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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

October 10, 2007
One development that will increasingly pose an interesting and perhaps uncomfortable question for newspapers is the increasing addition of blogs run under the banner of newspapers. I'm not sure if it's cluelessness about the blogosphere leading newspapers to think that they can have bloggers write…
October 9, 2007
I love it when my efforts are noticed by those at whom they are directed. It's all the reward I need. (Warning: Depending on your place of employment, link may not be work-safe.)
October 9, 2007
Let me just take a moment to join fellow ScienceBloggers Ed, Revere, RPM, Zuska, Nick, PZ, Razib, Steve, and Bora in encouraging everyone to vote for one of our own, Shelley over at Retrospectacle, for a $10,000 Student Blogging Scholarship. Don't do it just because I asked you to. Do it because…
October 9, 2007
The game ended too late last night, and I was too tired to do a quick celebratory post, but better late than never. In case you were wondering, Orac is pleased. Not as pleased as he would have been if it had been the Tigers who beat the Yankees, but pleased enough. Look out, Boston!
October 9, 2007
On occasion, I've thought of inaugurating awards for the looniest quackery, alternative medicine, or antivaccination craziness of the year. I was thinking of calling them the Woo Awards, but I've never actually gotten off my lazy posterior to do the work it would take to set up some sort of voting…
October 8, 2007
No IgNobels here, the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies for a technique that is so incredibly important to modern biomedical research that it's a wonder they didn't get the prize before: This year's Nobel…
October 8, 2007
Regular readers know that I've long been dismayed at the increasing infiltration of non-evidence-based "alternative" medical therapies into academic medical centers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). It's gotten such a foothold that it's even showing up in the mandatory medical curriculum in at least one…
October 7, 2007
I've had this story sent to me by a few readers over the weekend, and I think it's worth a brief comment. I'm basically a child of the 1970s. Although I didn't watch it much, if ever, I remember Charlie's Angels when I was in junior high and high school. Like any adolescent who came of age in the…
October 7, 2007
Richard Dawkins really should know better. That's why it's frustrating to see him put his foot in his mouth in a big way in a recent interview. Indeed, he did it in a way that leaves himself wide open to charges of anti-Semitism: In an interview with the Guardian, he said: "When you think about how…
October 6, 2007
Ah, yes, it's that time of year again. The winners of the 2007 IgNobel Prize have been announced. There have been several "worthy" winners, for example: Mayu Yamamoto from Japan won the Ig Nobel prize in chemistry for her development of a novel way to extract vanillin, the main component in vanilla…
October 6, 2007
I know I've said before that I don't really "get" the whole cephalopod thing that P. Z. has, but I wonder if he's heard of this little thing: Monday, October 8 is Unofficial International Cephalopod Awareness Day. Certainly, I hadn't.
October 6, 2007
...for the Indians to advance to the ALCS. I know, I know, long time readers know that I'm a Detroit Tigers fan. Sadly, after dominating their division during the first half of the season, my hometown team took a late season plunge right out of playoff contention, much to my dismay. Fortunately,…
October 5, 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 Infophilia on Thursday, October 11. So, if you're a blogger and regularly (or even not-so-regularly) like to apply the…
October 5, 2007
Some readers have been sending me links to this article on CNN.com entitled 5 Alternative Medicine Treatments That Work. Unfortunately, Your Friday Dose of Woo took up the time that normally would have gone into given this article the lovingly Respectfully Insolent⢠treatment that this utterly…
October 5, 2007
Over the last 15 months that this regular Friday feature has been in existence, I've come across some real doozies in the world of woo. Who could forget, for example, quantum gyroscopic theories of homeopathy? Or the DNA activation guy? Or the "no plane" conspiracy theory of 9/11? Or a certain…
October 4, 2007
Given my post yesterday about the strange things people like to stick up their nether regions, it makes perfect sense to revisit a man who has his head up his ass: David Irving. It's pretty funny to see that his former comrades are none too happy with some of his recent statements: A famed…
October 4, 2007
I've made no secret how much contempt I have for Kevin Trudeau, whom I have likened to David Irving, at least with respect to his respect for the truth. He has made many, many millions of dollars selling books with titles like Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About and its followups, in…
October 3, 2007
I really would have liked to have sampled this Thai restaurant's nam prik pao. Maybe next time.
October 3, 2007
Yes, it's true that PZ probably gets ten times the amount of crank e-mail that I do. It's also true that, because he has the most popular ScienceBlog, his readers have a tendency to put extra effort into their "correspondence" with him. But I do occasionally get the long, rambling screed from an…
October 3, 2007
One of the stranger aspects of being a general surgeon or a colorectal surgeon can be summed up by this abdominal X-ray (click on the picture for a bigger image): Yep. From time to time, every general surgeon will be called upon to pull something out of someone's ass. It's not super common, but…
October 2, 2007
I knew it! I knew it was just a matter of time until arch-Holocaust denier David Irving emerged from whatever rock he's been hiding under ever since he was released after his prison term in Austria for having denied the Holocaust, decided he wanted to be in the limelight again. Back in December, I…
October 2, 2007
Last week, I wrote about an overhyped acupuncture study that purported to show (but didn't, really) that acupuncture is more effective than "conventional" therapy in the treatment of low back pain. This story reverberated through the Internet and blogosphere as "proof" that acupuncture "works" when…
October 1, 2007
I've written a lot about dichloroacetate, a.k.a. DCA (my last post here, along with links to my previous posts), the small molecule drug that burst onto the scene after Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta published a paper in Cancer Cell in January describing strong anti-tumor…
October 1, 2007
One of the best retorts to the claims of faith healers is the simple question: If faith healing works such miracles, why has there never been a documented case of faith healing regrowing an amputated limb? Now that would be truly miraculous. That would make even a curmudgeonly old skeptic like me…
September 30, 2007
Some of these are hilarious, and, no, it wouldn't be a good idea for these couples to do the hyphenated name thing. If you have any more real life examples, post 'em in the comments for the amusement of all! (Via Advice Goddess, who should know that less than two weeks ago I stayed at a hotel on…
September 30, 2007
Here's another item I saw at the local Barnes & Noble last night. I almost bought this calendar, so amused was I by it. In retrospect, maybe I should have bought it. I don't recall ever seeing a calendar like this before. Not for Bill Clinton, and not for Ronald Reagan. It's a testament to…
September 30, 2007
I think the title says it all. Perfect! Whoever wrote the book sure knows her potential readers!
September 29, 2007
It's Saturday afternoon, time for a break from science as I attack the disaster that is our backyard. In the meantime, let's rock out for a few minutes: I'm not a huge KISS fan, but the above song is the absolutely best song that KISS ever did in their entire career--and it's an ode to my…
September 29, 2007
Science and medicine are beautiful things. The range of knowledge and research that can be encompassed under their rubric is truly astounding. Indeed, some scientists have all the luck. Some scientists seem to have all the luck. Some scientists seem able to latch onto the best projects: London,…
September 28, 2007
Because if you're going to make health claims and claim to treat patients, you should be held just as accountable as any physician: A Carson City "anti-aging" doctor has pleaded guilty to malpractice for failing to diagnose an elderly patient with the cancer that ultimately killed him. It is Dr.…