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 22, 2009
I'm sure it's obvious that I'm often puzzled (and, I daresay, many other skeptics and boosters of science- and evidence-based medicine are puzzled too) over why various forms of quackery and woo that have either about as close to zero prior probability as one can imagine and/or (more frequently "…
April 21, 2009
I'm really starting to hate the Huffington Post. It used to be that I just disliked it intensely. The reasons are, of course, obvious. Ever since its very beginning nearly four years ago, HuffPo has been a hotbed of antivaccine lunacy. Over the years, it's served up pseudoscience and antivaccine…
April 20, 2009
Blog bud PalMD was asked this most difficult question: A colleague of mine asked a great question: if you have one question to ask a booster of so-called alternative medicine in a public forum, what should it be? To which he responded: My answer: "Can you please give specific examples of…
April 20, 2009
David Irving has made a career out of being a Holocaust denier and then protesting when someone calls him a Holocaust denier. As you may recall, he even sued Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt for correctly referring to him as a Holocaust denier in one of her books. Let's take a look at what's on…
April 20, 2009
About a week and a half ago, something happened that makes me realize that the Jenny and Jim antivaccine propaganda tour that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago was clearly only phase I of Generation Rescue's April public relations offensive. About ten days ago, courtesy of J.B. Handley, the founder…
April 19, 2009
I forgot to mention yesterday (although I did on Twitter) that I'm currently in Denver, where I will be attending the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), as I do almost every year at this time. I hope to see, as Isis would put it, some hot, hot science over…
April 18, 2009
One more reason why John Stewart and his writers are geniuses is here, where he examines the "Tea Parties" we in the U.S. were subjected to three days ago, including one in my own town: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Nationwide Tax Protests thedailyshow.com Daily…
April 17, 2009
I've complained about it time and time again because it's annoyed me time and time again. Specifically, I'm talking about how various news outlets report scientific studies involving so-called "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM), sometimes called "integrative medicine" (IM), the latter…
April 16, 2009
One of the stereotypes of anti-vaccine loons is that they are predominantly left wing New Agey ex-hippie types, usually well-educated and affluent. Certainly recent stories out of California indicating that Marin and Sonoma counties are ground zero for declining vaccine rates would seem to back up…
April 16, 2009
For skeptics, TV news in my hometown sucks. Actually, it sucks for just about anyone with two brain cells to rub together, but it's especially painful for skeptics and scientists to watch. On one station last year, there was the most credulous report I've ever seen about--of all things--orbs! It…
April 15, 2009
There's an old saying, so old that it's devolved into cliché: Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. I'm sure the vast majority of my readers, if not every last one of them, have heard this saying before. Certainly, it has a lot of truth to it. Sometimes it even applies to blogging.…
April 14, 2009
Remember the Jenny McCarthy Body Count website that I mentioned last month? Basically, it's a website that uses CDC reports and other sources of information to estimate the number of cases of and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. since Jenny McCarthy started her antivaccine…
April 14, 2009
Recently, there's been a movement afoot among purveyors of that special brand of "natural" woo known as naturopathy to convince various legislatures and regulatory bodies that they not only are capable of serving as primary care physicians but that they should be allowed to do so. My first…
April 13, 2009
You be the judge! And patriotic, too! Huh, huh, huh. He said "stimulus package."
April 13, 2009
Nearly two weeks ago, P.Z. Myers mentioned a story that would normally have provoked a post by me. Specifically, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had issued a warning against the use of reiki as being unscientific, unproven, and, worse, "dangerous to Christian spiritual health."…
April 12, 2009
Better late than never, I guess. Martin of Lay Scientist had some technical difficulties and was a bit late in delivering his Skeptics' Circle, the 109th Meeting of the Skeptics Circle. Suffice it to say that it features some...unexpected characters. Next up two weeks hence is Waffle. Contact…
April 11, 2009
Readers may have noticed that we've had a minor antivaccine troll infestation in a couple of previous posts. It's no big deal of course, hardly worth my attention--except for one thing. That one thing is that a certain member of the antivaccine propaganda blog Age of Autism, for which no evidence…
April 10, 2009
If there's one concept that seems to cross many "disciplines" of woo (a.k.a. "alternative medicine," a.k.a. "complementary and alternative medicine," a.k.a. CAM) is the concept of some sort of "life force" or "life energy." It is true that life does depend upon the utilization of energy,…
April 10, 2009
...our Skeptics' Circle host for this week, The Lay Scientist, had some technical issues with his blog. It should be forthcoming later today...
April 9, 2009
Whatever you think of President Obama's economic stimulus package, there's one thing that I, at least, am happy to learn about it: Vice President Joe Biden announced today that the Obama Administration will make $2.3 billion available for crucial health and human services programs that help to…
April 9, 2009
Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I pointed out that, in addition to its usual stable of antivaccine pseudoscience and the quantum woo of Deepak Chopra, that The Huffington Post had now delved even beyond what I thought it would by publishing the nonsensical, credulous blather about distant…
April 8, 2009
You be the judge! Clicking on the picture will lead you to a blog post where you can download a high resolution version suitable for printing up and either distributing or putting up on a bulletin board or wall. I particularly like that it was made by The American Institute for the Destruction…
April 8, 2009
I really need to rein myself in sometimes. Yesterday, all pleased as punch with myself for my mad Google skillz and for thinking I figured out just what "alternative" therapy it was that Farrah Fawcett had undergone that had resulted in what sounded for all the world like a rectus sheath hematoma,…
April 7, 2009
Note the followup post to this one, in which Orac admits error. You just have to read it, given how rarely Orac messes up when speculating... Our cancer center has a large, open area interspersed with patient waiting areas, one of which is the clinic where I see patients, that I frequently must…
April 6, 2009
Embedded video from CNN Video Over the weekend, a lot of readers sent me links to Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's appearance on Larry King Live. (If you can't stand watching the embedded video of the segment, the transcript is here.) Fortunately for me (and, I hope, you), a "friend" of mine has…
April 6, 2009
It just never ends. Four years ago, I was one of the very first bloggers to notice that the then-new liberal blog The Huffington Post was from its very inception a hotbed of antivaccine lunacy. David Kirby, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Dr. Jay Gordon, Deirde Imus, all the luminaries of the antivaccine…
April 5, 2009
Sorry, all. I'm all tied up putting the finishing touches on a grant application. However, via Behind the Sofa, I did come across this trailer for the next Doctor Who special, to be aired on Easter: I suspect I'll have to fire up BitTorrent.
April 4, 2009
One of the most common refrains from advocates of pseudoscientific and paranormal ideas is that critics are "close-minded," that they reject out of hand any idea that does not fit within their world view. Of course, this is a canard, given that science thrives on the open and free exchange of ideas…
April 3, 2009
Let me say right up front that I'm not entirely sure that the victim--I mean target; no, I mean subject--of this week's little excursion into the deepest darkest depths of woo is not a parody. That's the beauty of it. I've never heard of it before, but a little Googling brought me evidence that it…
April 2, 2009
Time and time again, I've complained about the infiltration of woo into medical school and medical education, so much so that I've echoed Dr. R. W.'s term for it: Quackademic medicine. One tool advocates of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) use to try to "get 'em while they're young,"…