Typical Friday Night At The Mansion

Which Is To Say -
     The messenger mice are on a sabbatical, the guard hog is out in his hutch, the Ukranian song and dance troupe are rehearsing (and complaining), the wolves have moved on and all radioactive isotopes are safely secured in the Dangerous Kitchen.  Where's the hard hog?  Ah, apparently the next series of "Primeval" - but that would be telling.

Party night at the Mansion.

The Society And It's Journal
     I alluded to this in my Facebook banner-waving and wondered if anyone was interested in finding out more?
     Actually I'm going to tell you more whether you were interested or not.  I'm horrid like that.
     Okay, officially our title is "The Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers", abbreviated to "SOTCW", which doesn't lend itself to witty contractions.  If you come up with one, there may be folding money involved.
     The website:

http://www.sotcw.co.uk/

The Forum:

http://sotcw.punbb-hosting.com/

The Journal - a pithy title that may lack imagination but makes up for it with sheer accuracy - viz:

Artwork by the incomparable Rob Rowell.

All work done by unpaid volunteers.  Our current artistic and creative dynamo (also known as "The Editor") is Richard Baber.  Conrad has been known to contribute on occasion and indeed owes Richard an article.  I shall have to don the creative cap over the weekend and do a book review.

Everyone's Gone To The Moon
     Not quite, not yet.  That Chinese lunar rover, Yutu, has been pictured from orbit by the NASA LRO satellite.  More detail at the ever-wonderful Auntie Beeb:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25559061

And in case you were sitting there, reading this blog and thinking "My life would be shallow and taste of ashes were I not to be shown this Yutu and be shown right now!" -

Yutu. 

Also, you too can Youtube Yutu*:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yutu&sm=12

Beware of a whole lot of tinfoil-beanie wearing loons, though!

So - Tanks?
     Yes.  Tanks do not come in one size and shape.  Chris, a work colleague, quite an intelligent chap in all respects, did not realise that Not All Tanks Are The Same.  Allow me to demonstrate:

M1 Abrams with Mine Plough.  Not to be messed with.

Japanese Tankette.  Requires 2 AA batteries to operate

Also:

Challenger 2 giving the desert a hard time.  Desert, wisely, does not retaliate

Enough raving militarism!
     Quite.  Let us have something cute and cuddly since Anna - hello Anna! - may be reading this.  What's cute and cuddly, Mister Hand?
     <Mister Hand warns that vampire or zombie soft toys are not, inherently, cuddly>
     Okay Mister Grumpypants!

I'm cute!  And wonderful!  (plus I did not escape from Station Twelve in Antarctica so I am not a shape-shifting alien monster, thank you for asking)

 * Sorry, couldn't resist.