Saturated

Blaming a market saturated with new stock offerings, Black & Decker Corp. postponed yesterday the initial public offering for PRC Advanced Systems Inc., its computer systems subsidiary.It was the second unsuccessful effort by the Towson-based maker of power tools and appliances to sell the subsidiary since it was acquired as part of the purchase of Emhart Corp. in 1989.The company's announcement came after Black & Decker made a series of presentations that failed to draw the desired number of institutional investors.

The Department of Legislative Services is out with its analysis of Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to expand and overhaul Maryland's gambling program, with the key element, politically anyway, the addition of a sixth casino in Prince George's County. Based on what DLS found, it is now quite clear why Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker is in favor of this effort. It's obvious why the developer of National Harbor, the preferred site for a new casino, wants it, and why MGM is lined up to operate that facility if it opens.

I have to backtrack a little. Several weeks ago I suggested using olive oil as a spread for bread instead of butter (high in saturated fat) or margarine (high in trans-fatty acids), because it's a healthier kind of fat.I'll stand by that recommendation, but with some caveats.One is to limit the quantity you use, because eating too much fat of any kind increases the likelihood of unnecessary weight gain, as well as increasing your risks for some kinds of cancer.The second is to be very careful if you're inclined to prefer garlic in your oil. Several years ago the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

The website for the Maryland Microbrewery Festival is reporting on Friday, Sept. 23, that the festival — scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, at Union Mills Homestead, Westminster — has been canceled. According to the site — the event was canceled due to the forecast for "severe weather conditions and possible flash flooding. " "We regret this decision and will refund through Paypal advanced ticket sales," according to the posting on the website — http://www.marylandmicrobreweryfestival.com.

myfatstranslator.com This site from the American Heart Association helps you calculate how many calories and grams of fat and saturated fat you can consume in a day, based on your height and weight. It also has suggestions for more healthful foods to eat at the summer cookout. Kate Shatzkin

Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of Americans. It's No. 1 for all men, and No. 1 for all women.Lots of people have caught on to that and have quit smoking and improved eating and exercise habits, based on recommendations from our nation's experts.So it's disconcerting when something like the margarine/transfatty acid story roars into the headlines. It often makes us feel confused and helpless. And it creates a backlash against taking responsibility for our own health. That's why it's important to keep the relative risks in perspective.

Item: Manishewitz Vegetable Kishka Mix What you get: 12 two-inch slices Cost: About $4 Nutritional content: 110 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 480 milligrams sodium Preparation time: About 40 minutes rolled and baked in oven, 15 to 20 minutes cooked loose on stove top Review: If you think instant mashed potatoes are an aberration and stuffing should be made only from a loaf of bread, don't bother with Manishewitz's instant kishka mix....

What it is -- One of a new line of avocado oils from Olivado Gourmet Foods What we like about it --Avo cado oil has a neutral flavor and a higher "smoke point" (the tempera ture at which an oil starts to disinte grate) than other oils, making it a versatile choice for deep-frying and baking, as well as drizzling on vege tables and bread. It hasn't been widely available, but the Olivado, a New Zealand company, is trying to change that with a line of un adorned and flavor-infused avocado oils.

For fans of movie-theater popcorn -- "the Godzilla of snack foods," according to a report released earlier this week -- there may be a kernel of hope. At least in Baltimore.Here, theater-goers have a good chance of sitting down with a tub of corn popped in vegetable oil, which in health terms, is better for you than that popped with the saturated-fat coconut oil cited in a study released Monday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.The watchdog group reports that a 16-cup serving of unbuttered, coconut-oil-popped corn has 901 calories and 43 grams of cholesterol.

On several occasions we've looked at the little-book phenomenon, the rage among publishers for miniature works of minimal size and length, designed more to be small gifts than serious additions to anyone's library.Here we have something different: "Oil & Vinegar" and "Honey" are middle-size books -- "Honey" is 6 by 9 inches, while "Oil & Vinegar," although smaller in page size, has more than 250 of them. Both provide discussions of the indicated food stuffs, and they each contain a good deal of narrative with recipes added at the end.Of the two, "Oil & Vinegar" is the more substantial and practical.

