"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine,
quackery, science, pseudoscience, history, and pseudohistory (and anything else that interests him)
Orac is the nom de blog of a humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his miscellaneous verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few will. (Continued here, along with a DISCLAIMER that you should read before reading any medical discussions here.)
Orac's old Blog is archived at Archived Insolence.
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May 31, 2006
When I first saw this, I thought that it had to be a joke, but now I'm not so sure. I'm guessing you've all heard of ear candling, which can supposedly cure tinnitus, clean the ear canal of wax buildup,...
Posted by Orac at 1:01 PM • 20 Comments
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
Our Seed overlords demand a response: Since they're funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on), should scientists have to justify their research agendas to the public, rather than just grant-making bodies? Ooh, boy. That's a loaded...
Posted by Orac at 6:01 AM • 18 Comments
May 30, 2006
Category: Anti-Semitism • History • Holocaust • Holocaust denial
Watch how a Holocaust denier (in this case, the President of Iran) dances around the question "Did the Holocaust happen?" You can see the very same techniques when a denier like David Irving or Ernst Zundel is questioned about the...
Posted by Orac at 2:48 PM • 27 Comments
Category: Blog carnivals • Grand Rounds
Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 36 has been posted at Kidney Notes. Go forth and check out the best medical blogging from the last week. Geez, I was so busy last week on call that I forgot to submit an...
Posted by Orac at 11:46 AM • 0 Comments
Category: Medicine
Finally. My week on call, including the entire holiday weekend, is over. It started out pretty bad and didn't get all that much better. I suppose I should be grateful that at least I was getting sleep again by this...
Posted by Orac at 8:31 AM • 5 Comments
May 29, 2006
Category: History • Miscellaneous • World War II
In the U.S., today is Memorial Day. Although we often forget about it in our rush to head out to the beach or relax over the course of a three day weekend, it is the day set aside to remember...
Posted by Orac at 11:31 AM • 2 Comments
Category: Miscellaneous
I'm a pretty big computer geek most of the time, and I do love gadgets. However, even I can sympathize with the consumers in this story: OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers....
Posted by Orac at 6:31 AM • 22 Comments
May 28, 2006
Category: Blogging
OK, PZ, Grrlscientist, and John have all done it. They've used a cool little applet to show their blogs as graphs. I figured I'd give it a try, too. Why not? (Click on the image to see the graph construct...
Posted by Orac at 4:31 PM • 1 Comments
Category: Humor • Paranormal
Worried about ghosts bothering you? What about demons possessing you? Or aliens abducting you for all sorts of strange experiments, complete with anal probes? Well, fear no more! I've discovered just the thing. You need a Paranormal Restraining Order! Feel...
Posted by Orac at 1:01 PM • 1 Comments
Category: Humor
It's the middle of a long holiday weekend (well, here in the U.S., anyway). What better time to do a silly Internet quiz to pass the time while waiting to round? (Yes, I'm working all weekend.) What horrible Edward Gorey...
Posted by Orac at 10:31 AM • 9 Comments
May 27, 2006
Category: Humor • Science fiction/fantasy
Hilarious. It incorporates what we know now from the prequels into what might have happened when Darth Vader had to tell the Emperor what happened at the end of the first Star Wars movie:...
Posted by Orac at 11:01 AM • 8 Comments
May 26, 2006
Category: Entertainment/culture
It's the Memorial Day weekend, and many of you will be taking off for various recreational activities over the three day weekend. Sadly, I'll be on call and thus working the entire weekend, having drawn the short straw for this...
Posted by Orac at 3:31 PM • 5 Comments
Category: Alternative medicine • Medicine • Quackery
This is just too rich. As you know a few months ago, I commented about a British report that found high levels of mercury and other heavy metals in Chinese herbal medicines sold in the U.K. Some contained as much...
Posted by Orac at 8:31 AM • 10 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Semitism • Religion
I've commented before on some of Pat Robertson's loonier statements. Given the sheer fundie religious nuttery that he regularly spouts, it takes something related to my regular blogging interests for him to catch my attention. I know it's amazing, but...
Posted by Orac at 3:01 AM • 12 Comments
May 25, 2006
Category: Medicine
You know, sometimes medicine sucks, particularly oncology. Oh, it's not so bad for surgeons, particularly breast surgeons, because we can cure many of the patients we operate on. But for solid tumor oncologists, who deal with diseases that current medicine...
Posted by Orac at 10:31 AM • 1 Comments
Category: Blog carnivals • Skepticism/critical thinking • Skeptics' Circle
It's been an interesting week for this week's host of the Skeptics' Circle, Skeptico. He had a creationist appropriate his name, create a Blogspot blog, and actually post comments on other people's blogs under the name "Skeptico." Not good. Fortunately,...
Posted by Orac at 8:31 AM • 0 Comments
