oracknows

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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

August 18, 2008
In complaining about the infiltration of pseudoscience in the form of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) into academic medicine, as I have many times, I've made the observation that three common modalities appear to function as "gateway woo, if you will, in that they are the tip of the…
August 17, 2008
After seeing some Doctor Who silliness yesterday, I also came across this great tribute to 45 years of Doctor Who. Since it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I'm again too lazy to post anything substantive until Monday, here we go again. It's every Who story compressed into less than 8 minutes.…
August 17, 2008
It's Sunday, which makes it a perfect time for a little blog housekeeping, especially about a feature that used to appear regularly on Fridays. As you may recall, after the death of Echo I put Your Friday Dose of Woo on hiatus for a while because I just couldn't get myself into the appropriately…
August 16, 2008
Why? Because I love Doctor Who and Benny Hill (although I was never much of an Eminem fan) and because it's funny, that's why. Besides, it's a beautiful Saturday, and I'm feeling too lazy to post anything substantive this morning. That's all the reason I need.
August 15, 2008
I was called upon once before, and now I'm called upon again. Jenny McCarthy needs me: From: "Jenny McCarthy" volunteer@generationrescue.org Reply-to: volunteer@generationrescue.org To: orac@scienceblogs.com Date: Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 11:26 AM Subject: News From Jenny McCarthy Become a Rescue Angel…
August 15, 2008
I don't know who Kent Sepkowitz is other than that he he's an infectious disease specialist in New York and that he writes for Slate. I also know he's written about penis enlargement, his dislike of magazines' "best doctor" lists (a sentiment with which I can agree, actually), and that he has…
August 14, 2008
We seem to have an infestation of a couple of very persistent anti-vaccinationist trolls. (It happens; every so often someone new thinks they can take me and my readers on. They're usually pretty quickly disabused of that notion.) That infestation is why I thought now would be an opportune time to…
August 14, 2008
It looks as though at least a couple of my readers have taken to heart my suggestion that, if the pro-CAM, "no skeptics need apply" new wikipedia known as Wiki4CAM won't allow any scientific evidence to be posted within its pages if it does not support the CAM therapy being discussed, then perhaps…
August 14, 2008
It's been quite a while since I wrote about this topic, but, quite frankly, I didn't think anything new was likely to come up that would interest me sufficiently to take it on again. I was almost right; it's been well over two years since the last time I discussed the issue of whether or not…
August 14, 2008
It's that time again. Once again, the best that the skeptical blogosphere has had to offer over the last couple of weeks is on display, this time over at City of Skeptics, where you can now find The 93rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. The dude fooled me though. With the time difference between…
August 13, 2008
...you'd better run for cover! Truly, you can't make--if you'll excuse the term--shit like this up. Let the jokes begin!
August 13, 2008
THWOMP! THWOMP! THWOMP! TWHOMP! THWOMP! TWHOMP! That's the sound of me hitting my head against the table. Hard. What provoked this reaction in me is Medscape, specifically an article that my blog bud PalMD turned me on to. That the article, entitled HPV Vaccine Deemed Safe and Effective, Despite…
August 12, 2008
By this stage of the game, I'm guessing that you're probably as tired of the 2008 Presidential race as I am. Too bad there are still nearly three months of this nonsense to go, and, although John McCain has gone deep into the stupid with ads featuring comparisons of his opponent with Paris Hilton,…
August 12, 2008
I am commanded by my Benevolent Overlords, and I answer. Seed Media Group, (the aforementioned Benevolent Overlords) are taking a reader survey. To encourage (i.e. bribe) you to participate, they're holding a drawing among those who actually respond to the survey, with the prizes being a lot of…
August 12, 2008
It's been a long time, been a long time, Been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. - Led Zeppelin Not nearly long enough. - Orac Some rats never die, it would appear. You may recall last year, when I spend a considerable amount of…
August 11, 2008
Look what Bora's doing with poor Professor Steve Steve: And what's poor Charles Darwin got to do with it? No wonder Jason's looking on in bemusement--or perhaps puzzlement.
August 11, 2008
Seen and photographed on E. 44th St., about a block or two from the United Nations building: Acupuncture, energy balancing, this guy's got it all--because nothing's too good for our diplomats.
August 11, 2008
Seen in a bookstore in the Delta terminal at LaGuardia: It makes perfect sense. What's left after fleecing millions of gullible readers selling books about "alternative" medicine and secret cures "they" don't want you to know about? Fleecing millions of gullible readers by selling books rife…
August 11, 2008
While I was away over the weekend, a reader made me aware of a new development in the world of "alternative"--excuse me, "complementary and alternative"--medicine (a.k.a. CAM). I suppose I should have seen this coming. In retrospect, given the proliferation of wikis of seemingly every shape and for…
August 9, 2008
...that I and a bunch of other ScienceBloggers will be at the following location from 2-4 PM today: Details: 2pm-4pm on Saturday, August 9 Social 795 8th Ave (close to 49th St.) New York, NY 10019 A couple of warnings: Point one: I'm a lot more boring and unassuming in person than I am on the blog…
August 8, 2008
It's that time again. The longer I'm at this, the faster time seems to fly, but it's already here again. Yes, the next meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is scheduled to land at City of Skeptics in less than a week, on Thursday, August 14. If you're a skeptical blogger, get cracking and submit your…
August 8, 2008
"If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. And if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head." - Winston Churchill Like one of my blog buds, PalMD, I usually don't discuss purely political issues on this blog. After all, I have my niche, and I've become quite good at blogging within…
August 7, 2008
This is disturbing. No, it's not disturbing because it's a story potentially about autism. It's not even disturbing because it indicates that Jenny McCarthy might soon have some competition in the brain dead antivaccinationist autism mom competition. It's disturbing because of who Jenny's new…
August 7, 2008
...to ask über-quack Hulda Clark, the woman who disagrees with Dr. Simoncini in that she thinks that all cancer is caused by an intestinal fluke and that she can cure it by "zapping" it with a chintzy device she calls a "Zapper" that looks a lot like a Scientology E-meter, any question you want.…
August 7, 2008
I don't much like Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com (formerly NewsTarget.com). Indeed, I haven't yet been able to find a more blatant purveyor of the worst kind of quackery and paranoid anti-physician and anti-medicine conspiracy theories anywhere on the Internet, with the possible exception of Whale.…
August 6, 2008
A couple of days ago, I did a Respectfully Insolent⢠takedown of a disappointingly credulous and misinformation-laden article published on Medscape about the human papilloma virus vaccine Gardasil. The article was clearly biased, and, worse, it quoted Oprah's favorite woo-loving gynecologist Dr.…
August 6, 2008
Shot with my iPhone camera Friday at our campus bookstore: Although I'm sure this was meant ironically (although one can never be sure), somehow I don't think that linking Al Gore with Jesus is a particularly good idea. Climate change "skeptics" already focus on Al Gore as though discrediting…
August 5, 2008
Remember how I mentioned that the venue for the ScienceBlogs Readers Meetup was going to be changed? Well, the new venue has been announced: The new spot will be at a bar on the west side called Social. Seed has reserved a room in the back, and it's three floors in case we need even more room. Seed…
August 5, 2008
Bizarrely enough, Suzanne Somers has been a common topic of discussion on this blog since the very beginning. Indeed, in one of my earliest substantive posts, way back in December 2004 when I had just started this blog on Blogger, I used her as an example of how misleading breast cancer…
August 5, 2008
Yesterday, there was a press release announcing the "Vaccinate Your Baby" campaign being promoted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and Every Child by Two. This morning in New York, there will be a press conference to unveil the initiative, described thusly: Every Child By Two (ECBT) and the…