Orac knows all. Orac sees all. Orac discovers all.
Anti-vaccine loons, know this and tremble, as Teresa Conrick over at J.B. Handley's--excuse me, Jenny McCarthy's--home for happy anti-vaccine propagandists has:
While googling to find the Tribune article, I instead found Orac's site. Who is Orac? Well, suffice to say that he has some mysterious desire to want autism to be only a genetic disorder. He gets upset if you discuss vaccines or the environment as causative factors. The usual suspects of the neurodiverse world and the assorted anonymous Wackosphere characters were hanging out at his site with their typical sarcasm and "blood-thirsty" DAN! comments. Orac though was beyond his usual histrionic self as his comments were pointed at the exact wording of the lawsuit. He actually had the lawsuit in a pdf file for the taking on his site! Now how, within hours of the Trib posting and to be exact, the Trib article by Patricia Callahan was posted online at 5:19 p.m. CST, March 4, 2010 and Orac had his pdf and blog up at March 5, 2010 3:00 AM. Appears to be quite bizarre and a bit suspicious?
What makes this even more concerning is that Dr. Usman herself had not received the lawsuit, all 46 pages to be exact, yet anyone could obtain it from Orac. The question remains how did Orac get it and who gave it to him?
You know, it's really damned inconsiderate to refer to a post and not to link to it. I don't do that even to the loons at Age of Autism, but they do it to me all the time. In any case, Teresa is referring to this post by me from last week. Of course, if AoA knew anything about Orac, they would know that he is the most powerful computer in the Federation. The reason is that Orac is able to communicate with any computer in the galaxy. Couple that with Orac's insatiable thirst for knowledge, and it's child's play for him to discover the Tribune article and the PDF of the actual lawsuit.
Or maybe Orac has spies everywhere, yes, even within the anti-vaccine movement itself. Muhahahahahahahahahaha!
What the real case is, I'm sorry, but I won't be saying. It's too much fun to let Teresa and her commenters keep guessing and, as a result, fearing the omniscience of Orac.
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Resistance is futile!
Paranoia commences!
Ignore that man behind the curtain!
All hail Orac, purveyor of things we need to know and none of what we don't. The modern Prometheus or some such.
If I were a little more sacrilegious, I'd modify the Lord's Prayer to be Orac-esque. But I'll leave that for the rest of you...
Wow. Just wow.
It makes you wonder about the value of their Google U. degrees if they're unable to use it to find the the Tribune's website and instead end up here.
Wow, imagine that, someone posting something about a case the day after an article was published in a newspaper! So unusual! You must have some inside connection to this, a source feeding you info.
Geepers, paranoid much?
How many days do you have to wait before commenting on an article in order to skip the paranoid rant?
Methinks Teresa gotsta learn her some google alerts
Absolutely. Because we all live in the 19th century, it takes days for bloggers to become aware of current events. I've even been able to dissect scientific articles within just hours of them being published solely because people at NASA call me and let me know what's going on. Otherwise I would be powerless to check the feeds and news sites to see what's happening now.
Oh wait...
It chills my spine a little to read how sarcastically she uses "neurodiverse"; it's a bit like she hates autistic people as much as she hates autism and scientists who are unconvinced of her anti-vaccine propaganda.
<headdesk>
Just how stoopid are these, ah, reptilians? bricks? wisps of smelly vapour? Can they actually breathe without someone whispering in their ear "inhale", "exhale", "inhale", "exhale", "inhale", �
I spent 10 minutes in front of my screen looking at this Teresa's post excerpt. OK, article from newspaper online the 4th, end of afternoon, Orac's post the next day in the morning.
What did she see I don't see?
Wait, check the dates. No, I read them correctly.
So what? Is it my English reading skill?
I hope she will be along to explain it to me.
You gotta love the AoA's 'Pee-Wee Herman' defences, characterised by 'I know you are but what am I?' machinations. Somehow, accusing others of their own crimes is supposed to absolve them of their outright wackaloonery.
It chills my spine a little to read how sarcastically she uses "neurodiverse"; it's a bit like she hates autistic people as much as she hates autism and scientists who are unconvinced of her anti-vaccine propaganda.
(Sorry for the double post--my browser hung up and I thought it didn't go through. Feel free to delete the last one.)
Damn you, Orac, I just spent 10 minutes looking at the comments on AoA. That's 10 minutes I'll never get back.
But maybe the question should have been how the Trib got the lawsuit before Dr. Usman did? Gheez.
