Plenty of Nothing

North Sydney Forum

Source.

Mechanics' Institute, Dartmouth

Built as a Mechanics' Institute in 1846, this building on Ochterloney Street was for many years Dartmouth's town hall. Source.

BBC Recording Van

As mentioned repeatedly by Rose Macaulay in The Towers of Trebizond. Source.

2022 WJ1 Debris Field

The red area shows where you might find a piece of 2022 WJ1, a small asteroid discovered just hours before it fell on the Niagara peninsula. Source.

The Skelpies

The Port Glasgow Shipbuilders monument was installed this year. Source.

It's the Scottish Cup, Round Three. Morton host Queen of the South. This is the eighth year in a row that these two teams have met in a competitive match. This is also the eighth Scottish Cup tie between them. To date Morton have advanced four times, QoS three.

Morton are undefeated in 8 matches, for the first time since July/August 2016. Queen of the South beat Montrose 4 - 0 last week.

Auchinleck Talbot, Darvel, Drumchapel, Dunipace, Hill of Beath Hawthorn, Linlithgow Rose, Pollok and Sauchie have been in it since the preliminary round. Morton have never played any of them. Morton have also never played Broomhill, Formartine, Fraserburgh, Kelty Hearts, the University of Stirling or Wick Academy.

Queen of the South's Iain Wilson, Gavin Reilly and Scott Fox have all played for Morton in the past. Morton's Darragh O'Connor and Jack Baird have played for QoS. The last Morton player to score on Queen of the South was Cameron Blues back in February.

Every Championship side has a lower league opponent, so they could conceivably all advance to Round Four, though if Morton win and the other nine lose that's fine too.

When were Morton last eliminated from the Scottish Cup in November?    2014.

When were Morton last eliminated from the Scottish Cup at Cappielow?    2010.

When were Morton last eliminated from the Scottish Cup by Queen of the South?    2008.

[There's a Quitongo on either side, Jai for Morton and Rico for QoS.]

[Morton win 4 - 1. Goals by Muirhead (2), Gillespie and King.]

The other Scottish Cup matches:

Broomhill 1 - 2 Alloa (yesterday)

First meeting ever.

Partick Thistle [3 - 0] Kelty Hearts

First meeting ever.

Dundee [6 - 2] Airdrieonians

They met in the 2005-06 Scottish Cup (round 4) and Dundee won.

Fraserburgh [0 - 2] Arbroath

These two met in the 1999-2000 Scottish Cup (round 2) and Arbroath won.

Inverness CT [3 - 2] Stirling Albion

They met in the 2006-07 and 2015-16 Scottish Cups and ICT won both times.

Raith Rovers [3 - 0] Auchinleck Talbot

First meeting ever.

Peterhead [0 - 3] Queen's Park

They met in the 1978-79 and 2008-09 Scottish Cups and Queen's Park won both times.

Cove Rangers [7 - 0] Dunipace

First meeting that I know of.

Hamilton Academical [4 - 0] East Kilbride

They've met in the League Cup but not this cup.

Dunfermline [4 - 0] Forfar

These two met in the Scottish Cups of 1949-50, 1961-62, 1983-84 and 1991-92, and Dunfermline won each time.

Clyde [1 - 3] Dumbarton    (Upset)

These venerable clubs have met in the Scottish Cup four times before, twice in the 19th Century and twice in the 20th.

Drumchapel United [1 - 0] FC Edinburgh    (Upset)

First meeting ever.

Wick Academy [0 - 6] Falkirk

First meeting ever.

Montrose [2 - 5] Darvel    (Upset)

First meeting ever.

Formartine [1 - 3] Stenhousemuir

First meeting ever.

Hill of Beath Hawthorn [1 - 2] Elgin

First meeting ever.

Albion Rovers [0 - 1] University of Stirling    (Upset)

These to have met before, in the 2014-15 Cup. (See below.) University of Stirling are currently in the Lowland League's pyramid playoff spot.

Linlithgow Rose [1 - 0] Sauchie Juniors

An East of Scotland Premier Division clash.

Ayr United [1 - 0] Pollok (Monday)

First meeting ever.

Other matches:

Forres Mechanics [3 - 4] Nairn County

Gala Fairydean Rovers [2 - 1] Civil Service Strollers

Largs Thistle [0 - 1] Cambuslang Rangers

FC Isle of Man [2 - 1] Charnock Richard

Elfen Saitama [3 - 1] JEF United Chiba

Morton Women [0 - 2] Ayr (tomorrow)

Zorya Luhansk [1 - 1] Minaj (tomorrow)

Zorya Luhansk is one of the big Ukrainian clubs, having won the Soviet Top League in 1972. They're in UEFA Europa Conference League this year due to having won the 2021-22 Ukrainian Cup. Luhansk has been in the war zone since 2014, so Zorya groundshare with Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, though now that's not so far from the war either.

The Ukrainian Premier League is now off till March.

Canada

Thompson River University won the Canadian university men's soccer championship. Université de Montréal Carabins won the women's title.

The CPL has pulled the plug on FC Edmonton, so the league will play the 2023 season with eight teams. The league ran the club in 2022 and much of the Eddies roster this year was made up of loan players, three of them from HFX Wanderers: Ousman Maheshe, Wesley Timoteo and CJ Smith.

