PLEASE Read. Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Your Help is Needed!

My friend's 19 month old granddaughter needs your help. Her name is Alexis Harding. Here is her story.

I am 19 months old and I have a seizure disorder which has not yet been diagnosed. I started having seizures at 24hrs old, I am hypotonic, developmentaly delayed and also failure to thrive. My seizures are a variety of different ones. My head and eyes deviate to the right or left and I have clusters which last sometimes for hours. I also have staring and drop seizures. After I have a seizure I cannnot use my right arm sometimes for minutes, sometimes for days. I have been on 8 meds that have not worked and the ketogenic diet. The meds that failed to work are phenobarb, lamictal, topimax, kepra ,clonopin, clobazam, acth and trileptal. I am currently taking 3 of these meds all at once to try and get some control on the seizures without any success. Because of my size and age the doctors are limited on what they can give me. My seizures used to come once in a while but the older I get the worse they get. I am having anywhere from 5 to 30 seizures a day for periods of 4 to 5 days in a row. Sometimes they will stop for a few days for whatever reason and then they will start again. I have been hospitalized once a month since I was born, this month being the worst I have been in the hospital 16 out of 24 days so far. I have had 6 MRI's, a spect scan, pet scan, spinal tap and tons of genetic testing all of which has come back normal. I have been through weeks of video EEG's which have showed spikes coming from the left side of my brain and they have captured 3 of the 5 types of seizures I have. If anyone has any information that might help us find out what is wrong with me please comment or email us. Please help my Mommy and Daddy help me.

How You Can Help

First, if you do have an answer or any helpful information her email address is alexisharding01@yahoo.com

Second, leave your supportive and encouraging comments and prayers in the comment section below. Her parents and grandparents will appreciate it.

Finally, share this story with others. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone... You can click on the share button and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, etc. Also, you could post her story in a blog post of your own.


Thank you so much for taking the time to help this child.

Pool Trick Shots

I really enjoy watching this guy, Rick at Prayingmnantis72, shoot his trick pool shots. In the first video you see a trick shot never seen before because its never been created.. until now!!! Cue balls hit each other and bank back three rails and pocket matching balls in opposite pockets!!



Here's a couple more I like



Be sure to visit Prayingmantis72 YouTube Channel.

Crop Circles ~ An Elaborate Hoax?

Tiny House

Ten years ago, Jay Shafer downsized to an 89-square-foot house and reinvented both his lifestyle and career in the process. I love this idea! I want one!

What Do You Look Like in the Morning?

Hi, this is just to have a little fun. Post a video showing what you look like in the morning on Oldmanblurts YouTube using the new YouTube Moderator between now and July 5, 2010. It can be a video you've already made or just one showing us what you look like. (please nothing inappropriate)

Then vote for your favorite video. The winner will be featured on my channel and on one of my blogs.

Check out my video to see what I look like and for some fun random thoughts. Have a good time with it. Good luck and God Bless.

Art Linkletter dead at 97 || 1912-2010

Dr Craig Venter Announces First Synthetic Living Cell

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.

The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.

The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases.

The team was led by Dr Craig Venter of the J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in Maryland and California.

He and his colleagues had previously made a synthetic bacterial genome, and transplanted the genome of one bacterium into another.

Now, the scientists have put both methods together, to create what they call a "synthetic cell", although only its genome is truly synthetic.

Dr Venter likened the advance to making new software for the cell.

The researchers copied an existing bacterial genome. They sequenced its genetic code and then used "synthesis machines" to chemically construct a copy.

Dr Venter told BBC News: "We've now been able to take our synthetic chromosome and transplant it into a recipient cell - a different organism.

"As soon as this new software goes into the cell, the cell reads [it] and converts into the species specified in that genetic code."

The new bacteria replicated over a billion times, producing copies that contained and were controlled by the constructed, synthetic DNA.

"This is the first time any synthetic DNA has been in complete control of a cell," said Dr Venter.

'New industrial revolution'

Dr Venter and his colleagues hope eventually to design and build new bacteria that will perform useful functions.

"I think they're going to potentially create a new industrial revolution," he said.

"If we can really get cells to do the production that we want, they could help wean us off oil and reverse some of the damage to the environment by capturing carbon dioxide."

Dr Venter and his colleagues are already collaborating with pharmaceutical and fuel companies to design and develop chromosomes for bacteria that would produce useful fuels and new vaccines.

But critics say that the potential benefits of synthetic organisms have been overstated.

Dr Helen Wallace from Genewatch UK, an organisation that monitors developments in genetic technologies, told BBC News that synthetic bacteria could be dangerous.

"If you release new organisms into the environment, you can do more harm than good," she said.

"By releasing them into areas of pollution, [with the aim of cleaning it up], you're actually releasing a new kind of pollution.

"We don't know how these organisms will behave in the environment."

Dr Wallace accused Dr Venter of playing down the potential drawbacks.

"He isn't God," she said, "he's actually being very human; trying to get money invested in his technology and avoid regulation that would restrict its use."

But Dr Venter said that he was "driving the discussions" about the regulations governing this relatively new scientific field and about the ethical implications of the work.

He said: "In 2003, when we made the first synthetic virus, it underwent an extensive ethical review that went all the way up to the level of the White House.

"And there have been extensive reviews including from the National Academy of Sciences, which has done a comprehensive report on this new field.

"We think these are important issues and we urge continued discussion that we want to take part in."

Dr Gos Micklem, a geneticist from the University of Cambridge, said that the advance was "undoubtedly a landmark" study.

But, he said, "there is already a wealth of simple, cheap, powerful and mature techniques for genetically engineering a range of organisms. Therefore, for the time being, this approach is unlikely to supplant existing methods for genetic engineering".

The ethical discussions surrounding the creation of synthetic or artificial life are set to continue.

Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said the potential of this science was "in the far future, but real and significant".

"But the risks are also unparalleled," he continued. "We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse.

"These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm."