volume 69 in Japanese in March 1999) starts out with a fried fish, but ends up being about mixing drinks. Page 19 above includes the inevitable panel when Kurita sees what Yamaoka has been talking about. Can you spot the kana for banana?

[A backgrounder on the development of Japanese publishing and book retail. (Via Manga Critic.)]

Bogles

HTV-2

Japan launched its second supply ship to the International Space Station today. Video of the lift-off is here at the JAXA website. The goal is to send one of these aloft per year. The Europeans have a similar schedule, and of course the Russians launch another Progress supply ship every couple of months. There's a lot of politicking going on in the US right now about the future of manned space flight, but strangely not much talk about cargo capability. D