Plenty of Nothing

Aeneas at the Calderone Glacier

The Ghiacciaio del Calderone in the Vomamo Valley in Abruzzo, Italy, is the most southerly glacier in Europe, situated about 100 km from Rome in the northernmost tip of the old Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, so historically it's part of Southern Italy. This guy Enea looks like he's ready to scale the glacier with his father on his back. Source.

Noh-Masked High School Girl Hanako

Hanako wears a Noh mask to school every day. Manga artist Ryo Oda says she wants to use Nohmen Joshi no Hanako-San to explore the gap between traditional and modern. Source.

Theodosia of Constantinople

It's the feast day of Theodosia of Constantinople, who was executed after she knocked a man off a ladder while he was trying to destroy an icon of Christ. She exhibits a degree of severity that you usually associate with the iconoclasts. There's something of Michael Corleone about her. That gesture of her right hand, normally meant as a benediction, looks more like, "Hey, you just watch yourself."

This icon of the iconophile is housed at Mount Sinai Monastery, near where God told Moses, "Thou shalt not make any graven images." Watch a documentary in which a monk ruefully makes this very point.

Christian iconography developed directly out of Eastern Mediterranean pagan iconography. The Louvre has an Egyptian shroud painting in which a woman holds the same pose as Theodosia, except that she's holding an ankh in her left hand.

Flann O'Brien's Desk

Flann O'Brien's desk is up for auction, along with this drawing of it by his brother. You've got till May 30th.

2016-17 Scottish Cup Final

Celtic versus Aberdeen 1937. Source.

It's the Scottish Cup Final: Celtic versus Aberdeen at Hampden Park. It's Celtic's 55th final, and Aberdeen's 16th.

Heretofore there have been six Scottish Cup finals between Celtic and Aberdeen:

1936-37        Celtic 2 - 1 Aberdeen*

1953-54        Celtic* 2 - 1 Aberdeen

1966-67        Celtic* 2 - 0 Aberdeen

1969-70        Aberdeen 3 - 1 Celtic*

1983-84        Aberdeen* 2 - 1 Celtic

1989-90        Aberdeen* 0 - 0 Celtic (Aberdeen won on penalty kicks.)

(* indicates the club that finished higher in the league)

Three games to three. Today's match is the tie-breaker.

If Celtic win today, they earn the Scottish Treble (League, League Cup, Scottish Cup) which they have not done since 2001, and which no one has done since 2003, when Rangers did it.

Celtic and Aberdeen are the two Scottish Cup finalists today, and they were the two League Cup finalists, and the top two finishers in the league. Have two clubs occupied these six positions before?

In 1965-66, Rangers won the Scottish Cup, and Celtic were runners-up; Celtic won the League Cup, and Rangers were runners-up; Celtic won the league title, and Rangers were runners-up.

In 1992-93, Rangers won the Treble, and Aberdeen were runners-up in each case.

[Celtic win 2 - 1, earning their fourth Treble, and getting through the season without a single loss.]

How dominant is the Old Firm this century?

                     League title            Scottish Cup            League Cup   

2000-01        Celtic                     Celtic                        Celtic

2001-02        Celtic                     Rangers                   Rangers

2002-03        Rangers                Rangers                   Rangers

2003-04        Celtic                     Celtic                       Livingston

2004-05        Rangers                Celtic                        Rangers

2005-06        Celtic                    Hearts                       Celtic

2006-07        Celtic                    Celtic                         Hibs

2007-08        Celtic                    Rangers                    Rangers

2008-09        Rangers                Rangers                   Celtic

2009-10        Rangers                Dundee Utd              Rangers

2010-11        Rangers                Celtic                        Rangers

2011-12        Celtic                     Hearts                      Kilmarnock

2012-13        Celtic                    Celtic                        St Mirren

2013-14        Celtic                    St Johnstone            Aberdeen

2014-15        Celtic                    Inverness CT            Celtic

2015-16        Celtic                    Hibs                          Ross County

2016-17        Celtic                    [Celtic]                     Celtic

[39] out of [51] major honours have gone to the Old Firm.

