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

April 18, 2010
After having a great time at NECSS participating in a panel about science-based medicine (although I hate to have to say that I was disappointed that the science-based medicine panel was cut short to get the conference back on schedule, which meant that we didn't get to answer nearly as many…
April 16, 2010
World Homeopathy Awareness Week ends today. In celebration, I can't resist one more swipe. So check out The (pseudo)Science of Homeopathy.
April 16, 2010
I'm almost beginning to feel sorry for Andrew Wakefield. Well, not really. He did bring all the misery that's poured down upon him like an unending waterfall of woe, such as the British General Medical Council (GMC) finding him guilty of research misconduct and soon very likely to recommend that he…
April 15, 2010
World Homeopathy Awareness Week is fast coming to an end, unfortunately. And what would any sort of "homeopathy awareness" be without a commentary from James Randi? I share with Randi his desire that people be aware of the true nature of homeopathy on this, the last day of World Homeopathy…
April 15, 2010
Today is a great day. Today, British science writer Simon Singh accomplished something I would never have believed possible, given British libel laws and a very bad ruling by Sir David Eady, the presiding judge, a ruling characterized as astonishingly illiberal. Despite the long odds, Singh…
April 15, 2010
Although this blog is not the Denialism Blog, there is no doubt that one of the overarching themes of Respectful Insolence has been, since its very beginning, combatting science denial. Go back to the very beginning and read a couple of my earliest posts, dating way back to 2004. In one of them I…
April 14, 2010
Michael Specter, author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives, on the danger of science denial: He also wrote an editorial to go along with it. Given that combatting science denialism, be it the anti-vaccine movement, the "alt-…
April 14, 2010
With all the anti-vaccine nonsense going on and my feeling the obligation to fire a broadside at "America's doctor," there was a tasty bit of woo that totally escaped my attention from an old "friend" of the blog. Actually, he's an old "friend" of many skeptical blogs, both here on ScienceBlogs and…
April 13, 2010
Believe it or not, there was once a time when Dr. Mehmet Oz didn't bother me that much. At least, for all his flirting with woo, I never quite thought that he had completely gone over to the Dark Side. Although I probably knew deep down that I was fooling myself. Maybe it was because Dr. Oz is a…
April 12, 2010
Six days ago, celebrity spokescouple for the anti-vaccine movement, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey, announced their breakup over Twitter. Some of us who have been following the antics of "Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's Autism Organization - Generation Rescue" have wondered what this would mean for…
April 11, 2010
It has now been nearly two months since Andrew Wakefield was forced to resign from Thoughtful House in the wake of his being found guilty of research misconduct by the British General Medical Council (GMC), the withdrawal of Wakefield's infamous 1998 Lancet paper, and the withdrawal of Wakefield's…
April 10, 2010
As I pointed out yesterday, World Homeopathy Awareness Week began yesterday. One common question that's asked about homeopathy goes something like this: If homeopathy is just water, then what's the harm? Here's the harm: Part 1 Part 2 Homeopathy is magical thinking, far more religious or…
April 10, 2010
Today, April 10, is the first day of World Homeopathy Awareness Week (WHAW), or, as I like to call it, World Sympathetic Magic Awareness Week. Now, given my dim view of homeopathy, in which I view it as nothing more than, well, sympathetic magic, you'd think I wouldn't want people to pay attention…
April 9, 2010
Is chiropractic woo? I'm often asked that question, and my answer has usually been something along the lines of, "It depends on what it is used for." Of course, there's no doubt that the "theory" behind chiropractic, namely that so-called "subluxations" of the spine are the source of nearly all…
April 8, 2010
A fortnight ain't what it used to be. Or at least so it seems. After all, another Skeptics' Circle has appeared yet again, as if by homeopathic magic, to grace the blogosophere with another ode to skepticism and critical thinking. This time around, the 134th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has…
April 8, 2010
