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David Gorski

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski. That Orac has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 30 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: oracknows@gmail.com

Posts by this author

May 19, 2006
They may have finished in fourth place with a record of 71-91 last year, but as of this writing, my hometown team the Detroit Tigers have the best record in baseball (27-13) after a seven game winning streak, and we're into the second half of May. I realize that 6/6/06 is coming up, but this is…
May 18, 2006
I'm a couple of days late with this, but yesterday I finally got around to checking some of my usual medblogs when I came across some bad news. Medblogging stalward Dr. Sydney Smith (the nom de blog of Medpundit) is hanging up her blogging keyboard for good. She's been at it since 2002 and in that…
May 18, 2006
Enough, already! Over the last couple of days, we've had Signs You Might Be an Intelligent Design Critic. Next, we had You May Be an Intelligent Design Supporter If... Just remember who got the ball rolling with these silly Jeff Foxworthy-inspired lists way back in January 2005 and updated it…
May 18, 2006
I'm sorry to do this to you again, kind readers, to subject you to Vox Day a second time in the same week. However, I just couldn't let this pass. Hopefully my traffic won't fall precipitously as people turn away in disgust at being subjected to too much Vox, but I have to take that chance.…
May 17, 2006
This has to be one of the most idiotic laws I've ever heard of. It's so mind-bogglingly unjust that no further comment is really necessary other than that it would have been a minor matter indeed to fix the law so it could achieve its intended purpose (to prevent overcrowding) while not tearing…
May 17, 2006
Because I'm lame, I'm posting plugs for these carnivals one to two days late: 1. Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 34 2. History Carnival #31 3. RINO Sightings: The 39th Birthday Blues Edition
May 17, 2006
Dang it all. I'm not a political blogger by nature, but this week I just can't seem to help myself, and getting this e-mailed to me didn't help. I suppose that I can console myself by reminding myself that this is about academic misconduct. I may not be in the social sciences, but certain practices…
May 16, 2006
Once again, our overlords at Seed demand that we answer a question. No, not "What is your favorite color?" or "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow"? (To which, of course, everyone knows the answer is "African or European?") This question: "Will the "human" race be around in 100…
May 16, 2006
While I'm being more political than usual, how about one more... I normally detest Sean Hannity. Basically, he's Rush Limbaugh without the flashes of cleverness or humor. However, this time, he's got it right on. I may be around three or four weeks behind the curve on this, but it's worth looking…
May 16, 2006
NOTE (7/27/2016): People have been telling me, based on this post written over ten years ago, how Donald Trump sounds just like Vox Day. It's true. He does. It's also true that the thought of exporting 11-12 million people in 4-8 years is just as ridiculous now as it was ten years ago. I weep that…
May 15, 2006
Woo-hoo! Sometime yesterday, while I was in clinic, my Sitemeter hit 500,000 visits! Let's see, it took one year, five months, and two days to reach that level. When I started my blog I never imagined it would reach 100,000 visits, much less a half a million. (Of course, it takes PZ a little more…
May 15, 2006
NOTE: I had been thinking about how to migrate my old posts from the old blog over to ScienceBlogs, and came up with an idea. Whenever "real life" intrudes on my blogging--as it has now, thanks to two different grant applications that ate up my entire weekend that prevented me from coming up with…
May 15, 2006
The other day, I mentioned an atheist named Larry Darby who happened to be an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. I was perturbed because this clown was coming far too close to my neck of the woods for comfort, and the stench of his vileness offended me. Because Darby is an atheist, not surprisingly…
May 14, 2006
Let me just take this opportunity to welcome one of my favorite evolution bloggers, Jason Rosenhouse, over to the ScienceBlogs fold. I've been following his blog for many months now. Go say hi to him at his new location at EvolutionBlog, and don't forget to update your bookmarks (which reminds me,…
May 14, 2006
