The Off Topic Topic

[crazy canuck]

If not for Woke Tyrannosaurs on the far left the moderates would have stopped the far right crazy asteroid from destroying the planet.

Deep impactful observation

[Josquius]

I find crying babies at 4am to be woke.

[DGuller]

Quick question:  assuming that your tax return isn't going to have a dramatic refund or payment, does it make much of a difference if you file for extension or just file late after the deadline without extension?  I know you're going to pay a penalty if you owe something, but on a small three figure amount that doesn't seem that material.

If you can answer in the next 20 minutes, that would be great.

[Josquius]

#richpeoplestuff

[Eddie Teach]

#richpeoplestuff

Eh. In the immortal words of Biggie Smalls, "No need to worry, my accountant handles that."

[Sheilbh]

BBC are doing a "big jubilee read" for the Queen's jubilee:

A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign
17 April 2022
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-serving monarch in British history, with a reign that began on 6 February 1952. The Big Jubilee Read celebrates great books from across the Commonwealth, to coincide with the Platinum Jubilee. It features 70 titles - ten from each decade of the Queen's reign. Read on to discover which inspiring writers are on the list and explore each decade in detail.

A collection spanning six continents

To mark Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee, The Reading Agency have compiled a list of seventy novels, short story anthologies and poetry collections published in the Commonwealth since 1952. An expert panel of librarians, booksellers and literature specialists has chosen seventy titles from a "readers' choice" longlist with ten books for each decade of Her Majesty The Queen's reign.

The list offers brilliant, beautiful and thrilling writing produced by authors from a wide range of Commonwealth countries over the last seventy years to engage all readers in the discovery and celebration of great books. Spanning 31 countries and six continents, this truly international collection is a fitting tribute to the most widely travelled monarch in history.

The Big Jubilee Read will connect a broad range of readers across the UK with great Commonwealth reads, and will be supported by events and activities in libraries and bookshops, as well as resources to unite reading groups across the country.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Ynpj933DJ2YG5nsMS6fn8k/a-literary-celebration-of-queen-elizabeth-iis-record-breaking-reign

It's actually not a bad list

There's people kicking off about JK Rowling not appearing as evidence of her being cancelled - when it would just be insane and a dereliction of duty if they included her.

I'd probably have pushed to get Angela Carter in there, probably swapped out Douglas Stuart for Nicola Barker. But I've read a good chunk and of those, not many I'd disagree with. Also a really good  post-colonialism reading list (especially the 50s - 70s) at least to start with.

[Grey Fox]

Quick question:  assuming that your tax return isn't going to have a dramatic refund or payment, does it make much of a difference if you file for extension or just file late after the deadline without extension?  I know you're going to pay a penalty if you owe something, but on a small three figure amount that doesn't seem that material.

If you can answer in the next 20 minutes, that would be great.

Get your wife to do your taxes.

[Syt]

[Syt]

Question: what's a relatively inexpensive, fast way to render an Earth-like planet uninhabitable for at least a few centuries? Not talking full on destruction (Death Star, Death Cloud as used by the Shadows in B5 etc.).

More like taking out as much vital infrastructure as possible and denying the enemy use of the real estate (or at least place huge obstacles on e.g. placing assets there(. Context would be a scorched Earth type of warfare between highly antagonistic, highly developed Empires. They'd be more interested in eradicating the enemy at all cost in an existential struggle rather than conquering those planets (since invading and permanently occupying a planet of billions with ground troops seems extremely high cost).

Nanobots (think "grey goo" type of apocalypse) are not available.

Currently I'm coming down on massive surface destruction through either super high yield nukes or hyper-accelerated projectiles (as a poor man's version: asteroids; they have the downside of requiring more prep-time, and being slower to maneuver than, say, missiles). I would prefer nukes for the radiation. The planet would be covered in particle clouds for decades, leading to a (nuclear) winter. This initial attack would be followed by chemical agents that persistently poison air, water, and soil on a global level for a few centuries at least (or possibly make air/water corrosive).

I guess turning a planet into the equivalent of real life Venus would do the trick, but that doesn't seem like something to do on the quick.

Thoughts? Alternatives? Stripping away the atmosphere might work, but would likely leave infrastructure intact.

Weirdly, this is not something easily googled.

[The Brain]

Dropping a major asteroid sounds fairly simple and cheap (if they exist in the system, otherwise depends on your interstellar technology). As long as you enjoy "vacuum superiority" you can drop another one whenever you feel like the effects are starting to wear off.

If you have the technology to do more advanced changes to the planetary environment then maybe the enemy has the technology to fix them. One aspect of course is how dependent the enemy is on a surface ecosphere. Both radiation and poison could be avoided by going underground, which might be cheap and simple given the enemy's technology. If the planet's main resource is mineral wealth then little harm has been done to the enemy.

[The Larch]

Dropping enough nukes would create one hell of a nuclear winter that could render the planet uninhabitable for quite a while. Maybe some kind of long term modification of the atmosphere that renders it unbreathable?

[Barrister]

How about good 'ole biological warfare?  A highly lethal virus that kills off the enemy population.  I can't tell from your description whether the two empires are of different species or not, but if different species could be highly effective.

Seems to me leaving the infrastructure intact would be a bonus in this situation.

Otherwise seed the atmosphere with radioactive isotopes that would kill off the local population.  After a few decades or centuries you can then come back to take the planet.

Or... targeted nukes directed not at infrastucture, but at weak spots in the planet's crust with a view to triggering multiple supervolcanos spewing huge amounts of gas and dust into the atmosphere, rending the planet uninhabitable.

[crazy canuck]

Question: what's a relatively inexpensive, fast way to render an Earth-like planet uninhabitable for at least a few centuries? Not talking full on destruction (Death Star, Death Cloud as used by the Shadows in B5 etc.).

Asking for a friend?

[Syt]

Good input all.

@TheBrain, I'm thinking population and production centers, not just mining operations. They would exist on those planets, but the majority would come from mining outposts/smaller colonies that are more easily taken out. And even having the resources means little if your infrastructure for converting them into weaponry is disrupted. Still going underground is something I've considered and not sure how to get around it (except that such facilities might be limited since it was not expected that war would lead to such levels of destrcution; but that feels like a weak excuse).

@TheLarch, that's what I'm currently sitting on. It's not a hard sci-fi setting, so I'm fine with having a "magic" chemical that has that effect.

@Barrister The races would be "adjacent" - genetically somewhat distinct but compatible (in setting, one faction actually uses such a virus as last ditch defense against an ancient enemy, but the virus spreads to another. The joint retaliation leads to the (almost) complete extermination of the the ones who created the virus.

[Syt]

Question: what's a relatively inexpensive, fast way to render an Earth-like planet uninhabitable for at least a few centuries? Not talking full on destruction (Death Star, Death Cloud as used by the Shadows in B5 etc.).

Asking for a friend?