January 26, 2008

  • Freerice.com, I can't think of a reason not to do it.

    freericedotcom

    FreeRice is a site I stumbled upon not too long ago. They are a non-profit organization that works with the United Nations World Food Program to donate rice to starving nations. The rice is paid for by advertisers to the site.

    The site is a very simple page that features a vocabulary quiz. For every word you get correct, 20 grains of rice are donated.

    I can keep talking about it, but if you haven't clicked the link already, go do that first. It's charmingly simple.

    Sure, a couple hundred grains of rice might not make much of a difference, but multiply that per day, for each person visiting the site, and it adds up. 25,000 people die every day of starvation, even 1 a day is too many in these times. This website is making a small dent in that number, and I, for one, have added the link to all of my bookmarks and toolbars, and try to visit it several times a day, if only for a couple seconds. Every little bit can help.

    And even if I didn't care about starving people (which, in all honesty, I really don't since I haven't given up my petty little life and joined the mission field), I'd visit the site anyway just for the free vocabulary building. This is from the site's FAQ:

    How does playing the vocabulary game at FreeRice help me?

    Learning new vocabulary has tremendous benefits. It can help you:

    * Formulate your ideas better
    * Write better papers, emails and business letters
    * Speak more precisely and persuasively
    * Comprehend more of what you read
    * Read faster because you comprehend better
    * Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
    * Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT
    * Perform better at job interviews and conferences
    * Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
    * Be more effective and successful at your job

    After you have done FreeRice for a couple of days, you may notice an odd phenomenon. Words that you have never consciously used before will begin to pop into your head while you are speaking or writing. You will feel yourself using and knowing more words.

    My high score so far is 43 by the way.