Free Rice!! :)

[styla21]

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

No, they're not giving away tricked-out Honda Civic's..

...It's an interesting website that actually donates 20 grains of rice for every word you get right to a third world country.

Go there; You could infact feed a small ethiopian family for a few minutes playing a game

Use www.dictionary.com to look up words you don't know. You'll increase your knowledge, and donate more food to those who need it.

(I've donated 3000 grains so far)

[Vansquish]

I've been playing that game for a few weeks now...my vocab's not bad to begin with, but there are some words that I haven't really seen before in there...good way to build, and a good cause as well!

Edit: See how far you can get (level-wise) without using a dictionary...my best so far is 42.

[Kaz]

I disagree, not necessarily with the idea, but the entire concept as a whole

_________

On the average poor countries undergo a 2.5 percent increase in population each year; rich countries, about 0.8 percent. Only rich countries have anything in the way of food reserves set aside, and even they do not have as much as they should. Poor countries have none. If poor countries received no food from the outside, the rate of their population growth would be periodically checked by crop failures and famines. But if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their population can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their "need" for aid.

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/...ping_poor.html

[styla21]

Do you realise that your quote is effectively endorsing starvation, as a way to curb population growth??

Wow.

Originally Posted by Kaz I disagree, not necessarily with the idea, but the entire concept as a whole _________ On the average poor countries undergo a 2.5 percent increase in population each year; rich countries, about 0.8 percent. Only rich countries have anything in the way of food reserves set aside, and even they do not have as much as they should. Poor countries have none. If poor countries received no food from the outside, the rate of their population growth would be periodically checked by crop failures and famines. But if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their population can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their "need" for aid. http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/...ping_poor.html

[pitfield]

What a thickko, my goodness, if the rich countries didn't monopolise the technologies and money needed to invest in farming the poor countries wouldn't be as poor, same can be said for the poor countries being held in debt by their own debts, to the rich countries.

Stupid poor couintries, it's all their own fault.

Originally Posted by Kaz I disagree, not necessarily with the idea, but the entire concept as a whole _________ On the average poor countries undergo a 2.5 percent increase in population each year; rich countries, about 0.8 percent. Only rich countries have anything in the way of food reserves set aside, and even they do not have as much as they should. Poor countries have none. If poor countries received no food from the outside, the rate of their population growth would be periodically checked by crop failures and famines. But if they can always draw on a world food bank in time of need, their population can continue to grow unchecked, and so will their "need" for aid. http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/...ping_poor.html

[Kaz]

If aid is provided by other countries to places that are not self sutataing, in the short term you have prevented starvation and death. but in the long term, they have grown and this time if you don't help them there will be even more death because there are more people. so ethical question is do you want a little death now or lots of death later that you are DIRECTLY responsible for?? would you rather have no people in famine and therfore no suffering or sustaining people in an environment where nature equalizes the population by methods like aids and a child dying of starvation every 30 seconds?? it doesn't have to be this way.

Originally Posted by pitfield What a thickko, my goodness, if the rich countries didn't monopolise the technologies and money needed to invest in farming the poor countries wouldn't be as poor, same can be said for the poor countries being held in debt by their own debts, to the rich countries. Stupid poor couintries, it's all their own fault.

agreed, although politics and distinctions between rich and poor aside, this is still a finite planet with finite resources that cannot support an exponential population growth.

short:

You Tube

You Tube

detailed: http://www.celsias.com/2007/12/16/th...omics-ignores/

[tospok]

I wonder if you could say the same things if you were living in one such country.

