A shrine maiden walks in the snow at the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, near Tokyo, Thursday, November 24, 2016. Tokyo residents have woken up to the first November snowfall in more than 50 years. An unusually cold air mass brought wet snow to Japan's capital on Thursday. Above-freezing temperatures kept the snow from sticking, but forecasters said there could be an accumulation of up to 2 centimeters (1 inch). The last time it snowed in central Tokyo in November was in 1962. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee has created a series (Homo Animatus) of works featuring skeletal representations of familiar cartoon characters. He uses resin, aluminum sticks, stainless steel wires, springs, and oil paint. If you look closely, you will see the bones of our favorite childhood friends like Canis Latrans Animatus (Wile E. Coyote), Geococcyx Animatus (Roadrunner), Lepus Animatus (Bugs Bunny), Felis Catus Animatus (Tom), Mus Animatus (Jerry), Anas Animatus (Donald Duck) and his three nephews, Animatus H, D and L ( Huey, Dewey and Louie)

Men are sent down into the sludge to clear the sewers in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on May 23, 2018. The people who do the work aren’t even given any protective clothing or goggles and have to dig out the clogged-up muck with a stick or their bare hands. (Photo by Rehman Asad/Barcroft Media)

A penguin swims in its enclosure during a photocall to promote London Zoo's annual stock take of animals on January 4, 2012 in London, England. The zoo's stocktake takes place annually, and gives keepers a chance to check on the numbers of every one of the animals from stick insects and frogs to tigers and camels. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A South Korean military vehicle drives past barricades at the military check point, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea on December 20, 2011 in Paju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Staff from Local Ocean Conservation and fishermen lifting a mature Loggerhead sea turtle into a car, after the turtle was hooked out on the open water and needs to be taken to observation in the rehabilitation centre before being released back into the ocean, in Watamu, Kenya on May 22, 2025. (Photo by Fredrik Lerneryd/AFP Photo)

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.

Ismail Mustafa, seen in 2007. “I was collecting mushrooms on the hill near here. I didn’t see the mine. There was a huge explosion. When I woke up I saw that both my legs were gone; I thought my life was over. My brother and another guy were with me. They made a stretcher from sticks and tied it together with clothing. It took two hours to get off the mountain. ‘My daughter has also been injured. She found a shell and brought it into the house and put it on the fire. She didn’t know what she was doing at the time – she was only three. She is blind and has lost an arm”. (Photo by Sean Sutton for the Mines Advisory Group/The Guardian)