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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

April 3, 2008
I thought it was an April Fools' joke, but it wasn't. It was posted one day too late, but there it was staring at me: On World Autism Day: A Plea for Better Journalism. On the surface, who could argue with that, particularly with David Kirby's regular carpet-bombing logic and science with unctuous…
April 3, 2008
Believe it or not, there was a time when I didn't consider acupuncture to be a form of woo. I know, I know, it's hard to believe, given the sorts of posts I've done recently on acupuncture, but it's true. Certainly, I didn't believe the whole rigamarole about needles somehow "restoring the flow of…
April 2, 2008
So there I was last night, in the Twilight Zone between wakefulness and sleep, Late Night With David Letterman on the television, blaring in the background. I was vaguely aware that John McCain was Letterman's guest for the evening and that they were chatting back and forth, Letterman asking the…
April 2, 2008
This happened last week when I was feeling under the weather, and somehow I never got around to it. Fortunately, however, I've learned that there may indeed by justice in the case of Madeline Neuman, the 11-year-old child whose parents let her die of diabetic ketoacidosis. This story was widely…
April 1, 2008
Three words you never want your name associated with: Nazi sex scandal.
April 1, 2008
In the three years that I've been blogging, one thing I've learned about myself is that I'm not very good at coming up with good April Fools' Day posts. Yes, I have tried it before. For example, a couple of years ago, I tried to make everyone believe that I had gone soft on woo, that I had had a…
March 31, 2008
I have to admit that this one fell off the radar, even for me. I hate to admit it, but it's true. I'm talking about the Cancer Research Blog Carnival, which is being hosted by the Skeptical Alchemist this Friday. So, those of you inclined to write about cancer and cancer research, help a blogger…
March 31, 2008
I've never been able to figure out how anyone who claims to be devoted to science and scientific medicine can take homeopathy the least bit seriously. None of it makes any sense scientifically. Its basic principal of the "Law of Similars" has far more basis in the concepts of sympathetic magic than…
March 30, 2008
I'm actually surprised it's that high: Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating Must be some of the commenters. I have been known on occasion to use the word "bullshit" with reference to, for example, David Kirby, but I really do try to keep this blog fairly clean as far as cussing goes.
March 29, 2008
Hilarious, particularly "big-pimpin'" Daddy Dennett: I can't make up my mind if it's meant to skewer Dawkins or whether it's meant ironically as a way of making fun of ID creationists and how they view Dawkins...
March 29, 2008
Nasal drone Ben Stein, as you would be hard-pressed not to know if you are a regular reader of ScienceBlogs, is hosting what looks to be a truly execrable crap-fest called Expelled!: No Intelligence Allowed. The movie basically consists of two themes: (1) Whining about "intellectual oppression" by…
March 28, 2008
I tell ya, I get sick for a few days, and the antivaccination cranks come out of the woodwork. This time around, it's über-crank Vox Day entering the fray (or, as I like to call him Vox "hey, it worked for Hitler" Day). We've seen him in action before. Be it using the example of Nazi Germany as a…
March 28, 2008
I have good news and bad news for you. First, the good news. The devastating death crud that has kept me in its grip for nearly a week now appears to be receding. For the first time, "whining" or not, I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it's due to PalMD's kind offer of…
March 27, 2008
Today is the first day where I'm starting to think that the worst is past, as far as the death crud that's had me in its grip since last weekend goes. It's possible, of course, that the virus could just be toying with me, giving me a false sense of hope, but I'll remain optimistic. In the meantime…
March 27, 2008
I have to hand it to Mike, the host of this week's Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. He's decided to do something that I never would have thought possible: He's gotten Ben Stein to introduce the entries to this week's festival of skeptical thinking--which is why you're all "expelled"! (I wonder what…
March 26, 2008
A "magician" trying and failing to kill a skeptic with black magic. It must have been hilarious to watch, especially if one speaks the language. Maybe they'll find a way to show it on American TV. Maybe I'll search YouTube when I feel better.
March 26, 2008
I just can't shake it. Try as I might to get rid of it, it just continues to grip my body like a tick that just won't let go. I'm talking about the death crud, which I had thought originally to be a nasty cold but is now looking more and more like the flu. It descended upon me Friday night/Saturday…
March 25, 2008
Sadly, the death crud continues apace, although at a low enough level that I feel I can eke out a brief post, mainly because it relates to what I've been saying all along about a group blog that I tend to dislike. Both Shifting Baselines and DrugMonkey have pointed out that Huffington Post blogger…
March 25, 2008
The annoying death crud that has gripped me continues apace. Fortunately, I happen to have a rather interesting guest blog post that I've had lying around a while, and now seems like the perfect time to use it. It comes from Dr. Arnon Krongrad, an expert in prostate cancer and minimally invasive…
March 24, 2008
Why am I not surprised? The stupid, it does so burn.
March 24, 2008
I really didn't want to get involved with the whole "framing" debate again. For whatever reason (and they are reasons that I've failed to understand), the very mention of the word seems to set certain members of the ScienceBlogs collective into rabid fits of vicious invective that leave rational…
March 23, 2008
...because Boston skeptics get to have all the fun with a meeting of Skeptics in the Pub on Monday, March 24 at The Asgard (great name for a pub!) in Cambridge at 7 PM. Keynote speaker for the night is our very own Mike the Mad Biologist. We've done a little blog tag-teaming in the past of some…
March 23, 2008
Sadly, unlike his namesake, Orac is not immune to human foibles and human vulnerabilities. In particular he's not immune whatever virus is going around at the moment. The damned thing felled my wife for over a week. I thought that I had avoided it, but apparently not. Now I'm starting to feel the…
March 22, 2008
I've been remiss in not mentioning that one of the newer and better docs dedicated to skepticism and science= and evidence-based medicine has joined the SB collective. I'm talking about PalMD, formerly of the blog White Coat Underground. He's joined up with the Hoofnagles over at Denialism.com and…
March 22, 2008
The other night, I wrote about how the painfully inept and just plain dumb actions of the producer of Expelled!, the neuron-apoptosing movie that's basically an extended argumentum ad Nazium against the dreaded "Darwinism" that blames Hitler, Stalin, and, apparently, puppy hatred on Charles Darwin…
March 21, 2008
If you ever have any doubt at the sheer level of unscientific fearmongering and lunacy antivaccinationists like to foment, all you have to do is head to the comments section regarding the David Kirby article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that I deconstructed yesterday. Given that the Age of…
March 21, 2008
Sometimes a topic demands to be included in my little Friday bit of hubris and tweaking. Usually when that happens, it's obvious because somehow the topic is synergistic with what's been going on during the preceding week on the ol' blog, in the same way that herbalists claim that all the various…
March 20, 2008
...to see Expelled! In perhaps the funniest incident I can recall involving a fellow ScienceBlogger since there has been ScienceBlogs, earlier this evening scourges of "intelligent design" creationism P. Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins went to see a screening of the antievolution pro-ID creationism…
March 20, 2008
I have to hand it to Dan Olmsted. As Dr. Michael Egnor is for "intelligent design" creationism, ol' Danny Boy is the Energizer Bunny of antivaccinationism. Tag-teaming with fellow "journalist" David Kirby, who seems able to live rather well without actually, you know, having a regular job, ex-UPI…
March 20, 2008
It's a rare, rare situation, but the sheer craziness of this (hat tip PZ) knocked the wind out of me, so that I'm having a hard time finding something to say about it: Health officials in the Philippines have issued a warning to people taking part in Easter crucifixion rituals. They have urged them…