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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

March 30, 2010
The sign speaks for itself:
March 30, 2010
I hate to write about that woo-meister supreme Mike Adams more than one time in a week. For one thing, his website, NaturalNews.com, is a font of pseudoscience and quackery rivaling the infamous Whale.to, which makes it powerfully seductive to go back to that well again and again for blogging…
March 29, 2010
If there's one thing about the anti-vaccine movement I've learned over the last five or so years, it's that it's virtually completely immune to evidence, science, and reason. No matter how much evidence is arrayed against it, it always finds a way to spin, distort, or misrepresent it to combat the…
March 27, 2010
As far as silly Internet memes go, given my interest in World War II history, I have a weakness for Downfall parodies, which have grown up on YouTube like kudzu over the last couple of years. I also thought it was only a matter of time before someone did something like this and wondered why it hadn…
March 27, 2010
Perhaps you've seen them. (Actually, how could you avoid them?) I'm talking about those annoying Omnaris commercials with the crappy computer animation in which a bunch of military-looking men in helmets ram an Omnaris sprayer into the woman's nose to fix her nasal allergies: Something's always…
March 26, 2010
I have an MD and a PhD. While many people find that to be impressive, personally I've become so inured of it that I certainly don't take note of it much anymore. Certainly, I rarely point it out. So, you may ask, why am I pointing it out this time, even going so far as to start a post with it? The…
March 25, 2010
Here's one we've been waiting for. It's that time again, time for another meeting of The Skeptics' Circle. This time around, the host is everyone's favorite purveyor of rhyming skepticism, Digital Cuttlefish, hosting the 133rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. Go, read, enjoy. Next up to host on…
March 25, 2010
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm not really a political blogger. True, I do from time to time succumb to the blogger's temptation of being a pundit on current events or pontificating on politics, but in general I don't do that very often because political bloggers are a dime a dozen…
March 24, 2010
I have a new favorite word. Yesterday, in the comments after my post on cranks attacking the concept of a scientific consensus, a reader named Craig wrote: We don't talk about consensus on these issues today merely because the consensus is so strong that only a dedicated guanophrenic would ever…
March 24, 2010
It has often been written on this blog and elsewhere that the mark of a true crank is hatred of the scientific consensus, be it consensus regarding the theory of evolution, the science that says homeopathy is impossible, anthropogenic global warming; various areas of science-based medicine; or the…
March 23, 2010
Every so often, real life intrudes on blogging. This is one of those times. So enjoy this bit of Classic Insolence from back in April 2007 and be assured that I'll be back tomorrow. Remember, if you've been reading less than three years, it's new to you, and, even if you have been reading more than…
March 22, 2010
Every so often, real life intrudes on blogging, preventing the creation of fresh Insolence, at least Insolence of the quality that you've come to expect. This is one of those times. So enjoy this bit of Classic Insolence from back in November 2007 and be assured that I'll be back tomorrow. Remember…
March 22, 2010
Here we go again. Every so often, it seems, the media has to recycle certain scare stories based on little or no science. Be it vaccines and whether they cause autism or not (the don't) or various environmental exposures supposedly linked to various cancers or other diseases in which the science is…
March 21, 2010
With all the problems Toyota's had lately, I have to wonder if some day when I get behind the wheel of my car I might have a ride like this. Yeah, it's not original, but it amused me nonetheless, and I'm too tired to write anything substantive this weekend. But Monday's coming just as fast as any…
March 19, 2010
I'm envious of Steve Novella. No, the reason isn't his vastly greater influence in the skeptical community than mine, his podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, or the fact that he gets called a lot more for commentary when something involving quackery versus science-based medicine comes up.…
March 19, 2010
Remember how I had a little fun with Katie Wright's overheated rhetoric about Kathleen Sebelius' request to the press that they not give equal weight to anti-vaccine cranks when they report about issues of vaccines? Her exact words, if you will recall, were: There are groups out there that insist…
March 18, 2010
It's been a while since I wrote about this topic, but I fear for the future of medicine. Regular readers know what I'm talking about. The infiltration of various unscientific, pseudoscientific, and even anti-scientific "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) modalities into academic medicine…
March 17, 2010
Given the resurgence of the mercury militia over the last week or so in response to the Poul Thorsen case, I was amused to have found what looks to me to be the cure for autism. The cure? Well, if you're a member of the mercury militia and believe that thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism,…
March 17, 2010
Kent Heckenlively shows us why AoA is "not anti-vaccine": Bruesewitz v. Wyeth has the potential to move all that in a new direction. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act simply states, "No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable . . . if the injury or death resulted from side-effect that were…
March 17, 2010
It's rare that I encounter a bit of nonsense that allows me to deploy two of my favorite rhetorical devices. First, it lets me pull out one of my favorite clips from one of my favorite movies, in which the immortal line, "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" was first uttered. Second, it lets me…
March 16, 2010
Apparently someone at a British hospital thought that this was a good idea. I beg to differ. Words fail me. It's rare, I know, but occasionally it does happen.
March 16, 2010
I realize that I've said many times before that there is no such thing as "alternative" medicine. There is medicine that has been shown to work through science, medicine that has not yet been shown to work, and medicine that has been shown not to work. "Alternative" medicine that is shown to work…
March 15, 2010
While I'm crashing idiotic Internet polls, I might as well see if I can send some tactical air support over to Steve Salzberg, who wrote an excellent blog post about the Autism Omnibus ruling that I just wrote about earlier today. Steve's blog post is entitled Vaccine Court Ruling: Thimerosal Does…
March 15, 2010
Perhaps you've heard of the case of Poul Thorsen. Perhaps not. Either way, that anti-vaccine movement was making a huge deal over this Danish psychiatrist and researcher for two reasons. First, he has become embroiled in some sort of scandal involving research funds at his former place of…
March 14, 2010
Of course, the best way to decide such questions is to vote, right? I know, I know, I've complained about poll-crashing before, but, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
March 14, 2010
...about the internecine warfare that breaks out from time to time around ScienceBlogs. At times we do appear to be a lot like professional wrestling. Can you find Orac in there?
March 13, 2010
My apologies to Romeo Vitelli, but somehow two weeks ago it totally slipped my mind to announce his 131st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, which is a fine addition to the Skeptics' Circle canon. Read. Enjoy.
March 12, 2010
My first big splash in the blogosphere will have occurred five years ago in June, when I first discovered the utter wingnuttery that is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. It was then that I wrote a little bit of that not-so-Respectful Insolence that you've come to know and love entitled Salon.com flushes its…
March 11, 2010
These days, I'm having a love-hate relationship with Elsevier. On the one hand, there are lots of reasons to hate Elsevier. For example, Elsevier took payments from Merck, Sharp & Dohme in order to publish in essence a fake journal designed to promote its products, and then got caught doing it…
March 10, 2010
Well, that didn't take long. Remember when the grande dame of the anti-vaccine movement, Barbara Loe Fisher, decided that she would try to harass, intimidate, and silence Paul Offit through the filing of a frivolous libel suit against Dr. Offit, Amy Wallace (the journalist who interviewed Offit for…