The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world’s most strategically important choke points. It has been so for centuries, with vast hinterlands rich in luxury trade goods, but no easy access to lucrative trading ports. In his memoirs, Babur, the first padishah of the Mughal Empire, recounted how almonds had to be carried from the distant Ferghana region in Central Asia to Hormuz to reach markets.
During 2023–2025, 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 25% of seaborne oil trade passed through the strait annually. The strait had never been closed for extended time during Middle East conflicts (until this month) (unlike the Straits of Tiran/Bab-el-Mandeb) though Iran occasionally had threatened to close the strait (and they did), and preparations to mine it have been undertaken.
Etymology
Persian etymology derives “Hormuz” from the Middle Persian pronunciation of the name of the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the name derives from the local Persian word Hur-Mogh ‘Place of Dates’. A theory claims that the strait of Hormuz may have been named after Ifra Hormizd, the mother of King Shapur II of Persia, who ruled between 309 and 379 AD.
In the 10th–17th centuries AD, the Kingdom of Ormus was located here. Scholars, historians and linguists derive the name “Ormuz” from the local Persian word هورمغ Hur-mogh meaning date palm.
From the 15th century onward, from a strategic point of view, the geography of the strait maintained and expanded its importance with the arrival of foreign powers such as Portugal, which maintained its presence between the 16th and 18th centuries, also provoking disputes with other emerging powers such as England when it arrived in the region in the 17th century.
Navigation
To reduce the risk of collision, ships moving through the strait follow a traffic separation scheme (TSS): inbound ships use one lane, outbound ships another, each lane being two miles wide. The lanes are separated by a two-mile-wide “median”
In 1959, Iran altered the legal status of the strait by expanding its territorial sea to 12 nmi (22 km) and declaring it would recognize only transit by innocent passage through the newly expanded area.[16] In 1972, Oman also expanded its territorial sea to 12 nmi (22 km) by decree.[16] Thus, by 1972, the Strait of Hormuz was completely “closed” by the combined territorial waters of Iran and Oman. During the 1970s, neither Iran or Oman attempted to impede the passage of warships, but in the 1980s, both countries asserted claims that were different from customary (old) law.
Oil trade flow
During 2023–2025, 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas and 25% of seaborne oil trade passes through the Strait, illustrating its important location for trade.
More than 85% of these crude oil exports went to Asian markets on a daily basis, with Japan, India, South Korea and China the largest destinations. If shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were significantly disrupted for an extended period, it could lead to a major oil supply crisis for major Asian importers such as India and China.
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Last 4 hours were stressful as hell. Found a stray cat lying in some mud that actually let me get near it and pet it. Came back with a crate and she climbed right into my arms and let me put her in and walk her 20 mins back to my house so we could drive to the vet.
First vet said she might be pregnant or have pus in her uterus but we should go to the emergency vet nearby who are better equipped to take her in over night.
Went there and waited about 3 hours while agonizing on whether I was going to have to choose between paying 6 - 10k for the surgery she was going to need or let them euthanise her. She was not pregnant, but has a severe abdomen/uterine infection. Also not equipped to take her home with several other pets already.
Vet finally came back and asked about how I found her then said they’re gonna do the surgery one way or another and it should be successful given her condition. I would only have to pay if I wanted to be involved in her treatment decisions from there on and maybe adopt her.
I cried multiple times because it’s fucked up that animal lives are often valued so low that people can’t or won’t pay that sum to ensure they live. Now I’m super relieved the vet is gonna take care of her and get her set up with a shelter for adoption after she recovers.
Cat related.
Ballroom Blitz by Sweet sounds like someone reading a Dr Seuss book about a bar fight to toddlers set to music. Also I really like that he asks everyone if theyre ready including the drummer who has been locked the fuck in for several bars. Considerate blitz
I asked someone out and they said no, so I’ve decided to never love again.
I would like everyone to be aware that “let people enjoy things” includes allowing yourself to enjoy stuff; I think I just had my first bit of actual fun in ages and it was quite refreshing.
My mind will not stop fixating on the concept of Martin Luther Cleese
Its eid today, a day of happiness but I’m just miserable. Had my friend group fight today and fragmented (it’s partially my fault, but a lot of it was another person too in that group against me, and they blew it all up today), I feel lonely, and ran out of anti-depressants to keep me going.
Great.
I just made the most perfectly balanced snack ever devised; Raisin Bran Crunch with chocolate moose tracks ice cream in it as well as milk. Literal manna from heaven HOW IS THIS SO GOOD! OMFG I’M ASCENDING
i can tell amerikkka is going to lose because my dad who was hyped for the war 2 weeks ago (yeah i know
) is just sitting in front of his PC like 
while switching between streams of fox news and al jazeeraIdk if anyone else feels the same at this point, but despite being vehemently against LLMs, I have to use them every day at my job to keep up with fantastical metrics. Never mind the fact that said metrics are complete bullshit and do not reflect business operations in the slightest, but the output is always “mission critical.”
I do slowly get a little peace with the entire situation though because the more that I think about it, corporate America is a spitting image of everything wrong with LLMs
Been looking through Zeta Gundam footage to see if there’s and stylistic difference in the anime between Kamille piloting the MK2 Gundam and Emma Sheen piloting the same, cause I wanna make it clear via the posing of my Mk2 model that it’s Emma Sheen Piloting. I have 2 Zeta gundam kits and was thinking I could turn my earlier really bad one into wave rider form to cover the fact it was my 2nd kit and it looks like ass and could figure a way to attach rhe mk2 on top so its riding it and then also make a wall mount thar supports the combo. I have the concept down. It involves a pie plate
this is an incredible title text
40pct of this country is grinding and hustling so they can dream of taking out a loan to cover backward baseball caps and a van covered in AI-generated corporate memphis art and rent out a commercial space in the DFW exhurbs surround by sroads so they can sell giant 1000 calorie, 60g sugar cookieslops to every other loser who couldn’t make the cut, couldn’t do the protocol, couldn’t keep up with ice plunges, couldn’t parse Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, couldn’t play the Gladwell podcast at 2X speed, couldn’t get their ex-wife’s parents to loan them 10k to cover their losses on DraftKings (having missed the parlay by taking the over on Ayton rebounds, like fucking fools).
Reddit communist: “If you’re saying someone shouldn’t be a cop, you’re effectively saying someone should rather starve than be a cop.” My God is this a fed?
The concept of radical centrism is really frustrating, to me. It’s like they’re almost there to figure out that everything is a struggle of two opposing forces, but they have no understanding of dialectics and if they do, it’s not materialism based. Even if they say it’s based on material reality, the mind is separated from the body, the “mental” plane exists as a sort of goop that can be infinitely molded and is only restricted by the limits of the physical body, it is not seen as being a part of the body.
You can even see it in the scientific language we use, when describing what happens when antimatter and matter collides, it’s seen as annihilation, when it’s just another form of synthesis. I really wish someone like Mao or Lenin was here to give us their view on latest developments humanity has achieved. The best we get now is some pseudo intellectuals funded by mega corps, too afraid to move forward, grown attached to the way things are, unsatisfied with how they are, the only way forward is the past. Forever in a loop.
