Welcome to Keith Marran's Website

You've reached the website of Keith Marran - and by extension, David Reich, Gogo, Oz, and a slew of friends and family that maybe aren't so excited to see pictures and embarrassing stories of themselves on the website.

In the early days of the web, I swore to myself that my website was not going to be like everyone else's website and just be repository for pictures of my dog, house renovations, and recent vacations. After several years of fighting that constant lure, I've decided that God invented the internet just for that reason. After all, if technology can't save us from boring home slide-shows, then what good is it?

top stories

North Korea defies U.S. with new missile launches (Reuters)

Reuters - North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles on Saturday, South Korea's defense ministry said, in an act of defiance toward the United States that further stoked regional tensions already high due to its nuclear test in May.
Hardline Iran editor calls for Mousavi to face trial (Reuters)

Reuters - A newspaper editor seen as close to Iran's top authority said Saturday defeated election candidate Mirhossein Mousavi and a former pro-reform president had committed "terrible crimes" which should be tried in court.
N.Korea fires seventh missile: S.Korea (AFP)

AFP - North Korea test-fired a seventh missile on Saturday from its base on the east coast, South Korea's defence ministry said.
2 US troops die in attack on base in Afghanistan (AP)

AP - Militants exploded a vehicle outside the gates of a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunbattle that ended when American troops called in airstrikes, officials said. Two U.S. troops were killed.
SKorea says NKorea fires 7 missiles off east coast (AP)

AP - South Korea says North Korea has fired a seventh missile off its eastern coast.

Spain police foil radio control zeppelin jailbreak (Reuters)

Reuters - Spanish police said on Friday they had foiled an Italian drug trafficker's plan to break out of jail in the Canary Islands using climbing equipment and a four-metre-long zeppelin.
Pachyderms outdo people in cross-species chow bout (AP)

AP - In the fight of pachyderms vs. people the pachyderms now have the upper trunk.
Pachyderms outdo people in cross-species chow bout (AP)

AP - In the fight of pachyderms vs. people the pachyderms now have the upper trunk.
New Zealand airline issues nude safety video (AP)

AP - New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.
Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail (AP)

AP - An Oregon woman obsessed with bunnies has been ordered back behind bars after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen rabbits.

Guests for the Sunday TV news shows (AP)

AP - Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
Massive demand for Jackson memorial tickets (Reuters)

Reuters - More than half a million fans from around the world applied for 17,500 free tickets to Michael Jackson's public memorial service next week, organizers said on Friday as a massive security operation got underway.
U2 asks fans to support Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi (AP)

AP - As U2 kicks off its world tour, the Irish rockers are turning a spotlight on Myanmar's jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Potent Anesthetic Found in Michael Jackson's Home (E! Online)

E! Online - Law enforcement sources have reportedly recovered a potent anesthetic from inside Michael Jackson's Holmby Hills home.
Official: Powerful sedative found in Michael Jackson's home (AP)

AP - The powerful sedative Diprivan was found in Michael Jackson's home, a law enforcement official said Friday as the city planned for a massive crowd at the singer's memorial service.

US Court Rejects IBM Appeal in Executive's Move to Dell (PC World)

PC World - A U.S. court has rejected an IBM appeal to bar David Johnson, the company's former chief of mergers and acquisitions, from working at rival Dell over concerns regarding trade secrets.
Michael Jackson sales surge expected to last months (Reuters)

Reuters - In the days following Michael Jackson's June 25 death, fans flocked to record stores and digital music outlets to purchase one last memory. And merchants say they expect the Jackson sales surge to last for weeks -- maybe even months.
Jackson fans told to stay away as tickets up for grabs (AFP)

AFP - Fans heading to Los Angeles for Michael Jackson's memorial extravaganza were urged to stay away on Friday as organizers said tickets for the event would be allocated by an online lottery.
Ericsson announces broadband contracts in China (AFP)

AFP - Swedish mobile phone network supplier Ericsson won contracts to supply broadband Internet to millions of users in China by a deal with three operators there, it said Friday.
Bluetooth "Big Brother" tracks festival-goers (Reuters)

Reuters - Researchers are using Bluetooth technology to observe the meanderings of tens of thousands of festival-goers at a top European rock festival, hoping their findings will launch a new generation of tracking devices.

