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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

December 20, 2009
If there's one thing that irritates me about the anti-vaccine movement, it's the utter disingenuousness of the movement. How often do we hear the claim from anti-vaccine loons that "we're not 'anti-vaccine'; we're 'pro-safe vaccine'"? I've tried to pin such people down time and time again to answer…
December 20, 2009
Regular readers here know that I'm a long time Doctor Who fan. That's why it's with some sadness that I await the approach of the two-episode finale for David Tennant's tenure as the Tenth Doctor. Over his three full seasons and multiple specials in 2009, Tennant redefined the role and even began…
December 19, 2009
Not too long ago, I opined about how you can't cure stupid. It turns out that there is no herbal remedy for stupid either: You will see that this is true. In fact, given the quality of arguments advocates of "natural remedies" use to support their favored woo, I have to wonder if herbs actually…
December 18, 2009
Since I happen to have fallen into the topic of anthropogenic global warming, before I move back to medical topics I might as well have a little fun. Certainly, I could use some, given that I just wrote two posts in which I felt forced to criticize someone whom I admire greatly. Besides, it's been…
December 17, 2009
Yesterday, I wrote one of my typical Orac-ian length posts that was unusual. What was unusual about it was not its length. Rather, what was unusual about it was the target of its criticism, perhaps one of the last people in the world I would ever have expected to have to have taken issue with,…
December 17, 2009
It's that time yet again. The Skeptics' Circle has returned once again to provide a much needed dose of skepticism to the blogosphere. This time around, the 126th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is being hosted over at World of Weird Things. Next up will be Life, The Universe, and One Brow, where…
December 16, 2009
Remember how yesterday I said that sometimes writing this blog depresses me? At the time, I made that observation because there are times when the unending constant onslaught of pseudoscience, anti-science, and woo leads me to despair that the human race will ever overcome its cognitive defects.…
December 16, 2009
Last week, I marked the occasion of my fifth anniversary in the blogosphere. Yesterday, my blog bud Abel Pharmboy marked his fourth anniversary in the blogosphere. Anyone who makes it past a year, as far as I'm concerned, has passed the test of time and shown himself (or herself) to be in this…
December 15, 2009
There are times when I get really depressed writing this blog. It's not because I don't enjoy it, although like any long term hobby my blogging does occasionally feel like more of an obligation than a hobby. That's only part of the time, though. Most of the time I really do enjoy what I do. That…
December 15, 2009
It would appear that during my mini-hiatus (indeed, a homeopathic hiatus, so to speak) to celebrate having passed the fifth anniversary of the start of this blog and being irritated by some of my colleagues enough to risk getting myself in a little trouble, I actually missed something that normally…
December 14, 2009
When the USPSTF issued new guidelines for who should undergo screening mammography, at what ages, and how often, it set off a firestorm of negative reactions. Some of this is not surprising, given that the reevaluation of the evidence for screening mammography led the USPSTF to recommend against…
December 12, 2009
I've decided to chill this weekend after five years of insanity. However, while you anxiously await yet another hemidecade of Insolence, both Respectful and not-so-Respectful, what better way to do so than checking out the awesome Tim Minchin and his most excellent nine minute beat poem "Storm":…
December 11, 2009
Has it really been that long? It was a dismally overcast Saturday five years ago when, on a whim after having read a TIME Magazine article about how 2004 was supposedly the Year of the Blogger, I sat down in front of my computer, found Blogspot, and the first incarnation of Respectful Insolence…
December 10, 2009
Arguably, the genesis of the most recent iteration of the anti-vaccine movement dates back to 1998, when a remarkably incompetent researcher named Andrew Wakefield published a trial lawyer-funded "study" in the Lancet that purported to find a link between "autistic enterocolitis" and measles…
December 9, 2009
A while back I wrote about really rethinking how we screen for breast cancer using mammography. Basically, the USPSTF, an independent panel of physicians and health experts that makes nonbinding recommendations for the government on various health issues, reevaluated the evidence for routine…
