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e-Philanthropy Friday, October 19, 2007

#1 User is offline   Chefelf Icon

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Posted 19 October 2007 - 10:07 AM

e-Philanthropy

I was going to write an article today about how much it sucks that I have to wait a month to get my Tivo hooked up. Time Warner Cable needs to book appointments a month out to be able to come to my house and plug in a CableCARD for me (something, apparently, I would just not be able to handle without a technician). However, after complaining about this for a week some of the sting has worn off and I started to think that maybe, just maybe, there are people in the world with problems bigger than mine.

If you're like me, you probably waste a lot of time mindlessly surfing the internet. If you're like me you also waste a lot of time mindlessly posting things on the internet. Well, some smart and generous people out there have found a way to turn your mindless web-surfing into helping those that are less fortunate than ourselves.

The most unfortunate of you reading this are having to access this web page through a public computer in an internet cafe or university computer. Any lack of comfort you are experiencing may be limited to the chair you are sitting in to use your fancy computer and read my drivel. I know I'm pretty uncomfortable in my chair as I write my drivel.

So I figured I'd make a short list of a few sites I've visited, and contributed to, recently that have some great and interesting ways to turn a little of our time or money into something big for someone in need.

FreeRice
http://www.freerice.com/

This was on the front page of Digg this morning (and got me thinking to putting together this small list). It's actually a very fun vocabulary quiz. For every question you get right you donate 10 grains of rice to hungry people in the world. It starts on a fairly easy level then seems to have an algorithm that learns your vocabulary level and adjusts it up or down as necessary to continue to challenge you.

The algorithm itself is fascinating enough to hold your interest and while you're being fascinated you fan feed people! Hooray!

Kiva
http://www.kiva.org

Kiva.org is a site that allows you to lend money to entrepreneurs in the developing nations of the world. While the money you donate is real -- not fake vocabulary rice money -- it doesn't take a lot to be able to aid someone in a developing country to start a business. Through small loans of $25 you can help someone finance a developing business. You get the money paid back and can choose to reinvest it in another business as you choose. You can click through and see people's profile, information on the business they are looking to start, and decide how much you want to loan.

A really small amount of money can go a long way into jump-starting a local economy somewhere on the planet.

The Hunger Site
http://www.thehunger....faces?siteId=1

Simply by clicking link on the site you supposedly donate 1.1 cups of food to the hungry. You can click through on the tabs at the top of the site to click to give to any causes that you are passionate about including Breast Cancer, children's health, literacy, the rainforests, and animal rescue.

How do you prove your click does anything? I'm not sure. But what's the worst that could happen?


If anyone has any additional sites they use online to donate to anyone, please post them!
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Posted 19 October 2007 - 11:05 AM

I knew the tabs one but this vocab thingy is awesome. It's going on my bookmarks toolbar and becoming a part of my daily routine. (I just got the word, "Swashbuckling!") I did 1600 grains and finally quit. smile.gif

This post has been edited by Spoon Poetic: 19 October 2007 - 11:21 AM

I am writing about Jm in my signature because apparently it's an effective method of ignoring him.
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Posted 19 October 2007 - 01:18 PM

If only they could make a way to have Desktop Tower Defense feed the hungry, I'd be helping THOUSANDS!
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Posted 19 October 2007 - 03:22 PM

I just did 500 grains on the FreeRice one.. Thanks for posting about this. I'm taking the GRE next week and need to brush up on vocab anyway. Plus I got Haberdashery!
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Posted 19 October 2007 - 03:37 PM

Nice! I did 500 too! Sadly I went back to Desktop Tower Defense after that. Sorry, it's just that addictive! smile.gif
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#6 User is offline   Laura Icon

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Posted 19 October 2007 - 06:53 PM

It's amazing how firmly I am in Level 41. Like I can almost always answer the Level 41 words, and the moment it flips to Level 42 it's suddenly words I've never heard.

Maybe it's because so many of the Level 41 words seem to come from "Tom Jones"...


...
Level 44! Thank you, Final Fantasy, for teaching me the words "escutcheon" and "carapace."

This post has been edited by Laura: 19 October 2007 - 07:00 PM

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Posted 19 October 2007 - 08:39 PM

That Rice thing seems a good opportunity for me to learn new words. So whilst I am looking them up on the dictionary everybody benefits all way round.
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Posted 14 November 2007 - 07:34 PM

I started playing it at school a few weeks ago- a couple of people looked over my shoulder and asked what it was. Pretty soon it had started to spread. Now close to all the procrastinating students can be found playing, and there's even been an official announcement made promoting the game by the school administrators.

So thanks for the suggestion!
"YOU'RE MISSING A PERIOD. YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY, DON'T YOU? YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY THAT YOU FUCK WITH GRAMMAR? WELL, FUCK YOU AND FUCK YOUR MISSING PERIOD! I HOPE IT MEANS YOUR SLUTTY, NON-PUNCTUATED WAYS HAVE GOTTEN YOU TEEN-PREGNANT!"

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