Japan

It's the final round of the 2022 Japan Regional Football Champions League. The four finalists are FC Kariya, Okinawa SV, Briobecca Urayasu and Tochigi City. The final pecking order for promotion to the JFL will be known tomorrow.

[The final order is: Briobecca Urayasu, Okinawa SV, Tochigi City, FC Kariya. Briobecca and Okinawa are promoted to the JFL.]

So here's how the Japanese leagues played out:

Yokohama F. Marinos won the J1 title. They'll be joined in the AFC Champions League by the 2nd- and 3rd-place finishers Kawasaki Frontale and Sanfrecce Hiroshima, plus Emperor's Cup winners Ventforet Kofu, who were 18th in J2. Shimizu S-Pulse and Júbilo Iwata are relegated to J2.

Albirex Niigata and Yokohama FC are promoted to J1. FC Ryukyu and Iwate Grulla Morioka are relegated to J3.

Iwaki FC and Fujieda MYFC are promoted to J2. At first Iwaki were going to be denied but the powers that be accepted their promise to have a big stadium built by 2031. Iwaki were in the Fukushima Prefecture league third division just seven years ago. 

Nara Club and FC Osaka are promoted from the JFL to J3. There is no relegation to the JFL this year, but there will be in 2023, now that J3 is full.

Nobody from the Tohoku League made it to the JFL this year. [Briobecca Urayasu and Okinawa SV are promoted.]

I thought Bogolle.D.Tsugaru had avoided relegation from Tohoku Division 1, finishing 9th out of 12, but the bottom four teams are being relegated to make up for those two Covid seasons when Division 1 didn't relegate anyone. Morioka Zebra did manage to stay up, though.

It's the first round of the 44th Empress's Cup. The first three rounds will reduce a group of 37 teams down to five. These then join the 11 WE League teams in round four in December. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all take place in January. Let's follow the university clubs through the early rounds:

(Matches No. 1 and 17 are tomorrow.)

Match No. 1: Tokyo International University [0 - 4] Viamaterras Miyazaki

Match No. 3: Toyo University [5 - 0] Norddea Hokkaido

Match No. 6: Seisa Oso Rhea Shonan [1 - 1] Aichi Toho University    [Rhea win on PK]

Match No. 8: Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki [1 - 2] University of Tsukuba

Match No. 15: Diosa Izumo [3 - 0] Tokai University

Match No. 16: NGU Loveledge Nagoya [6 - 0] Sapporo University Vista

Match No. 17: Bunnys Gunma FC White Star [1 - 3] Waseda University

Canada and Japan in the World Cup:

Canada 2 - 1 Japan (friendly) (November 17)

Germany 1 - 2 Japan (November 23)

Belgium 1 - 0 Canada (November 23)

Japan [0 - 1] Costa Rica (tomorrow)

Croatia [4 - 1] Canada (tomorrow)

Historical matches:

November 22, 1966    Morton 5 - 0 Queen's Park

November 26, 1966    Dumbarton 0 - 1 Morton

University of Stirling in the Scottish Cup:

2012/9/29      R2    University of Stirling 0 - 1 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

2014/10/5      R2    University of Stirling 1 - 4 Albion Rovers

2015/9/26      R1    Threave Rovers 1 - 3 University of Stirling

2015/10/24    R2    University of Stirling 1 - 2 Queen's Park

2016/9/24      R1    Clachnacuddin 1 - 2 University of Stirling

2016/10/26    R2    Arbroath 3 - 1 University of Stirling

2017/9/23      R1    Wick Academy 2 - 2 University of Stirling

2017/9/20      R1    University of Stirling 1 - 0 Wick Academy

2017/10/14    R2    Montrose 4 - 1 University of Stirling

2018/9/23      R1    University of Stirling 2 - 1 Keith

2018/10/20    R2    Deveronvale 1 - 2 University of Stirling

2018/11/24    R3    University of Stirling 0 - 4 Elgin City

2019/9/21      R1    Keith 2 - 3 University of Stirling

2019/10/20    R2    University of Stirling 0 - 2 Linlithgow Rose

2020/12/12   PR2   Jeanfield Swifts 3 - 1 University of Stirling

2021/9/18      R1    Caledonian Braves 0 - 1 University of Stirling

2021/10/23    R2    East Kilbride 4 - 0 University of Stirling

2022/9/18      R1    University of Stirling 3 - 0 Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale

2022/10/22    R2    Dunbar United 1 - 3 University of Stirling

2022/11/26    R3    Albion Rovers vs University of Stirling

Czech Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, painted in the soft style by Master Theodoric in the mid-14th century for Emperor Charles IV's chapel in Karlštejn Castle. She's now at the National Gallery in Prague. Source.

Artemis and the Moon

Source.

Sir Gilbert Parker

When asked how long he thought his novels would last, Robertson Davies said, "Well, nobody reads Gilbert Parker anymore." Parker, who was born on this date in 1862 in Eastern Ontario, went on to be a bestselling novelist, an MP in the Westminster Parliament and the head of Britain's propaganda campaign to bring the US into World War One. The Belleville Community Archives received his papers in 2017.

Quarter Noble

This gold quarter noble minted during the reign of Henry VI was recovered this summer on the south coast of Newfoundland and raises the possibility that there were English ships in that part of the world as early as the 1420s. Source.

Dürer Airmail, 1971

Source.