Web game provides rice for hungry

I don't think the method is so bad, if you're for that sort of thing. But my biggest concern is the issue of it being so short-term. You can feed a village for a decade, but if you don't build up the infrastructure and economy, you're just going to increase the population to cause more suffering later. I support developmental programs.

I remember seeing this thread when it was first posted last year. I played the game for a few days with a dictionary open in the next tab. Built up some grains. If enough people played for a long enough length of time they could bring about a global rice crisis.

Wait a minute...

Hmmm.

Originally posted by MemoryShock
As well, there needs to be a corporate interest in industrializing the thrid world nations. Would take alot of money, but in my opinion, well worth it if a corporation(s) did so with the intent to create their own market...

Speaking of capitalistic ideas such as industrializing third world countries with the likes of Montsanto, I present the following insights as to what may REALLY be fuelling the current world food crisis...

Enter the market speculators;

Large-scale investors such as hedge and pension funds buy futures—shares in basic goods and foodstuffs to be delivered at a fixed date in the future. When the price of the commodity rises significantly between the time of the investment and the time of delivery, the investor is able to take home a large profit.

In light of the current food crisis, substantial returns of profit are guaranteed. According to CHX figures, wheat futures (for delivery in December) are expected to rise by at least 73 percent, soybeans by 52 percent, and soy oil by 44 percent.

www.wsws.org...

The Vietnam Food Association said speculators, including real estate companies, had rushed to buy rice in recent days, while wholesalers in the southern Mekong Delta, the country's main rice growing region, were also holding back supplies.

Unrest over the food crisis has led to deaths in Cameroon and Haiti, cost Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis his job, and caused hungry textile workers to clash with police in Bangladesh.

www.iht.com...

The futures market is a traditional tool for farmers to sell their harvests ahead of time. In a futures contract, quantities, prices and delivery dates are fixed, sometimes even before crops have been planted. Futures contracts allow farmers and grain wholesalers a measure of protection against adverse weather conditions and excessive price fluctuations. They can also help a farmer plan how much to plant for a given year.

But now speculators are taking advantage of this mechanism. They can buy futures contracts for wheat, for example, at a low price, betting that the price will go up. If the price of the grain rises by the agreed delivery date, they profit.

Some experts now believe these investors have taken over the market, buying futures at unprecedented levels and driving up short-term prices. Since last August, this mechanism has led to a doubling in the price of rice—including the 500,000 tons that the Philippine government plans to buy in early May to address its own shortage.

www.businessweek.com...

That free handful of rice generated by this well-intended website is getting costlier by the week.

ok, 1200 till I stopped, vocab level 28, whatever that means.

Ama

Originally posted by Sir Francis Bacon
I remember seeing this thread when it was first posted last year. I played the game for a few days with a dictionary open in the next tab. Built up some grains. If enough people played for a long enough length of time they could bring about a global rice crisis.

Wait a minute...

Hmmm.

Same I just googled every word I didnt know, and built up 1000 grains in 10 min. But opened ad's in new windows to be fair

1220 grains in 15 minutes.

It's great to know that an American can actually do something even if it's small, to better the world in some way. Wait a second I am American, I shouldn't be doing this. TV here I come.

reply to post by masqua


Wow...thanks masqua! I am going to have to dive into that more in depth at some point. Surprises me not that greed of a few are once again screwing it up for the little guy....

Originally posted by Johnmike
If I wanted to read the Bible, I would. Unfortunately, as you yourself exemplify, it isn't a source of education on economics.

Quite the contrary, proverbs has many verses pertaining to financial.

The important part of the Bible is the matter of salvation in Jesus Christ the Lord.

Matthew 16:26 (King James Version)

26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

I got 2200 grains of rice.

I still get this habit where I'll think something's the right answer, second guess myself, then get it wrong just to find out I should have picked the first one.

Heres an interesting read regarding the free-rice program and how it donates very little versus the amount it takes in basically indicating possible scam.

dailycow.org...

Then comes the enginuity that puts the freerice program into high gear using bots which I just happened to come across on Wiki. Using Bots helps the people needing the rice but doesn't help the advertisers. So...is this a charity, or advertising in the name of charity?

Wiki

Since FreeRice became well-known through Digg.com and other news sources,[1] many programming-adept users created scripts to automatically play the game for them. The scripts operate far faster than humans alone and run for 24 hours a day. At first, the scripts got only ≈1/4 of the words correct by random chance. Eventually, these bots were adapted with automated online dictionary search, dictionary files, and word database dumps so the programs can choose the correct answers the first time more often.

en.wikipedia.org...

So it appears that we have a farmer on one side of the pond with a bag of rice.

In the middle of the pond on a boat with a Satellite uplink, we have a person clicking to give grains of rice.

Lastly, on the far side of the pond is the family who is in dire need of food.

Its a sad day when mankind cant just do whats right, but rather, needs to find a gimmick to work within his commercial environment to feed his brethren that which has been freely given to all mankind.

When your cup runs over, look for the cups that needs filling.


Peace



[edit on 9-5-2008 by HIFIGUY]