Eat your fruits and vegetables. Hasn't that been a constant refrain over the years from public health authorities? Certainly, I have. The benefits of eating fruits and vegetables have been widely touted, and seemingly with good reason. A diet high in fruits and vegetables, it is said, reduces the…
April 7, 2010
One advantage of blogging is that I can sometimes tap into the knowledge of my readers to help me out. Some of you may recall a little something I created a couple of years ago known as the Academic Woo Aggregator. Basically, it was a list of medical schools and academic medical centers in the U.S…
April 7, 2010
Beware, North Carolina. Beware. Your law has become quack-friendly to the point where doctors can do almost anything. Why, you may reasonably wonder, am I saying this? The answer is what appears to be the end of a long and painful story of cancer quackery and anti-vaccine celebrity that has tainted…
April 6, 2010
Since a whole bunch of you have been sending me this and posting it in my comments, I don't see how I can avoid mentioning it. Apparently it's being reported on The Superficial, Celebitchy, and People.com that Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy have broken up. I must admit that it's hard not to feel a…
April 6, 2010
Will it blend? Personally, I doubt I'll be getting in iPad. I have an iPhone, after all, and I don't see where I would use something like the iPad rather than my laptop. Most of the stuff I need to do with a computer that I can't do on my iPhone requires Microsoft Office and various graphics…
April 6, 2010
He's baa-aack. You knew he couldn't stay gone for long, I'm sure. He's just like the zombie who rises again just as the hero turns his back, thinking the zombie dead, or the blond terrorist in Die Hard who appeared to have met his end hanging from a chain only to appear later in the movie, just…
April 5, 2010
About four months ago, the skeptical blogosphere was abuzz about a tragic story. The story was that of a Belgian man named Rom Houben, who had been unfortunate enough to have been in a motor vehicle collision and suffered serious brain injury. That brain injury left him in a comatose state, which…
April 4, 2010
Remember John Benneth? He's a homeopath who runs a website called The Science of Homeopathy and produced a woo-tastic video claiming to show us how homeopathy works. Steve Novella also took on his video. For his trouble, he was rewarded with one of the most hilariously off-base attacks I've ever…
April 4, 2010
Somehow, this picture seemed especially appropriate on Easter: Now watch for J.B. Handley, some other anti-vaccine zealot, or a quack to quotemine the title of this post. You know it's coming... In the meantime, it'll be back to the usual topics (and maybe one topic not so usual) next week. Happy…
April 2, 2010
Every so often someone shows me something that so amuses me that I either must have one or must blog about it. This time around, it was my wife. Last weekend, we were reading the newspapers. On the weekend, we happen to get the New York Times as well as our local newspaper. There, ensconsed in the…
April 1, 2010
I was wrong. I know it doesn't happen that often, but I'm forced to admit it. I was wrong. I predicted that Simon Singh would likely lose his appeal against an astonishing illiberal ruling on his libel case by Sir David Eady. Singh, as you may recall, is the British science writer who wrote a now…
April 1, 2010
When it comes to detesting woo such as psychics like Sylvia Browne, I take a back seat to no one. But even I think beheading is a bit severe for such nonsense. Apparently, though, the religious loons who run Saudi Arabia disagree: Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to…
April 1, 2010
One of the most persistent and prevalent examples of a modern myth that will not die is the story of Area 51. So ingrained in our culture has it become that nearly everyone (at least in the U.S.) knows what you are talking about when you refer to it. It's been featured in movies as diverse as…
March 31, 2010
...is simple. Not only was he the original Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek (which if full of WIN to any long time Star Trek geek like myself), but he taped this PSA for the 2010 census: This is so much better than that commercial for Sharp Electronics Quattron quad pixel technology that's been on TV…
March 31, 2010
Last month, in response to some truly despicable activities by animal rights zealots, I wrote a series of posts about how animal rights activists target even researchers' children and appear to fetishize violence. This simply continued a string of posts that I've done over the years, the longest (…