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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

February 23, 2006
While I'm busy plugging blogs I like, I thought I'd mention that A Photon in the Darkness is another one of my favorite skeptical blogs. Lately, in all the turmoil over my move to ScienceBlogs, I failed to mention two good pieces that Prometheus has posted in the last few days: Why anecdotes aren't…
February 23, 2006
Good news! One of my favorite skeptical bloggers, Matt at Pooflingers Anonymous, has ended his blogging hiatus. I was sad to see him announce in early January that he was leaving the blogosphere , and I'm happy to see that he's back in business. It turns out that the constant intense exposure to…
February 23, 2006
Treating autism with chemical castration I thought I'd seen it all. Ever since I found myself critically examining the claim that autism and autistic spectrum disorders are caused by mercury found in the preservative(thimerosal) used until recently in childhood vaccines, I thought that I'd heard…
February 22, 2006
What is it about the Avian flu that seems to inspire all sorts of wild craziness? Yes, the avian flu has the potential to be a big problem in humans (but is not one yet--so far its main lethal affect has been in birds). Yes, if it ever acquired the ability to be transmitted from person to person,…
February 22, 2006
Austrian prosecutors think Irving's jail term is too short: Austrian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to the British historian David Irving, arguing that he escaped too lightly for the crime of Holocaust denial. Irving was left stunned and open-mouthed…
February 21, 2006
Now that my technical problems have resolved, it's time to do what I do every week and plug the latest edition of Grand Rounds. It's a blog carnival that's like Grand Rounds for medical blogging (hence the name), and it collects the best of the medical blogosphere from the last week. I'm a regular…
February 21, 2006
Although the most serious blog problems (such as my not being able to post) appear to be resolved, that doesn't mean that everything is peaches and cream here at ScienceBlogs. Apparently the servers have been getting slammed by spammers attempting to deluge us with comment spam. Consequently, we…
February 21, 2006
His Noodliness walks (or flies) among us, and here's the evidence. Hey, it's better than any "evidence" that I've seen supporting the existence of UFO's or ghosts.
February 21, 2006
Previous technical problems that prevented my posts and your comments from showing up on this blog have now been resolved. Orac is back online. Everything appears to be working as it should, and you should be able to comment again. If you haven't contributed your own You might be an altie if...…
February 21, 2006
For a humorous take on the David Irving verdict, go here. The Photoshopped picture and caption are priceless.
February 20, 2006
Well, that was fast. The trial took less than a day. David Irving, as expected, pleaded guilty. As expected, he was found guilty of Holocaust denial. What was not expected was the severity of the sentence: VIENNA, Feb. 20 (AP) — The British historian David Irving on Monday pleaded guilty to denying…
February 19, 2006
Well, today's the day. After all the waiting, it's finally here. David Irving is going to stand trial for Holocaust denial in Austria today. Those of you who have read my old blog a while know what a despicable human being I consider David Irving to be. He's clearly an anti-Semite, most famously…
February 18, 2006
And here's the last (and one of my favorite) categories of my blast from the past, some times over the last 14 months when Orac decided to take the "respectful" out of Respectful Insolence: A response to the "Herbinator" "Intelligent design" apologia: Pot. Kettle. Black. I tried not to discuss "…
February 18, 2006
I can understand wanting transparency regarding the gifts that pharmaceutical reps give doctors, particularly those of the more expensive variety, but this is ridiculous: At least nine states are considering bills that would require drugmakers to publicly report how much they and their sales…
February 18, 2006
This will be my last post on this subject, but I thought it might be of interest to show that Andreas faced his impending death due to lung cancer with dignity and class. Indeed, one could say that he faced it much the same way G'Kar would have, if he existed. A couple of days ago, J. Michael…
February 18, 2006