Premiership playoffs:

Dundee United 0 - 0 Hamilton Academical (Thursday)

Hamilton Academical [1 - 0] Dundee United (tomorrow)

[Hamilton stay up. Dundee United get another year in the Championship.]

Thursday was the fiftieth anniversary of Celtic's 1967 European Cup win.

Worst finish. Morton last ten fixtures of 2016-17 (8 league + 2 playoff games) produced 4 draws and 6 losses. This was Morton's worst final ten game stretch of the 21st Century, beating 2003-04, when they went 2W 2D 6L.

Despite that, Jim Duffy has been chosen Championship Manager of the Year.

Read Chris Fitzgerald's piece on the collapse of 2003-04.

Why are penalty kicks used as tiebreakers, but not corner kicks? In the case of penalty kicks, it's the team that doesn't score on all five kicks that loses, producing the very unsoccerlike scoreline of 5 - 4. On the other hand, a corner kick results in a goal only about one in ten times, so the side that does manage to score once is the winner. Read some corner kick statistics here.

Can you score with a throw-in? No, it's not allowed.

UEFA Europa League Final:

Ajax 0 - 2 Manchester United

MUFC win the Europa League and a spot in the 2017-18 Champions League group stage.

Copa Libertadores, Group B:

Santos 4 - 0 Sporting Cristal

Santa Fe 1 - 1 The Strongest

The group stage is now over. Our guys The Strongest move on to the Round of 16.

AFC Champions League Round of 16, first leg:

Muangthong United 1 - 3 Kawasaki Frontale

Guangzhou Evergrande 1 - 0 Kashima Antlers

Jeju United 2 - 0 Urawa Red Diamonds

What is Urawa's record in the AFC Champions League?

2016        R16        lost to FC Seoul

2015        GS

2013        GS

2008        SF          lost to Gamba Osaka

2007        F            defeated Sepahan

Swiss Challenge League: Xamax [4 - 1] Winterthur

ReinMeer Aomori [3 - 1] Honda Lock

Tomorrow: Honda FC [5 - 0] Vanraure Hachinohe

SWFL Division 2 West: Morton [4 - 0] Bishopton FC

Canadian Championship, semi-finals, first leg:

Vancouver Whitecaps 1 - 2 Montreal Impact

Ottawa Fury 2 - 1 Toronto FC

This was Ottawa's first ever game (and win) against Toronto FC's first team, though they've played the second team a few times.

The final of the Saarland Cup was played Thursday. The Saarland Cup, or Saarland-Pokal in Deutsche, is one of 21 regional cups in Germany. The winner of each regional cup advances to the first round of the 2017-18 German Cup, or DFB-Pokal, in August. The Saarland Cup is open to any team from Saarland that is not in the top two levels of German football.

Saarland is that small state on the French border just to the right of Luxembourg.

SV Elversberg 2 - 3 1. FC Saarbrücken

Elversberg had wanted the game to go earlier in the month because they have promotion playoff games on May 28th and 31st, but the Saarländische Fußballverband refused to bend.

Boats on the Nile

Barche sul Nilo, by Beniamino Facchinelli. Source. These are feluccas with two lateen sails apiece.

Mai Ball!

Mai Ball! is a high school soccer sex comedy manga by Sora Inoue. Here, in chapter 7, Reika fights for the love of team coach Kunimitsu by taking shots on her rival Mai, charging the goal mouth like a rhinoceros.

GO Train

Yesterday marked the fiftieth anniversary of GO train passenger service. As an eight-year-old I found the name ridiculous and comically beneath the dignity of the Province of Ontario. I can remember saying, "And if you look out the window you might see a MOO cow." Source.

Les Fêtes de Jeanne d'Arc à Compiège

Joan of Arc is still big in France, and there's a string of towns known collectively as les Villes Johanniques that stage annual festivals in her honour. Compiège, where she was captured by the Burgundians on May 23rd, 1431, pulls out all the stops each year at this time. Source. Watch a video.

Leonard Cohen Plays Queen's Park

Leonard Cohen played the Queen's Park Love-In, May 22nd, 1967. Buffy Sainte-Marie was there too. Source.