In 1810, Frenchman Nicolas Appert published his heat-preservation method and Englishman Peter Durand patented the tin-plated container. Early cans fed sailors and soldiers, but their thick walls had to be opened with a hammer and chisel, or even a bayonet. The first can openers only appeared in the mid-1850s, as thinner cans began making their way into home kitchens.
Around 2300 BCE, Enheduanna, daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, became high priestess of the Moon god at Ur. She composed hymns to the goddess Inanna and put her name to them. She is the oldest person identified as the author of a literary work, about 1,500 years before Homer.
Squeeze Earth's 4.5 billion years into a single 24-hour day. Homo sapiens shows up around 11:59:54 p.m., roughly six seconds before midnight. All of written history, from Sumerian tablets to today, fits into the final tenth of a second. A cosmic blink.