December 8, 2009
My irony meter exploded in a near-nuclear conflagration, leaving nothing but a sputtering, molten puff of plasma when I was referred to this gem from Kim Stagliano over at Age of Autism directed at the enemy of all anti-vaccine pseudoscience, that Dark Lord of Vaccination (to anti-vaccine loons)…
December 7, 2009
Well, well, well, well. What is this I found forwarded to me in my in box? It's from the anti-vaccine group Generation Rescue, and it is most interesting: Generation Rescue is in the final stages of receiving grant funding for a vaccine research study on the long term effects of the current U.S.…
December 7, 2009
...the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, thus finally sucking the United States into the conflagration that had been raging for two years in Europe and even longer in Asia. Stories like this one from the AP remind us that the generation who fought and died to defeat Nazi-ism and Japan's imperialism…
December 7, 2009
The new UPSTF recommended guidelines for screening mammography of healthy women have opened up a can of worms whose consequences have not played out yet, indeed, likely will not play out for a long time. Coming in rapid succession after the announcement of the UPSTF guidelines was a study that…
December 5, 2009
My benevolent overlords at Seed Media Group yesterday announced (to me at least) a surprise new initiative. But, then, I'm always one of the last to find out about these things. In any case, it would appear that we're teaming up with National Geographic to share blog content and various other…
December 5, 2009
Bloggers love it when other bloggers cite them to support their arguments. I'm no different, as even a blinking Plexiglass box of lights likes to have its arguments appreciated. I particularly love it when a skeptical blogger uses some small thing I've written to refute particularly egregious…
December 4, 2009
The 125th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Effort Sisyphus. This time around, you have a choice, either the predigested and linear or the more difficult but potentially more satisfying trip down the rabbit hole, never knowing what might pop up. Choose wisely. Next up to host the…
December 3, 2009
Remember the truly despicable and disgusting post by Age of Autism, in which its enemies were portrayed in a crudely Photoshopped picture as preparing to eat a dead baby for their Thanksgiving feast? It was an image that I likened to the blood libel against the Jews, as did Rene at EpiRen in a much…
December 3, 2009
I'm beginning to understand why evolutionary biologists are so sensitive about how creationists abuse and twist any research that they think can be used to cast doubt upon evolution. Whenever there is research that changes the way we look at evolution or suggest aspects of it that we didn't…
December 2, 2009
Alright, I'm officially tired of the latest Age of Autism outrage. So, while I wait for J.B. Handley to strike back (or not), let's move on to lighter subjects for a moment. And what better to cleanse the palate of the vision of cannibals eating babies as a metaphor for those who standup for…
December 1, 2009
He's baaaack. Deepak Chopra. Remember him? It's been a while since I've said much about him and him alone. True, I've gone after him this year when he joined up with three other major league woo-meisters Dean Ornish, Rustum Roy, and Andrew Weil to try to try to help Senator Tom Harkin hijack the…
December 1, 2009
I debated whether or not to blog about this. The reason is that I suspect that gathering a lot of attention and controversy is exactly what Generation Rescue wanted when it posted what I'm about to blog about. On the other hand, no matter how low my opinion is of the principals who run Generation…
November 30, 2009
Well, now. With the long four day weekend that many of us here in the U.S. have enjoyed finally over, it's time to get back to serious business. Serious, but fun. I'm referring to the upcoming 125th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, which will be held at Effort Sisyphus on Thursday, December 3. That…
November 30, 2009
I've been writing about the attempts of proponents of various pseudoscience, quackery, and faith-based religious "healing" modalities to slip provisions friendly to their interests into the health care reform bill that will be debated in the Senate beginning today. If you want to know what's at…
November 30, 2009
A couple of years ago, fellow ScienceBlogger Mark Hoofnagle over at Denialism Blog coined a most excellent term to describe all manners of pseuodscience, quackery, and crankery. The term, "crank magnetism," describes the tendency of cranks not to mind it when they see crankery in others. More…