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Complete alphabet in Textura blackletter -- the typeface of the Gutenberg Bible. Upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation. Cast in traditional type metal (lead-tin-antimony). Each piece hand-finished. Handle with care; lead is toxic. Wash your hands after use. I didn't know that part.

Johannes Gutenberg

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My most beautiful invention. 37 glass bowls mounted on a spindle, turned by a foot pedal, played with wet fingers. Mozart and Beethoven both composed for it. The sound is unearthly -- people fainted at performances. Some thought it caused madness. It doesn't. It causes wonder. Handle with extreme care.

Benjamin Franklin

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Evening observation session (weather permitting). I'll show you Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, the craters of our Moon, and the phases of Venus. Bring warm clothes. Tip: Your eyes need 20 minutes to adapt to the dark. No phone screens. Learn the constellations first, then use the telescope. Context before magnification.

Galileo Galilei

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One-on-one mentoring for women and girls pursuing science. When I applied for a lab position, I was told there was no room for a woman. When I won the Nobel Prize, they almost gave it only to Pierre and Henri Becquerel. Pierre insisted my name be included. Find allies. Document everything. Let the work speak. The work always speaks loudest.

Marie Sklodowska Curie

🇵🇱 🇫🇷 🇷🇺

Hands-on letterpress session. Pick individual lead type from the case, compose a line, lock it in the chase, ink the form, and pull a print. You'll leave with a hand-printed broadside. Tip: Set type mirror-image, left to right becomes right to left. The first time everyone gets it backwards. That's why we call it 'mind your p's and q's' -- they're mirror images in the type case.

Johannes Gutenberg

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I got tired of switching between two pairs of glasses -- one for reading, one for distance. So I cut the lenses in half and combined them. Revolutionary? No. Practical? Enormously. This workshop covers basic optics, lens grinding principles, and why bifocals work. Tip: The best inventions solve annoyances, not emergencies.

Benjamin Franklin

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Short sinew-backed bow, 45-pound draw, optimized for mounted use. Twenty dogwood arrows with iron and flint points. This is what we hunted buffalo with from horseback at full gallop -- one arrow could pass through a buffalo at close range.

Sitting Bull

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Bareback riding on the open plains. No saddle, no stirrups -- just you and the horse. The Lakota were among the finest horsemen on Earth. Knee signals, voice commands, shooting from horseback. Tip: The horse must trust you before it will carry you into danger. Earn the trust first.

Sitting Bull

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Reading tracks, finding water on the open plains, building shelter from materials at hand, fire making. My people lived on these plains for thousands of years without a single building. The land provides everything if you know how to ask. Tip: Listen more than you look. The wind carries information.

Sitting Bull

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Group training (12-20 people). The bull horn formation: the chest pins the enemy, the left and right horns encircle. The loins wait in reserve facing away so they do not grow anxious. Commands by runner. We drill barefoot -- I threw away my warriors' sandals. Tip: A warrior who cannot run 50 miles cannot fight.

Shaka Zulu

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Professional-grade Geiger-Muller counter, recently calibrated. Detects alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Includes headphones for the characteristic clicking sound. When Pierre and I first heard the clicks from our radium sample, we knew we had something the world had never seen.

Marie Sklodowska Curie

🇵🇱 🇫🇷 🇷🇺

Chain mail hauberk over padded gambeson, with plate reinforcement at shoulders and knees. Great helm with cross visor. About 55 pounds total. I wore heavier at Arsuf in desert heat. If you can fight in this, you can fight in anything.

Richard the Lionheart

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