Microwave Oven

A Bel Air attorney pleaded guilty today to helping a friend break into the home of the friend's estranged wife, where he killed the family kitten by zapping it in the microwave oven.With tears streaming down his face, Attorney Stephen E. Protokowicz Jr. told the court the cat's death was an accident. He apologized profusely and said both men had been drinking heavily before the break-in."If it is in your power," he told the judge, "I'd rather be sent to jail than to have the kids, my partners, or my family have to go through anything else."

ROBERT DECAREAU, 82 Helped develop the microwave oven Robert Decareau, who helped invent the processes necessary to create the microwave oven, died Sunday in Amherst, Mass., after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the past 17 years. Dr. Decareau worked for Raytheon after earning his doctorate in chemistry. It was there that he started working on microwave energy food applications, and he was one of the first to call himself a food scientist. His daughter, Karen Ross, said she remembered her father experimenting with a refrigerator-size prototype microwave oven in the family's basement in the 1960s.

1939: Frozen dinners 1943: Victory gardens 1945: Microwave oven 1946: Sugar rationing over, ice cream sales soar

I want to make baba ghannouj. Can I roast the eggplants in the microwave? Roasting an eggplant whole is the easiest way to turn its flesh into a soft, succulent puree - the base for baba ghannouj and other eggplant salads. But it cannot be accomplished in a microwave oven. Unlike the ambient heat generated by conventional ovens, so-called microwaves penetrate only about 1 1/2 inches into foods. If you microwaved a ball of rice that was 3 inches in diameter - about the size of a baseball - the center would get hot because the center is only 1 1/2 inches from the surface.

ROBERT DECAREAU, 82 Helped develop the microwave oven Robert Decareau, who helped invent the processes necessary to create the microwave oven, died Sunday in Amherst, Mass., after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the past 17 years. Dr. Decareau worked for Raytheon after earning his doctorate in chemistry. It was there that he started working on microwave energy food applications, and he was one of the first to call himself a food scientist. His daughter, Karen Ross, said she remembered her father experimenting with a refrigerator-size prototype microwave oven in the family's basement in the 1960s.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 10400 block of Queens Way Drive: A microwave oven was taken from a house under construction Sunday or Monday after someone entered through an unlocked sliding glass door, police said.

Police logScaggsville: 8300 block of Honey Hill Road: Someone entered a house through an unlocked garage Wednesday morning and stole television sets, videocassette recorders, a microwave oven and credit cards.Pub Date: 7/01/96

* A man reported to police that someone broke into his daughter's home in the 4900 block of Brookwood Road in Brooklyn Park between Monday and Tuesday and stole a microwave oven, portable phone, television set and stereo equipment.

POLICE* Spencer Gardens: Burglars stole a stove from a house under construction in the 300 block of E. Howard Road on Tuesday.* Fox Chase: Someone stole a stove and a microwave oven from a house in the 8100 block of Silver Fox Court on Monday.

POLICE LOG* Rock Creek Park: A 25-inch television and a microwave oven were among items stolen from a home in the 7700 block of Lee Drive Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Thieves pried open a rear door. The television was worth $315, the oven $163 and a VCR $72.

Years ago, a district salesman for the Kenner Products toy company came up with the idea of a working toy oven for kids. Company executives greenlighted the project on one condition - it had to be perfectly safe. And so in 1963 they introduced the light-bulb-powered Easy-Bake Oven and created an American pop culture standard. Yesterday, nearly 1 million Easy-Bake Ovens were voluntarily recalled by Easy-Bake (now a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc.) because children can catch their fingers in the oven's opening and get burned.

Germ-conscious consumers are snapping up a new generation of products designed to reduce the risk of catching a bug. We're not talking about antibacterial soaps, chlorine bleaches and ammonia-based cleansers. They're old news. These days, you can minimize your health risks with antimicrobial pens and trashcans equipped with infrared sensors that trigger self-opening lids. Still, one household product that spreads infection hasn't changed much over the years: your kitchen sponge. But scientists say they've found a near-foolproof method for sanitizing even that old germ trap - make sure the sponge is wet, then nuke it in your microwave oven.

Have you visited the microwave-popcorn aisle lately? Whew. Each brand offers myriad flavors and sizes amid gaudy and often confusing packaging. It took a while to winnow down our tasting options between the "Extra Butter!" flavor, the "Extra Extra Butter!" flavor and the "So Much Extra Butter You Can't Taste the Popcorn!" flavor. Popped plain, popcorn is a terrific snack. It's a whole grain loaded with nutritious fiber. So we chose popcorn that went easy on the butter and fat, and was missing something: trans fat. Trans fat, created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation, is linked to raising levels of LDL, or bad, cholesterol that increases risk for chronic heart disease while lowering levels of HDL, or good, cholesterol.

BALTIMORE CITY Southeastern District Stolen vehicle: Police were seeking a green 1991 Dodge Caravan that was stolen Wednesday in the 1500 block of Spruce St. BALTIMORE COUNTY Essex Precinct Burglary: A television, microwave oven and a fan all valued at $679 were stolen over the weekend from a house in the first block of Haley Road. The burglary was reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Forgive me, but I'm about to speak heresy. Blame the outgoing governor of Illinois, who recently emptied his state's death row. George Ryan commuted to life in prison the death sentences of 167 condemned criminals. The result: a firestorm of criticism, much of it from those who have lost loved ones to violent crime. Our instinct is to give great weight to what those people have to say. To listen with great reverence. But - and here's the heresy - it occurs to me that maybe we've already listened with too much reverence.

Inventing the 20th Century: 100 Inventions that Shaped the World, by Stephen van Dulken (New York University Press, 246 pages, $30). One more treasure trove for trivia addicts, this compendium by a curator of the Patents Information Service of the British Library is based on British filings, but except for technical practices they are close to identical to the U.S. Patent Office records. There are 10 chapters, each spanning a decade of the 20th century. The first is "the aeroplane" -- granted to the Wright brothers in 1906.

POLICE LOG* Elkridge: 6000 block of Ducketts Lane: Tools and a microwave oven were stolen after someone pried open a rear window of a construction trailer and entered Saturday, police said.7500 block of U.S. 1: Officers responding to an alarm at Sunny's Surplus Wednesday found that someone had smashed the front glass door with a rock, but there was no entry.

BALTIMORE CITY Southeastern District Stolen vehicle: Police were seeking a green 1991 Dodge Caravan that was stolen Wednesday in the 1500 block of Spruce St. BALTIMORE COUNTY Essex Precinct Burglary: A television, microwave oven and a fan all valued at $679 were stolen over the weekend from a house in the first block of Haley Road. The burglary was reported Wednesday.

Police Blotter is a sampling of crimes from police reports in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Baltimore City Northeastern District Carjacking/arrests: A woman, 36, was stopped at a traffic signal in the 2700 block of The Alameda about 8 p.m. Sunday when she picked up a man and girl who asked for a ride to Lake Clifton. Once there, the man pulled a handgun and the girl a knife and ordered the woman out of her 1993 Mercury Cougar. The victim flagged down a police officer and reported the incident.