Enterprisingly Criminal

This Is A Byproduct -
 - of reading a long thread on Facebook's 'Space Opera' page about their favourite planet killing weapons.  Should that be hyphenated?  Planet-killing.  Yeah, that makes more sense.
     Well, one person described in some detail a method from E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" series, which is one classic series I've never read.  Maybe one to start later this year.
     "Tell us, O guru of Armageddon, tell us - how was it done!" I hear you ask.
     Only narrowing my eyes to see if that was sincere or sarcastic - I'll get back to you on that - I shall indeed explicate.  Art?

Cosmic nutcrackers

     What you do is take two sizeable planets, from a universe where everything travels faster than light, and you drop them out of hyperspace from both sides of the target planet; which in this case is Ploor.  Goodbye, Ploor.  FYI, an object of planetary mass accelerated beyond C will cause the mother of all explosions when it hits.
     This rather dramatic operation was carried out in the name of Civilisation, because Ploor was the home to a criminal organisation -
     - which brings me to what I really wanted to talk about: how does a criminal enterprise take over an entire planet?

Case in point

     If you recall your Star Wars, Qui Gon Jinn strenuously objects to having to land on Tatooine, because it is run by the Hutts - "crime lords" rather than eccentric garden sheds - of whom we get to meet Jabba.
     It bears repeating.  How did a bunch of portly sentient slugs manage to take over a planet?*  And retain that control?
     I think there's some future in this subject, so we may return to muse on it a bit more in future.
     Okay, we've buried the motley up to it's neck in sand - now to smear it with Marmite and let the fire ants loose!**

Definitely sluggish

I Am Getting Better
No!  I was not ill.  Your pathetic human microbes cannot tolerate the nitromethane that passes for blood in my veins.
     No, I refer to that horribly enticing number puzzle game, Kakuro, which I attempted to tackle many months ago, and only took up again last night, where I made a real botch of it.  Sorry, no pictures, I don't celebrate disaster.
     Anyway, I have been reading up on some tips and methods of solving it, and here is the result so far.  Art?

     Obviously it's not complete, and it has taken me a couple of hours to hit this level of success, but then my strong suit has always been words and letters.  
     Speaking of puzzles -

Today's Haul
As I would not be walking Edna this post meridian (long story) I decided to get my daily exercise by walking into Royton.  Briefly debating whether to go coat-clad or not, I opted for coat; after all, I could always take it off.
     O wise Conrad!  Just as I ducked into the RSPCA charity shop, the thunderstorm began.  It lasted for a good thirty -
     - yes but we're not here to discuss the Allotment of Eden's weather.  Art?

Oh.  Sideways.  Okay, sideways it is, then.  Thanks, Samsung Galaxy J3.

     The silver cover makes it hard to read, so I'll spell it out for you: Reader's Digest Compendium of Puzzles and Brain Teasers.
     I shall have to be extremely careful with this.  For one, it's very heavy and could easily break a toe were it to be clumsily dropped.  For two, your humble scribe is rather an obsessive when it comes to puzzles.  It would be all too easy to "just take a look" and then suddenly discover it's one thirty ante meridian, and I need to be up by six ...
     Oh, and there's an interesting looking cookbook, too.

Island! (Which Is Icelandic For "Iceland")
I know I don't usually comment on the ballfoot game, but I have to say that plucky little Iceland have done outstandingly well against Argentina.  The total population of Iceland is about that of Oldham and Rochdale combined, or a few city blocks in Nineveh on the Hudson (or New York if we're being formal).  Argentina have a player called Messi, whom work colleagues have told me is one of the best players in the world.  And, famously, Iceland knocked those feckless prima donnas England out of whatever that major thing was a few years back.

Iceland.  

     For your information, parts of "Prometheus" were filmed there, as was the ending of "War on Everyone", which was about a couple of enterprisingly criminal South Canadian policement, which is where we came in -


*  Not that I'm looking for tips or anything.  Still -
**  Ants love Marmite.  Little known nature fact.***
***  I lied.  Most ants hate Marmite.