Plenty of Nothing

Tuft of Cowslips

This plant study was donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington by Armand Hammer the baking soda man.

Rivets and Plates

The Battle for Morton Castle

Morton Castle, by Andrew Spratt.

Two years ago I determined that the winner of the season's final meeting at Palmerston between Morton and Queen of the South would be awarded title to Morton Castle. QoS won and took the castle, but they went on to be relegated, so there was no meeting between QoS and Morton last year. But then Queen of the South finished first and rejoined Morton's division. Today the second-half meeting at Palmerston between the two clubs has come around again. Rules: Morton has to win to take the castle; if the game ends in a draw possession will remain with the incumbents QoS. Looking forward, the next Morton Castle seige is at least two years away, given the Ton's probable demotion at the end of this season. [Queen of the South win 3 - 0 and retain the castle. Morton can not finish better than ninth.]

The Scottish Junior Cup has two quarter-final fixtures pencilled in for today. Irvine Meadow host Bo'ness United, and Camelon Juniors entertain Whitletts Victoria. You'll recall that Whitletts Victoria are the ones who dress almost exactly like Dennis the Menace. It seems the lower you go in the Scottish football pyramid the more often the games get postponed. Throw in replays and you have a situation where the clubs don't advance so much as stagger through to the next round. [Irvine Meadow and Camelon Juniors win.]

Celtic won the Premiership championship Wednesday. The Championship championship will probably take till the final weekend of the schedule to decide.

Yesterday US Boulogne visited Paris FC. [1 - 1.]

Tomorrow Grulla Morioka visit F.C. Ryūkyū in Okinawa, a journey of 1936 km by air. After Week 3 of the J3 season Morioka held first place and Ryūkyū second. [Grulla win 0 - 1.]

Serfs Emancipation Day

On this day in 1959 the government of the People's Republic of China abolished the Tibetan government of the Dalai Lama. Since 2009 this anniversary has been an official holiday called Serfs Emancipation Day. Source.

Carnal Sinners Awhirl

From the British Library's Dante.

 

Licheny

The Anarchist Communist League of Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath used to be a coalmining town, and was also one of the red hot centres of Marxist ideology in the UK. Lawrence Storione operated a Communist bookstore in Cowdenbeath around World War One, and had five children, named Annie, Germinal, Libertie, Autonomie and Anarchie. Source.

Morton visit Cowdenbeath for a midweek evening game. Morton seriously seriously seriously must win today. Seriously.

Every Championship club is in action this evening. [Cowdenbeath win 3 - 0. The best Morton can finish is seventh.]

Medieval Comic

There's a blog post at the British Museums medieval manuscripts blog about whether the Egerton MS 1894 is a comic. If your eye ran through the two pages above and recognized the narrative of the seven days of creation, then, yes, it's a comic. The panels even go in the right (for the English language) order. View the whole book here.

Spotted Flower Cover Art

Hume

Scottish philosopher David Hume strikes a Miltonic pose on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. I pulled on the toe of this statue in 2003. It was sculpted by Sandy Stoddart of Paisley, who once attended a match at Cappielow. Source. See also.

Morton entertain Hamilton Academical today. [Morton score three, with goals by Vine, Fitzpatrick and O'Connor. But Hamilton score four. Morton can finish no higher than fifth, and so miss out on promotion.]

On Monday Rangers won their Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against Albion Rovers. Whew.

AFC Champions League group stage action this week: Cerezo Osaka 4 - 0 Buriram United; Melbourne Victory 1 - 0 Yokohama F. Marinos; Western Sydney Wanderers 1 - 0 Kawasaki Frontale; Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2 - 1 FC Seoul.

Yesterday Boulogne hosted Vannes. [1 - 1.]

Tomorrow Grulla Morioka host the Japanese U-22 team. [Grulla win 6 - 1.]