South African surfer Andy Marr rides a wave at Dungeons offshore reef in the Atlantic Ocean outside Cape Town, South Africa, 01 September 2016. The big wave surfing season is at its peak with winter swells driven by storms in the South Atlantic breaking on the Cape's outer reefs providing good conditions. Big wave surfers are competing in the 2016 Striped Horse Challenge and Rebel Sessions big wave competitons symultaneously throughout the season. (Photo by Nic Bothma/EPA)

Carlos Boozer #5 of the Chicago Bulls grabs a rebound next to David West #30 of the New Orleans Hornets at the United Center on March 7, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Hornets 85-77.

Japan's Naomi Osaka sits with her towel over her head during a break in her third round loss to Coco Gauff of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, January 24, 2020. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

“«The Red Detachment of Women» (simplified Chinese: 红色娘子军) is a Chinese ballet which premiered in 1964. It is perhaps best known in the West as the ballet performed for U.S. President Richard Nixon on his visit to China in February 1972. Adapted from the earlier film of the same title under the personal direction of Zhou Enlai, which in turn adapted from the novel by Liang Xin, it depicts the liberation of a peasant girl in Hainan Island and her rise in the Chinese Communist Party”.

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

A boy, who came with the humanitarian transport of children from Ukrainian public orphanages following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reacts as he has breakfast at the Hotel Ossa near Rawa Mazowiecka, Poland on March 5, 2022. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Ride operator Van Mai wears a face mask against the spread of the coronavirus while working at the Playland amusement park at the Pacific National Exhibition, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, July 10, 2020. (Photo by Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)