Test your vocabulary and end world hunger

[DaJe]

http://www.freerice.com


You try to choose the right definition for the words. For each one you get correct, 10 grains of rice are donated via the UN in an effort to help end world hunger. And you can also improve your vocabulaay while doing so. So this is good, promoting education and feeding the hungry. They're able to do this because of their sponsors on the bottom of the page each time you're doing it. So far I've done 400 grains, but that's not enough for me to be satisfied with yet.

[Spawn-Inc]

oh ya well i did 500! haha interesting, i wonder how they make sure they send the right amount of grain? i wonder how many grains it takes to feed a person in one sitting, day, week, month, year, etc. i wonder how many grains of rice in a bag? how many bags go where and how many. i wonder if its plain rice or wild, flavored or plain.

[D1337]

I hit 50 on the vocab level. The rice is most likely white or wild. They probably just average how many grains of rice are in a bag by weight.

I was CONSIDERING making a macro (bot) to just continually click the first answer, so it would build up even with a low vocab score..

But after reading through it and doing a whois, there is no guarantee that the money earned by the ad impressions or click is going to feeding the hungry. If the website was registered in trusted organization name i would think otherwise.

[Greco101]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b5/BlackS3ven/nyfhnt.jpg

My gf's a human dictionary...

[jdbnsn]

I know this is a good cause and all, but it's a bit distrurbing in a way. If they have the rice, they should just give it to the hungry rather than sit on it and see if we can define vocabulary terms before feeding starving people. I don't know, maybe I'm just over-suspicious, their "about" section isn't very detailed.

[noopypoop]

I know this is a good cause and all, but it's a bit distrurbing in a way. If they have the rice, they should just give it to the hungry rather than sit on it and see if we can define vocabulary terms before feeding starving people. I don't know, maybe I'm just over-suspicious, their "about" section isn't very detailed.

thats exactly what i was thinking!


Maybe all of this is going towards Bush's next chinese food dinner? =)

[Greco101]

Maybe they are being paid a small amount by their sponsors for the amount of time you're on their site? I mean... there are links to MAC, Office Depot and Readers Digest. They all seem like businesses that would participate for the cause.

[Omega]

Jon's got a good point.

'Course, whether they're actually donating rice or not doesn't really matter to me, I'ts fun nto test my vocab so =/

[jdbnsn]

Maybe they are being paid a small amount by their sponsors for the amount of time you're on their site?

This is actually what I suspect as a good possiblity, just a gimmick for generating traffic. I just didn't want to admit to be perfectly honest because I hope that's not the case.

[Scotty]

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b5/BlackS3ven/nyfhnt.jpg

My gf's a human dictionary...

No she isn't she has just been playing it for several weeks. Although that vocab level is like 10 higher than mine, although i did just randomly click half of them.

[Outlaw]

From the FAQ's

Who pays for the donated rice?

The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.

If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Who distributes the donated rice?

The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger.

[Greco101]

Ha, I was right :)

[noopypoop]

theres a really easy way, if ure looking to make the most rice, not the highest vocab. what u do is keep clickong on wrong answers to get your skill down to one. at skill one the words are really easy, which means easier rice!

[jdbnsn]

Well I'm glad to see there is good evidence for a genuine program. Thanks for the tips Outlaw, I overlooked that section. If that is indeed the case, then we should all play away.

The only problem I see with this is:


So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.


Don't those ads generate revenue only when clicked? How would this pay for the rice if people aren't clicking? Perhaps it's just the fees paid by the advertisers that pay for the rice which increases with traffic, I don't know. But if it has the veneer of legitimacy, can't hurt to try it.

[calumc]

Thanks to that site i finally found out that maleficence = mischief!!!!

[DaJe]

I was actually going to post that stuff from the FAQ, but I slept instead. Anyways, a big part of onlineadvertising is just the page impressions. Even if people don't click them, the advertisers still pay for having these ads displayed on the pages. The people still see them, and maybe either subliminally they'll go buy something from there, or maybe consciously think it's a good idea to go to that place. The main point, is that page impressions matter.



As for the legitimacy of the sie, I've been doing a little reaearch on it. Here's one particular article I found

http://www.thepcspy.com/blog/is_freericecom_making_150k_each_day_in_profits



"However, FreeRice is not a registered charity. As far as I can see, this all boils down to the work of one man: John Breen, who started poverty.com in January 2007. This is significant, I believe, because there is no accounting and no legislation regarding funds (other than tax)."


Though this does not necessarily mean that nothing is happening. All of the profits could be sent directly to the UN. But the point is, I guess we don't really know for sure.