A girl plays a jump rope game at a school housing residents displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Wearing traditional Belarus costumes girls jump over a bonfire as they celebrate the Ivan Kupala night, an ancient heathen holiday, held in the countryside near the town of Turov, some 260 km southwest of the capital Minsk, on July 6, 2014. People celebrate Kupala Night with bonfires that last throughout the night with some leaping over the flames as it is believed that the act of jumping over the bonfire cleanses people of illness and bad luck. (Photo by Viktor Drachev/AFP Photo)

“William Hope (1863 – 8 March 1933) was a pioneer of so-called “spirit photography” (spirit photography is a type of photography whose primary attempt is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting). Based in Crewe, England, he was a member of the well known spiritualists group, the Crewe Circle”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Couple with a young female spirit.

Dubai is now home to what has been billed as the world’s largest indoor dog park, complete with customised luxury suites, 24/7 webcams, flat screen TVs and orthopedic mattresses. Launched during Easter at Dubai Investment Park, My Second Home already has many takers with 40 of its 200 residential luxury rooms booked for summer. Here: a dog sits on its bed at My Second Home, a newly opened luxury pet resort and spa, in Dubai, April 24, 2015. (Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters)

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.

32 year old Mahada Khatum repairs a fishing net outside her home in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement on April 11, 2014 in Chittagong district, Bangladesh. Some years ago she escaped violence and discrimination from the Zomgara Baharchara village in the Meherulla district of Myanmar. (Photo by Getty Images/Stringer)

People stand in the middle of the graves and in front of giant kites in the cemetery of Santiago Sacatepequez, Guatemala, November 1, 2015. Dating back 116 years, the tradition of flying kites in the cemetery of of Santiago Sacatepequez, integrates the Catholic feast of All Saints with ancient Mayan practices of honouring the dead. It is believed that the kites connect the living and the dead during the all saints day celebration. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Nur Elita, an Acehnese woman, screams during caning as part of her sentence in the courtyard of Baiturrahman mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia's Aceh province December 28, 2015. Nur Elita received five strokes of the cane for having pre-marital s*x with her boyfriend, according to local media. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, where Islamic law is implemented, according to local media. (Photo by Junaidi Hanafiah/Reuters)