Feed the Hungry with Vocabulary Knowledge

There’s a website that I just found out about called FreeRice.com that will donate 10 grains of rice for every vocabulary word you can answer the meaning of correctly. Snopes has a verification page with more info about the site. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) donates the rice. It’s a good thing they don’t penalize you for getting the words wrong or I would have just cost them a lot of grains of rice. :)

Pzza Ordrs By Txt Msg

Papa John’s has started providing a new way to order your pizza at about 2700 locations. Instead of calling in for delivery, you can now send a text message using your cell phone. Even Domino’s is making sure that those customers with mobile devices on the internet can place the order through their browser. Ok, I admit they would have to come up with some better abbreviations than I did for this kind of thing. Papa John’s has already thought of that. You can enter “FAV1,” “FAV2,” “FAV3,” or “FAV4” in the message depending on what you saved in each of these names. You can also save your payment and address information. It seems that this is just one more step towards less and less human contact in a way. However, this will definitely appeal to the younger crowd and will probably create a big benefit for the consumer and the company.

Study Shows That Most Parents Aren’t Into Gaming

One of the latest polls says that parents and gaming isn’t the best relationship out there. It seems the majority of parents never or very rarely join their kids in playing games. I can understand how parents want to limit their child’s time gaming. I mean, there is such a thing as the real world and kids need to get out and run around a bit. However, I think that if they’re going to allow the kids to game they should join right in. I have to think that when my husband and I have kids, we’ll be playing right alongside them (or against them, whichever works). A little gaming, whether it is Halo or Wii Sports, can be a good stress reliever after a long day. It’s nice to go home and just do some fun for a little bit. We usually appreciate the graphics and the beauty that the games offer, as well as the storylines and over all fun factor. A friend of mine recently told me that she played Halo with her 17 year old son and really had a blast. She never really plays the Xbox but she still enjoyed it. So parents, if you’ve never tried it give gaming with your child a shot (no pun intended). You might end up liking it.

Google Your Gas Pump

Google is planning to incorporate their maps and driving directions into gas pumps starting soon. I can already think of a few trips where this would have come in handy. The new gas pumps will have an Internet connection so that lost drivers can check directions while filling up their gas tanks. The service will include categories such as hotels, restaurants, and hospitals for you to choose from to show what’s available in your area. From the sounds of it, it will be very similar to what you get when you visit Google Maps on your PC. You can even print out your directions (very handy!). The gas pump service will be free to drivers, but unlike most Google services, this service will not use ads for income.

Comet Holmes Makes It’s Appearance

I found out today that you can see a naked eye comet in the constellation of Perseus. On October 24th comet Holmes erupted and brightened almost a million times, taking it from magnitude 17 to 2.5 (the smaller the number, the brighter the object). Comet Holmes is a periodic comet that was discovered in 1892 by Edwin Holmes during another such eruption. You can find where to see the comet with this map. I went out tonight and took a peek with binoculars. It looks like a fuzzy circle, not your typical comet shape, but very cool nonetheless. The reason we don’t see the tail is that it is in the line of sight with the Earth, so we’re looking down the length of the tail. If you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, it would be worth pulling them out and taking a look. You should be able to see the comet at least through the middle of the month, at which time the moon returns and will light up the sky. Right now the comet is just beyond the orbit of Mars and appears to be about the size of a third of the full moon.