[Vansquish]

Originally Posted by Kaz If aid is provided by other countries to places that are not self sutataing, in the short term you have prevented starvation and death. but in the long term, they have grown and this time if you don't help them there will be even more death because there are more people. so ethical question is do you want a little death now or lots of death later that you are DIRECTLY responsible for?? would you rather have no people in famine and therfore no suffering or sustaining people in an environment where nature equalizes the population by methods like aids and a child dying of starvation every 30 seconds?? it doesn't have to be this way. agreed, although politics and distinctions between rich and poor aside, this is still a finite planet with finite resources that cannot support an exponential population growth. short: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hM1x4RljmnE detailed: http://www.celsias.com/2007/12/16/th...omics-ignores/

I don't disagree, but I also don't think that people should be suffering needlessly. This more or less comes down to a matter of government and infrastructure versus the individual. The individual is frequently at a loss in those countries that we refer to as "the third world", but there is no for the individual to suffer at the hands of a government if the supplies exist to help. The issue at hand here is whether or not we should support sovereign nations with food-aid while their inhabitants suffer from famine and malnutrition. Yes, population problems are a side-effect of many current food-aid policies, but with proper education and work with foreign governments a situation much more advantageous to the individual and the government can be attained.

[RC45]

Great - yet another way to get all the rice to the 3rd world country - where it will sit in warehouses and rot - or it will be commandeered by some corrupt officials who will again sell it to the starving.. or use it to trade for arms.

I am amazed that supposedly eductaed people think that the majority of donated aid even gets to the peopl ewho need it.

I have witnessed first hand how hundreds of thousands of donated rice from the USA has been destroyed or commandeered by local militia - simply because it came from the evil empire.

I really think some folks need to go and spend a year in Africa to understand the level of corruption, death, mayhem and chaos instead of sitting in their comfy 1st world US, Canadian or European houses trying to save the world with misdirected "good intentions".

[styla21]

I'm sitting in my Australian house (or are we 2nd world? ), and made this post about a different way to kill time and hopefully do some good. I never puported this to be the be-all end-all solution to curing world hunger.

If playing a game was the only means that members of this community used to do something in the world, then we are not pulling our weight.
RC, I am actively involved in aid programs in Zimbabwe, and it is overwhelming the problem in this country alone. Let alone the 75 other 3rd world countries where people are starving, getting raped, shot at, butchered for colour distinction, etc.

Corruption will always be prevalent, in every society in the world. Human nature cannot be tamed. But I could never adopt your attitude that "it is worthless to give aid, as the world is corrupt, and the aid will never arrive anyway to those who need it".

I look at the 100,000 plus people that the organization i've worked with has fed, clothed, and housed in Zimbabwe alone and feel that there is no other way than try our best and give what we can.

By all means, if you have a solution to aid-deliverence efficiency, please share with the rest of us!

[RC45]

Originally Posted by styla21 RC, I am actively involved in aid programs in Zimbabwe, and it is overwhelming the problem in this country alone. Let alone the 75 other 3rd world countries where people are starving, getting raped, shot at, butchered for colour distinction, etc. Corruption will always be prevalent, in every society in the world. Human nature cannot be tamed. But I could never adopt your attitude that "it is worthless to give aid, as the world is corrupt, and the aid will never arrive anyway to those who need it".

I never implied that ntohign shold be doen.. not once - I implied that to actually be effective yo uneed to be on the ground in the country you are purporting to help.

Originally Posted by styla21 I look at the 100,000 plus people that the organization i've worked with has fed, clothed, and housed in Zimbabwe alone and feel that there is no other way than try our best and give what we can.

How do you know that 100,000 people have been helped? And "helped" in what way?

Zimbabwe is one of the most corrupt countries on the face of the planet, and unless you or a trusted known person has verified these 100,000 mouths fed I would not believe a word of it.

Robert Butcher Mugabe has for the longest time stolen aid, money and resources directly from do-gooder westerners... I have seen it first hand.

Originally Posted by styla21 By all means, if you have a solution to aid-deliverence efficiency, please share with the rest of us!

Youdont want to hear my solution.

My solution woudl involve a large and strong military force arriving and giving out food and shooting on the spot, looters, government stooges and other pilferers and militias.

Thi sdoesnt happen and as a result the most needy and porrest of the poor never get helped.

Trust me, I could share with you the truth.. but you cant handle the truth

[nthfinity]

No Politics for the time being, many people couldn't handle the "heat" the last time around, nor keep the "heat" in the specific political part of the forum.

It may eventually make a reprise, but for now its in stasis