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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

September 14, 2009
I just learned that earlier today Patrick Swayze finally died of his pancreatic cancer after having survived far longer (20 months) than the average patient diagnosed with stage IV disease (less than 6 months). All I can say is: Rest in peace, Patrick. Not only did Swayze deal with his terminal…
September 14, 2009
The silence is deafening. Yes, I know it's a cliche, but it's really true this time. Last month, a major study whose results had been anticipated by the alt-med community, as well as those of us who consider it to be highly unethical pseudoscience, were reported. However, they were reported without…
September 13, 2009
We all know that Mike Adams, a.k.a. the "Health Ranger," is anti-vaccine to the core. He's known for NaturalNews.com, a repository of quackery, anti-vaccine craziness, and conspiracy theories that rivals Whale.to but in a much slicker fashion. Now, unfortunately, I learn that he's going multimedia…
September 12, 2009
Three weeks ago or so, I expressed dismay at what I perceived as an autism quackfest being held at the University of Toronto. Worse, that quackfest had been partially funded by a grant from a very prestigious children's charity, The SickKids Foundation, which in response to complaints about its…
September 11, 2009
Once again we come to another September 11. It's hard to believe that it's been eight years since that horrible day. On this day, traditionally, I do two things. First, I post the following video. This video was shot by Bob and Bri, who in 2001 lived in a high rise a mere 500 yards from the…
September 10, 2009
It's that time again, time for another meeting of that--choke!--"venerable" blog carnival known as the Skeptic's Circle. Sorry, it just bugs me that the Circle I took over four years ago is now counted as "venerable." Oh, well. In any case, this time around, it's at Cubik's Rube (great name for a…
September 10, 2009
...Hitler is most displeased with President Obama and what he did earlier this week:
September 10, 2009
Dr. Robert Sears (a.k.a. "Dr. Bob), author of The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child, is definitely antivaccine. His mouth may say, "No, I'm not antivaccine," but his actions say, "Yes, yes, yes!" There, I finally said it. I've been flirting with saying it that bluntly for some…
September 9, 2009
I can't help but have noticed that one of our own, GrrlScientist, is in the running to be selected as the blogger to go on a trip to Antarctica and blog from there with the Quark Expedition in February. As of my checking, Grrl is in third place. I have no doubt that She'd do a hell of a job, given…
September 9, 2009
What can one say about a woman who wrote books with titles such as The Cure For All Cancers, The Cure For All Advanced Cancers, The Cure for HIV and AIDS, The Cure For All Diseases, and, most recently, The Cure and Prevention of All Cancers (with bonus DVD)? A woman who stated that a liver fluke is…
September 8, 2009
I don't have much to add to this one, as it's a tragic tale. Shadowfax, a blogging ER doc, relates to us what happens when cancer patients rely on quackery like the Gerson protocol instead of scientific medicine: This was a young woman, barely out of her teens, who presented with a tumor in her…
September 8, 2009
Dr. Mark Hyman is famous as the "founder" of a form of woo known as "functional medicine." This new form of woo is...well, I'm not sure what it is, and neither are Wally Sampson (1, 2, 3, 4). Suffice it to say that it appears to be a serious grab bag of various forms of woo that, according to Dr.…
September 7, 2009
Remember Daniel Hauser? He's the the 13-year-old boy with Hodgkin's lymphoma who underwent one course of chemotherapy and then decided he wanted to pursue "alternative therapy" based on fear of chemotherapy and because of the influence of the faux Native American religion that his mother had taken…
September 7, 2009
If there's been a theme running through this blog, it's been the importance of science and critical thinking. The main focus of this emphasis on skepticism, of course, has been medicine, which makes sense, given that I'm a doctor and a cancer researcher, but I don't limit myself to just medicine.…
September 6, 2009
Here in the U.S., it's smack dab in the middle of a three day holiday weekend. Given that, I'm chilling for a while. There's some new material tomorrow, but today I have to head out for a celebration of my father-in-law's 70th birthday and, between that , to work on a talk I have to give on Friday…
September 5, 2009
Praying to the porcelain god was never a more appropriate term: Cue toilet and bathroom jokes...with Jesus!
