A new year has just started, and 2024 is going to be special, as it is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, the most used calendar around the world. To understand why this calendar is the de facto international standard, and why 2024 is a leap year, we need to go through the history…
The Cosmundus Atlas is expanding with the addition of Central Italy, which includes the Italian regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, and Lazio, as well as the two small countries of San Marino and Vatican City. Central Italy features many of the country’s most famous attractions and landmarks, including Rome and Florence, two of the most…
While the South Pole is located at the center of the large landmass of Antarctica, the North Pole is instead in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of kilometers from any land. However, what point of land is actually the closest to the North Pole is still a controversial issue, with no definitive answer…
The dark markings visible on the near side of the Moon have been subject since ancient times to istances of pareidolia, the tendency to find familiar structures in natural features and artificial objects that have none. Throughout the ages, different cultures have seen various shapes while looking at the Moon, often linked with their mythology…
After a long time of being a peripheral and minor kingdom in Northern Europe, Sweden developed into one of the major powers in the continent in the 17th century. The country rose to prominence during the reign of king Gustavus Adolphus (1611-1632), seizing territories from neighboring states and becoming the dominant power in the Baltic…
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) introduced a new definition of planet, changing the way we classify the larger bodies in the Solar System. According to this definition, a planet is a celestial body that: orbits the Sun, is in hydrostatic equilibrium, meaning that it has a nearly round shape, it has “cleared the…
France is a country with a rich history and culture and, while Paris and the other large cities attract the most tourists, there is an abundance of smaller towns worth a visit. One of the most notable of these is Carcassonne, a town located in the south of the country and known for its incredibly…
If you know European history, you might be familiar with the phrase “defenestration of Prague”, as the event that sparked the Thirty Years’ War in 1618. However, there were curiously multiple similar incidents that happened in the same city throughout the centuries. First of all, let’s define what a “defenestration” is. The term means “throwing…
Last year, while I was traveling around Europe, I stopped in various places around the continent where the members of K-Pop group Loona have been, including the locations where they shot a music video and had photoshoots for their albums. While I was there, I tried to take the same pictures as them, and I…
Zombies are one of the most popular and common creatures in the modern horror genre, being featured in countless movies, series, and novels. While now the characteristics of zombies are pretty well defined and uniform across different works of fiction, their features have changed and evolved since their first appearance in popular culture in the…