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

June 6, 2007
I'm back from the ASCO Meeting in Chicago. As promised, I'll try to post some photos tomorrow to give you a sense of just how monumentally huge this meeting is. I probably won't have time to blog about the clinical science presented until Friday or next week, but we'll see. In the meantime, let me…
June 6, 2007
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that it's been quite a while since I've featured the antics of a certain character who's become a bit of the bête noire of my fellow surgeons. I'm referring, of course, to Dr. Michael Egnor, a renowned neurosurgeon from SUNY Stony Brook who's made 2007…
June 5, 2007
Somehow this one passed under my radar four years ago. However, the there's a reason for this. First, I wasn't blogging then and thus wasn't paying as close attention to alternative medicine. Also, apparently, the State of Oregon didn't know about it until 16 months after the fact, which was still…
June 5, 2007
One of the common refrains you'll hear from alties about "conventional" medicine is that it's a business, that it's all about money. Never mind that, for instance, it's not uncommon for primary care doctors like family practice and pediatricians to net well under $100,000 a year and that many…
June 4, 2007
It's day three of the ASCO Meeting here in Chicago. So far, I have to say, it's been a bit underwhelming. Unlike some years past, there don't appear to have been any real blockbuster results to report; rather, lots of incremental studies were presented. There's really only one study presented that…
June 4, 2007
It was a nondescript room, a board room much like board rooms found in corporate offices across the length and breadth of the U.S., or even around the world. There was the tasteful built-in wood bookshelves loaded with books and journals, for instance. Given the nature of this company, the journals…
June 3, 2007
Just as a brief followup to my post about being carded twice in a bar despite being a member of the over 40 crowd, I can't help but make a brief comment on something else that happened while we were sitting back enjoying some beer. We were inside, but there was an outdoor sidewalk cafe area with…
June 3, 2007
I've just found what has to be literally the coolest weblog ever. Its whole raison d'être is a pet peeve of mine, too, but I literally never thought of starting a blog about it.
June 3, 2007
I haven't yet mentioned it, but since Friday evening I've been in Chicago for the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting. (If anyone happens to be attending the meeting and is interested in a meetup, let me know. My time's pretty well booked until I leave on Tuesday afternoon, but we might…
June 2, 2007
I know, I know. Denialism.com and Screw Loose Change already posted this, but it's just such a lovely loony example of the "logic" used by 9/11 conspiracy theorists (a.k.a. "9/11 Truthers") that I couldn't resist posting it too. Here, we see a 9/11 Truther "duplicating" the fall of one of the Twin…
June 2, 2007
Infophilia finds Dr. Michael Egnor's invocation of the Stalin Zombie from a couple of months ago and tears it apart. Come to think of it, Egnor's been laying down some silliness about evolution lately. I had been restraining myself from commenting due to my previous oversaturation blogging about…
June 2, 2007
Those who still desperately cling to the concept that mercury in thimerosal in vaccines causes autism have been known to write some really stupid stuff trying to justify their position or attack someone else's rebuttal of the whole "hypothesis." This week has produced a bumper crop of such fallacy-…
June 1, 2007
Bummer. A while back, I asked, "Where's Flea?" The question was asked in response to the mysterious disappearance of his blog a couple of weeks ago, leaving only a blank Blogger blog. Flea, as you may remember, was one of my favorite physician-bloggers. A pediatrician, he consistently provided…
June 1, 2007
Let's face it, energy woo can get boring. It's always "resonance this" and "vibration that," to the point that it all starts to sound the same. Such is the reason that I've become somewhat reluctant to take on more energy woo for Your Friday Dose of Woo. It takes a truly bizarre bit of energy woo…
May 31, 2007
Now this is how you provoke a tamandua! Tamandua mexicana
May 31, 2007
Via Ed Brayton, I've learned of an interesting commentary by Sasha Abramsky on a topic that's near and dear to my heart. Well, its' more like a major pet peeve, one that irritates me so much that two years ago I even created a character who's made regular, albeit increasingly infrequent,…
May 31, 2007
I've been a bit remiss when it comes to writing about the lunacy in which it is claimed that vaccines cause autism, allegedly due to the mercury in the thimerosal preservative that was in most childhood vaccines until the end of 2002, when it was removed from all but flu vaccines. It turns out that…
May 30, 2007
Here it is, straight from the 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said calendar, culled from a church bulletin listing: Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King. My question upon seeing such a notice would, of course, be…
May 30, 2007
I love it. You see I noticed an old "friend," the Herbinator, making this comment about me regarding dichloroacetate: I was listening to CBC Radio - the Current, as is my want, and there was a show on about DCA, or Dichloroacetic acid. DCA is a molecule so simple and cheap to make that drug…
May 29, 2007
Last fall, I and quite a few other bloggers wrote about the Tripoli Six. These are six foreign medical workers arrested for allegedly intentionally infecting over 400 children with HIV in a Libyan hospital and, thanks to the ignorant hysteria whipped up against them and the need of the Libyan…
May 29, 2007
"Some people call me Maurice." Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae A study from two Australian researchers from the University of Sydney shows that male humpbacks who sing while migrating have better luck with the ladies than those who don't. Michael Noad and a group of colleagues tracked a…
May 29, 2007
This is not free speech; it's vandalism: ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. -- Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday. Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags…
May 29, 2007
A new Gallup poll shows just how bad things are for science and reason: PRINCETON, NJ -- About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word. This percentage is slightly lower than several decades ago. The majority…
May 29, 2007
It never seems to end, does it? I'm talking about the hype and questionable practices revolving around dichloroacetate (DCA), the small molecule chemotherapeutic agent that targets the Warburg effect, in essence normalizing the metabolism of tumor cells and thereby inhibiting their growth. (See…
May 28, 2007
I didn't see this one in time to include it on my list of Memorial Day links. In it, Brett confesses: Here's a confession: I don't really get Guernica -- the painting, that is, not the event. Read the whole thing and see what he means.
May 28, 2007
i think I've made it exquisitely clear how much I detest and despise the term "Nevile Chamberlain School of Evolutionists." Indeed, my disgust at the term led me to sic the Hitler Zombie on (of all people) Richard Dawkins, the originator of the term, a deed that was either the boldest thing I've…
May 28, 2007
Here in the U.S, it's Memorial Day, the day that we set aside to pay tribute to our men and women in uniform who have put their lives on the line to defend our nation in its wars. On this day, I'd like to present a few links and thoughts: Here's my post about Memorial Day from last year. Memorial…
May 27, 2007
I've been a bit remiss in my blog carnival plugging; so here's my chance to make up for it. Here are some carnivals worth checking out: Carnival of Bad History #14: The Backlog Edition (The name speaks for itself.) Carnivalesque #27 (Ancient, medieval and early modern history.) Tangled Bank #80 (…
May 27, 2007
Recently, I discussed a story by the BBC news show Panorama about the Church of Scientology and its ridiculous anti-psychiatry museum. Unfortunately, the show doesn't always do things right. Over at Bad Science, I find how badly Panorama messed up a story on Wi-Fi, claiming health dangers on the…
May 27, 2007
Over the last couple of months, I've written periodically about cancer research and the complaints that the present system of funding grants and of peer review stifles innovation, as well as whether ideas for which there is some evidence but which fall out of the mainstream are given a fair shake.…