Saving the World... 1 Grain of Rice at a time!

Oh bother.

My sleep-early-wake-up-early regime has been broken. But it was for a good cause. Occasionally, besides giving up my seat for old ladies on the train and bus, keeping to the left on the escalator, helping up a drunk person from his puddle of puke, and buying shots from those poor, pitiful bar girls, I set my sights on something greater than the aforementioned. Thursday was one such occasion.

At 2300H on Thursday, in the dead of the night, I was about to Shut Down my computer by hitting the "START" button (just think about that for a second... hmmm), and head upstairs to lie as though dead upon my comfy queen-sized bed, some inconsidera- I mean - the lovely, heart-of-gold, Samantha Wong MSNed me.

In perfect Engrish she ordered me to go to the linked URL and play an online game to help which contributed to rice donations for the poor.

SYNOPSIS
Aptly named 'FreeRice', one's command of the English language will be put to the test in this gruelling, highly addictive, vocabulary-based game. Little by little, the animated bowl will fill up with digital rice, and your rice pile will grow bigger and bigger. Each grain of digital rice you earn will count towards a real grain of rice for a real, live child. For each word definition correctly answered, starving children in Third World countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Khazakstan and the US & A will be awash with gratitude for the additional 10 grains of rice in their ricebowl. If it is your wish that the other children will not to beat the poor chap to death over his 10 precious grains of rice, you will have to continue playing to provide them all with 10 grains of rice each.

FAQ
What if my vocabulary is poor?
Don't worry, with each wrong answer, the difficulty of the next question will be reduced. And reduced (this means EASY). And reduced further (this means MORE EASIER). And reduced further. Until you get words like 'house', 'car' or 'dog' or 'policeman'.

What if my vocabulary is really poor?
There is an option for you to make cash donations. GIVE $$$. Ya.

What if my vocabulary is too good?
Good for you, mate. There is a vocab level which will increase and grant you more challenging, rarely seen or used words.

What if my vocabulary is really too good?
Get a higher paying job, then make cash donations.

Can I donate macaroni and cheese?
Yes, donations of macaroni and cheese, pizza and other delicacies can be made to a special collection center. Leave a message, I will tell you my address.

FYI
The World Food Programme is run by the United Nations in its fight against global hunger.

"As the staple diet for over half the world's population, rice is a key component in the WFP's operations, whether helping flood survivors in Bangladesh or feeding hunger's less high profile victims..." read more

A good half an hour past midnight Samantha and I tallied the score. Together we racked up a grand total of 3760 grains of rice (how many people does that feed?)! Great effort, Samantha! Hi-5!

Woohoo! 2000 grains of rice and Vocab level 37 (w/o dictionary.com)

Every Grain Counts! DO YOUR PART! START PLAYING NOW!
Click HEre - http://www.freerice.com/

PS: Samantha went on to play another game: Jelly-Battle well into the morning of Friday, the 23rd of November. And proclaimed herself King-of-Jellyland (LOL) before I corrected her title to "Queen-of-Jellyland". She then took her anger out on me by forcing me to address her as "Her Royal Jelly-ness" and reluctantly granted me permission to retire for the night.

PPS: I slept at 2am writing this darned post. Also, out of curiousity, I looked up 'howdah'. Apparently it is the name for a platform placed on top of an elephant for one or more persons to sit. I never knew that.