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Babylon / Oktoberfest / Bali Bombings / Day of Six Billion

On This Day (October 12): Your quick daily trip back in time.

Author

Fatih Taskiran
October 12, 2025

PRESENTED BY

🌟 Editor's Note

Good morning — it’s Sunday, October 12. Today, we're exploring the fall of Babylon, Columbus in the "New World," the origins of Oktoberfest, the six billionth living human, and much more.

Oh, and don't miss our legendary Strange Times story about Laika, which will dazzle you.

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— Fatih Taskiran, Editor

🚀 Time Machine

-539 BC

Cyrus the Great's army from Persia captured Babylon.

-1279

Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon.

-1492

Christopher Columbus lands on a Caribbean island, which he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas), believing he has reached East Asia.

-1492

Oktoberfest began when Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

-1864

Brazilian troops led by Gen. João Propício Mena Barreto invaded Uruguay, sparking the War of the Triple Alliance.

-1900

The first modern submarine, USS Holland, was commissioned by the US Navy and designed by John Philip Holland.

-1915

Detroit's River Rouge plant produces Ford Motor Company's one millionth car.

-1999

The Day of Six Billion was proclaimed as the six billionth living human in the world was born.

-2002

The Bali bombings, carried out by militant Islamist terrorists, killed 202 people and injured more than 200.

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📸 Snapshot

Laika, a mixed-breed dog, was the first living being in orbit when the Soviet Union launched her on Sputnik 2, 1957

🗨️ Final Words

❝

“I believe everything I have written about immortality.”

🤯 Strange Times

Statue to Shooting Star —What really happened to Laika?

Nov 3, 1957: the USSR put a Moscow stray into orbit. Her name was Laika (a.k.a. Kudryavka), and Sputnik 2 had no reentry plan because it was hastily assembled in four weeks to celebrate the October Revolution anniversary. She was calm, wired with sensors, sealed in a tiny capsule, and sent up as a one-way proof of concept. The world called her "Muttnik." The scientists who loved her knew better.

For decades, it was "she lived for days." In 2002, the truth finally came out: a thermal failure overheated the cabin; Laika died within hours. Her spacecraft circled for five months before burning up—a shooting star with a heartbreaking footnote. Her flight still pushed space medicine toward Gagarin (1961), and it forced an ethics reckoning we're still having—progress, with teeth marks.

Where to Invest $100,000 According to Experts

Investors face a dilemma. Headlines everywhere say tariffs and AI hype are distorting public markets.

Now, the S&P is trading at over 30x earnings—a level historically linked to crashes.

And the Fed is lowering rates, potentially adding fuel to the fire.

Bloomberg asked where experts would personally invest $100,000 for their September edition. One surprising answer? Art.

It’s what billionaires like Bezos, Gates, and the Rockefellers have used to diversify for decades.

Why?

  • Contemporary art prices have appreciated 11.2% annually on average

  • …And with one of the lowest correlations to stocks of any major asset class (Masterworks data, 1995-2024).

  • Ultra-high net worth collectors (>$50M) allocated 25% of their portfolios to art on average. (UBS, 2024)

Thanks to the world’s premiere art investing platform, now anyone can access works by legends like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso—without needing millions. Want in? Shares in new offerings can sell quickly but…

*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.

🏆 FlashQuiz

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