Because We Haven't Linked Free Rice For A While, Charity Time!
 

Free Rice

I'm bringing this up only because I just found out about Mines Awareness Trust, a group dedicated to removing land mines from war-torn countries. At first, I thought of Minesweeper, but then... then I remembered that scene from Charlie Wilsons War, the one where people in tents in the desert are talking about kids who've had their bodies blown apart by "Toy Mines."

Now this isn't a "DONATE NAO!" thread, but more of a divining rod to see what charities are out there, how they could be better run or organized and where the relief money should go - including administrative costs with those running the charity and those transporting the money or goods.

I hope they add more categories, and flesh out some of the other ones. Vocabulary is enjoyable but I can only feed so many 1/100ths of a person on vocabulary, and the other trivia is pretty much "if you have two brain cells rubbing together you'll get this", so they need to add in some other stuff.

That being said it's enjoyable and apparently worthy. I'm a little annoyed that you have to work for like six hours to feed on person one meal (if you look at their info pages), although I think they might be overestimating those--if you want someone to be healthy you need 17,000 grains of rice a day but you can probably keep them alive for less! What this means is don't lose hope that you can't get 17,000 grains of rice up there or something, at least they'll get something to eat.

This game is amazing and covers 3 languages I'm learning.

Best thing I've seen here for a while, definite +rep

oh cool... they've upgraded since I've been there. Something other than playing dictionary. Much more interesting now.

Thanks, Seil.

I never could understand stuff like this. Its like people pledging money per mile for a cancer walk or some stupid shit like that.

Just figure out how much money you can afford to give away, then give it away. Why does it have to be a game? Is feeding hungry people not interesting enough for you or something?

I guess I understand wanting to get the message out in an innovative manner, but the inherent cheapness of playing trivia for people's lives rings a little hollow to me.

Just write a fucking check.

Every second you spend on their site exposes you to the advertising of the companies who finance the rice. They pay for rice so that their brand name will rise in stock. It's much better business than giving away money and hope for the best.

Anyway I spent a whole damn day answering very easy math questions to accumulate 10 000 grains of rice. It took about six hours including breaks for sanity. Unless my math is wrong that's almost enough rice to feed a small family for a day. Kind of ironic.