A bit of a reconfiguration and "clarification" of the ethics rules and rules regarding accepting honoraria for faculty at my institution makes me particularly appreciate this piece in--where else?--The Onion: Senate Ethics Committee To Meet In New Ethics Committee Mansion WASHINGTON, DC--In the…
February 18, 2006
Continuing my series of posts designed to categorize and archive essential insolence from the old blog, I now continue with some miscellaneous tidbits: The EneMan files (Dedicated to the very strange character who is this weblog's de facto mascot) Orac's encounter with Derek Jeter I never realized…
February 17, 2006
About a year ago, I introduced the blogosphere to a term that had become common on certain Usenet newsgroups. I can't take credit for coining the term, but I think I can take some degree of credit for disseminating it to a wider audience. That term is "altie," and has a meaning similar to the term…
February 16, 2006
Since the death of Andreas Katsulas, I've been thinking just how many great lines he had as G'Kar in the series and how well he delivered them. Here, culled from the web, is but a sampling of some of them. Some are very serious; some are humorous, but all are quintessential G'Kar. I can't think of…
February 16, 2006
In a continuing series of posts, for the benefit of new readers (and a trip down memory lane for old readers), I now present:Orac knows World War II and Holocaust history:60 years ago today: The evacuation of Auschwitz and start of the death march The 60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz…
February 16, 2006
The Twenty-eight Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has come to order at Unused and Probably Unusable, and Eh Nonymous has done a great job at gathering the best examples of skeptical blogging from the last two weeks into, of all things, a courtroom scene: WHEREFORE the 28th Meeting of the Skeptics'…
February 16, 2006
I've always had an interest in archaeology. Indeed, one of the elective courses that I most enjoyed in college was a prehistoric archaeology course. All of this shows why the following interests me. Through a scientific analysis of ancient cave art, it's been found that human nature hasn't changed…
February 15, 2006
Alright, everyone, who's responsible? Someone out there must have done it. Someone out there must have nominated me for a Koufax Award for Best Overall Writing by a Lefty Blogger? (True, it's my old blog that's listed, but I am listed!) Come on. 'Fess up. It's not that I'm not honored that someone…
February 15, 2006
In a continuing series of posts, for the benefit of new readers (and a trip down memory lane for old readers), I now present: Wearing two hats (and part 2) What is a surgical oncologist? The deadly power of denial: Personal observations Also see Part 2: It's not always denial; Part 3: Fear; and…
February 15, 2006
As someone who lived in Cleveland for 8 years and whose wife grew up in Toledo, it does my heart good to see that the Ohio Board of Education finally got something right. They voted to strike language in their state science standards singling out evolution for a "critical evaluation: COLUMBUS, Ohio…
February 15, 2006
Sad news on the Babylon 5 front. Andreas Katsulas died on February 13 of lung cancer at the age of 59. Besides playing the One-Armed Man in the movie The Fugitive and making frequent appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Katsulas was best known for playing the Narn Ambassador G'Kar on…
February 15, 2006
As anyone who read my old blog knows, I have some very strong views on free speech, viewing it as the single most important basis of a free society. It is therefore not surprising that I recently commented on the Danish cartoon imbroglio, in which fundamentalist Muslims, outrage stoked by their…
February 15, 2006
How annoying. I had the perfect dubious medical test that I had wanted to write about from a skeptical viewpoint. It was a test that looked at many different blood tests and biomarkers and claimed to be far more sensitive at detecting cancer and a wide variety of diseases. It was obvious to me that…
February 15, 2006
Nope, Respectful Insolence is still not integrated into the main ScienceBlogs page or into its aggregated feed. Patience, Orac-philes. It probably won't be until next week now; so please keep this blog bookmarked, or, if you use an RSS feed aggegator, don't rely on the aggregated ScienceBlogs feed…
February 14, 2006
Besides running my own blog, I also happen to have the distinct honor of being responsible for organizing the Skeptics' Circle. One of the great things about the blogosphere is that anyone can have a blog, either for free through a service like Blogspot or at a nominal cost. This greatest aspect of…