Food, Robots, & Oscars

The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

First up are foods you might think are healthy but nope:

http://www.aolhealth.com/2011/01/25/healthy-snacks-that-are-actually-bad-for-you/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%7C197371

Next up is a pretty cool use of a robot:

http://www.jsyk.com/2011/01/25/robot-helps-sick-teen-attend-high-school/?icid=main%7Chp-laptop%7Cdl8%7Csec3_lnk1%7C197297

Yesterday were the Oscar nominations and the most nominated films were The King's Speech, True Grit, and The Social Network. Three films I've already went to. Usually I try to all movies nominated for the Best Picture but this year I will only see nine of the ten films. I'm just not going to 127. Watching a limb be cut off isn't my style.

I really liked all of the most nominated films. The King's Speech is my favorite, sort of like the Rain Man of stutterers. True Grit was the best western for a while. A The Social Network was well acted but annoying.

You can read about the nominations here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110126/ap_en_ot/us_oscar_nominations

WHO AM I?

I was born in Jamaica in 1805 and died in 1881. I was a nurse who became well known in the Victorian period for my nursing efforts during the Crimean War. I was of mixed race birth being born to a British army officer and a free Jamaican Creole. With the help of a 'kind patroness' (local elderly, rich lady) I achieved a good education and trained as a nurse. In 1821 I visited London for a year and was exposed to some of the racial prejudices of the time. In the Caribbean, slavery was still legal until it was partly abolished in 1834 and fully abolished in 1838. I married in 1836 a marriage that lasted only eight years. My mother died the name year of my divorce plunging me into a period of grief. To make things more difficult the previous year my boarding house burnt down. Through my resilience and hard work as a nurse, I became widely known and respected amongst the European military visitors to Jamaica. I was active in dealing with an outbreak of cholera in 1850, at a time when there were few treatments for cholera. I heard about an appeal in the Times newspaper for nurses to aid wounded soldiers in the Crimean War. I felt a call to go to London and apply to be of service. Despite letters of recommendation from doctors in the Caribbean I was turned down by the War Office and the medical department headed by Florence Nightingale. Undeterred by the seeming racial and class prejudices of those in charge I was determined to travel to the Crimea using my own funds. Reaching the Crimea she visited the Nightingale's hospital in Scutari, but my offer of help was again refused. I then went to a British bridgehead at Balaclava. Here I managed to build a British hotel on the main British supply road on the way to the siege of Sevastopol. I began running a thriving hotel selling food, drink and clothes to British officers and meeting medical problems. I also traveled to visit injured troops on the front lines. I became known as "Mother" and my presence was greatly welcomed by injured troops. Reports suggested I was able to address many injuries and illness' with all manner of cures. On one occasion I dislocated her right shoulder when visiting troops under fire. A peace treaty was signed between the allies and Russia. I had gained a great reputation, but my activities had left me poor. Hearing about my financial plight, back in London a fund was set up to collect money. Many prominent people contributed to my fund including the Duke of Wellington. I later became a personal masseuse to the Princess of Wales. The rumor is that Florence Nightingale did appreciate my work and was an anonymous contributor to the my Fund. I was called ANOTHER FLOERNECE NIGHTINGALE. Who Am I?