The immediate problem ...

Dark Sun - Vue/Robert E.

Yours truly posted this image before but the pix relates to the current insanity happening in the world as we speak. The Great Filter looms as AI, climate change and the possibility of WW III looms as this civilization moves further into the 21st century and we haven't even discussed the Anthropocene, the 6th major extinction event happening 24/7 due to ongoing environmental collapse driven by pollution, habitat loss and the continued plundering
of the world's resources.

This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface. The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region. Even more than 100 years after the invention of the electric light, some regions remain thinly populated and unlit. Antarctica is entirely dark. The interior jungles of Africa and South America are mostly dark, but lights are beginning to appear there. Deserts in Africa, Arabia, Australia, Mongolia, and the United States are poorly lit as well (except along the coast), along with the boreal forests of Canada and Russia, and the great mountains of the Himalaya.

The immediate problem, war with Iran

Symbolic mock-ups of Iranian missiles are displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran, March 22, 2026
Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran’s military has said the United States is failing in its war and negotiating with itself to save face, dismissing claims by US President Donald Trump that talks are under way to end the conflict.

“Has the level of your inner ⁠struggle reached the stage ⁠of you negotiating with yourself?” Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for the unified command of Iran’s armed ⁠forces, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Wednesday in comments carried by Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency.

The insanity gambit

Trump claims US has achieved ‘regime change’, ‘received present’ from Iran

Kharg Island - The third rail option

Kharg Island is Iran’s primary oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. This rocky limestone island is unique because it is one of the few islands in the Persian Gulf with freshwater which has collected within the porous limestone. In addition to its commercial and strategic importance, the freshwater has biological importance, supporting populations of gazelles. This high-resolution photograph taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station shows detail of the tanker dock facilities, tanks and other infrastructure. Sunglint on the surface of the water highlights small amounts of oil on the sea surface and reveals the direction of the local currents.

Paratroopers leaping down from Osprey choppers and swarming onto the shores of Kharg Island under a hail of gunfire...could this be the next phase of fighting in the Iran war?

The Pentagon is sending its prestigious 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East—elite soldiers trained to parachute into hostile foreign territory and take control of the area.

The deployment, leaked to media on Tuesday, is just the latest round of forces being directed to the region as the U.S. gears up for a potentially huge escalation in the war—a possible invasion of Iran's oil export hub.

Up to 3,000 paratroopers could be joining the estimated 5,000 Marines currently being shipped over, swelling the ranks of the 50,000 American troops already in the Middle East.

Question, What is the betting pool for the Orange Menace
to do the unthinkable while receiving a present from Iran?

I thought so.