Sites Protest Against Sopa

Many of your favorite sites, like Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube, were protesting. Wikipedia even went as far as shutting down for a day. Regular Joes protested in the streets, while the sites protested by posting signs of protest on their sites all over the world. Which one do you think was more effective?

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a U.S House bill designed to stop online copyright abuse. Copyright abuse is when any type of media is used without permission. There are two sides to this story. One side — the side that dislikes the bill (Wikipedia, Google, and YouTube) — think the bill is to extreme and think it will prevent the public from sharing ideas and innovating. The other side, including companies like Disney and Magazine publishers like the bill because it protects their creative work.

The following Khan Academy video explains more about SOPA:

Girl Power at the Google Science Fair

Yesterday, Google headquarters in Silicon Valley hosted fifteen Google Science Fair finalists. More than 1,000 local attendees plus Google workers attended the event and walked along the exhibit halls.

The top three winners are all girls this year, and here they are:

• Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group. Lauren studied the effect of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken.
• Naomi Shah in the 15-16 age group. Naomi endeavored to prove that making changes to indoor environments that improve indoor air quality can reduce people’s reliance on asthma medications.
• Shree Bose in the 17-18 age group. Shree discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients when they have built up a resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs.

According to the judges, the girls were all intellectually curious, tenacious, and determined to use science to solve big problems through simple solutions that the general public can do. Each girl won a scholarship and a fantastic-looking Lego statue. Shree received a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galápagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer and an internship at CERN. Naomi and Lauren each received $25,000 scholarships and internships at Google and Lego. All three get a lifetime digital subscriptions to Scientific American.

You can watch the girls' science fair submission on Google. Also, consider checking out the Google Students blog.

Sources: Google Science Fair, Google daily blog

On the Heels of the Maker's Faire, Google Announces Kid Winners of Its Science Fair

The judges for the Google Science Fair just announced the contest's 15 finalists out of 60 semi-finalists. According to the judges, all of the students’ projects asked interesting questions, many focused on real-world problems and some produced groundbreaking science that challenged current conventions.

There were three categories: 13- to 14-year-olds, 15- to 16-year-olds, and 17- to 18-year-olds. In July, the finalists get to visit Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. to present their projects to the panel of finalist judges, including science luminaries, technology innovators and one Nobel laureate. They are vying for prizes that include $100,000 in scholarship funds, real-life experiences at CERN, Google, LEGO and Scientific American, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands courtesy of National Geographic Expeditions. The event will be streamed live on ourYouTube channel so make sure to tune in.

Here are few videos of two of the finalists, the winged keel and a wind turbine:

Doodle for Google

The Doodle 4 Google contest took place in March, and the dateline was March 31st. The winner's photo was on the Google homepage yesterday (May 27th, 2010). Mackenzie Melton, in 3rd grade at El Dorado Springs, in El Dorado Springs, Missouri. She won for the kindergarten through 3rd grade group, at the age of 9. She said, "I chose this doodle because the rainforest is in danger and it is not fair to the plants and animals. I love everything except spiders and snakes, but I would still save them." Her design won from over 33,000 contestants.

I think that this picture got chosen, because it took time to make, and it was a good theme. If I were a judge, I would have chosen this. Also, the image is pretty and colorful, unlike some other pictures. This was a wonderful picture to have been drawn by a nine year old. I think it's interesting how that the "e" at the end of Google, was a snake, even though Mackenzie doesn't like snakes. Her picture was creative and outside of the box. Now you think about what you would want to draw, and for what reason, if you had entered the contest.

She won her picture to be the Google homepage from yesterday, a $15,000 collage scholarship, a netbook computer, and a $25,000 for her schools computer system.

For more information about the school, visit this site.

For more information about Doodle 4 Google, visit this site.

Below is a montage of the Google video:

Google Books!

Google Books is a place on Google where you could find books and reviews. For example, if you look up The Pigman, it opens up the whole book. It also will show other versions or related books.

If you look up Romeo and Juliet, it will open the play. And so it is with all the other books you look up. All you have to do is to go to google.com. If you need to look up something, go to Google Books and you can read the first chapter or the whole book. They highlight the key parts and words, and you can easily search for words and phrases in the book.

Review of the book The Pigman

The Pigman is a story about a boy name John and a girl named Lorraine. John and Lorraine were once with other teenagers named Norton and Dennis and make prank calls. But the game was to call a random person and try to keep the person on the phone the longest. When it was Lorraine's turn, she picked Angelo Pignati. When she was on the phone with Angelo Pignati, she said she was from a fundraiser called the L&J fund. When they came to Mr. Pignati's house they say they came to collect money from the L&J fund. Mr. Pignati welcomed them in and wrote a check for 10 dollars. When they left Lorraine felt sorry for stealing from the old man. Lorraine and John started coming back to Mr. Pignati's house and spent more time with him. The reason Mr. Pignati is called the Pigman because his wife collected fake pigs.

I didn't really like this book, but it was okay. I would recommend it to people from the ages ten to fourteen or if you like pigs.

You can read this story on Google Books. Google Books is a website that allows you to read books. It is useful for students in high school or college because you can find different books for reading and research, especially when getting information for footnotes.

Doodle 4 Google

Last week, I did a report on Doodle 4 Google. Doodle 4 Google it is a contest kids kindergarten through 12th can enter. I would encourage you to enter because it is a good way to express your feelings and actions. Hillwood entered at the end of last year yet nobody won. Many people on to the finals. I think everybody was a winner!

You can read my article from last week here, as well as Julian G.'s story about Doodle 4 Google.

Get Ready to Doodle 4 Google

Google is making a contest, called Doodle 4 Google, for people who are in grades K-12. If you are in those grades, you could customize the Google logo. If you win you get $15,000 for collage, a trip to the Google New York Office, a laptop computer, a T-shirt with their design on it, and a $25,000 donation to your school's computer lab from Google. And the top 40 designs would be on display at the Smithsonian National Museum.

Last year, Hillwood Academic Day School entered in this contest, but we did not win. This year we are thinking of entering again, to see how far we can get. This year, the subject for Doodle 4 Google is, what I want for the world.

Registration for the contest closes at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on March 17, 2010, and entries are due by March 31, 2010 no later than 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time. The winning picture will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 27, 2010. For more information, read this page on Google. To look at some of last year's finalist, read and watch Camyrn's Herald post.

Doodle 4 Google

Doodle 4 Google is a contest that students in the U.S.A. can enter. The grades kindergarten through 12th grade can enter. All of Hillwood entered the contest at the end of the school year last year, but none of them won.

I have selected some of the finalist's drawings for you to view. The people who drew took their time and did as hard as they could. I think everybody did grea,t but there was a few that stood out from all of them.

I would encourage every kid [K-12] to enter, because it is a good way to fell good about your work and your self.

If you would like to know more about the contest and how to enter, read Julian F.'s article.

Doodle for Google

Student Assignment: Camryn

Write about the results of the Doodle for Google contest. You can read Google's blog post about the contest here.

Remember to answer the five W's of a good story (who, what, when, where, why) when you are writing your story (aim for about 300 words). Also, show (and tell) readers which images you like best and why.

You should also create an Animoto video that highlights all of your favorite designs from the contest.