Questões para Concursos

U.S. Finds No Evidence of Alien Technology
in Flying Objects, but can’t rule it out, either

1 WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have found no evidence that aerial phenomena observed by Navy pilots in recent years are alien spacecraft, but they still cannot explain the unusual movements that have mystified scientists and the military.
2 The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced US government technology, the officials said. That determination would appear to eliminate the possibility that Navy pilots who reported seeing unexplained aircraft might have encountered programs the government meant to keep secret.
3 But that is about the only conclusive finding in the classified intelligence report, the officials said. And while a forthcoming unclassified version, expected to be released to Congress by June 25, will present few other firm conclusions, senior officials briefed on the intelligence conceded that the very ambiguity of the findings meant the government could not definitively rule out theories that the phenomena observed by military pilots might be alien spacecraft.
4 Americans’ long-running fascination with UFOs has intensified in recent weeks in anticipation of the release of the government report. Former President Barack Obama encouraged the interest when he gave an interview last month about the incidents on “The Late Late Show with James Corden” on CBS.
5 “What is true, and I’m really being serious here,” Mr. Obama said, “is that there is film and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are.’’
6 The report concedes that much about the observed phenomena remains difficult to explain, including their acceleration, as well as ability to change direction and submerge. One possible explanation — that the phenomena could be weather balloons or other research balloons — does not hold up in all cases, the officials said, because of changes in wind speed at the times of some of the interactions.
7 Many of the more than 120 incidents examined in the report are from Navy personnel, officials said. The report also examined incidents involving foreign militaries over the last two decades. Intelligence officials believe that at least some of the aerial phenomena could have been experimental technology from a rival power, most likely Russia or China.
8 One senior official said without hesitation that U.S. officials knew it was not American technology. He said there was worry among intelligence and military officials that China or Russia could be experimenting with hypersonic technology.
9 He and other officials spoke about the classified findings in the report on the condition of anonymity.

Available at:
ufos-sighting-alien-spacecraft-pentagon.html>. Retrieved on:
July 7, 2021.

A palavra salário vem mesmo de “sal”?

1 Vem. A explicação mais popular diz que os soldados da Roma Antiga recebiam seu ordenado na forma de sal. Faz sentido. O dinheiro como o conhecemos surgiu no século 7 a.C., na forma de discos de metal precioso (moedas), e só foi adotado em Roma 300 anos depois.
2 Antes disso, o que fazia o papel de dinheiro eram itens não perecíveis e que tinham demanda garantida: barras de cobre (fundamentais para a fabricação de armas), sacas de grãos, pepitas de ouro (metal favorito para ostentar como enfeite), prata (o ouro de segunda divisão) e, sim, o sal.
3 Num mundo sem geladeiras, o cloreto de sódio era o que garantia a preservação da carne. A demanda por ele, então, tendia ao infinito. Ter barras de sal em casa funcionava como poupança. Você poderia trocá-las pelo que quisesse, a qualquer momento.
4 As moedas, bem mais portáteis, acabariam se tornando o grande meio universal de troca – seja em Roma, seja em qualquer outro lugar. Mas a palavra “salário” segue viva, como um fóssil etimológico.
5 Só há um detalhe: não há evidência de que soldados romanos recebiam mesmo um ordenado na forma de sal. Roma não tinha um exército profissional no século 4 a.C. A força militar da época era formada por cidadãos comuns, que abandonavam seus afazeres voluntariamente para lutar em tempos de guerra (questão de sobrevivência).
6 A ideia de que havia pagamentos na forma de sal vem do historiador Plínio, o Velho (um contemporâneo de Jesus Cristo). Ele escreveu o seguinte: “Sal era uma das honrarias que os soldados recebiam após batalhas bem-sucedidas. Daí vem nossa palavra salarium.” Ou seja: o sal era um bônus para voluntários, não um salário para valer. Quando Roma passou a ter uma força militar profissional e permanente, no século 3 a.C., o soldo já era mesmo pago na forma de moedas.

VERSIGNASSI, A. A palavra salário vem mesmo de “sal”?
VC S/A, São Paulo: Abril, p. 67, Jun. 2021. Adaptado.