To anyone who's ever watched Michael Phelps ' legendary dolphin kick, his picture-perfect dives or his power strokes and thought, "I can do better," soon you'll be able to give it a go — without even getting wet. The first details emerged Wednesday of a video game, two years in the making, called " Michael Phelps — Push the Limit. " The sports simulation game for Xbox 360, what looks to be the first action game involving swimming, promises to give players a realistic sense of what it takes to be an elite swimmer, if not beat one. "It brings alive what it's like to be someone like Michael Phelps , swimming at the absolute most competitive point in the swimming world," said Peter Matiss, vice president of marketing at 505 Games, the small Los Angeles-based company that's publishing it. "In the best moments, you really feel like you're in the game.

The Baltimore City Police Department and the local media deserve an "A" for muscling the disappearance of 17-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes onto the national stage. But the national media deserve a failing grade. Ms. Barnes, a straight "A" black student from North Carolina, vanished Dec. 28 while visiting relatives in Baltimore. After unprecedented local media saturation and 24/7 police searches failed to discover the missing girl, Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department, pleaded for the national media to give Ms. Barnes' disappearance the same broad coverage as that given other missing young women.

Anticipating a jump in alcohol-related driving incidents before Christmas, state and local police set up saturation patrols throughout Harford County on Wednesday and Thursday nights, an initiative that led to the arrests of at least four people for driving under the influence and the issuing of more than 100 warnings and citations. Troopers from the Maryland State Police at the Bel Air barracks and other barracks around the state established the checkpoints at more than a dozen sites on major roadways across the county.

At 12 days and counting, the length of coverage has already run longer than anyone's idea of a state funeral. Today, the degree of saturation of TV coverage on the death of Michael Jackson reaches the boiling point. All of the major networks and cable channels will be offering live coverage of the Jackson memorial service starting at 1 p.m. at the Staples center in Los Angeles. NBC had looked as if it would skip live coverage and go only with a one-hour prime-time special Tuesday night.

What's to love about coconut? It's rich and creamy, an addictive staple in Thai, Indian and Caribbean cuisine. Coconut is high in immunity-boosting lauric acid, which is touted (though not proven) to lower cholesterol and rev metabolism. What's not to love? Coconut is high in saturated fat. However, your body digests it more readily than animal fats, so don't shun the coconut. Add lushness to vegetables and whole grains with canned coconut milk. This is no sugary pina colada mix, but a solution of grated, squeezed coconut meat and water.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is going to seem like he is everywhere on TV tonight thanks in part to a last-minute flurry yesterday of interview bookings and extra media buys. Earlier in the month, Obama's campaign reached agreements with CBS, NBC, Fox and MSNBC to present a 30-minute "campaign-related program" at 8 tonight on each of those outlets. The price: $1 million per network. The campaign had also approached ABC with the same offer, but the network was initially reluctant to move Pushing Daisies, an hourlong show, out of the 8 p.m. time period.

Can good taste and good health coexist at Thanksgiving dinner?Yes. Especially if you bear in mind that diet-over-time is more important than any single eating event. Lighten up on fat and calories for a few days before and after the fabulous feast. Then moderate indulgence on the big day will average out.For your festival meal, focus fat where it will most affect taste. Eliminate fat where it will go unnoticed.Start with a fresh fowl, which is naturally more juicy and delicious than a frozen one. Avoid "self-basting" birds that add superfluous saturated fat to your naturally heart-healthy centerpiece.

Nutrition news from here and there includes these snippets:* University of California at Berkeley Wellness Letter -- For low-fat guacamole, blend 1 medium avocado with 1 cup low-fat (1 percent) cottage cheese. Add 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon chopped chives and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. A quarter-cup serving has 60 calories and 4 grams of fat -- about half as much as regular guacamole.* Tufts University Diet & Nutrition Newsletter -- If you're buying your veggies precut and packaged in the new "breathable" bags, you might wonder if they're losing nutrients from all that handling.

Baltimore residents will be the first in the country today to have access to a next-generation broadband network built by a major wireless company - a step that turns much of the city into a "hot spot" for Web surfing on the move. Called XOHM, Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network represents the next big step in the telecommunication industry's race to build more robust broadband services, as consumers increasingly navigate the Web with laptops and mobile devices. Using a technology standard known as WiMAX, Sprint's network is akin to the so-called Wi-Fi "hot spot" you might find at a coffee shop.

When we first met Lottie Barnett, a lively 84-year-old, she was dredging pieces of liver in flour and frying them in canola oil for her supper. I was with Robin Spence, the registered dietitian from Union Memorial Hospital who helps with our monthly Make Over My Meal series. About five months ago, Barnett moved into one of the low-income senior apartments in the Stadium Place development on 33rd Street.