Faugh--it hurts my eyes to read the comments over there. I wandered away to the Autism One conference site that lists double-header talks by Hewitson & Wakefield (on the execrable monkey study and autism and 'the brain stem'(???) respectively).
~proud to contribute to the "hatesite" (as an AoA commenter refers to RI). Hate on, fellow Insoleers!
I *think* she's all hyped up about Orac having the PDF file of the complaint.
If that's so, it took me all of five minutes to (a) Google Cook County Circuit Court; (b) find the link to "Online case files"; (c) search all files by plaintiff's name, "James Coman"; (d) switch from "civil" (default type of search) to "law"; (e) find the PDF file of the complaint.
Of course, just because I can figure out how to do this doesn't mean that everyone out there can, and thus it seems "magical" or "bizarre and a bit suspicious".
Well, OmegaMom, as the wise man (Arthur C. Clarke) said: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. QED!
So, if anyone decides to leave a comment on the AoA article, keep a copy of it and post it over at Silenced by Age of Autism if they censor it. I'll try to get a thread set up today or tomorrow, time and access permitting.
I never used a computer much (except for word) processing)until I was over fifty, but it took me about 10 minutes to find out all about the amazing ORAC with this really sophisticated search thingy called "Google". Luckily, however, I learned my science in a real accredited college.
Oops...broken link. Here it is again, fixed: Silenced by Age of Autism.
RI is a "hate site"? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?
AoA: "when they go after our docs, what they are really doing is going after our kids. We have to stop them."
"And what do they say about Momma bears who are backed in a corner while defending her cubs? Multiply that by hundreds of thousands. It's war!"
"They are insidious, and a danger not only to families with autism but to everyone."
"I imagine that the industry perpetrators in this case were visualizing the "murder medley" from The Godfather--- they're going to pick off dissident scientists, doctors, labs, parents one by one."
"There is an all out war on our families, make no mistake about it. To thm we are dispensable."
And that's just one article. Any pro-AoA person can feel free to quote-mine the RI comments for any rhetoric about declaring war on autism parents or anything stronger than recommendations about which anatomical parts can be inserted into which orifice of which quack; you won't find them.
I've increasingly come to believe that one of the fundamental psychological traits of conspiracy theorists is an inability to accept that any phenomenon, no matter how mundane, can have a mundane cause. It's as if reality isn't exciting enough for them. Simple explanations don't work for them; everything has to be big and dramatic.
It's pretty much the mirror image of the far more common desire to have overly simple explanations for complex phenomena. There the underlying dynamic seems to be the fear that you're inadequate if others can see things you can't (i.e. "I don't know" is something to be ashamed of). Conspiracy theorists, OTOH, seem to feel they're inadequate if they can't see things that other's can't; they need to feel they have unique, "special" insights.
Erika @13, It must be the Trib's and Orac's fault that Usman hid from the process server doncha know.
Orac
What kind of woo did you use to get that pdf so quickly? The other wackonauts fear your woo!
LMAO
ebohlman,
I think that the I don't know part has a lot to do with it. If they do not understand something, it must be a conspiracy.
I just don't understand that.
All bow down to Orac. Here's a photo of the new God, thanks to A Blog Around the Clock. Scroll down to find him.
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://scienceblogs.com/clock/upl…
I think I speak for us all when I remark that ph'nglui mglw'nafh Orac R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
I saw this loonatoid AoA article yesterday.
Of course, I was privy to the inside scoop thanks to my pharma masters spies in the AoA camp all-powerful CDC connections because I stopped by the site to sample the latest inane conspiracy theory droolings.
THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND
@rob 25:
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
Be cautious in your invocation of that dread power.
[cue spooky music]
Anytime someone tells me that the education system is doing well, I refer them to the AoA site. It is the most convenient proof around.
That sounds oddly familiar....
At a guess, you have an Arxiv or Pacer subscription - I think that's how you spell them - through your university.
@ jenphillips
I must have missed something, did they change the definition of "hate"? Last time I looked Jenny said I am giving my son drugs because I don't feed him an organic GFCF diet among other things she says make me a bad mother (start at 3 minutes (if you can handle the condescending tone)).
So if this is a "hatesite", I hope it never changes. I will continue to be insolent. :)
Hilarious. Nothing short of hilarious.
You can just imagine the anti-vaccine loons going all paranoid about this. Peeking through the blinds to an empty street, having hushed conversations in dark corners of local bars, twitching every time the phone rings.
