"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 13, 2008
Category: Entertainment/culture • Humor • Science fiction/fantasy • Television
...which Presidential candidate would make the best companion for which Doctor. I have to agree with Phil, though, in that McCain is probably too old. In the show, the Doctor's companions are nearly always younger-appearing than the Doctor. McCain looks...
Posted by Orac at 6:01 PM • 3 Comments
Category: Cancer • Clinical trials • Medicine • Surgery
There's adopting surgical procedures too fast, before there is good evidence to support their efficacy, and then there's adopting surgical therapies too slow, long after there's good evidence for their efficacy. How do we get it right?
Posted by Orac at 9:30 AM • 4 Comments
May 12, 2008
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Autism • Medicine • Politics
Not you too, Bill!
Posted by Orac at 10:31 PM • 32 Comments
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Autism • Medicine
Oh, no! Phil Plait did a great post on why vaccines do not cause autism. What's his reward? To be invaded by antivaccinationists! I think you all know what to do. Please, go lend Phil some tactical air support, and...
Posted by Orac at 3:00 PM • 15 Comments
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Autism • Medicine • Quackery
Hypocrisy and violent rhetoric from antivaccinationists? Who'd have thought it?
Posted by Orac at 2:31 PM • 14 Comments
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Autism • Clinical trials • Medicine • Quackery
"Detoxification." Whenever I hear that term, I'm at least 90% certain that I'm dealing with seriously unscientific woo. The reason should be obvious to longtime readers of this blog or to anyone who has followed "alternative medicine" for a while,...
Posted by Orac at 9:00 AM • 13 Comments
May 11, 2008
Category: Computers
Charge by usage? What a novel concept, as long as it doesn't turn into gouge by usage.
Posted by Orac at 12:29 PM • 37 Comments
Category: History • Humor • Politics • Sports • World War II
The ignorance and stupidity, they burn: Why, yes, actually, we did "allow" Nazi Germany to host the Olympics back in 1936. Hitler even presided over some of the ceremonies. The sign is so wrong that at first I wondered whether...
Posted by Orac at 10:20 AM • 21 Comments
May 10, 2008
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Medicine • Quackery
...more outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like pertussis: Erik Ferry thought little of the sniffles and cough his 12-year-old daughter came down with in February. But the coughs became more frequent and violent, and the bug hung on for days, then...
Posted by Orac at 11:30 AM • 67 Comments
Category: Anti-Semitism • History • Humor • Politics
...or so sayeth, well...YOU ARE DUMB. Bryan may be a little late in piling on, but better late than never. Zirkle, as you may recall, was the hapless candidate for the Republican nomination to run for a Congressional seat in...
Posted by Orac at 12:00 AM • 13 Comments
May 9, 2008
Category: Alternative medicine • Friday Woo • Medicine • Quackery • Skepticism/critical thinking
Last week's woo was pretty darned hard to top, don't you think? It had it all, after all: Boner potentiation, penis enlargement, magnets, near infrared, and more. The only thing it lacked that would have made it absolutely perfect woo...
Posted by Orac at 9:00 AM • 30 Comments
Category: Announcements • Blog carnivals • Skepticism/critical thinking • Skeptics' Circle
Sometimes being a skeptic can be a real bitch. And no one knows that better than the host of the latest installment of a blog carnival that has, believe it or not, been running over three years now, the ever-popular...
Posted by Orac at 12:00 AM • 6 Comments
May 8, 2008
Although there are a lot of medical bloggers out there, there's always room for more good blogging, particularly if it's related to basic and translational research. That's why the Cancer Research UK Science Update blog is worth checking out. It's...
Posted by Orac at 4:00 PM • 1 Comments
Category: Cancer • Clinical trials • Medicine • Surgery
Why the popularity of new surgical procedures all too often outpaces the science supporting them.
Posted by Orac at 9:00 AM • 10 Comments
May 7, 2008
Category: Biology • Evolution • Science
...and suddenly he reveals his true stripes. Oh, well, at least the Hitler Zombie hasn't eaten Jason's brain, as he has so many of the others who complain about being Expelled! Yet. Thanks, Jason. I needed the laugh after the...
Posted by Orac at 6:00 PM • 1 Comments
Category: Alternative medicine • Antivaccination lunacy • Autism • Medicine • Quackery
...a fatally incompetent "integrative" physician has been unleashed upon you.
Posted by Orac at 4:10 PM • 9 Comments
