Plenty of Nothing

Feeding the Birds

    My aunt is cutting up bacon rind for our birds. She is doing this with rather a shaky hand, in half an hour the taxi will be here and I must say good-bye. The shadow of farewells is upon the bacon rind and to-day the birds will not have such a finely chopped feast as yesterday. We take the rind and the breakfast crumbs and the crusts broken into pieces and put them on the lawn; now we stand back behind the window curtains and watch for cats. My aunt will have no cat in our garden. Also my aunt will see fair play between the birds, who sitting now and swinging gently upon the tree branches are about to have this lovely meal-o of bacon rind and crusty bread. It is a sunny day and early in the morning, the grass is heavy with dew and the sun low upon our neighbours' roofs.

    Yesterday the gardener was here, and now the garden, newly prinked and tidied, the paths as neat and formal as a parade, shines beneath this early morning sun that has broken through to break the rain and storm clouds of past months. How very spry the garden looks, like a good child that has a washed face and a clean pinafore.

    My aunt taps sharply on the window from behind the curtain. The thrush is cheating. Thrusting the smaller sparrows aside with greedy beak he gobbles up the lovely rind. Now, now, says my aunt. Now, now. That will do.

Stevie Smith, Over the Frontier, pages 115-6 (Virago edition).

2014-15 Scottish Cup, Fourth Round

About a seventh of a firkin, to my eye.

Morton visit Ainslie Park in Edinburgh to face Spartans FC in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. It's Morton's third Scottish Cup match this season and Spartans' fourth.

This is Morton's second meeting with Spartans this year. The Greenockians beat the Lacedaemonians 1 - 0 in the first round of the Challenge Cup in July. Morton also met Berwick Rangers twice in cup play this season, and knocked the Wee Rangers out of both the Challenge and League cups in the month of August. Have the Ton ever met the same club in all three cups? No. Has anyone? Yes. In 1994-95, Raith Rovers and the original Airdrieonians met in all three cups. Airdrieonians knocked Raith out of the second round of the Challenge Cup and the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, and Raith knocked Airdrieonians out of the semi-final of the League Cup. Both clubs were in the First Division, so altogether they played each other seven times that season. Raith Rovers won the League Cup, and Airdrieonians won the Challenge Cup. Celtic won the Scottish Cup.

What would be the greatest possible number of meetings between two clubs in a season? Four league games + two playoff games + Scottish Cup match and replay + Challenge Cup + League Cup = ten. And that's not counting friendlies or local cup competitions.

There are two other games involving non-league clubs:

Queen of the South [4 - 1] Brora Rangers

Bo'ness [0 - 5] Arbroath

Earlier this week Livingston were deducted five points for tax evasion, making them heavy favourites to suffer relegation to League One this coming spring. It is their second points deduction in five years. And Peterhead have had their November 15th win over Ayr wiped from the record book for fielding an ineligible player.

Lately, the English FA has been making noises about quitting FIFA. It wouldn't be the first time. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales all quit after World War One in protest over German participation, and then after that was cleared up they all quit again in the late Twenties over the definition of amateur status.

Thursday Celtic hosted Salzburg in Europa League group stage play, and lost 1 - 3. Regardless, they advance to the Round of 32 on the strength of their eight points, though not until after a meaningless game in Zagreb December 11th.

[Spartans win 2 - 1! Catastrophe! Barrowman got the Morton goal.]

Yugao

"Yugao", from One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (1886) by Tsukioka Yoshotoshi. This print certainly looks as if it had a big influence on Alphonse Mucha.

Young Ravi Shankar

From the Alice Boner collection at Museum Rietberg in Zurich.

2014 Emperor's Cup Semi-Finals

Ritsu Tainaka of K-ON!! for JEF United Chiba.

It's the semi-finals of the 2014 Emperor's Cup. No matter who wins today the result will be a J1 versus J2 final, the sixth time in cup history a second-flight club has made the final. The games:

Gamba Osaka (J1) versus Shimizu S-Pulse (J1), at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo.

JEF United Chiba (J2) versus Montedio Yamagata (J2) at Nagai Stadium in Osaka.

JEF United have won the Cup four times, though always under their earlier name Furukawa Electric. Gamba have won it three times (once as Matsushita Electric Industrial). S-Pulse have won once, and Montedio never.

[Gamba Osaka 5 - 2 Shimizu S-Pulse. JEF United Chiba 2 - 3 Montedio Yamagata.]

Metro Ferry #2

Gathering Mushrooms

Gathering Mushrooms (c. 1919-1923), by Nakajima Saito, at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

The New Library is Made of Sky

The Big House of Inverkip

The second question to ask about any Scottish town (the first being "What did they used to make there?") is: "Whaur's the big hoose?" The big hoose for Greenock is Ardgowan House on the hill above Inverkip. The Shaw Stewarts, local baronets, have been in possession of this pile since the 18th century, and of the land since the days of King Robert III.

Stenhousemuir visit Cappielow. Morton enter today's action in first place, a thing rare enough to deserve bold lettering. Stenny are in eighth place; nevertheless, the Warriors won the first meeting in September. But that was then, and this is some other time later on, for Morton have not allowed a goal this November.

This is Stenhousemuir's first visit to Cappielow since May 2004, the last time both clubs were in the Second Division / League One.

Morton have eight wins, more than anyone else in League One, but they also have more losses than five other clubs. The Greenockians have a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on this season that refuses to allow them to play to a draw. Here we see the effect of the three-point-win rule. Nowadays a win and a loss are worth more than two draws. If we were still in the two-point-win era Morton would be in third place behind Forfar and Stranraer.

I just used the word "era" like a baseball writer.

Morton are winners of their last three league games. Last time they did that was March 2013, when they held first place in the First Division.

Any one of four clubs could hold first place at the end of this afternoon, including Stranraer who have not lost a league game since August.

[But Morton win 3 - 1, and hold on to top spot. Morton goals by Kilday (2) and S. McCluskey.]

Hearts and Rangers meet today in the Championship. Hearts won their first encounter, and have yet to lose a game in league play. [Hearts win 2 - 0.]

It's the third round of the Scottish Junior Cup. We're watching:

Dyce Juniors versus Port Glasgow [postponed]

Shotts Bon Accord [1 - 6] Hurlford United

Irvine Meadow [0 - 4] Auchinleck Talbot

Johnstone Burgh versus Largs Thistle [postponed]

Kelty Hearts [1 - 2] Bo'ness United

Tomorrow is the end of the schedule in both the J2 and J3 leagues in Japan. In J3, fifth-place Grulla Morioka host fourth-place Gainare Tottori, but cannot overtake them. Zweigen Kanazawa have clinched promotion to J2. Either Parciero Nagano or Machida Zelvia will make the promotion playoff. There will be no relegation from J3 to the JFL this year, as they're trying to build up J3. In J2, our guys Mito HollyHock can finish anywhere between 11th and 18th, nowhere near promotion or relegation. Our other guys Consadole Sapporo can finish 8th, 9th or 10th. Kataller Toyama are relegated to J3, and Kamatamare Sanuki are the ones who will have to play Nagano or Machida in the playoff. J1 continues until December 6th. [Grulla 1, Gainare 1. Parciero make the playoff. Consadole finish 10th, HollyHock 15th.]

Also tomorrow: the Korean FA Cup final between FC Soeul and Seongnam FC. Seongnam have won it twice, Seoul once. [Seongnam win 4 - 2 on penalty kicks.]

Murasaki Shikibu Bot

This Murasaki Shikibu bot can recite the entire Tale of Genji, with appropriate gestures. Source. This is the future of home entertainment.