On September 10, 1977, Hamida Djandoubi was guillotined at Baumettes prison in Marseille, the last execution ever carried out in France. A few months earlier, in May, Star Wars had opened in American theaters and the Apple II had just been launched. France only abolished the death penalty in October 1981, under a law championed by Robert Badinter. The guillotine had been in use for nearly two centuries.
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.