Nothing much to say today (I'm ensconced in the Bat Cave working on two grant--well, three, actually, but one of them is just a shortened version of the other, so I hardly count it), but I do have to take a minute to wish my mother, my mother-in-law, and all the other moms out there a very happy…
May 13, 2006
Yes, I know I've been remiss lately, since moving to ScienceBlogs, about getting these out on the first of each month. And I've been hearing about it too. Given this years' theme of EneMan Travels Through Time, you might wonder where our caped colon crusader would turn up next. Well, wait no more!…
May 13, 2006
Here's an unfortunate story that shows that loonies come in all varieties: BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Democratic Party leaders are wondering what to do about a candidate for attorney general who denies the Holocaust occurred and wants to "reawaken white racial awareness." Larry Darby, the founder of the…
May 13, 2006
If you want to see how depressingly ignorant about science President Bush's new Press Secretary Tony Snow is, you need go no further than this rant at Bad Astronomy about Snow's assertions about evolution confidently made in obviously complete ignorance about science, what a theory is, what a…
May 12, 2006
Tara's post yesterday about Mercury and Mythology about how mercury in vaccines does not cause autism and about a recent story demonstrating tht mercury as used in dental amalgams is safe, coupled with Phil Plait's discussion of an article in TIME about autism that seemed a bit too credulous about…
May 12, 2006
Well here's an interesting tidbit of news: Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston will star as Number Six in a television remake of the cult favorite series, "The Prisoner". "The 1967 series, starring Patrick McGoohan as a former secret agent who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a mystery…
May 11, 2006
Normally I like Tim Gueguen. He's an old trenchmate from Usenet and has been blogging longer than I have. But about a week ago, he commented on my facetious piece about a "celebrity nutritionist" with some odd ideas about medicine dating back to the 16th century and involving including dessicated…
May 11, 2006
I was just going to leave my plug for the Skeptics' Circle this week stand as my only post today--until I became aware of some serious lunacy: MUMBAI (AFP) - A Catholic group called on Christians to starve themselves to death in protest at the release of "The Da Vinci Code" at cinemas in India as…
May 11, 2006
This time around, the latest meeting of the Skeptics' Circle comes to us from down under. EoR, who, despite being "rather sad and boggy," always perks up when it's time to debunk the claims of pseudoscience or New Age woo, brings us the 34th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle via the Wonderful World…
May 10, 2006
My blog buddy Andrew has a bit of fun turning a favorite Holocaust denier question back at them. In reaction to laws against Holocaust denial in some European nations, deniers like to ask: "What kind of truth needs protection?" They were particularly loud about this during the recent trial of David…
May 10, 2006
The latest Tangled Bank has been posted. Enjoy!
May 10, 2006
RangelMD asks: Do student doctors really need to know anatomy and that other basic science stuff? And Dr. RW chimes in sarcastically, Who needs all that basic science bunk? Naturally, as you might expect from recent posts, I can't resist putting my two cents in on this topic as well. The discussion…
May 9, 2006
Via Kevin, MD and The Huffington Post, of all places: While you're at it, remember to follow the medical student food pyramid. (Of course, the pyramid left out Doritos and Coke, my Breakfast of Champions when I was a first year medical student.)
May 9, 2006
In an attempt to periodically provoke discussion on various issues, our overlords at Seed plan on posing questions to us ScienceBloggers. The first question, which some of us have already answered is this: If you could cause one invention from the last hundred years never to have been made at all,…
May 9, 2006
Here are some good blog carnivals today: Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 33 is up over at fellow SB'er's place, Aetiology, and it's a big one. This carnival just keeps getting bigger and better. (It's also too much to read in one sitting.) RINO Sightings has been posted over at the Environmental…
May 8, 2006
Just a reminder, but the 34th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is scheduled to take a sojourn Down Under at The Second Sight on Thursday, May 11. The deadline is fast approaching for you to get your best skeptical blogging to EoR, and that deadline is 6 PM EDST on Wednesday, May 10. So far there…