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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

November 16, 2007
Don't forget, once again the time is fast approaching. Soon yet another installment of the Skeptics' Circle will be upon us. In fact, it's less than a week away and due to land at the Med Journal Watch. Note that, because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., this time around the Circle will be…
November 16, 2007
It may take a long time, but sometimes justice does eventually move to act against a wrong: A Butler County doctor will stand trial on charges he caused the death of a 5-year-old autistic boy by negligently ordering a controversial treatment, a district judge ordered Thursday. Dr. Roy Kerry of…
November 16, 2007
Pity poor Nikola Tesla. Again. It looks as though the woomeisters have found a way to abuse him yet again. I don't know what it is about Tesla, but he seems to be a magnet for such woo. Well, actually, I sort of do. Tesla was definitely a character and was known for a variety of strange beliefs…
November 15, 2007
Earlier this week, I did a couple of posts about applying evolutionary principles to the meme of complementary and alternative medicine. In one of them, I mentioned how CAM therapies never seem to "go extinct." They may wax and wane in popularity and "evolve" into other therapies, but they never go…
November 15, 2007
Yesterday's mega-post left me a bit drained; consequently I've throttled my ambitions back a notch today in order to leave some energy to put together the weekly installation of Your Friday Dose of Woo tomorrow. Fortunately, just the topic presented itself: A story that's interesting and…
November 14, 2007
...or so sayeth Reason.TV, where a credulous blogger didn't like what Orac laid down and found him oh-so-humorless. Orac, Killer of Buzz. You know, I sort of like the sound of that. I like the sound and humor of this, too. Of course, some buzzes deserve to be terminated with extreme prejudice; so…
November 14, 2007
...Then go and visit Aggravated DocSurg, who's hosting the latest edition of SurgXperiences, the only blog carnival for surgery blogging, although his title makes me wonder a bit.
November 14, 2007
Over the last couple of days, I've discussed "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) in terms of a meme upon which evolutionary forces are acting to select certain forms of woo over others in academia. Although, in my usual inimitable fashion, I probably carried the concept one step too far…
November 13, 2007
I was always wondering when he'd finally weigh in on alternative medicine, and now Sid has. It's a slapdown worthy of Orac, Dr. R.W., or Panda Bear MD. Go forth and read it. Not quite as snarky as Orac (but, then, Sid's a classy guy), but every bit as outraged.
November 13, 2007
Today's the day, everyone. I haven't mentioned this before, but the documentary on the trial over the teaching of "intelligent design" creationism in the classroom in Dover, Pennsylvania two years ago is set to premiere on your local PBS station tonight at 8 PM. The Nova documentary, Judgment Day…
November 13, 2007
Yesterday, inspired by a post by fellow ScienceBlogger Martin, I had a little fun discussing the evolution of "alternative" medicine (a.k.a. "complementary and alternative medicine" or CAM), specifically speculating about the possible selective pressures, positive and negative, that have influenced…
November 12, 2007
Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata has the full story. In brief, Medicare has slashed reimbursement for two radioimmunotherapy drugs Bexxar (131I-tositumomab) and Zevalin (90Y-ibritumomab) to below acquisition cost. This is not some experimental therapy that's being denied, but rather a therapy with…
November 12, 2007
I wish I had thought of this one, but I didn't. However, I never let a little thing like not having thought of an idea first to stop me from discussing it, and this particular idea is definitely worth expanding upon because (1) it's interesting and (2) it combines two of my interests, alternative…
November 11, 2007
Friday morning while doing some work in my office, I was treated to a discussion by the two hosts of a morning radio talk show. The talk was apparently prompted by a rather odd website, ihateyoungpeople.com, which asks: We want you to create a video of yourself explaining what you hate the most…
November 11, 2007
