By dint of bombarding the sun with ethanol it should be possible to change its spectrum more towards the blue end, so annoying terrestrial plants.

Reason? Reason, does there have to be a reason, as the man said.

Or Copper chloride,
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 18 2014

QED http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083468/
[not_morrison_rm, Apr 20 2014]

inadvisable promo photo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170962/
[not_morrison_rm, Apr 20 2014]

I'm not sure ethanol would do it - it would just become a bunch of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms.

But I like copper chloride. Maybe add a little strontium as well.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 18 2014


With sufficient control, and polarised sunroofs, it might be possible to make all the world's traffic lights redundant...
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 18 2014


Some civilizations do this* with technetium. See "technetium star"

*Note this is not a controversial theory. In the several minutes since it was first hypothesized, no one has argued against it.
-- lurch, Apr 19 2014


I do this all the time with a 600w sun and variously- composed gaseous vapour bulbs, and I'm not just talking about artificially inducing flowering. I can alter adult height, growth pattern, and even make a female plant think she's a dude by carefully messing around with her spectral exposure and photocycle. So that part of the idea is definitely feasible. Dunno about changing the color of the sun, though. I'm not sure we have enough additive to really make a difference.
-- Alterother, Apr 19 2014


//See "technetium star"

Hmm, you're hiding your strange idea in my strange idea, I find that unsporting somehow.....
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 19 2014


I'm sorry. It's just that my strange idea doesn't make any sense on its own, but can if taken in the context of your idea.

See, I think that the idea of the climate changing seems to make some people crazy. Taking this as a correlation rather than causation, it becomes hypothesable (?) that crazy people might want to change the climate, or some aspect thereof. (Why? You already answered that.)

So, since we do see stars with technetium- influenced spectra, and that many of these stars are red giants of substantially advanced age (>2 Gy), and Tc has no isotopes with a half-life exceeding 4.2 My, and in a fusion environment would have an accelerated mean lifetime of less than a score of years, it does not stand to reason that these spectra are a natural phenomenon, and therefore must be artificially induced, which would be crazy.

Q.E.D.
-- lurch, Apr 20 2014


Quentin E Deverill?

I did watch a few episodes, didn't seem that bad.

More or less in the same area of IMDB there is "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" and that promo pic would not go down too well in the modern world..
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 20 2014


No, it's "quod erat derilictum", which means "I left it here somewhere"
-- lurch, Apr 20 2014


After reading all my favorite ideas I'm left with the same word on my lips:

..........why??
-- Voice, Apr 20 2014


Fewer plants, Fewer people. Easier to get a seat on the train, but less to eat.
-- popbottle, Apr 21 2014


//.........why??

Reason. Reason? Does there have to be a reason?

//even make a female plant think she's a dude

Are there any "lifestyle" magazines for male plants? "Hubba, hubba, hubba look at the stamens on that one" and so on.
-- not_morrison_rm, Apr 21 2014


'High Times' is a popular title, but I'm sure there are others.
-- Alterother, Apr 21 2014


Can't you do that by putting polarized lenses around the plants?
-- travbm, Oct 29 2015



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