Help give food and water by educating yourself!

Like, seriously.

Most people by now have probably at least heard of Freerice, which is a vocabulary game in which each correct definition you give donates rice to people around the world. You can find it at freerice.com. There are also now different subjects, such as chemistry, foreign languages, math, and art, so it's not just vocabulary skills that are growing now.

Some similar sites I just found, which as far as I can tell are legitimate, are helpthirst.com and freeflour.com.

Helpthirst is a game where a number flashes on the screen (for example, the population of Zimbabwe) for a few seconds, and then when it is gone you must type in the number. The numbers start at a few digits and get more difficult. I managed to get to level 48 without missing one. Each correct answer, according to the website, donates 1 cup of water to World Vision (I assume this means that the ad revenue goes to well-digging and similar projects).

Freeflour is nearly identical to Freerice, but the only subject is geography, and each correct answer donates a spoonful of flour (according to the website, the money goes to "multiple charities" for various food-related projects).

Another website I just found is at Freepoverty.com. This also asks geography questions, but the object of this game is to click the appropriate place on the map. For example, the website displays "Rome, Italy" and you must click where you think Rome is on a map of the world. Each correct answer is supposed to donate up to 10 cups of water depending on how close you are to the correct answer, but I found a place on the site where they were asking for someone to donate to, so I'm not sure if the virtual water is actually going anywhere at the moment.

Freerice has definitely established its reputation, but the three websites I just found haven't, probably because they don't provide clear information about where the money is going and how it has helped already. If anyone has any information about these websites, that would be great. However, I'd definitely recommend at least playing Helpthirst.com, since it's the only one of the three more questionable websites that provides the name of the charity to which the money is donated. The other two games are still fun, though, even if you aren't really helping anything but your geography skills.

http://www.freerice.com
http://www.helpthirst.com
http://www.freeflour.com
http://www.freepoverty.com

NaNoWriMo - Day 2

Please, don't look for the strangely absent "Day 1" post. It does not exist. :)

So, National Novel Writing month has begun, and I'm about 2,600 words into my magnum opus. And hopefully I will have a good plot idea tomorrow, because I've written myself into a mind-numbingly dull corner.

Since I'll be spending one or two hours a day this month writing, that means that hopefully after NaNoWriMo ends, I'll be in the habit of writing a lot, and with no novel writing to restrain me, I'll have plenty of time to blog! :D

Watch for Falling Cats

Last night, I got a surprise crawling into bed to find that an anonymous cat had mistaken my bed for a litter box.

An hour later, I finally got into the spare bed I have in my office. I am so glad I have that bed. The mattress still isn’t clean. My room still stinks. This turn of events does not make me happy. :(

BUT

I woke up at 5 this morning to watch the meteor shower. I am so glad! I saw approximately 20 meteors and stayed outside in the 45-degree world for an hour and fifteen minutes. It was very groovy. \:D/

Best Essay Entry - Snow Day

Last fall when I took English Composition 101, I submitted an essay for possible inclusion in the Best of Student Essays for 2008-09 at the community college where I've been taking college classes for dual enrollment (I get high school and college credits for taking the classes). To my surprise, the other day I received the Best Essays book in the mail, along with a letter saying my essay had been published. The essays published will be used for examples in classes, and other such things. It is one of the two descriptive essays featured, and so that my family may read it, I am now posting it here. :)

Editor's notes: "This first-person narrative is a present-tense vignette of walking to find a fresh snowfall and going for a walk. The descriptions appeal to the senses of sight, sound, and touch. The narrator's thought upon returning to the house is effective because it implies more excursions to come, offering a "look to the future" as a recommended strategy for concluding paragraphs."

Snow Day

 

    I awaken, my feet cold under the sheets. The room is strangely quiet as I slip out of bed and look out the window. I see the world covered in a sea of white snow. I hurry to get dressed and start for the back door. Today I will walk through my snow-covered yard.

    I stop at the door, silently watching the snow fall. The tiny ice crystals drift peacefully down from the sky, covering the world in

white. The door creaks as I open it, and I carefully step onto the back porch so as not to slip and fall. I now have a full view of my backyard, a wintry paradise covered in snow. As I walk down the steps and to the sidewalk, the squeaking of the wooden steps combines with the crunch of the snow under my feet like two instruments in an orchestra, performing in the sweet silence all around me. The white, cottony powder covers the branches of the trees. As I walk down the sidewalk, I see the car resting under a thick layer of snow. The dogs run to meet me, leaving trails of paw prints in the snow. I continue to the driveway and scrape some snow off of the car window, looking inside. The powder chills my hand, so I put my hand inside my pocket to warm it. The snow begins to fall harder. I wander around the car, crunching the snow under my feet.

