Plenty of Nothing

Purple and Yellow

Keyhole-Shaped Tumuli Map

There are ancient burial mounds all over Japan, but the distinctive keyhole-shaped ones are clustered in the south of the country. Watch a MOOC about them.

Unarigoe, Chapter 6, Page 4

Red Balloon

La Sublime Porte

The Ottoman central government was called the Sublime Porte after this door, where the sultan's decisions were proclaimed. Source.

John Galt Fountain

The John Galt Fountain on the Esplanade. Source. John Galt (1779-1839), author of Annals of the Parish, was Secretary of the Canada Company and instrumental in the founding of Guelph, Ontario. (But would you drink from it?)

Livingston revisit Cappielow. They were here just 11 days ago for Round One of the Challenge Cup, which beats their revisit record of 14 days set in 1991.

Livi had an excellent League Cup group stage, winning three plus a shootout win for 11 points and a match with Falkirk in Round Two, which they won. They knocked Morton out of the Challenge Cup. In league action, though, they have only two points in three starts.

How many times have Livingston (including Meadowbank Thistle) played the other 2017-18 Championship clubs?

  74        QoS

  68        Morton

  66        Brechin

  60        Falkirk

  59        Dunfermline

  43        Dumbarton

  34        Inverness CT

  23        St Mirren

  21        Dundee United

[Morton 0 - 1 Livingston.]

Other match of the day: Falkirk vs Queen of the South. Falkirk have one point in three starts. If QoS win, and Brechin and ICT play to a draw, Falkirk will finish the day in tenth place. QoS, Dunfermline, Morton and Raith have all fallen into sinkholes at some point this decade. Is it Falkirk's turn this year? [Falkirk 1 - 4 QoS.]

How many Twitter followers does each Championship club have?

45.3K    Dundee United

25.1K    Inverness CT

21.4K    St Mirren

18.5K    Falkirk

15.9K    Dunfermline

13.7K    Morton

11.9K    Livingston

11K       Queen of the South

8010     Dumbarton

5664     Brechin City

Mark Russell's goals:

date             park             opponent       goalkeeper      competition

2015/2/21    Cappielow    Stranraer        David Mitchell    league

2015/3/28    East End      Dunfermline    Ryan Scully       league

2015/5/2      Cappielow    Peterhead      Graeme Smith   league

2016/11/12  Dumbarton   Dumbarton      Alan Martin       league

1978-79. Morton hosted St Mirren at Cappielow and lost 1 - 3. Goal by Ritchie. This was Morton's third loss in three starts, which left them tenth out of ten in the Premier Division.

1933-34. Morton visited Brechin City and won 0 - 1.

1944-45. Morton were away to Broomfield Park to play the old Airdrieonians. They won 2 - 3, their third victory in a row with an identical score.

What if the 2017-18 Championship were made up of the bottom five clubs from the 2016-17 Premiership and the top five clubs from the 2016-17 League One? Would it still look like the Championship? Which clubs would be in it? When were those clubs last in tier II, and how many times have they been in tier II since 1994?:

Kilmarnock             1992-93           0

Motherwell             1984-85            0

Dundee                  2013-14          12

Hamilton                2013-14           11

Inverness CT         now                   7

Livingston              now                 11

Alloa                      2015-16            5

Airdrieonians         2012-13            6

Brechin                   now                 3

East Fife                1996-97           1

Seven of the ten have been in the Championship in the present decade. Three of them are regulars. Only two are clubs that never play in the second tier, but lately the second tier has been home to several clubs that never play in it: Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United. These ten would make a perfectly respectable Championship, though it would be a bit weird without any of Falkirk, Morton, Raith or QoS.

The North of Scotland Cup is going on. This year it includes nine clubs from the Highland League, two from the North Caledonian League, plus Elgin City's youth squad. Round One results:

Brora 2 - 0 Clachnacuddin

Forres 5 - 2 Rothes

Fort William 4 - 0 Elgin City U20s

Wick Academy 0 - 0 Invergordon (Invergordon win on penalties)

Golspie Sutherland, Lossiemouth, Nairn County, and Strathspey Thistle have byes into Round Two.

Ayrshire Cup quarter-finals Wednesday: Hurlford United 1 - 0 Largs Thistle. Largs are out.

