Questões para Concursos

Something in the water? Why we love shark films From the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, to predators stalking the Seine in Under Paris, there is no shortage of shark films. Hollywood and audiences love them, seemingly never tiring of the suspense, gore and terror. There are prehistoric giant sharks in The Meg, genetically engineered ones in Deep Blue Sea, and sharks high on cocaine in the ingeniously named Cocaine Shark. Even Donald Trump is a fan – he was reportedly due to play the US president in a Sharknado film, before becoming the actual president. I became hooked on them after watching James Bond film Thunderball, where the villain keeps sharks in his swimming pool. It led to a lifelong interest in shark films, as well as an irrational fear of swimming pools, even ones filled with chlorine inside leisure centres. Hayley Easton Street is the British director behind a new shark film, Something in the Water, which tells the story of a group of women stranded at sea. She explains that, as fan of shark films herself, she “absolutely wanted” to make the movie. So why are shark movies so popular? “It's the fear of what could be going on with the unknown of [the sea]” she tells BBC News. “Just being stuck in the middle of the ocean is scary enough. You're trapped in something else's world and anything could happen.” But despite Street's love of shark films, she did not want the ones in hers to be portrayed as marine serial killers. “We kill 100 million sharks every year” she notes. The director was also aware that the release of Jaws led to a huge rise in the hunting of sharks, partly because they had been portrayed as merciless killers. “As much as I love shark films, I love sharks.” “I was really conscious of that, because it's easy for people to start seeing them as killing machines... or monsters, which they are not.” She adds: “I feel it's more scary to have the realistic theme of it, that, you know, if you are out in the ocean and there are sharks and they do mistake you for something else, they will kill you.” Despite the huge success of Jaws, Spielberg has said he “truly regrets the decimation of the shark population because of the book and the film”. Spielberg is not the only person concerned about Hollywood's portrayal of sharks and the impact it continues to have. US marine biologist Andriana Fragola dedicates herself to educating people about sharks, often sharing videos of her diving with them. She says they are “misunderstood predators” that have been harmed by movies and the media. Andriana tells me that she has watched Netflix's new shark film, Under Paris, and was not impressed. “Their whole thing was it's about conservation, about studying them, but then the sharks are still eating people.” “So it's giving a little bit more of a rounded education and a little bit more depth to the story, it's not just people swimming at the beach and getting attacked and eaten.” “But the bottom line and what people can draw from the movie is that sharks are still really dangerous to people and they're just going to continuously hunt and eat people.” “If that was true, we would be reduced as a human species. Everyone who goes to the beach, they would be threatened.” Andriana says the perception of sharks causes a real issue for conservation. “It's a huge problem because people don't want to protect something that they're scared of.” “The perception from people is that they're dangerous to humans so we should eradicate them, and that's obviously a huge problem for conservation and getting people to want to empathise or sympathise with sharks and wanting to actually protect them.” “It's unfortunate because 100 million sharks are killed every year, and globally sharks kill fewer than 10 people every year.” “We're really focused on the sharks being the monsters and them being out to get us. In reality it's the opposite.” It is unlikely that Hollywood will stop making shark films, or we will stop watching them. But the figures show that far from being the serial killers of the sea, sharks are actually much more likely to be the victims of humans. (Charlotte Gallagher, Culture reporter, BBC 2024. Accessed: 29 July 2024. Available in: . Adapted.)

Businesses are starting to introduce new options for tipping at self-checkout machines, putting even more pressure on customers amid rising inflation costs. Despite having zero interaction with employees during transactions, self-checkout machines at places such as coffee shops, bakeries, airports, and sports stadiums are giving customers the option to leave the typical 20% tip, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Business owners believe that the prompt for a tip can boost staff pay and increase gratuities — but customers are questioning where and to whom the extra cash is going, considering self-checkout is done by the customers themselves. “They’re cutting labor costs by doing self-checkout. So what’s the point of asking for a tip? And where is it going?” are some of the questions customers ask. But tipping researchers claim this is a way for companies to put the responsibility of paying employees on the customer rather than increasing employee salaries themselves. Self-tipping is viewed by many customers as a way to guilt-trip the person into tipping on something when they typically wouldn’t. Many companies told the Journal that these tipping prompts are optional, and the extra gratuity is split between all employees. However, experts say that tips at a self-checkout machine might never even get to an actual employee since protections for tipped workers in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act don’t extend to machines. Internet: (adapted).

A lawyer used ChatGPT to prepare a court filing. It went horribly awry. A lawyer who relied on ChatGPT to prepare a court filing on behalf of a man suing an airline is now all too familiar with the artificial intelligence (AI) tool’s shortcomings — including its propensity to invent facts. Roberto Mata sued Colombian airline Avianca last year, alleging that a metal food and beverage cart injured his knee on a flight to Kennedy International Airport in New York. When Avianca asked a Manhattan judge to dismiss the lawsuit based on the statute of limitations, his lawyer submitted a brief based on research done by ChatGPT. While ChatGPT can be useful to professionals in numerous industries, including the legal profession, it has proved itself to be both limited and unreliable. In this case, the AI invented court cases that didn’t exist, and asserted that they were real. The fabrications were revealed when Avianca’s lawyers approached the case’s judge, saying they couldn’t locate the cases cited in Mata’s lawyers’ brief in legal databases. “It seemed clear when we didn’t recognize any of the cases in their opposition brief that something was amiss,” said the airline’s lawyer. And soon they figured it was some sort of chatbot of some kind. On the other hand, the passenger’s lawyer said that it was the first time he’d used ChatGPT for work and, therefore, he was unaware of the possibility that its content could be false. Internet: (adapted).

The Indian education sector has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, owing to the implementation of innovative technologies and solutions. According to a recent report, the e-learning market in India is estimated to have reached $ 1.96 billion in 2021, up from $ 247 million in 2016. The growth in popularity of mobile learning platforms among students has led to this expansion. Mobile learning platforms are expected to play a significant role in the growth of the online education market in India. A report by a consultancy company projected that the online education market in India would reach $ 1.96 billion by 2021. Educational apps have seen tremendous success by offering interactive video lessons, quizzes, and personalized learning plans to help students succeed academically. Personalized learning, tailoring teaching and learning to students’ needs, is also an important trend in the Indian education sector. In addition to technology, the Indian education sector has also witnessed the emergence of new pedagogical approaches such as experiential learning, project-based learning, and collaborative learning. These approaches focus on providing students with hands-on, practical learning experiences that prepare them for the real world. With the continued adoption of these technologies and approaches, the future of education in India looks bright, offering students new opportunities to learn and grow. Internet: (adapted).