Is this for real?
Conquer world hunger and bolster your vocabulary at the same time!
A friend just pointed me to FreeRice.com, a site that promises to send ten grains of rice to end world hunger every time that you answer a vocabulary question correctly.
From the site’s FAQ section:
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.
I’m really not sure how I feel about this. Although I love vocabulary building, it seems a little ridiculous. Why don’t the advertisers just donate the money directly to the UN’s World Food Programme? My head’s going to explode if I try to figure this out.
What do you think? Is this a good idea or not? Let me know. Here’s a little incentive for you - for every insightful comment that you make, I’ll send five Trimspa pills to one of America’s fattest cities.
Tags:
wtf,
world+hunger,
united+nations,
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3 Comments
Comments
What are you doltish? This is obviously an amazing website and you are a cynic who doesn't appreciate positivity and change. Also, you obviously don't understand business and economy and capitalism and things like that.Posted by: Sarah Giblin on November 27, 2007 1:45 am
I'm thrilled by the concept, but after getting 10 in a row I'm tired of ending world hunger, and now not only feel dumb, but consider myself a horrible person. In other news, sarah, I see absolutely no way in which businesses, the economy, or capitalism, particularly the latter, will benefit from freerice. other then paltry tax breaks the companies may receive - they probably do not eclipse the underlying cost of the rice. in fact, no rice can be free in this endeavor. someone is getting paid for the rice, for the seeds to plant the rice, and for the rice to be harvested. while the united states continues to egregiously waist tons of food each year, that waste still costs something to produce, therefore even giving the poor our not to be used rice is not free. ergo sum cum dicta yada, i remain skeptical of freerice.com and would be quick to pass judgement on our pseudonaive rob, when really his flagellum is in full form behind him. respectfully, your arch nemesis.Posted by: Ethan Epstein - Defender of Robs dignity - archnem on November 27, 2007 2:03 am
Comments! How exciting. Sarah, you're right - I don't understand capitalism, etc. That's why I'm a lowly English major. I'm not totally critical of the site, I just think it raises some interesting questions. (1) Do we need a selfish incentive to help out world hunger? ("Ooooh I get to see how good my vocabulary is, of course I'll keep clicking.") (2) Do the advertisers really think people are going to click on their links and browse around when they could quickly just skip to another addicting web game? I don't know the answers to these questions, hence my head feeling like it's going to explode when I think about them. Ethan, I think you meant "the united states continues to WASTE tons of food each year," but I think your typo was brilliant and I think I like it even better that way. "To waist"... you wordsmith, you. Also, you're right about my flagellum. It is definitely rockin' in full form behind me.Posted by: Rob on November 27, 2007 2:13 am