Today in league play: Kilsyth [2 - 2] Largs

UEFA Champions League playoff round, second leg:

Astana 4 - 3 Celtic

Celtic win 8 - 4 on aggregate and advance to the Champions League group stage.

UEFA Europa League playoff round, second leg:

Östersund 2 - 0 PAOK

Östersund advance on the away goal rule.

Östersunds FK's march through Europe so far:

2016/9/6        Svenska Cupen R2    Sollentuna FF 0 - 2 Östersunds FK

2017/2/18      SvC Group 7              Östersunds FK 2 - 1 Varbergs BolS

2017/2/25      SvC Group 7              Nyköpings BIS 1 - 5 Östersunds FK

2017/3/5        SvC Group 7              Östersunds FK 1 - 0 Hammarby IF

2017/3/11      SvC QF                      Östersunds FK 4 - 1 Trelleborgs FF

2017/3/18      SvC SF                      BK Häcken 1 - 3 Östersunds FK

2017/4/13      SvC Final                   Östersunds FK 4 - 1 IFK Norrköping

2017/7/13      EL 2QR                      Östersunds FK 2 - 0 Galatasaray

2017/7/20      EL 2QR                      Galatasaray 1 - 1 Östersunds FK

2017/7/27      EL 3QR                      Östersunds FK 1 - 0 Fola Esch

2017/8/3        EL 3QR                      Fola Esch 1 - 2 Östersunds FK

2017/8/17      EL PO                        PAOK 3 - 1 Östersunds FK

2017/8/24      EL PO                        Östersunds FK 2 - 0 PAOK

The UEFA Women's Champions League began this week with a qualifying round in the form of a group stage. Hibs are in Group 2 along with Olimpia Cluj (Romania), Zhytlobud-2 Kharkiv (Ukraine) and Swansea City. August 22nd it was Hibs 5 - 0 Swansea. Yesterday, Kharkiv 1 - 1 Hibs. Monday: Hibs [1 - 1] Cluj. [Hibs are out.]

SWFL Div 2 West: Rutherglen [0 - 7] Morton

CONCACAF League quarter-finals, second leg:

Plaza Amador 2 - 1 Walter Ferretti

Walter Ferretti are out.

AFC Champions League, quarter-final, first leg:

Kawasaki Frontale 3 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds

Also in Japan:

Vanraure Hachinohe [2 - 1] Maruyasu Okazaki

ReinMeer Aomori [2 - 2] FC Imabari

Sendai Sasuke [1 - 4] Blancdieu Hirosaki

FC Primeiro [4 - 1] Morioka Zebra

[応援よろしくっふぇ！Google translation: I will support you cheerfully! Bing translation: Cheer up fate!]

Germany:

(August 23rd) SC Freiburg II (1 - 3) 1. FC Saarbrücken

(Tomorrow) 1. FC Saarbrücken [3 - 0] Stuttgarter Kickers

Napoleon Cup the Fourth

Amiens versus Rouen in Ligue Magnus action. Source.

The Napoleon Cup returns for a fourth year, this time with three teams participating: host Gothiques d'Amiens, Dragons de Rouen, both of Ligue Magnus, and Kassel Huskies of DEL2. The games are:

August 25th    Amiens [5 - 0] Kassel Brașov

August 26th    Rouen [7 - 1] Kassel Brașov

August 27th    Amiens [0 - 2] Rouen

This is the first year that Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières is not in it. Rouen return after appearing in Napoleon Cup the First, and Kassel in Napoleon Cup the Third. Les Gothiques have been in it all four years. Maybe the University of Ottawa should try to get in on this if UQTR aren't going anymore.

[Update: Kassel were a last minute scratch (forfait tardif) and have been replaced by a Romanian club, Wolves Brașov, who play in the Hungarian MOL Liga. Read about it in the Courrier-Picard.]

[Rouen win Napoleon Cup the Fourth.]

Savaria Történelmi Karnevál

It's the Savaria Historical Festival, when the people of Szombathely celebrate living in the oldest Roman town in Hungary, and also listen to hot jazz. Source.

Namahage Museum

When in Oga City, Akita, visit the Namahage Museum. Source.

Swiss Soldiers

The Chronicle of Luzern (1513), page 149. Source.