I hunger for pedantic, limited-use knowledge. Impoverished third-world peons hunger for simple grain. At last, there's a website that combines our interests:
Free Rice.
Beef up your vocabulary via a multiple-choice quiz in which you need to decide on the meaning of a fancy twenty-five cent word. For every one you get right, the sponsors will donate ten grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Plus, for those with a competitive streak, and to keep things interesting, their (admittedly primitive) skill-tracking system calculates your vocabulary level after the first few questions and bumps you up a level for every three correct answers. Every wrong answer loses you a level. The max level is 50, but it's rare for anyone to get past 48.
Since the multiple-choice definitions are usually one-word, some of them end up being pretty suspect-- fuzzy synonyms, at best-- but it's for a good cause, so I wasn't too pissed at being thrown the occasional screwjob. For those that want to stack themselves up against a wannabe English major, I held pretty steady around level 43, give or take. I peaked at 47, and I donated 2,350 grains of rice on my first go.
Please, don't let the next bloodthirsty African dictator die of hunger in his mother's arms.
(And yes, this is the exact same thread I posted at The Order. I'm a lazy, lazy man.)
Free Rice.
Beef up your vocabulary via a multiple-choice quiz in which you need to decide on the meaning of a fancy twenty-five cent word. For every one you get right, the sponsors will donate ten grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Plus, for those with a competitive streak, and to keep things interesting, their (admittedly primitive) skill-tracking system calculates your vocabulary level after the first few questions and bumps you up a level for every three correct answers. Every wrong answer loses you a level. The max level is 50, but it's rare for anyone to get past 48.
Since the multiple-choice definitions are usually one-word, some of them end up being pretty suspect-- fuzzy synonyms, at best-- but it's for a good cause, so I wasn't too pissed at being thrown the occasional screwjob. For those that want to stack themselves up against a wannabe English major, I held pretty steady around level 43, give or take. I peaked at 47, and I donated 2,350 grains of rice on my first go.
Please, don't let the next bloodthirsty African dictator die of hunger in his mother's arms.
(And yes, this is the exact same thread I posted at The Order. I'm a lazy, lazy man.)
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