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Fifth Avenue / Dostoevsky / Harry Potter / Messi

Fifth Avenue / Dostoevsky / Harry Potter / Messi

On This Day (November 16): Your quick daily trip back in time.

Fatih Taskiran
November 16, 2025

PRESENTED BY

🌟 Editor's Note

Good morning — it’s Sunday, November 16. Today we’re exploring Fifth Avenue's opening, Dostoevsky's punishment, Harry Potter, Messi's debut, and much more—quick, dynamic, and completely unfiltered.

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

Love Flashback? Please support us and help keep history fascinating every day.
Invite your friend to join you on this daily journey — good karma. 💌
Got something to say? Hit reply — I read every email.

— Fatih Taskiran, Editor

🚀 Time Machine

-534

Justinian Code's second and last revision, a codified set of imperial and classical laws, was published.

-1532

Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush in the Peruvian Andes.

-1824

New York City's Fifth Avenue opens for business.

-1849

Fyodor Dostoevsky is sentenced to death for alleged anti-government activities, but his execution is stayed at the last minute.

-1907

The Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory combined to become Oklahoma, the 46th state of the US.

-1945

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded.

-1959

"The Sound of Music" opens on Broadway and becomes a smash hit from the first night.

-2001

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter makes his big-screen debut in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, released in U.S. theaters.

-2003

Lionel Messi, 16, makes his official debut for FC Barcelona as a substitute in a friendly against Porto.

✨ PRESENTED BY MONEY

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📸 Snapshot

Kenny Baker, the actor who brought R2-D2 to life, is getting ready for filming, 1976

🗨️ Final Words

❝

“A dying man can do nothing easy.”

Benjamin Franklin

🤯 Strange Times

Syrup Tsunami — The North End’s Strangest, Deadliest Flood

Boston, Jan. 15, 1919. When you step outside for lunch, the air smells like a bakery... and a 2.3-million-gallon molasses tank lets go. With a speed of 35 mph, a 25-foot brown wall destroys Commercial Street, buckles the El, levels buildings, and traps cellars. The syrup settled: 21 dead, 150 injured—not a sugar rush, but a sugar wreck.

Why it happened reads like a checklist of avoidables: a leaky Purity Distilling tank (painted dark to hide the seep), warm molasses pumped in days earlier, brittle steel, and zero oversight. The company was found negligent and paid $628,000 in damages (a landmark case that pushed U.S. safety rules toward modern engineering oversight). Even a century later, the "Boston Molassacre" retains its dark punchline.

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