Things We Love: Learning, Language, and Saving the World

I normally post articles on how to save the world by voting in your best interests, but today I want to highlight a website that is changing the world in a different way. Please take a second to check out FreeRice.com.

The site's application gives you a word with four possible definitions, and if you define the word correctly, the site's sponsors pay for 20 grains of rice for the UN World Food Program, which works to end hunger worldwide; answer 5 questions correctly in a row, and you donate 100 grains. According to the WFP the average person who includes rice as a staple in his/her diet eats 400 grains per day, and I was able to donate 2,000 grains in about 10 minutes. Fun and meaningful! If words aren't your thing, you can choose from the following subjects:

• Famous Paintings

• Chemical Symbols (Basic)

• Chemical Symbols (Full List)

• English Grammar

• Identify Countries on the Map

• World Capitals

• French

• German

• Italian

• Spanish

• The Multiplication Table

The questions vary in difficulty, and the program adjusts the level of difficulty based on how you perform.

From their FAQ:

The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. Though 20 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed more than two million people since it started in October 2007.

So go do that today right before you start making your No on Prop 8 phone calls from home, and save the world twice in one afternoon.