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

March 2, 2007
I was in Lansing, MI giving a talk at MSU the other day. Although time was very constrained and I didn't get to see much of the campus at all, on the way back to the airport, I saw a very odd fundamentalist billboard. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of it with my cell phone camera; so I'll…
March 2, 2007
I didn't get back home until late last night; unfortunately there was no time to do a segment of Your Friday Dose of Woo that was up to my standards. Fortunately, there's something that I've been holding in reserve for just such an occasion that fits right in. Long-timers may remember that, near…
March 1, 2007
I apologize for submitting you to the previous three creationist videos. I realize that they were pretty mind-numbing, and then there was that cheesy Christian rock ballad. So here's one antidote. (Warning: The video is nearly two hours long; even I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet.)…
March 1, 2007
Here's the finale of my audience participation project for today. I've saved the "best" for last. This short video, called Science Refutes Its Own Laws?, is the target. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to answer the questions contained therein and/or demonstrate why they represent…
March 1, 2007
Here's part 2 of my audience participation exercise. This is a continuation of my audience participation/open thread set of posts for today. It's called "list the creationist fallacies." This post is part 2 of this endeavor. This short video, called Which came first, the DNA or the protein?, is the…
March 1, 2007
Busy, busy, busy last night and all day today until late, namely because I'm out of town on business. My schedule has been packed, and I won't be home until late. There's no time to post one of my characteristic pearls of verbosity. So what do I do when this happens? Be grateful that YouTube exists…
March 1, 2007
The 55th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at The Second Sight, and EoR has bowed to the higher energies of the universe in organising this edition based on the numerological vibrations of the submitters. Numerology is, of course, a science that has been proven by thousands of years…
February 28, 2007
Another one has fallen. Yes, another prestigious medical school has given in. First I lamented the decline in basic science education in medical schools. Then, I lamented even more the infiltration of woo into the curricula of far too many medical schools, spurred on by patient demand, a desire for…
February 27, 2007
Like many biomedical investigators, I've been sweating it over the resubmission of an R01 grant my collaborator and I worked furiously on and submitted on November 1. He's the principal investigator, but I'm a coinvestigator with 25% effort; I also wrote one of the three specific aims and most of…
February 27, 2007
Kristjan Wager points out to me that Respectiful Insolence was listed as the Blog of the Day by the L.A. Times on Monday. Oddly enough, I hadn't noticed any traffic coming my way from the link...
February 27, 2007
I should know better. I really should. I'm referring, of course, to my having forgotten my usual avoidance of purely political posts yesterday. I'm beginning to remember why I so seldom blog about political matters in general and why I've never in two years discussed abortion on this blog in…
February 26, 2007
It looks to me as though one of my favorite lefty bloggers, Majikthise (real name: Lindsay Beyerstein), dodged a bullet. In a Salon.com article, she describes how she originally was approached to blog for the John Edwards campaign. As you may recall, Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon ultimately was…
February 26, 2007
I'm getting really, really tired of this. You've all read my rants at the propensity of surgeons who clearly don't have clue one about evolutionary theory spouting off ignorantly about the alleged shortcomings of evolution as a theory while either explicitly or implicitly promoting the…
February 25, 2007
Taking a cue from Abel, I like the look of this: This year marks a first. Usually, my wife and I have managed to see at least a couple of the nominees; in years past, when we were dating and after we first got married, sometimes we'd have seen most of the nominated films by the time the Oscars…
February 25, 2007
Somehow, in all the blogging about dichloroacetate earlier this week, I somehow missed a mention of a truly annoying thing that the editors of Lancet Neurology did. In essence, they allowed ethically challenged mercury warrior Mark Geier a forum to review Richard Lathe's book Autism, Brain, and…
February 24, 2007
In case you didn't know, here are instructions for opening your bowels (via Clusterfock, Kottke, and Kevin, MD): I wonder if I've been doing it wrong all these years. I mean, I don't think I've ever used a footrest...
February 24, 2007
Remember how I alluded to the fact that perhaps I've been doing a little too much blogging about dichloroacetate and the unscrupulous "entrepreneurs" who are taking advantage of desperate cancer patients to sell the stuff to them? Well, I can't resist mentioning something truly amusing that I just…
February 23, 2007
Listen up, everyone! It's fast approaching. Yes, The Skeptics' Circle will be appearing next Thursday over at The Second Sight. EoR did a bang-up job the last time the Circle was held at The Second Sight; so I expect as great or even better this time around. But your best skeptical blogging is…
February 23, 2007
This week's been a lot of doom and gloom here on the ol' blog, hasn't it? I don't know how it happened, but somehow I let blogging about dichloroacetate, the inexpensive small molecule drug that has been widely touted as a "cure for cancer" that "big pharma" (or the FDA, or both, take your pick) is…
February 22, 2007
At least this time the surgeons aren't disgracing my profession by making ignorant statments about evolution. Well, actually, I almost wish they were, because puffed up idiots pontificating about evolution at least don't put patients in immediate danger like this: A routine appendix operation in…
February 22, 2007
I realize that this blog has become "all dichloroacetate (DCA) all the time." I think I've said what needs to be said in my usual long-winded fashion, and now it's time to move on to less heavy topics for a while. Tomorrow, we will have another installment of Your Friday Dose of Woo. For a warmup,…
February 22, 2007
I've probably beat this one into the ground over the last couple of days; so this will be uncharacteristically brief, because it's time to move on. Also, it was fun to see DaveScot go into paroxysms to try to justify the dangerous, unethical, and reckless actions of Heather Nordstrom and her…
February 21, 2007
Fellow ScienceBloggers Ed, PZ, Afarensis, Tim, and John have all been having loads of fun beating up on a rather amusing and pathetic project known as Conservapedia, which, according to its creators, is designed to "combat the liberal bias" in Wikipedia. There's not much for me to add, except that…
February 21, 2007
Yesterday, I wrote about how anti-science pro-"intelligent design" kook extraordinaire Dave Springer (a.k.a. DaveScot) has taken to promoting dichloroacetate as a treatment for cancer and one website in particular, The DCA Site that claims to exist to "help inform people of the exciting research…
February 20, 2007
The latest Grand Rounds has been posted at the abode of fellow ScienceBlogger Pure Pedantry. This time, it's with an Oscar theme! Go and sample the best medical blogging of the last week.
February 20, 2007
I hadn't planned on writing about dichloroacetate, the inexpensive compound whose success in treating experimental cancer in rats that provoked a blogopheric storm about a "cancer cure" that would supposedly never see the light of day because it's not patentable. After all, I've done about seven…
February 19, 2007
This one's been floating around the science blogosphere for about a week or two now. I tried to resist its pull, but finally I have given in and decided that, if you've got it, flaunt it, baby! In any case, I'm talking about a bunch of merit badges for scientists (a.k.a. "The Order of Science…
February 19, 2007
Apparently some librarians and parents are upset that a children's book (which happens to have won the Newberry Medal, the most prestigious award in children's literature) has, within its pages, the use of the word "scrotum." The book, The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patronhas, been banned in…
February 19, 2007
You know, I'm really tired of this. I'm tired of my fellow physicians with a penchant for spouting scientifically ignorant "attacks" on or "doubts" about evolution. It embarrasses the hell out of me around ScienceBlogs, and I really wish they would stop it. Sadly, it seems to be an increasingly…
February 18, 2007
Goodbye and good riddance.