Daily Ada

Recursed!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:50:53 GMT

Ada's six! {and 5...4...3...2...1...born.}

explaining the presidential elections to ada

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:37:44 GMT

Daddy: So you know how some countries have Kings and Queens?

Ada: Instead of Presidents, you mean?

Daddy: Well... yes, yes. In countries that have presidents, every few years everyone gets to decide who will be president next. You write an x on a piece of paper next to the name of the person you want, and put it in a box. And then they count the "x"s and whoever gets the most, gets to be president.

Ada: What do they do?

Daddy: Presidents? Well, that's a good question. You see...

Ada: I bet they have to sing and dance lots, so that people will choose them!

[Does Presidential Dance]

Daddy: Well, kind of. Mostly it's talking.

Ada: And the best talker wins?

Daddy: And the best talker wins.

A gentle reminder that 1040-ES is due this coming Monday

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:45:41 GMT

Remember that game that you played in kindergarten and first grade, where you couldn't walk on the lines in the sidewalk?

Step on a crack, you break your mother's back
Step on a line, you break your mother's spine

Man, the rules for that game have really changed:

RULES FOR WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK
A Game By Ada Norton

Step on the squares.

Don't step on the lines.

If the line is not a complete line, you can step on it.

You can step on the round gas meters.

You can step on the square water and cable boxes.

You can step on cracks on the squares.

You can step on the curbs, but not the lines on the curbs.

If you step on the lines 71 times, then you can't step on squares anymore, and you have to step on the lines.

If you go to sleep when you have 6 lines, you will have 0 when you wake up.

If you go to sleep when you have 10 lines, you will have 6 when you wake up.

If you go to sleep when you have 20 lines, you will have 13 when you wake up.

If you step on lines 100 times, you have the ability to step on lines and on leaves. But not squares.

You have the ability to step on squares if you step on lines 100 times. But only occasionally leaves, because they make you slip.

If you're not supposed to step on the squares, and you step on the squares 71 times, then you have to walk in the street.

(And then, we decided to translate it en Español:)

Recuerde que usted juego que se reproduce en kindergarten y primer grado, donde no podía caminar en las líneas en la acera?

Paso a una grieta, romper su madre la espalda
Paso en una línea, te rompes una columna vertebral de la madre

Hombre, las reglas de juego que realmente han cambiado:

Normas para caminar por la acera
Un juego de Ada Norton

Paso a las plazas.

No paso por las líneas.

Si la línea no es una línea completa, puede sobre ella.

Puede paso a la ronda de gas.

Puede paso en la plaza del agua y de cable.

Puede paso a grietas en las plazas.

Puede paso a la represión, pero no las líneas en los bordillos.

Si paso en las líneas 71 veces, entonces puede no paso a más plazas, y usted tiene que paso en las líneas.

Si usted va a dormir cuando tiene 6 líneas, tendrá 0 cuando usted se despierta.

Si usted va a dormir cuando se tiene 10 líneas, tendrá 6 al levantarse.

Si usted va a dormir cuando se tiene 20 líneas, tendrá 13 cuando se despierte.

Si paso a las líneas de 100 veces, usted tiene la capacidad de paso en las líneas y en las hojas. Pero no cuadrados.

Usted tiene la capacidad de paso por los cuadros si paso en las líneas 100 veces. Pero sólo de vez en cuando las hojas, porque te hacen resbalar.

Si no está supuesta a paso en las plazas, y que paso en las plazas 71 veces, entonces usted tiene que caminar en la calle.

Jel

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:08:28 GMT

Ada: We found it when it was dead. It was a jellyfish. We threw it back into the ocean. Jel the jellyfish was named posthumously by Ada Norton, and found by Quinn Norton.

Quinn: We poked it with a stick.

"Okay, print it, and send this out to the whole world"

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:22:56 GMT

When I am a grown-up, I'm going to do these
things, and this is all the stuff I need,
and these are the travellers I need. Only
one Ava though. I don't need a bunch of
Avas.

A Journey to Outer Space
========================

We will need:
A sword.
Binoculars.
A telescope.

A horse.
I need five donkeys,
Seven dogs,
Two hawks,
Two eagles,
A flashlight,
and three guns - one gun for Ava, one gun for Claire and one gun for me.
Some rope.
A computer.
A tent.

Lots of clothes, lots of buttons, three
sunhats (one for Claire, one for Ava, one
for me). A sleeping bag. A compass.

Three of Quinn's knives.

A boat, a helicopter, a submarine, a
carriage, and a table and a rocketship that
you can break up, and they turn into a
little ball that you can carry on your
back.

A lot of Cheerios and a whole big thing of
milk.

Bread, and chocolate milk. A big pack of
noodles.

Also, I need a cup, and a knife and fork and
spoon and three plates, and some firewood.

Ada, Ava, and Claire get to choose which
places they want to go:

The forest, a jungle, the North Pole,
underwater, outer space, at the beach, a
swamp, a flower meadow, the biggest hill in
the world, the tallest tree in the forest,
a desert, midnight in the forest, or in a
volcano.

