From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 21 Feb 2026 23:50:42 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D´Oliveiro   
    wrote:   
      
   >On Sat, 21 Feb 2026 17:10:17 -0500, William Hyde wrote:   
   >   
   >> Alas, the mass of the entire asteroid belt is not enough to   
   >> significantly increase the mass of Mars.   
   >   
   >I can remember some SF stories suggesting that the Asteroid Belt is   
   >the debris left over from a planet which was destroyed in an ancient   
   >war.   
   >   
   >Fredric Brown’s “Letter To A Phoenix” (still sticks in my mind from my   
   >earliest readings in SF):   
   >   
   >    I hope that never again is rediscovered the weapon Thragan used   
   >    against her colony on Skora, which was then the fifth planet until   
   >    the Thragans blew it into asteroids.   
   >   
   >But yes, the actual mass of the asteroids is way too small to make up   
   >a significant planet.   
   >   
   >In fact, I have heard our Solar System described as consisting of “the   
   >Sun, Jupiter, and assorted debris”. The entire mass of the rest of all   
   >the bodies other than those first two put together doesn’t even come   
   >to the mass of Jupiter.   
      
   /Stranger in a Strange Land/ ascribes this to the Martians.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)