Use your power for good and not evil, at least online

Today I woke up, changed the blog around a little, added new parts and switched around others. I am delighted to point out that you, too, can now play Pac-Man either before, during, or after you've finished reading the post for the day.

It's near the bottom right so keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.... there do you see it now?

I love Pac-Man and I am horrible at it. I was bad at it when it first came out and I rarely made it past the first board. I played a few games this morning. Good to know that some things never change and I still stink at playing. But, it's fun and shouldn't life have some things in it that just bring a smile to your face?

(Are you one of those players who move your body jerkily to the left, right, up, down and/or yell out while you play Pac-Man? You do know that doesn't work, right?)

I'd also like to bring your attention to a handy site that I can get sucked into that actually does bring good to the planet. It's called freerice.com and it's a game that you can play, or someone older or even younger than you can play. You can also cheat if you have a dictionary near you while you play.

This is a little site that tests your vocabulary knowledge and provides a certain amount of rice for each correct answer. The program is run by the UN Food Program and it's on the up-and-up. Feel free to Snopes it, if you'd like. (Snopes.com is one of those sites where you can plug in what may or may not prove to be a cyber urban-legend and then they'll tell you the validity of whatever email claim you wanted to check out.)

If you are a serious wordsmith or a casual one, this is actually more mesmerizing than you might think. You start off by getting a word (or sometimes a phrase) and four multiple choice answers. You choose the right meaning/synonym and your little bowl on the side gets some rice put in it when you are right. The bowl keeps filling up with each correct answer, twenty grains of rice for every correct answer.

That's all you have to do: answer correctly and watch the bowl fill up. The "game" can be quite challenging and it changes its level of difficulty based on your correct answers. I have heard that it can go all the way down to a third grade level but I just can't lose that many times. I have to fill my rice bowl. I swear I can get on there and find that an hour has gone by.

At least I was feeding someone else and not playing Pac-Man!

I'm always trying to answer one more question, to get to the next hundred or thousand grains of rice. Some of the words will repeat on you so pay attention to the correct answer that they reveal. It isn't timed so you could hypothetically cheat and it would be for a good cause.

Now go forth, do-gooders and fill bowls of rice with your amazing ability to find the meaning of words. Feel free to don your cape and tights or wear your finest pajamas. This is one time where you can have fun in whatever you choose to wear.

Imagine all the new "players" out there right now filling up bowls of rice. This is the power of the cyber-press, people!

http://www.freerice.com/

Feel free to comment below and let me know what you thought of the freerice. site, or the blog's new look, or of this post. As always, be kind in your words.

It's not usually that hard to leave a comment even though it says you do have to register. You can use any email to sign in and here's another tip, click the picture of the wheel chair if you're having a hard time reading the wavy letters. Keep clicking and it should make the letters bigger and clearer.

By the way, I am one of those people who jerk around something fierce and yell at my Pac-Man gobbler. I bet you're smiling now, aren't you?