Orac is the nom de blog of a (not so) 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 
As hard as it is to believe, it's official. It appears that Respectful Insolence won the 2006 Weblog Awards as Best Medical/Health Issues blog. I had waited to announce this until it was official, plus a little time because I still couldn't believe it. It would also appear that one other ScienceBlog, Pharyngula, edged out Bad Astronomy Blog to claim the Best Science Blog crown.
Other nominees from the ScienceBlogs collective were also nominated in these two categories, including The Cheerful Oncologist (one of the first medical blogs I discovered and a blog whose style I still sometimes wish that I could pull off), Deltoid, Good Math Bad Math (an actual blogchild of mine, and Mark may well surpass his blogfather one day, if he hasn't already), and Mixing Memory. Like PZ, I realize that this does not mean that I actually have the Best Medical/Healthcare Issues blog (several of the other nominees were great, particularly the difficult Brain Hell, the blog of a man suffering through the physical decline caused by ALS, with which he was diagnosed nearly three years ago), but it does tell me that there are quite a few people who enjoy what I'm doing, and that's a good thing. I also find it hard to believe that having been at this for only two years makes me "established" and even prominent in the medical blogosphere.
So, thanks to all who voted for me, and now don't forget to support the Medical Weblog Awards (sponsored by Thinklabs). I doubt I'll be winning that one, partially because I've agreed to serve as one of the judges, but more importantly because the competition is fierce (which is a shame, because my wife really wants the top prize, a Thinklabs ds32a Electronic Stethoscope). You still have time to nominate your favorite medical blog here.
I'll conclude with something that says "award-winning blog" better than anything else I can think of:
Again, nothing says "award-winning medical blog" like a giant smiling enema bottle just making it over the goal line ahead of the defenders. The metaphor to this blog's win should be obvious to all. Besides, they haven't sent me my logo yet; so this will have to do.
Comments
Congratulations!
Posted by: Kathleen Seidel | December 20, 2006 7:26 AM
Well done - that's great news!
Posted by: Kev | December 20, 2006 9:21 AM
Congratulations, and down with the woo!
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | December 20, 2006 10:06 AM
congratulations :)
Posted by: Catherina | December 20, 2006 11:56 AM
Congrats, Orac! Well deserved.
In terms of Medical Weblog Awards, you will not be able to vote in the category where you are nominated. So you still can win. Furthermore, judges will submit their votes to us directly, without other judges seeing them. This way, there is no bias for judges to vote for each other.
Posted by: DrO | December 20, 2006 12:14 PM
Well done! You've keeped up the good work even during the competition. You deserved it!
Posted by: NCurse | December 20, 2006 1:21 PM
Mazel Tov!
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner | December 20, 2006 1:38 PM
Hip hip hooray! This was one of the first blogs I ever read regularly.
Posted by: isles | December 20, 2006 2:07 PM
Congratulations.
Posted by: Coin | December 20, 2006 2:37 PM
Congrats! your friday dose of woo is my prescription for a rough week.
Posted by: lisalee | December 20, 2006 3:31 PM
Way to go, Orac! Yay! Yay!
Posted by: Nick Terry | December 20, 2006 4:02 PM
So, you can finally throw out the "its an honour just to be nominated" speach - congratulations.
Posted by: James | December 20, 2006 11:11 PM
Congratulations!!!!
...and Happy Holidays!
Posted by: Jon Mikel | December 22, 2006 12:42 AM
Congratulations, Orac! All the best for the holiday season and the New Year.
Posted by: Fragano Ledgister | December 22, 2006 6:45 AM