    I hear birds chirping, and walk to the bird feeder, where several small birds are hopping around on the ground. The snow is peppered with tiny holes where seeds have fallen from the bird feeder. The birds fly away as I approach.

    I continue walking and scoop some snow from the ground into my hand. After shaping the snow into a rough sphere, I throw it at a tree trunk. The snow scatters. I walk past the bird bath and see that the water has frozen. The snow falls even harder, making it hard to see. I close my eyes and feel myself being bombarded with tiny pieces of ice. After the snow subsides, I continue through the sea of white.

    I brush against a cedar tree, and the snow falls to the ground like powdered sugar, revealing the green needles underneath. I begin walking down the trail to the pond. The dogs jump up and follow me eagerly, prancing down the trail behind me.

    The forest is quiet. The only sounds are my breath and the snow crunching under my feet, as well as a few birds chirping in the branches above me. I see the pond beyond the next row of trees. The normally dark hole is now covered in white. The dogs run on ahead of me onto the snow-covered pond. The ice holds them up as they run to the other side. I test the ice under my feet, and the ice cracks slightly, so I decide not to risk stepping out onto the pond myself.

    I walk back up to the trail and continue, noticing the snow-covered fence. The fence leads me around a curve to the now sleeping berry bushes, down the hill and up another hill, completing a small loop leading back into the clearing of my backyard. I walk up to the garden and see the large hay-covered rectangle sprinkled with snow. I walk down to the other side of the backyard, to another trail leading into the woods. I follow the short trail down to a second pond, and it also is frozen and covered in snow.

    Feeling colder now, I decide to go back inside and eat breakfast. I walk back up the trail and see my house a few hundred feet away. As I reach the driveway, I see that the car window is covered with another thin layer of snow. I run back up the steps into the house, shaking the snow off of the porch railing. The dogs look at me sadly, and I pet them before I go inside. I'll be back later.

Stuck in the Middle

Ah, I see that they're singing verses 1 and 3! Nobody ever sings me. I just sit here in the hymnal and stare at them. But do they care? Of course not! They don't have time to care, because now they have to turn to page 183.

Of course! They're singing the first and last verses again! How I do feel sorry for those verses stuck in the middle. Just because we're non-living strings of words, we get no respect. After we go to all the trouble to rhyme and everything!

I mean, it's like we don't even matter. "Let's just sing the first and last verses so we don't have to pay attention to the deep spiritual truths in the second verse!" You know, I bet they stick all the deep theological matters into the middle for just that reason.

Wait! They sang the middle verse this time!

Wow, the congregation looks exhausted now. I'm sure it was so difficult to sing for thirty extra seconds that they'll probably have to sleep an extra two hours this afternoon.

We get no respect. Maybe I should order pizza.

Flying Cats

Last night, just after I had settled in bed and was drifting off to sleep, I was jolted awake by something hitting my feet. I jumped about two feet in the air and almost hit my head on the wall, only to see Cheddar flying off of my bed.

I guess he won't want to sleep on my bed for a while...

The Saga of the Creepy Bug

So, I was pulling weeds this afternoon, you see, and while I was tirelessly pulling hundreds of wild plants from the dirty soil of the asparagus bed, I noticed that one of the wooden poles supporting the tin roof on the side of the shed was riddled with holes. Upon closer observation, I discovered a system of tunnels that apparently had been previously discovered by a woodpecker of some sort.
Inside one of the holes I saw a small bug peeking out. As soon as it saw me, it started staring angrily and tapping its feet, much as I would do if someone was staring into my window while I was tunneling through my house. I tapped on the walls of its apartment (for no particular reason, of course), left, came back, and saw it doing what I thought at first was washing itself, but as it didn't seem to be paying me any mind even when I tapped its walls, I decided that it must be doing some sort of ritual dance to scare away giants. It must have thought its dance worked when I walked away to continue weeding.
I returned shortly to see it calmly doing whatever bugs do... until it saw me. Immediately, seeing that its dance had not worked, it began screaming and shaking its little bug fists at me. I was a bit taken aback, especially when, after less than a minute, it suddenly seemed to calm down and just stare at me. I at first supposed that it might have gotten used to the fact that I really wasn't leaving, but then I saw its sinister grin. I discerned that it was trying to tell me that it was just as crazy and dangerous as I was.
I left it alone after that.