September 4, 2009
Now here's one thing we skeptics could use more of: Imagine you're moving to a new city, and you want to see what skeptic-themed events or groups are available. Wouldn't it be awesome if there was one central place you could go, plug in the destination, and get a list of skeptical stuff to do? Or,…
September 4, 2009
So-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) or, as it's now as frequently called, "integrative medicine" (IM) represents a hodge-podge of remedies that are mostly based on prescientific concepts about how the human body works and how disease attacks it. Homeopathy, through its concept…
September 3, 2009
As wrong and illegal as "smash and grab" theft is, I have to admit to a grudging respect for the skill and precision with which these thieves managed to despoil a sanctum sanctorum of computing, an Apple Store in New Jersey: Yikes. All in all, they took they took 23 Macbook Pros, 14…
September 3, 2009
As I mentioned the other day, September 1 marked the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the "official" start of World War II. I say "official' because the invasion of Poland marked the beginning of a true shooting war in Europe after a long period of escalating tensions and…
September 2, 2009
As the person entrusted with the skeptical bloggy goodness that arrives every other week in the form of the Skeptics' Circle, how could I refuse to hawk something like this e-mail: Inspired by the annual The Open Laboratory, the Skeptical Blog Anthology is a printed anthology of blog posts voted…
September 2, 2009
I've been a bad, bad boy. In particular, I've been a bad, bad host in that I totally forgot to hawk the last Skeptics' Circle back on August 27, nearly a week ago. So, please, go make up for my horrific error and visit The 118 Skeptics' Circle: Looking Closely Edition (if that link doesn't work,…
September 1, 2009
For a change of pace, I want to step back from medicine for this post, although, as you will see (I hope), the study I'm going to discuss has a great deal of relevance to the topics covered regularly on this blog. One of the most frustrating aspects of being a skeptic and championing critical…
September 1, 2009
Seventy years ago today, the massed armies of the Third Reich poured across the Polish border, marking the official start of World War II. It would require nearly six years, millions of deaths, and the combined might of the Soviet Union, United States, Great Britain, and numerous other nations to…
August 31, 2009
Last Thursday, I expressed dismay about an upcoming NBC news special, A Dose of Controversy, which is about a man who arguably caused more damage to public health than just about anyone in the last decade, namely Andrew Wakefield. Anyone who's a regular reader of this blog knows just what I think…
August 30, 2009
It was just a high school marching band, like so many other high school bands in this country, a band that no one outside of the area of Sedalia, Missouri would be likely to have heard of, were it not for a breathtakingly stupid action by its school superintendent. You see, the band had an idea for…
August 29, 2009
I don't know why, but I'm tired, lazy, and in a bit of nostalgic frame of mind this morning, which makes coming across this ad dangerous: Not only that, but Faygo is a Detroit company. At least it was when I was a kid. At least it's still bottled in Detroit. Ah, yes, Faygo red pop. Pure…
August 28, 2009
It really and truly saddens me to have to do this. The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is one of the finest children's hospitals there is. Unfortunately, as I documented yesterday, the hospital has, either knowingly or unknowingly, lent its good name to the metastasis of the quackfest known…
August 27, 2009
Want to know what will start my teeth grinding when I read it in a newspaper? That's easy. It's headlines like this one, which appeared two days ago in The Telegraph: Scientists two years from developing 'potential cure' for breast cancer The subtitle was even worse: British scientists could be…
August 26, 2009
I realize that I've gotten into one of those runs where it seems that all I blog about is anti-vaccinationist loons, but, before trying once again to take a break from the madness, I had to go to the well one more time because this looks a bit frightening: NBC News' Matt Lauer will take an…