Michelangelo was only 26 years old when he finished carving what would become the world's most famous statue. The 17-foot-tall David had been three years in the making, carved from a single block of white Carrara marble that other artists had rejected as flawed. The massive sculpture depicted the Biblical hero David moments before his battle with Goliath, capturing him in a pose of tense concentration rather than the traditional post-victory scenes that earlier artists had favored.

The statue was supposed to go on top of Florence Cathedral, along with eleven other prophets to be placed 80 meters above the ground on the roofline. But when the cathedral officials saw Michelangelo's masterpiece in January 1504, they realized it was far too magnificent to be stuck up there where people could barely see it. A committee including Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli was formed to decide where to put the sculpture, and they agreed it should be displayed prominently in the city's main square.

Moving the massive statue was an incredible feat in itself. It took 40 men and four days to transport David the half-mile from Michelangelo's workshop to the Piazza della Signoria. The statue was suspended in a wooden frame and rolled on fourteen greased logs through the narrow streets of Florence. They even had to tear down an archway because the sculpture was so tall it wouldn't fit through.

On September 8, 1504, David was finally unveiled to the public in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of Florence's government. The statue immediately became a symbol of the city's independence and strength - the young shepherd who defeated a giant perfectly represented Florence standing up to more powerful neighboring states. While some conservative citizens were scandalized by the nudity and even threw stones at the statue, most Florentines recognized they were looking at a masterpiece that would define Renaissance art for centuries to come.

Evel Knievel sat in what was basically a steam-powered rocket aimed at the sky above Idaho's Snake River Canyon. The Skycycle X-2 was 16 feet long and designed to blast him across the quarter-mile-wide chasm at 350 mph. This wasn't just another motorcycle jump - Knievel had bought 425 acres of land to build his own private launching site after the government refused to let him jump the Grand Canyon.

About 15,000 spectators had paid $25 each to witness what might be the most dangerous stunt ever attempted, while millions more watched on closed-circuit TV in movie theaters across America for $10. The event was so big that David Frost anchored the telecast alongside an ABC science editor and Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell. Knievel, dressed in his signature red, white, and blue leather jumpsuit, was openly nervous - he'd been telling reporters "I can't sleep nights... all I can see is that big ugly hole in the ground grinning up at me like a death's head."

At 3:36 PM, Knievel pushed the button and the steam-powered rocket shot up the 56-degree ramp. But something went wrong almost immediately - his parachute deployed right after takeoff instead of waiting until he'd crossed the canyon. The malfunction turned what should have been a death-defying rocket flight into a gentle float down to the canyon floor. Knievel and his contraption drifted down like a leaf, landing on the riverbank directly below his launch ramp.

Knievel survived with only minor injuries, but his reputation took a beating. Critics called it a ripoff and accused him of deliberately deploying the parachute early. However, later analysis showed it was a design flaw that caused the premature deployment - the retention cover hadn't properly accounted for air resistance. Though the jump failed spectacularly, Knievel had still risked his life in front of the world, and his fans loved him for it. The earthen launch ramp still sits on the canyon rim today as a monument to one of the most audacious stunts ever attempted.

The First Sailboat⛵️
Mesopotamians invented the sailboat, the plow, and the first irrigation systems. These three innovations revolutionized transportation, agriculture, and water management, allowing civilizations to flourish in the fertile region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Mummy Fingerprints👆
Egyptian embalmers were so skilled that some mummies still have recognizable fingerprints after 4,000 years. The mummification process preserved bodies so well that modern forensic scientists can still analyze fingerprints, DNA, and even determine cause of death from ancient Egyptian mummies.

Spartan ‘Crypteia’🗡️
The Spartans had a practice called "crypteia" where young men would secretly hunt and kill helots (slaves) as training. This brutal rite of passage involved teenage Spartan warriors stalking and murdering enslaved people to prove their worthiness and keep the helot population terrorized and submissive.

Greek Makeup💄
Ancient Greek women wore makeup made from lead, which slowly poisoned them over time. The white face powder that was fashionable among wealthy Greek women contained lead carbonate, causing gradual lead poisoning that resulted in hair loss, organ damage, and premature death.

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