Hilarious. Even though I risk bringing back some of the anthropogenic global warming "skeptics" (in reality pseudoskeptics) here, this is too rich not to mention, because it reminds me of how advocates of all stripes of pseudoscience react, particularly advocates of alternative medicine, most of…
November 10, 2007
Given the general level of intelligence and erudition of commenters here, rare would be the need for a product such as this: (Fortune Magazine) -- Internet veterans have long complained about the steady erosion of civility -- and worse, intelligence -- in online discourse. Initially the phenomenon…
November 9, 2007
Orac gets e-mail from time to time. This time around, a person working at The Ohio State University writes about a disturbing incident there demonstrating yet more evidence that academic medical centers are having increasing difficulty distinguishing between evidence-based medicine (which they…
November 9, 2007
Now this is unexpected. Normally, I find my victims/targets/subjects for my usual end-of-the-workweek bit of fun and skepticism from one of two sources. Either a reader sends a link to some woo or other that desperately deserves a little bit of Orac's loving attention, or in my wanderings across…
November 8, 2007
It's Thursday, and I can hardly believe that it's time for the Skeptics' Circle again. Time flies between these every other week exercises in critical thinking. This time around, it's Holford Watch that's hosting the 73rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. However, before you can enjoy skeptical…
November 8, 2007
I hadn't intended to write about this again, at least not for a while, but curiosity got the better of me. About a month and a half ago, I discussed a highly dubious story that was going around by e-mail about a 17-year-old boy with melanoma whose mother supposedly "cured" him with "natural"…
November 7, 2007
Along with Dr. R. W., I've become known for my rather vociferously expressed dismay at the ever increasing infiltration of unscientific and non-evidence-based woo in the form of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) into academic medical centers. Well, thanks to a reader, I've seen a…
November 7, 2007
I demand the sum of.....two MILLION visits! Muhahahahahaha! Yes, I know I did that bit before, but I liked it so much that I wanted to do it again. Sometime yesterday, this blog hit another milestone. Sometime yesterday morning, Respectful Insolence⢠recorded its 2,000,000th visitor.…
November 7, 2007
This is getting depressing. Yesterday, I did a brief post on the tragic story of a nine month old baby named Gloria Thomas whose father, a homeopath, put his faith in homeopathic medicines to treat her severe eczema and who as a consequence did not receive the necessary medical treatment she needed…
November 6, 2007
Panda Bear MD has posted the second part of his series about the irrationality behind much of "alternative" (a.k.a. non-evidence-based) medicine. He makes an excellent point: At no time however, will your physicians ever promise a magic cure, a therapy that will definitively fix the problem with no…
November 6, 2007
Two of my favorite blog carnivals have made their regular appearance today: The History Carnival #58 (hosted by fellow ScienceBlogger Aardvarchaeology) Grand Rounds, vol. 4, no. 7 Go forth and enjoy!
November 6, 2007
Over the weekend, it appears that a post of mine, in which I included a link to a video of comic Tim Slagle doing the comedy routine that, in my never-ending effort to live up to the stereotype of the humorless skeptic that the credulous like so much, I castigated for its misrepresentations of…
November 5, 2007
For those who argue that homeopathy is harmless, here's a story that shows what can happen when faith in quackery results in parents eschewing effective evdience-based medicine: NINE-MONTH-OLD Gloria Thomas was in such distress that her crying alarmed some passengers on a plane trip from India to…
November 5, 2007
This is true with respect to chiropractic, anyway. Just get a load of this ad from 1922: (Click on picture for a larger image.) You know, tart this ad up with some color and better graphics, and it wouldn't be out of place today making claims like this: Fastest growing healing profession,…
November 5, 2007
About a month and a half ago, I discussed an e-mail that was being propagated far and wide that described the case of the mother of a 17 year old male who, or so the e-mail claimed, cured her son of stage IV melanoma using "natural means" and was supposedly thrown in maximum security prison by the…
November 4, 2007
The latest edition of Pedatrics Grand Rounds has been posted at Aetiology. Enjoy!