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

January 24, 2007
Via Kevin, MD, a picture of a complication I hope I never have: A description of the complication: A 40-year-old man with Crohn's disease underwent an uncomplicated operation involving lysis of adhesions that were causing intestinal obstruction. After surgery, a cardiologist inserted a central…
January 23, 2007
The commentary on the Arthur Allen-David Kirby debate is coming in fast and furious. The latest is this excellent deconstruction of Kirby's parroting of the claim that autistic children are "poor excretor's" of mercury. I guess I can say that Dad of Cameron took this one on so that I don't have to…
January 23, 2007
I came across an interesting tidbit about dichloroacetate (DCA), the compound that the media and all too many bloggers are touting as some sort of cheap "cure" for cancer whose development is being ignored or suppressed by big pharma because it wouldn't be profitable enough. I poured a bit of cold…
January 23, 2007
The latest Grand Rounds has been posted over at Signout. It has a theme this time that, as any regular reader of this blog is aware, is near and dear to my heart: the interface of scientific evidence with health and health care; so I'm expecting that it will be of more than usual interest to most…
January 23, 2007
Well, it's finally been posted, video of the debate between Arthur Allen, author of Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver (a book that I am about 2/3 of the way through and plan on reviewing before the end of the month if possible) and mercury militia vaccine fearmonger…
January 22, 2007
I demand the sum of.....one MILLION visits! Muhahahahahaha! Sometime while I was in clinic this morning, Respectful Insolence recorded its 1,000,000 visitor: Hmmm. Durham, North Carolina, eh? Could it be that Bora or Abel put me over the top? Come on, boys, 'fess up! Were either of you taking in…
January 22, 2007
I would have written about this one on Friday, except that Your Friday Dose of Woo had to be served up. (You did read last week's YFDoW, didn't you? It was a particularly loopy bit of woo, with a bad computer interface grafted on to it, to boot!) The reason I wanted to write about it is because the…
January 21, 2007
It looks like someone over at BlogCritics is undertaking the task of reviewing each of the component blogs of ScienceBlogs. So far, he's not particularly impressed with anyone except Martin and, to a lesser extent, Afarensis. Although he makes a few good points in checking out the first five blogs…
January 21, 2007
We see far too little of this in the mainstream media: (Via The Bronze Blog and Memoirs of a Skepchick.) Anderson Cooper is da man!
January 21, 2007
I had originally intended to use this one for a segment of Your Friday Dose of Woo. Unfortunately, when I tried to start writing, I realized it was unsuitable. No, it wasn't unsuitable because the content wasn't delightfully loopy enough to deserve targeting. The problem was that it was an…
January 20, 2007
Things have gotten a little heated around here, with an ID adherent named Dr. Cook taking umbrage at my expression of embarrassment for my profession over his having shown up over at Uncommon Descent and flaunting his excellent (albeit irrelevant to the discussion of evolution) credentials as he…
January 19, 2007
The winners of the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards have been announced at Medgadget. Winners include our favorite pediatrician Flea (and if he manages to tick off the antivaccination loons, you know he's alright with me) for Best New Medical Weblog; NHS Blog Doctor for Best Medical Weblog; and Anxiety,…
January 19, 2007
I admit it. I'm a gadget freak. I sometimes think I should have gone into radiology. If you're a radiologist and work with MRI, CT scans, PET scanners, and numerous other cool gadgets. Of course, you also have to sit in dark rooms in the basement of the hospital and stare at films for several years…
January 18, 2007
The 52nd Edition of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist. It's a little late in coming (and I'm a little late in announcing it), but as usual another host has come through with a fine collection of skeptical blogging. So go pay him a visit. It also marks the…
January 18, 2007
If you want to know the skinny about the physiological mechanism by which a person can die of water intoxication, Radagast has posted A Look at Osmosis and Water Balance, a nice primer on the distribution of water in the human body and how it can be affected by drinking too much water too quickly.
January 18, 2007
Geez, I might as well just put a paper bag over my head right now around my fellow ScienceBloggers. You've heard me lament before about the woeful ignorance about biology and evolution common among all too many doctors. (You haven't? Well check here, here, here, and here.) Heck, you've even heard…
January 17, 2007
The other day, I commented on the very sad death of a young woman named Jennifer Strange. In essence, Ms. Strange died after a radio contest to see who could drink the most water without urinating. The prize? A Wii. This was pretty clearly a case of water intoxication leading to hyponatremia, an…
January 17, 2007
Drat! Real life has once again interfered with my blogging. Fortunately, there's still a lot of what I consider to be good stuff in the archives of the old blog that has yet to be transferred to the new blog. Today looks like a perfect time to transfer at least a couple more articles from the old…
January 17, 2007
Drat! Real life has once again interfered with my blogging. Fortunately, there's still a lot of what I consider to be good stuff in the archives of the old blog that has yet to be transferred to the new blog. Today looks like a perfect time to transfer at least a couple more articles from the old…
January 17, 2007
Drat! Real life has once again interfered with my blogging. Fortunately, there's still a lot of what I consider to be good stuff in the archives of the old blog that has yet to be transferred to the new blog. Today looks like a perfect time to transfer at least a couple more articles from the old…
January 16, 2007
I don't see the point. Sorry, couldn't resist.
January 16, 2007
On our backchannel discussion forum, we ScienceBloggers have been discussing a rather interesting idea that we could use to provide extra value to our readers. The idea is to do short articles about basic concepts in science. It's an intriguing idea, and, while I could try my hand at posts about a…
January 16, 2007
Here's an interesting concept that's just been released for purchase, either as a digital download or as a bona fide book: The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs 2006. It's edited by fellow ScienceBlogger Bora Zikovic. Oh, and it happens to contain a couple of posts by yours truly.…
January 16, 2007
One of the consistent themes of this blog since the very beginning has been that alternative medicine treatments, before being accepted, should be subject to the same standards of evidence as "conventional" medical therapies. When advocates of evidence-based medicine (EBM) like myself say this, we…
January 16, 2007
A couple of days ago, I commented on the sad case of Jennifer Strange, the woman who entered a water drinking contest and died, apparently of water intoxication. While listening to the radio this morning as I got ready for work, I heard pundits discussing the case, and one of them stated that she…
January 15, 2007
The latest History Carnival has been posted at Investigations of a Dog. Lots of good stuff there.
January 15, 2007
My dear mother pointed out the other day that my Sitemeter is rapidly approaching the 1,000,000 visits mark. And so it is. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that I was getting close to the zone, but it crept up on me faster than I had expected. With your help, I should be there in week or so.…
January 15, 2007
Regular readers of this blog know that I have a particular dislike for Holocaust denial and that, indeed, I've tried to do my small part to counter the lies spread by Holocaust deniers, beginning on Usenet eight years ago. Regular readers will also know my opinion regarding laws in certain European…
January 14, 2007
After competing in a water-drinking contest to win a Wii for her children, a young mother died of water intoxication: SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the…
January 14, 2007
...or at least the Cybermen would be more entertaining: Now, if I could only see a Dalek episode redone this way. Imagine how the Daleks would sound. (Hat tip: Jody.) And while I'm doing the Sunday Doctor Who thing, who ya gonna call?