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

February 10, 2011
Let's face it. This week has just been one of those weeks, and it's not over yet. A little silly break is in order: There, I fell better now. Consider this a Thursday open thread. I haven't had an open thread in a while, and when things get busy enough it's a time-honored way of filling blog time…
February 9, 2011
It's been a crazy week that's reaching a crescendo today and tomorrow, so much so that, unlike yesterday, when I said I'd only be brief and ended up blathering on for close to 2,000 words (Mike Adams has that effect on me, particularly when he's at his most un-self-aware), today I really will be…
February 8, 2011
Things are pretty hairy this week, what with a couple of grant deadlines fast approaching, not to mention a rather important site visit at my institution later this week. As a result, I had been intending to post a "rerun" today, but then I saw something that just cracked me up so much that I…
February 7, 2011
If there's one thing that gets my blood boiling almost above all else when it comes to quackery, it's when parents subject children to it. The result has been copious blogging about cases, such as that of Daniel Hauser, Katie Wernecke, and Abraham Cherrix, all of whom refused chemotherapy for…
February 7, 2011
Occasionally, there are topics that my readers want -- nay, demand -- that I cover. The topic of this post, it turns out, is one of them. It's a link to a TED Talk. I'm guessing that most of our readers have either viewed (or at least heard of) TED talks. Typically, they are 20-minute talks,…
February 6, 2011
Lest I be left out of the fun, I can't help but point out that over the weekend the Amazing One himself, James Randi, issued a challenge to homeopathy manufacturers and retail pharmacies that sell homeopathy, in particular large national chains like Walgreens and CVS and large national chains that…
February 5, 2011
I never thought I'd be praising Bill Gates, being a Mac person and all and not being at all fond of Microsoft, but it's impossible for me not to in the wake of a recent interview Gates did with CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. As you probably know, since retiring from Microsoft,…
February 4, 2011
Yesterday, in the course of applying a heapin' helpin' of not-so-Respectful Insolence to a particularly brain dead exercise by the anti-vaccine movement, in which the International Medical Council on Vaccination (the most deceptively named anti-vaccine organization this side of the National Vaccine…
February 3, 2011
Now here's a new one: Did the EPA director just imply that there's a link between contaminated water and autism? Is there something I'm missing here? Is this clip taking her out of context? There is, of course, no credible scientific evidence linking autism to exposure to contaminated water.
February 2, 2011
Remember Medical Voices? It's a group that I first discovered a year and a half ago that represented itself as a group of physicians and medical professionals who wanted to produce the "most comprehensive educational center on the Internet for physicians seeking the truth about vaccines." Of course…
February 1, 2011
Yesterday, I concluded that Dr. Mehmet Oz's journey to the Dark Side was continuing apace. After all, he had pulled the classic "bait and switch" of "alternative" medicine by allowing a man who calls himself Yogi Cameron to use his television show to co-opt the perfectly science-based modalities of…
February 1, 2011
Paul Offit on the anti-vaccine movement: The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Paul Offit www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive Looks like a win to me. Colbert appears to get it. I like how he doesn't…
January 31, 2011
As I sat down to write this, I was torn. What topic to deconstruct? There appear to be so many! Certainly, the latest Huffington Post excretion by the ever-clueless (but amusing in his cluelessness, which results in posts of pure hilarity) Dana Ullman, entitled Luc Montagnier, Nobel Prize Winner,…
January 31, 2011
Breast implants have been the subject of controversy since they were first developed in the 1960s, with the controversy reaching a head in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when thousands of women with silicone implants reported a variety of ailments, including autoimmune disease and a variety of…
January 30, 2011
Of the two, The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, I tend to favor The Daily Show because there are times when I find Stephen Colbert's schtick tiresome. True, Colbert can at times rise to the level of being brilliant, but there are other times when he gets on my nerves. In contrast, Jon Stewart…
January 28, 2011
Sometimes a comment in the comment thread after one of my posts ends up turning into the inspiration for another post. This is especially likely to happen if I respond to that comment and end up writing a comment of myself that seems way too good to waste, forever buried in the comments where, as…
January 27, 2011
If there's a single TV show out there that has the widest reach when it abuses science-based medicine, there is no doubt that it's Oprah Winfrey's show. If there's a show that has the second-widest reach when it abuses science-based medicine, arguably it's Dr. Mehmet Oz's show. Whether it be his…
January 26, 2011
Beginning not long after this blog began, one recurring theme has been the infiltration of "quackademic medicine" into academic medical centers. Whether it be called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) or "integrative medicine" (IM), its infiltration into various academic medical centers…
January 25, 2011
I've on occasion been asked why I even bother responding to the brain--and I do use the term loosely--droppings of Mike Adams, the purveyor of one of the largest repositories of quackery on the entire Internet. Good question. Sometimes I wonder that myself. After all, Adams is so far out there, so…
January 23, 2011
Most of the woo I write about, fortunately, I don't have to deal with directly close to home. This is a good thing indeed, because it means that where I practice is blissfully free (for the most part) of pseudoscience. Unfortunately, earlier this year, I was in for an unpleasant surprise when I…
January 22, 2011
Often, my readers educated me. Sometimes, they even teach me a new word. So it was last night when, as I perused my comments, I came across this comment by Antaeus Feldspar: A "gnoron" is like a moron, except that where a moron is lacking in intelligence (something they cannot help, of course) a…
January 21, 2011
Over the last three weeks, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has been publishing a multipart expose by investigative journalist Brian Deer that enumerated in detail the specifics of how a British gastroenterologist turned hero of the anti-vaccine movement had committed scientific fraud by…
January 20, 2011
I was originally going to blog this yesterday, but Dr. Oz's offenses against science and medicine on his show that aired on Tuesday kind of pushed it out of the way. It's not that I didn't think the third part of Brian Deer's expose of Andrew Wakefield's fraud worthy of my attention. Rather, the Oz…
January 18, 2011
Stick a fork in Dr. Oz. He's done. I know I've been highly critical of Dr. Mehmet Oz, Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery at Columbia University and medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program (i.e., Columbia's quackademic medicine) program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Those are…
January 18, 2011
My faithful minions have pointed me in the direction of a poll that desperately needs crashing. Apparently, Andrew Wakefield posted a link on his Facebook page, and the forces of anti-science have already descended upon it. Here's the poll: We think the British Medical Journal's report debunks once…
January 18, 2011
Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here. I realize I say these things again and again and again, but they bear repeating because together they are a message that needs to be spread in as clear and unambiguous a form as possible. First, whenever you hear someone say, "I'm not…
January 17, 2011
Something amazing happened on Friday. Unfortunately, I didn't get to blog it as soon as I would have liked because (1) it happened on Canadian TV and the video wasn't available to anyone outside of Canada until it showed up on YouTube and (2) Craig Willougby's changing his mind about Andrew…
January 17, 2011
I take back all those nice things I said about Dr. Oz. Well, I never actually said that much nice about Dr. Oz, but I usually gave him at least a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, other than for his love or reiki. Then Dr. Oz had über quack Dr. Joe Mercola on his show (with Deepak Chopra,…
January 17, 2011
You know, sometimes I think that the United States, Australia, and the U.K. must be unique in their level of tolerance for pseudoscientific nonsense. Of course, that's probably mostly because that's the majority of the English-speaking world, and I speak English. I don't see and can't understand…
January 17, 2011
What does it take to get an advocate of pseudoscience to change his or her mind? Many are the times I've asked myself that question. Over the years, I've covered the gamut of techniques, going from what some might call "militant" or even insulting to being as reasoned and calm as can be--and…