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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

August 20, 2006
See it in action here. Looks like nothing's changed.
August 19, 2006
I don't know if I'd ever try this one:
August 19, 2006
And, worse, this is from my home state as well: LANSING - A Rochester Hills chiropractor defended the techniques of a Fenton chiropractor accused of performing unorthodox breast treatments. The teen girls treated by Robert J. Moore have spinal curvatures that may have caused their bodies to tilt…
August 18, 2006
Given how much I've written about the Abraham Cherrix case, I would be remiss in not pointing out some posts by fellow ScienceBloggers: 1. First, Abel Pharmboy discusses how this might all come down to a failure of communication between Cherrix's doctors and Cherrix and his parents. While this is…
August 18, 2006
Glutton for punishment that I am, all in the name of skepticism, critical thinking, and evidence-based medicine, I am sometimes wont to surf through the stranger parts of the Internet in search of truly amazing material for Your Friday Dose of Woo. Sometimes, I hit the jackpot, as I did a few weeks…
August 17, 2006
I wondered what took him so long (maybe diving into heated debates is not his style), but fellow ScienceBlogger The Cheerful Oncologist has weighed on on the Cherrix case, in which a 16-year-old has refused chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's disease. And he would know better than I what the treatment…
August 17, 2006
Yes, it's that time again, time for the biweekly carnival dedicated to highlighting actual critical thinking and skepticism directed against the general credulity that we usually find in the blogosphere: The Skeptics' Circle. This time around, our host is Interverbal, who is hosting Awards Night at…
August 17, 2006
You know, as a native Detroiter and Tigers fan, I'm not sure whether to be pleased or appalled by this picture of one of my more--shall we say?--"illustrious" fellow Detroiters getting married. The least he could do would be to wear the jersey along with the hat, don't you think?
August 16, 2006
Sadly, Starchild Abraham Cherrix is almost certainly doomed: ACCOMAC, Virginia (AP) -- A 16-year-old cancer patient's legal fight ended in victory Wednesday when his family's attorneys and social services officials reached an agreement that would allow him to forgo chemotherapy. At the start of…
August 16, 2006
I bet that this probably isn't applicable to too many women: One Israeli woman has received an unexpected boost from her breast implants during the Lebanon war -- the silicone embeds saved her life during a Hezbollah rocket attack, a doctor said. "This is an extraordinary case, but it's a fact that…
August 16, 2006
The latest edition of the History Carnival, a blog carnival of writing about--what else?--history has been posted at Mode for Caleb. Enjoy. While I'm hawking carnivals, I won't forget hawk my own. Be sure to join Interverbal tomorrow for the Skeptics Circle.
August 16, 2006
Yesterday, on the way home, I was flipping through the AM dial. Yes, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, even now I still occasionally have a soft spot for conservative talk radio. At the risk of being shunned by my fellow ScienceBloggers (most of whom are--shall we say?--a bit to the left) and…
August 15, 2006
Mentioned in the comments on this post was this story: MIAMI (Reuters) - The man who made the Statue of Liberty appear to vanish may soon claim to do the same for unsightly bags and wrinkles. Master illusionist David Copperfield says he has found the "Fountain of Youth" in the southern Bahamas,…
August 15, 2006
Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 46 has been posted at Hospital Impact, this time in the form of a letter to a new son.
August 15, 2006
Damn you PZ! (Heh, I haven't gotten to say that since he shamed my profession by showing us an example of a certifiably loony young earth creationist physician running for Lt. Governor of South Carolina.) This time around, I'm annoyed at PZ for pointing me in the direction of an article so absurd…
August 14, 2006
Skeptics! (And those who value critical thinking and science.) Don't forget, the next edition of the Skeptics' Circle is scheduled to be posted this Thursday, August 17 at Interverbal. If you're a blogger interested in critical thinking and rationality and have written a post that would do The…
August 14, 2006
Here's a feature I've been meaning to start almost since I started this blog, a series along the line of Dr. Bard Parker's Tales of the Trauma Service. Oddly enough, it only took me over a year and a half to get around to writing the first entry, for reasons that, quite frankly, I don't know. It…
August 13, 2006
Pediatric Grand Rounds vol. 1, no. 9 has been posted at Unintelligent Design. This time it's in the form of a test. Do you think you're ready for...the Pediatric Grand Rounds Review and Education Program (PGRREP)?
August 13, 2006
Four words: Star Trek inspirational posters. These are just freakin' hilarious, especially if you love the old series as much as I do. An example: Via Bad Astronomy Blog.
August 13, 2006
From an actual personal ad: Gorgeous blonde model, tired of being patronized. Looking for sincere, understanding man. Must be willing to listen to stories of alien abduction. (Source: The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Calendar 2004) Would anyone out there answer this ad?
August 13, 2006
Bora beat me to this one (which is what I get for not posting about it yesterday morning when I first saw the story), but some holy water is coming out of a tree in San Antonio, and why has not yet been solved: SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 12) - Is it an artesian spring, a broken water pipe or an abandoned…
August 12, 2006
After my experience with using (or, as at least one of my readers has suggested, misusing) my blog to get an article to which my university does not provide online access, it occurred to me just how much our means of accessing the scientific literature has changed in the last decade and just how…
August 12, 2006
Thanks to those who sent me a copy of the article I requested. Sadly, the library at my university has some rather large holes in its online collection. Even some fairly common journals are not represented. I'll have to read it this weekend. You'll all get personal e-mails from me later today,…
August 11, 2006
Here's a humble request of my readers. I'm looking for an article in a journal to which my university library does not offer online access. I'm interested in reading it, but not so interested that I'm wililng to pay the $40 to download it. If necessary, I can get it via interlibrary loan, but they'…
August 11, 2006
I haven't done this in a while; so now seems as good a time as any. I fired up iTunes and let 'er rip on "Shuffle Play," and this is what came up: Woody Guthrie, Talking Dust Bowl Blues (from: Dust Bowl Ballads) David Bowie, Lady Stardust (from: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders…
August 11, 2006
It's time for a change of pace on Your Friday Dose of Woo. I'm getting the feeling that you my readers may have gotten tired of the theme I've been doing the last three weeks. I can relate somewhat but I think it served a purpose (other than giving me free rein to indulge in a lot of bathroom humor…
August 10, 2006
The latest Change of Shift, the blog carnival for nursing, has been posted at It's a nursing thing.
August 10, 2006
Deep within Yankee Stadium, a timeless evil had arrived (well, an evil around 61 years old, anyway--well, 117 years old if you count its entire existence) shambling through the dark service corridors and halls, on a never-ending quest to satisfy its unquenchable hunger. Why it had come to this…
August 9, 2006
I got this in my e-mail the other day that may be of interest to folks interested in countering the pseudoscience of "intelligent design" creationism: I would like to announce the birth of CommentsOnID, a Pile-blog and ask for support. A Pile-blog is a blog intended to offer unmoderated comments…
August 9, 2006
I got this request the other day and finally decided to take the survey that it asked me to. It was relatively painless and it might gather useful information (although obviously it's not a scientific survey); so I thought I'd help publicize it. If you're a health care/ medical blogger, this survey…