Paintball and the End of the World: A Facebook Conversation

Travis

Travis + Paintball and/or blob = global chaos and mayhem

But don't ask me why :\

Seymour

do i dare ask? why?

Travis

I think that being in the very presence of such activities negatively alters the fabric of space-time and if I actually participated then the continuum could collapse once and for all...

Seymour

ok, um, i'm not sure how doing the blob and slide and/or paintball could cause that

Travis

That is why it's called "theoretical" physics

*nods emphatically*

What they're doing with genetic engineering

My parents left for their anniversary trip (happy anniversary!), so they left my at my friend Seymour's* house for the weekend. Today Seymour, his mother, brother, dad (for a few minutes), and I went to the Nashville Zoo. It was a very educational experience, especially when I saw a misplaced apostrophe on the zebra sign (second paragraph, fourth line, last word, I think). It says "it's" when it should have said "its". I was shocked, horrified, and slightly offended until the zebras personally apologized; then I calmed down a bit. After the zebras we walked through a bamboo forest. I've decided to cut down all the trees in our yard and plant bamboo instead. I hope my parents don't mind.
A lot of the signs in the zoo had "Vanishing Animal" written on them. Apparently the animals spontaneously vanish into thin air. It's amazing what they're doing with genetic engineering these days.
After the zoo, we went to Whole Foods Market for lunch. I had some delicious lasagna, couscous, a variety of tofu, some strawberries, fried rice, noodles, and some other foods as well. Whole Foods is my favorite store now. (And I don't work there. Really.)
It's been a very good day. I hope my parents have a good trip! :)

*Not his real name. Seriously! :O

About Yourself

I think that information requests like "About Yourself" are far too ambiguous to satisfactorily answer. Do you want to know how old I am (16), what school I go to/have gone to (currently homeschooled), what my hair color is (brown), where I live (the United States), where I work (I don't have a job, and I hope you will let me test your software regardless), or what browser I use (it changes periodically, but currently Mozilla Firefox)? I suggest that you ask more specific questions such as, "Where do you live?" or "What color is your hair?". Perhaps, and this may be a preferable option, you could not ask people about themselves, since I hardly see what that has to do with testing software (though if I'm missing the point you may feel free to enlighten me). Or perhaps nobody reads these "About Yourself" sections anyway, which makes me wonder even more why they would be required. In any case, I do hope that you have a wonderful day and that sitting in a cubicle/office all day is not sapping the life out of you. Perhaps you could take your family (if you have one) to the zoo or beach, or you could sit under a tree on a sunny day and read a book. Perhaps you could even talk to God (if you're so inclined, although I know He'd love to chat and is always ready to listen). In any case, do have a good day, and please give my regards to everyone at your place of employment!
-Travis

Spam

Yes, Yunfei Ebql, I'd love to read your email about "Hideous surgery's victims".
Yes, Wilford B., I'd love a complimentary diabetic meter.
Yes, myself, I'd like to hear about the job you (I) found me.
Yes, Julie whom I do not know and who apparently does not know my name, I'd love to meet tonight. Why don't we go to Cancun; I just won several free trips to there.
Yes, myself, I'd love to get 72% off on a bunch of drugs I don't use.
Yes, Live Jewelery Auctions, I'd love to buy 1 carat diamong rings (live ones, I suppose?) at up to 95% off.
Yes, I'm very grateful to know that the Nintendo Wii that I didn't order is here.
Yes, I'd love to hear about the legitimate online company that needs workers in my area (however you found out where my area was).
Yes, I'd love to confirm the plane ticket I didn't buy.
Yes, M. Vincent, since I haven't replied to my email about finding myself a new job, why don't you tell me about the job that you found me?
Yes, German person, I'd love to hear about something to do with liability insurance that I had to translate to understand what you were talking about.
Yes, I'd love to hear what legal advice you have for my bankruptcy problem.

Now, why on earth are these important emails in my spam folder? :\

Happy New Year!

Or... am I a bit late for that? Oh, well. I'm in East Tennessee now! :D I like the mountains and such. And even though our cabin doesn't have WiFi, I can steal internet from the conference center here. Guess where I am now!

On a side note: some elephants can read everything that can otherwise do either.