Here’s a nifty little time-waster that actually isn’t (a waste of time). FreeRice.com donates grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program to hungry people all over the world. But it only makes these donations if you play a multiple-choice vocabulary game first. The more words you get right, the more rice is donated. And the harder the words get.
Why, you might ask, don’t they just donate the rice without you playing the game? Because while you’re playing, ads are being displayed at the bottom of the page. Your clicks determine the rice donation. Check it out yourself. You’ll be helping the hungry and building your vocabulary at the same time.
Hey, I worked out the totals. At 4 billion grains of rice, with each one weighing about 20 mg, freerice has donated about 80,000 kg of rice, or 40 metric tons, which amounts to a bit more than $14,000 worth of rice. Way to go, people!