Ada's directorial debut

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:46:29 GMT

May I present Ada Norton's Burrito, please don't go, a comedic look at the struggle for resources between man and animal, and what happens when those resources run out on you.

a note from ada

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:02:22 GMT

Ada: "Silverfishes run fast. Put that on the Net."

Ada: "I can run fast. I'm also good at climbing, running, jumping."

Zen girl story; blank verse over IM

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 01:53:19 GMT

at the playground,
ada is being v cute.

there's a stage here, so I got on it and said "people of metropolis, your leader ada norton has an announcement."

so she got up and said in a big voice "NOTHING!"
and ran off.

so I said "thank you for your attention"
and she said over her shoulder "Nothing! You hear me? Nothing!"

Recursing up a storm

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:53:58 GMT

Damn, almost forgot to post this.

Ada's 4th recursion, and somehow she seems to still be getting lovelier.

I want to sing you a song

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:43:08 GMT

"...The birds fly up,
and when they touch the moon they know it's nighttime.
Then they fly back to their nest and go to sleep
with their babies..."

Ada at the computer

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:02:14 GMT

She's typing, albeit with some help. Hint: the word turns out to be "horse".

A girl and her robot

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 05:52:52 GMT

Ada and Daddy Gilbert built her very first robot. It's a catbot that follows green things. It has a tail that swishes. It still has a few bugs to work out, like the part about following green things, but it does a bunch of other things, too.

Our daughter's first robot. You could cut the parental pride around here with a knife.

Ada Demands Recitals

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:09:57 GMT

Ada dictated two stories to me at work today, printed them out, and then required that various EFF staff members recite them back to her. They did a pretty good job: she seemed pleased with the delivery of the twist at the end of "Let's Go!" (see below).

On the way home, she was worried that the wind would blow away the stories:

ME: It's okay, I have a copy on the computer. I can print out as many copies as I like. You could give that copy away and I could print out another copy. We would still have the stories.

ADA: So we could give everybody my stories and I could still hold on tightly to these?

ME: Sure!

ADA: That's a good idea!

Go the young copyright minimalist!

Let's Go!

Once upon a time there was a horsie that saved other unicorns. Oh oh! One day, there was a unicorn that wanted to be saved. Someone wanted to get the unicorn as a pet, and the unicorn wanted to just get a girl that was named Ada Norton.

The End.

Adventure Girls

Sat, 26 May 2007 18:11:16 GMT

The beautiful daughter on the Segway... but really it's a thin excuse to link to this post.

The daughter, she is... assertive.

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:57:11 GMT

...the best thing is that she looks more like Mom in Mom's glasses than Mom does in Mom's glasses.

English Tea

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 20:08:52 GMT

Ada indulges in the traditional anglo-grandparental treats: television, cake, and comfy chairs.

Vintage stock footage

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:37:59 GMT

Ada is traveling for the next two weeks, to visit Nanna Grandma in the birthplace of radio. So there may be no new pics for a little while. Instead, gaze upon the child's surly visage during the last time she came back from Great Britian and rejoice that you aren't taking care of her at this moment.

We're not sure what she's thinking here...

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:52:43 GMT

...but whatever it is, it can't be good for us.

This is Ada, umbrellas in her hair, at a Passover/Easter party this past Sunday, with her current entourage leader Heath in tow.

Screw the wind.

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 03:56:01 GMT

The other day, Ada and Heath took advantage of spring break and went to the beach to fly kites. The wind did not cooperate, and we were left with ground-locked kites and faces full of sand. Clearly, we had fun anyway.

Punk rock girl

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:16:03 GMT

Ada and Claire show off their budding inner punk (not shown: teaching the girls to throw up the horns at inappropriate moments Lm| ). Here's hoping that this shot will resurface years later while they're trying to jocky for the E-VP position in a Boston law firm, and that it seals the deal for them.

A Tragedy In Three Acts

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:35:30 GMT

Act I: Pre-cupcake

Act II: Cupcake

Act III: Post-cupcake

Shakespeare's got nothin' on us.

It's not scary, it's exciting!

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 23:13:44 GMT

Chronicled for the ages: Ada watching Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the first time.

Shots from Ada's birthday

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:20:35 GMT

Jeremy has a stunning set of black-n-whites from the party on Saturday here. They are quite pwneriffic.

Update:

Even more photos found! Go here now - the Bug-Headed Child commands you!.

The horror, the horror....

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:36:36 GMT

Ada celebrates her 4th birthday with a party of uncontrollable fun (pictured here: not quite as bad as Colonel Kurtz, but it seemed at times to be a bit overwhelming for all parties involved).

Travel Day

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:17:30 GMT

We're flying today, back to the West Coast where it is cold and rainy, but where there is Mommy and Daddy Danny and friends and good coffee and better traffic. (Ok, so those last two were for Daddy Gilbert.)

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of Ada restricting a small stone bunny from running away.