"He must be cheating, he can't know... or does he? And how?! Who IS ORAC?! Is he watching me right now?"
1984 all over again. Big Brother Orac. Well, if that is the case there will be no complaints from me. I already have my duckspeak perfected too!
Lets look forward to the next act of this insane play: AoA's own take on the Moscow Show Trials, complete with rabid accusations and absurd testimony to find out who ORAC's mole is.
Wow, they let my comment through! I guess I did not try hard enough to be disliked.
Comment on AoA:
This hate speech things is hilarious. Do they really know what the word "hate" means or what hate speech is? But I love the question in the second paragraph. I know they are speculating but I have a feeling they really think there is a good chance Orac wants to silence people for this reason. And why DoD? Is the military industrial complex supposedly in charge of vaccine research now?
Shoot, I messed that up. The blockquote should enclose the Free speak sentence as well as the following one about vaccine development grants.
Ah Dave, old buddy. You have forgotten that with great power comes great responsibility, and I fear that you are leading your flock into illegality. Travis' comment at AoA implied that, inspired by your computer wizardry, he was able to obtain a pdf by merely going to the Cook County clerk's site. Since current Illinois court rules prohibit the clerk from posting actual case documents, the only way to obtain them from the clerk's site is to hack into the system (something the Cook County DA probably frowns upon).
I assume that you obtained your copy through legal -- and I'm sure, most interesting -- means.
Reads like someone needs to be introduced to http://www.lmgtfy.com
I see now that I made a mistake. I thought it was the same document but I see what I found was simply the case summary rather than the pdf of the case files.
Case Summary
However, I still feel the paranoia over that post to be quite silly. Especially the note indicating it was posted less than 24 hours after the story was posted. The main point was that the internet is easy to use and finding information is not that difficult.
"suffice to say that he has some mysterious desire to want autism to be only a genetic disorder. He gets upset if you discuss vaccines or the environment as causative factors."
I liked the oversimplification. Orac has no problem with possible environmental causes for autism. He just doesn't like it when people discuss causes that have been excluded by the evidence, like vaccines.
What exactly would you be insinuating here Mr. Rankin? Does it really bother your own flockmates at AoA that they came up looking very foolish yet again? I should think that they would be quite used to it by now.
Methinks Teresa gotsta learn her some google alerts
Don't they teach that course at the Univ. of Google?
Fellow Pharma devotees:
Any of you who haven't gotten the memo and need to tap into all the secret lines of communication in order to bewitch and befuddle the antivax movement, here's what you need to do.
note: if you are not part of the Pharma conspiracy do not click on the link, it is not allowed.
Well, Wade, next you are going to have to ask Amy Wallace where she got a copy of this legal ruling!
The .pdf is available on the BLF Wikipedia page. I guess they are now part of the evil axis.
Yawn. Why can't any of these people put a sentence together? Ever onward Orac, most beloved Evil One!
Maybe they should investigate getting hold of the non-tarriel cell 'CARO' computer (from the non-cannon B7 book "Afterlife") which can't be read by ORAC.
But if they can't even pass "Google U: 101 - Teh interwebs", they'll just have to stick with the classic tin foil and singing "LA LA LA I cant hear you!".
@35: Stupid Troll is Stupid.
Her InnerTubes must have been clogged up. Or perhaps she's just not comfortable with time. I prefer the clogged explanation. Time is self explanatory but the InnerTubes are inscrutable.
What?
After four days of conference, I'm too tired to either be coherent or to find out whether it's OK to post abstracts from my toxicology conference. There were *many* presentations on gene x environment interactions, or environmental exposures (particularly prenatal) changing gene regulation at "autism risk" genes. There is definitely more causing autism than genes alone.
I think it's a lot easier for many to blame the vaccines than to understand that something *they* did wrong was the trigger.
It's also a lot easier to think in terms of "removing the toxins" when the real problem is what the toxins already did to neuronal development and/or affecting gene expression (epigenetics). However, if someone spray-paints graffiti on your fence, will throwing away the empty spray can make the graffiti disappear?
Computers, of course, have the indecent advantage of not needing sleep.
Fnord.
@travis
For the last 3.5 years my research was supported by a DoD contract to develop vaccine candidates against a couple of related bacteria with a history of use in biological warfare. Ended yesterday as a matter of fact :(
Dangerous Bacon,
ROFLMAO! Took me a few clicks to convince myself that it's for real - Guess I should be crying, not laughing.
"Now how, within hours of the Trib posting and to be exact, the Trib article by Patricia Callahan was posted online at 5:19 p.m. CST, March 4, 2010 and Orac had his pdf and blog up at March 5, 2010 3:00 AM.
Subject, meet verb?
Yet even the Mighty Orac cannot match my awesome Googlistic powers. Bwahahahahahaha!
Did Wade Rankin really just say that? Petulant, paranoid, and completely devoid of sense.
"You have forgotten that with great power comes great responsibility, and I fear that you are leading your flock into illegality."
Wade, the silent black helicopter hovering over your house is silent. Don't look at it, they will scan your retina and send the data to Orac.
@luna_the_cat: aaaarrrrggghhhh! The Illuminati are after us! Where's my tin foil hat?
(Thanks for the LOL at the start of my workday)
Did Wade Rankin really just say that? Petulant, paranoid, and completely devoid of sense.
One would think that a devotee of this site would be capable of recognizing sarcasm.
You are a very silly man, Wade.
This raises an interesting point... people ridicule "Google U.", but for someone who is not a complete and total moron, you can actually got a lot of good, and even accurate, information using Google, and even the dreaded Wikipedia... it just takes a little bit of skepticism, a little bit of common sense, and a little bit of not being a gibbering idiot.
In fact, when friends of my wife started infecting her with anti-vaccine paranoia, it was Google that led me here and other places where I found the information I needed to debunk the lies and misrepresentations she had been fed. That was a case where the misinformation came via word of mouth, and the corrections came via the intertubes.
Conrick's failure to find a publicly available PDF online suggests that she maybe does not meet the "not a gibbering idiot" criterion for effective use of Google U. I would argue that it is not so much the proliferation of Google U. that causes misinformation to spread so rapidly, but rather it is the proliferation of gibbering idiots.
MESSAGE BEGINS
Shills and Minions all:
It has come to our attention that some of our agents have been using information gleaned from our simultaneous acquisition scanning technology and spy networks to make themselves appear, shall we say, omniscient?
A certain transparent box with blinky lights who shall remain nameless has been particularly guilty of this excessive "enthusiasm". Give the rebels a day or so before walloping them over the head with facts. We don't wish to reveal ourselves . . . prematurely.
Stay vigilant and alert my minions, and you shall continue to reap the bounty of PharmaCOM . . . our plans continue apace.
P.S. Cindy says Bacon, ScienceMom and Weez didn't fill out their M445s correctly . . . again. Really minions, how can we shower you with riches if you don't fill out your forms?
I wonder if Xenu had these kinds of problems?
MESSAGE ENDS
Lord Draconis Zeneca, VC, iH7L
PharmaCOM Orbital HQ
0010101101001
MESSAGE BEGINS
Forgiveness, please, Lord Draconis Zeneca. Orac does not wish to offend the Great Pharma Lords and hope that they will entertain a word in his defense.
How could Orac have reasonably foreseen that the rebels would be so utterly clueless that my posting about it a mere nine hours after the Tribune story appeared would drive them to such heights of hyperbole and paranoia? How could Orac have reasonably foreseen that entirely innocent means of acquiring information that is publicly available (i.e., court records) would intensify their paranoia so? Clearly, Orac's only mistake was to assume that those whose main source of information is Google U. would actually be able to...well...actually use Google U themselves. Well, that, and taunting the rebels mercilessly, but Orac had assumed that the Great Pharma Lords would approve of taunting the rebels mercilessly.
It is a mistake he will not make again and for which he abases himself and asks forgiveness.
In the meantime, as penance, he will donate the last shower of riches bestowed upon him for his work on the Wakefield affair to Every Child By Two, that they may promote vaccination for all babies, thus making them pharma servants forever. True, he will miss the Pharma Yacht, but it is hoped that this will be adequate recompense for his excessive enthusiasm.
MESSAGE ENDS
Orac
ScienceBlogsPharma.COM
Shillanddrone, United States
@Luna_the_cat
I was chuckling until I got to your blank comment. Since viewing it, I have felt unaccountably uneasy and afraid.
I haven't followed Orac's specific and detailed views on autism causes (because, you know, it's just not that interesting)...
But I'm pretty sure our host doesn't think that autism is definitely purely genetic, and would admit to the possibility (or probability) of pre-natal enviornment being relevant... just not the kind the AoA people want to push without any scientific backing.
(And indeed a quick search reveals Orac saying just that here, while denying that Dr. Mark Hyman's claims about specific environmental causes are scientifically defensible.
And of course we should distinguish "environment" in the sense used by Activists as synonymous with "pollution and stuff poisoning babiez", and the sense of "any conditions in the womb at all, from the mother having a cold to eating a donut".
Likewise the idea of environmental causes for autism in addition to genetic ones is not strictly related to the hypothesis of an actual increase in autism rates rather than diagnoses.
In other words, one can think there are or probably are non-genetic factors in autism and at the same time not be a raving nutcase who's sure that rates are vastly increasing and that it's caused by unspecified (or wrongly specified) "toxins".)
Which makes it even more interesting, and perhaps telling, that they have to cast their opposition as being sure that autism is "only [...] genetic". Subtlety in the meaning of terms and their application to scientific thinking is not their strong suit.
Squeeeee! Imma pharma shill, finally. Will get those forms re-submitted ASAP and eagerly await all of this pharma payola I have been accused of receiving. I'm doing the time, may as well commit the crime.
Wade said, "One would think that a devotee of this site would be capable of recognizing sarcasm."
Nice CYA.
Shorter AoA: " Orac says that he read the article, and over time found the complaint. That just isnât possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of legal documents supplying Orac with huge amounts of legal documents. If there were such a source, lawyers would certainly know about it.
All these years, have I labored under a misunderstanding that Orac's writing displayed a sense of humor?
You are a very scary man, Dave.
Wade, it was impossible to tell that you weren't actually being serious.
Your failure to get your sense of humour across indicates a sense of humour failure in you, not Orac.
As an aside:
Your background knowledge indicated to you that Travis could not have obtained the pdf from the CCC website. Rather than think that Travis may have been mistaken, you started talking about hacking. I realise Travis has a superb reputation for accuracy, but why did you choose to talk about hacking, when the most reasonable explanation was that Travis must have been mistaken?
Do you really hang around in such circles that hacking was the first explanation to come to mind?
It may be the ritual of a rival cult, but in honor of Luna_the_cat , I shall Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog on a Friday.
I've had my humor fall flat, and in a strictly written media, it's difficult to convey the.... emotion?... of a few paragraphs of text. I was willing to give Wade the benefit of the doubt. However, after reading INJECTING SENSE, I need to cleanse my self, and a good old fashion hotdog (with chili, cheese and onion, thank you) should do it.
I perused a bit of "Injecting Sense" to see where Wade was coming from. Suffice to say that this quote was all i really would have needed to read:
"J.B Handley has already done a fine job, over at Age of Autism"
Nuff said.
Fuzzzone - Wade is a guy who came across as reasonable some years ago. Over time, he morphed into a run-of-the-mill loon. Some folks here noted that this transition coincided with him moving to the Chicago area, but the end result is that the "why" doesn't really matter. Simply put, he has willingly and effortlessly jumped over the line and the shark.
concerning the comments about Google U: as evidenced by many a woomeister, one can "earn" a "degree" in just about any subject via Google U. Unfortunately the one subject not included is How To Use Google.
Has anyone even considered the idea that someone connected with the case got the file legally through a connection with the case, a subscription to a legal database or even a FOI request and paid the fee at Cook County for the files and emailed them to Orac? It could have been one of several dozen people (from family members to journalists to lawyers to some associated with law schools or others).
Sorry for the buzzkill... but next week is finals week, which corresponds to state testing at the high school... so I am on edge, as is my high school aged daughter... and I have not even seen my son because he is too busy taking too many credits (who is not happy that his mom is taking classes in his department!).
Think about it. It could have been anyone with access to legal databases.
Plus Orac is a prominent enough blogger on the subject, that if they have data on a very interesting slant on a subject, they will just email Orac. Just like how David Kirby got information about the Hannah Poling case that was not available to anyone else:
Anyway, I am just speculating... Oh, crud... those integrals are waiting for me to work on!
Chris - fool! That's just what they want you to think!
Wheels within wheels, man!
@Science Mom
I guess I haven't been working hard enough for our Big-Pharma overlords. I am so ashamed. Maybe some day I will be worthy, but for now I shall drown my troubles in coffee.
Hah! I love it. Very true.
Man, when are Big Pharma and Big Ento going to start cooperating so that I can cash in on both?
Orac, the next time you're expecting something to happen that you're going to blog about, try creating a blank post with an appropriate title. Then, after the event, edit that post with the blog entry (in future tense), so you can make it look like you saw the future. If they're having trouble with a few hour reaction time, imagine the reaction to a negative two day reaction time.
PHARMA WHORE PUPPET!