The Nation's weather (AP)

AP - A low pressure system moving through the Central Plains on Saturday is forecast to kick up scattered showers and thunderstorms over the Upper Midwest and Mid-Mississippi River Valley. The Northern Plains may see scattered isolated thunderstorms develop in the afternoon, while the Southern Plains is expected to remain hot and humid with highs approaching 100 degrees.
Environmental group WWF urges G8 to make climate pledge (AFP)

AFP - The environmental group WWF on Friday urged the Group of Eight industrialised nations to show global leadership by making a commitment to keep climate change in check at their summit next week.
How the Declaration of Independence Changed the World (LiveScience.com)

LiveScience.com - In between mouthfuls of hot dogs and potato salad, Americans on this July Fourth might actually ponder those famous phrases scrawled near the top of the Declaration of Independence:
GMO corn: France rejects report by EU food agency (AFP)

AFP - France on Friday rejected a report by the European Union's food safety watchdog that said a controversial strain of genetically-modified corn was safe.
Wild Fireworks Spotted in Space (SPACE.com)

SPACE.com - A new image of a gaseous space nebula reveals tens of thousands of giant comet-like knots raining down in a star-spangled cosmic fireworks display.

latest posts

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Since we joined our CSA, it's been clear that we're going to be eating a lot of salads. The majority of the produce so far has been leafy green vegetables - and in a large variety. So if I was going to be eating a lot of salads, I needed to come up with at least one salad dressing I really loved.

I hate most every salad dressing I've ever bought. Our default salad dressing is a balsamic vinaigrette. It's really more David's thing than mine. I have more fun with it when I get a fun vinegar - like passion fruit vinegar. What I really wanted was to master creamy salad dressings.

Last Day in Milan

Well, it was the last day in Milan. Part of this trip was an effort to escape the madness of the renovation, and in that sense, the trip was a total winner. I feel like I've "done" Milan, though I would never pass up any chance to visit Italy again. But I feel like there was a lot of the surrounding area that I would love to come back and explore: Lake Como and Verona are two biggies. I could imagine spending at least a week, casually bopping from one small town to the next.

Orta

After taking a leisurely stroll down the west side of Lake Maggiore, we were ready to get out of the car. The afternoon rain had passed. We arrived at Orta San Giulio, managed to find parking, and trekked down the hill.

There are no cars allowed in the heart of town. Or more precisely, the town could not fit any cars. It's a labyrinth of tiny little cobbled streets. There's one main drag that most people use to meander through town.

First things first, we stopped for a cappucinos. Ah...

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar

word of the day

invigilate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 04, 2009 is:

invigilate • \in-VIJ-uh-layt\ • verb
: to keep watch : supervise, monitor

Example sentence:
Theodore sat in his favorite chair on the back deck, sipped his coffee, and invigilated the activities of his grandchildren as they played in the yard.

Did you know?
Keep your eyes open and you're sure to spot a few relatives of today's word. "Invigilate" is a descendant of the Latin verb "vigilare," meaning "to stay awake." As you may have guessed, "vigilare" is the ancestor of our adjective "vigilant" ("alertly watchful"), and it also gives us "reveille" ("a signal to wake up in the morning," via French "reveiller") and "surveillance" ("close watch, supervision," via French "survéiller"). "Invigilate" has been a part of the English language since the mid-16th century.
zeugma

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 03, 2009 is:

zeugma • \ZOOG-muh\ • noun
: the use of a word to modify two or more words in such a way that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one

Example sentence:
"Torpedoes hit their mark! Ship and many hopes sink!" said the headline, employing vivid zeugma.

Did you know?
"Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . . it links unrelated terms -- mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low -- and thus generates surprise." (Walter Redfern, Puns) "Zeugma," which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means "joining." The Greek word has another connection to English as well. In the early 1970s, a chemistry professor named Paul Lauterbur developed a technique for producing images of internal organs. He called it "zeugmatography," because it involved the joining of magnetic fields. Lauterbur was awarded a Nobel Prize, but the name he chose didn’t stick. The technique is known today as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI.