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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

December 4, 2008
I've long had an interest in World War II history. Ever since I was around 11 or 12 years old, a major portion of my reading diet has consisted of books and articles about World War II. Back when I was young, my interest was, as you might expect, primarily the battles. The military history of World…
December 3, 2008
A small part of me is glad that my inquiries a while back to get a job at Northwestern University in Chicago came to nothing when I read stuff like this on, of all places, Julie Deardorff's blog: Next appointment? Sept. 21, 2009 It now takes 10 months to get an appointment for a regular screening…
December 3, 2008
...so that I don't have to! Enjoy!
December 3, 2008
Ever since I started paying attention to it, acupuncture has, at least until recently, inspired ambivalence more than anything else in me. As a skeptic and science-based physician, I found it very easy to dismiss utter quackery like homeopathy or the various "energy healing" modalities, such as…
December 2, 2008
Well, it looks as though I've stepped into it yet one more time. Believe it or not, I hadn't intended to stir up trouble among the ScienceBlogs collective, both English- and German-speaking. Really. Oh, I'll admit that there are occasionally times when I actually do mean to stir up trouble. One…
December 1, 2008
Chalk this up under "Yet another example of U.N. incompetence": UNITED NATIONS - Islamic countries Monday won United Nations backing for an anti-blasphemy measure Canada and other Western critics say risks being used to limit freedom of speech. Combating Defamation of Religions passed 85-50 with 42…
December 1, 2008
I tell ya, I'm on the light blogging schedule for a mere four days, thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the happy invasion of family on Thursday and Friday, and a significant amount of grant writing I've had to deal with on Saturday and Sunday, and somehow I missed not only a study relevant…
November 30, 2008
Why, Sithmas, of course! Just ask Palpatine if you don't believe me: Yeah, this beats Squidmas hands down. Also, the Star Wars geek in me can't help but mention that Emperor Palpatine is more than happy to answer many other of your questions, including "Why didn't you kill Jar-Jar Binks?"; the…
November 30, 2008
I don't read ScienceBlogs.de for the simple reason that I don't understand German beyond a few words and phrases. Consequently, I don't know what our German counterparts are up to. However, a reader sent me a link that gives me reason to be very concerned about at least one of the blogs in the…
November 29, 2008
Having finally hosted the Skeptics' Circle myself last week after a long absence and having had a blast doing it to celebrate the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, I know it's time for me once again to turn over the reins to the next host, who will inaugurate the beginning of what will (I hope…
November 28, 2008
You know what my answer to this question would be. But what about puppet Steve Colbert's answer? He disagrees. Or does he: "Now sure, she's not the kind of expert who relies on facts and figures....She knows what she feels is true. She's that kind of expert." Heh. Oh, damn. PZ beat me to this.…
November 28, 2008
Believe it or not, sometimes even Orac has a life. I know, I know, between the ridiculously logorrheic blogging here and other online activities, coupled with even more ridiculous long hours working at his day job, it's hard to conceive. However, my wife and I had a whole passel of relatives over,…
November 27, 2008
Continuing the theme from yesterday one last time this week and bringing our long disused blog mascot front and center, I wish all my readers a happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2008
...EneMan thinks he's "too sexy": Unfortunately, someone else is claiming EneMan as her mascot: We can't have that. Remember, EneMan has been this blogs mascot since December 2004. Maybe he's getting restless because he hasn't been featured very often the last couple of years. I wonder if I…
November 26, 2008
Here we go again. Every so often, one of the--shall we say?--less popular members of our crew of science bloggers, someone who, despite being an academic whose area of expertise is ostensibly science communication, has stepped in it again. I'm referring, of course to Matt Nisbet. Only this time, it…
November 25, 2008
Detroit's my hometown. I was born in the city, spent the first ten years of my life within the city limits, at least until my parents moved to the suburbs. Given that, I've been watching events unfold with regard to the impending bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler (and, less likely but still possible,…
November 25, 2008
As I sat down on the couch in front of the TV last night to do my nightly blogging ritual, trying to tickle the gray matter to come up with the pearls of wisdom or insolence that my readers have come to know and love, I had a fantastic idea for a serious consideration of a question that comes up in…
November 24, 2008
There are times when I see a quote by someone who is clearly extremely intelligent, but the quote is so utterly dumb, so devoid of any evidence that a single functioning neuron was behind it, that I can only shake my head in disbelief. Thanks to Dr. Val, Dr. Wes, and Walter Olson, I've found one…
November 24, 2008
One of the handful of key themes that run through this blog day in, day out, week in, week, out, and year in, year out is that science and the application of the scientific method represent the most successful strategy that humans have yet come up with to improve human health. A consequence of this…
November 23, 2008
I figure after expressing dismay at a certain member of Canada's government yesterday, I should point out that something cool did happen in Canada the other day. Specifically, a police video camera caught a meteor streaking across the night sky in Saskatoon, to land somewhere in western Canada:…
November 23, 2008
Well, now there's something that doesn't happen to me every day--or every week. Or every month. Or every year, at least not for quite a while. Last night I stopped at our local supermarket to pick up a couple of things, one of which was a six pack of one of my favorite local brews. As the guy…
November 22, 2008
Well, this is depressing to learn. I'd be even more depressed if I were Canadian. All I can say to my neighbors to the north is that I feel your pain, albeit belatedly. I just learned that the recently appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology within Prime Minister Stephen Harper's…
November 21, 2008
Leave it to an infectious disease specialist (Dr. Mark Crislip) to dismantle the most recent favorite talking point of the antivaccine fringe, namely "too many too soon," that deceptive and scientifically ignorant concept that somehow the current vaccine schedule "overwhelms" the immune system of…
November 21, 2008
I had thought about taking the day off after celebrating the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle yesterday, but a skeptic's work is never done, and, besides, my wife's out of town for a couple of days. Given the choice of television, working on my program's section of our cancer center core…
November 20, 2008
PROLOGUE LOCATION: The Liberator, cruising through space. GAN: Are you sure it's fully switched on? ORAC: Of course I'm properly switched on. Having depressed the activator button what else would you expect? CALLY: It's his voice. BLAKE: It's exactly as though Ensor were speaking. ORAC: Surely…
November 19, 2008
I realize this story is a week old, but it's something I wanted to do a quick blog post on, and what better excuse than to get it done before tomorrow's Skeptics' Circle? Looking at a list of The 50 facts you might not know about Barack Obama, I found out that I share quite a few interests with our…
November 19, 2008
It looks as though the Jenny McCarthy woo factor has claimed two more celebrity victims' brains. If a recently viewed press release is any indication, it appears that Anthony Edwards and Dustin Hoffman are getting into the autism quackery business: Internet Marketing Company joins Jenny McCarthy,…
November 19, 2008
Busy, busy, busy. Between work and getting ready to for the 100th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle on Thursday as I mentioned on Monday, I'm afraid I don't have time for my usual sterling gems of skeptically insolent prose or an analysis of a scientific paper that a couple of my readers have sent me…
November 18, 2008
I was in a bit of a crappy mood last night. There were a number of reasons for this, including frustration at work trying to put together two grants, trying to revise a manuscript to resubmit it, dealing with collaborators and various other headaches. Indeed I had a splitting headache by the end of…
November 17, 2008
Everyone knows that the quackery-friendly, antivaccine blog Age of Autism has a rather--shall we say?--hypocritical stance when it comes to free speech. For one thing, for all their complaints about censorship and not being heard by the government, its denizens frequently confuse freedom of speech…