Free Rice
Free Rice's a vocabulary quiz where every correct definition gets 10 grains of rice donated to end world hunger. That's not very many grains. The site claims that in almost a month and a half over two and a half billion grains of rice have been donated.
How many grains in a bowl of rice? I estimate on the order of 10,000 (and googlification of "grains in a bowl of rice" yields, among some calculations, the story of a fool who counted the grains in a quarter cup—10,000 is a little more than a cup, which yields a nice bowl). In 43 days, a quarter of a million bowls of rice were donated. Hey, that's not too shabby!
What does this have to do with reading? Not so much, except maybe you'll grow your vocabulary. "Paregoric"? "Rorqual"? "Footling"? For us slightly obsessive-compulsive ones, there's a score you can aim for. My current vocab level is 45. "There are 50 levels in all, but it is rare for people to get above level 48." Well, all right then. My goal is clear.
(In order: "medicine (a tincture of opium)", "a family of whale", and "1) inept; 2) trivial".)
How many grains in a bowl of rice? I estimate on the order of 10,000 (and googlification of "grains in a bowl of rice" yields, among some calculations, the story of a fool who counted the grains in a quarter cup—10,000 is a little more than a cup, which yields a nice bowl). In 43 days, a quarter of a million bowls of rice were donated. Hey, that's not too shabby!
What does this have to do with reading? Not so much, except maybe you'll grow your vocabulary. "Paregoric"? "Rorqual"? "Footling"? For us slightly obsessive-compulsive ones, there's a score you can aim for. My current vocab level is 45. "There are 50 levels in all, but it is rare for people to get above level 48." Well, all right then. My goal is clear.
(In order: "medicine (a tincture of opium)", "a family of whale", and "1) inept; 2) trivial".)
posted by alex. at 11/20/2007 01:20:00 AM
1 Comments:
yeah, i've been playing that game on and off for a couple weeks now. it's so addicting. the highest level i've gotten to is 46, but i usually hang around 43.
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