FreeRice: Ending World Hunger & Poor Vocabularies

If you've ever wished there was something you could do to help end world hunger (or if you've ever wanted to learn the definition of words like "neologism"), you absolutely must visit FreeRice.com on a regular basis.

FreeRice is a website with two goals:

1. Providing free English vocabulary to everyone
2. Providing free rice to hungry people

In partnership with the UN World Food Program and Poverty.com, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice every time you correctly guess the definition of a vocabulary word. Granted, 20 grains of rice isn't much, but thousands of other people are playing, too. Since October 2007, users have helped FreeRice donate more than 39 billion grains of rice to feed more than a million people.

If you check out their FAQs, you'll read that the United Nations estimates that the cost to end world hunger completely is about $195 billion a year. 22 countries have joined together to raise this money by each contributing 0.7% of national GDP. While some countries have already met this goal, others are being a little slow. Sadly, the U.S. is one of the slow ones. FreeRice suggests you support your country's participation by sending your government a letter — can't hurt, right?

So, do the smart thing and bookmark FreeRice and play whenever you've got a spare minute. Everyone knows you fritter away hours on the internet anyway — you may as well feed starving people and make yourself smarter while you're at it. Besides, if you don't brush up on your vocabulary, you're never going to win an honest game of Facebook Scrabble. I'm at vocab level 50 on FreeRice. Let's see what you've got.

Yes, that's a challenge. Bring it.

Dream Like a Canadian

Canadians have been the brunt of many an American joke, many of which (I confess) I've found rather funny. Still, Canada is looking better every day.* They've got that universal health care thing going on (which, for the record, I don't support adopting in the U.S.), they've had a balanced national budget for something like 11 straight years (something I do support adopting in the U.S.), their literacy rate is close to 99%, and, believe it or not, their dollar is actually worth slightly more than ours now. Surely, the end of all things is near.

Anyway, I'm writing about Canada because I just discovered DreamBank, an upstart company that aims to help people fund their dreams by posting them online and inviting friends and family to contribute toward their realization. So, instead of buying people you love stuff they don't want or need, you can donate money to help them fulfil a dream. Isn't that a neat alternative to traditional gift-giving? Plus, it's eco-friendly and helps support charities.

Still, it's strictly Canadian. So, until DreamBank comes to the U.S., you can help me fulfil my dreams of paying off all our student loan debt and traveling the world by simply sending cash or personal checks to my home mailing address. I also accept PayPal. Thanks for your support!

*I really don't know much about Canada and can't substantiate any of my claims about that country. Except for the strength of their dollar vs. the U.S. dollar — I looked that up.

EDIT: Check out the comments on this post for some enlightening info from some of DreamBank's own people. Turns out it's NOT strictly Canadian. Go ahead and start dreaming, America! (Please continue sending me money.)

Rule #2: You're Not Allowed to Have Any Fun

For those of you who've never seen the satirical Vintage21 Jesus Videos, you're in for a treat. Stop whatever you're doing and watch all four. Laugh merrily.

Then go ye back and repeat once more.

Traveling Light

I'm not a huge fan of extra "stuff". If I won't use it (which means I definitely don't need it), I don't want it. Nor do I want to carry it with me on trips.

Introducing OneBag.com. Apparently, this site has been around for fourteen years, so I can't be too proud of my discovery (in fact, I'm probably one of the last people in the world to find it). Nevertheless, with practical advice on what to pack, what to pack it in, and how to pack it, it seems it's pretty much the authority on traveling light. Site author Doug Dyment argues you can pack everything you need for any trip in one carry-on sized bag. With airlines starting to change for checked luggage, trimming off the extra baggage is becoming an increasingly valuable skill.

Anyway, finding a site so obviously dedicated to efficiency and organization got my neat-freak self all excited. Enjoy!