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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

January 7, 2009
One of my favorite novels of all time is George Orwell's classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. When it came to imagining the end to which totalitarianism could take us, no one before or since has written a more compelling book about living under such a regime. One aspect of Oceania, the…
January 6, 2009
As I was sitting in the O.R. lounge yesterday afternoon between cases, the television in the lounge was tuned to CNN. One thing I noted was some rather fawning coverage of President Bush regarding the military that seemed as though it belonged on FOX News rather than CNN. Not long after that, Wolf…
January 6, 2009
Unbelievably, it looks as though I've been nominated yet again for another blogging award. Really, folks, this is too much. How on earth am I going to live up to this level of accolades in 2009? Not that that would stop me from pointing out that I'm in the running for the Best Health Policies/…
January 6, 2009
If there's one thing I've learned over the last four years of examining the various forms of woo out there, it's to be very, very skeptical whenever an advocate of a highly dubious-sounding "therapy" points to a study as "proof" that the therapy, whatever it is, works. Usually, what I find is a…
January 5, 2009
...for me as Best Medical/Health Issues Blog. At the very least, put me past Junkfood Science! While you're at it, vote for the Best Science Blog. There are two fellow ScienceBloggers (PZ and Greg Laden) in contention, as well as one of my blog buds, Steve Novella of Neurologica and another of my…
January 5, 2009
Over the last year and a half, Jenny McCarthy has been, unfortunately, a fairly frequent topic of this blog. There is, of course, a reason for this. Ever since she published her first book on autism back in the summer of 2007, she has become the public face of the antivaccine movement and autism…
January 4, 2009
When first I commented on the unfortunate death of HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore a few days ago, little did I expect to be descended upon by several of her fellow denialists, who promptly swelled the comment thread after the post to close to a couple of hundred comments. Perhaps I should…
January 4, 2009
Having recently learned that David Tennant plans to give up the TARDIS at the end of the next abbreviated series of Doctor Who (we Yanks tend to be a bit late on the uptake for news like that from across the pond), I just found out who the 11th Doctor will be after Tennant leaves: Matt Smith.…
January 3, 2009
I can only guess that being voted Age of Autism's "Reporter of the Year" went to David Kirby's head. Of course, the only real competition was Dan Olmsted, who apparently couldn't find the Clinic for Special Children in Amish country (or, more likely, didn't bother to look for it) yet bravely claims…
January 2, 2009
Now that 2009 is about to kick into gear, I have to look back at 2008 one last time to acknowledge one failure. As a backdrop to that failure, I note that the antivaccine propaganda site Age of Autism has posted a series of their People of the Year "awards" for 2008, including, antivaccine…
January 2, 2009
Here we go again. You know, now that it's 2009, I had hoped that one of the most irritating people alive would continue his blissful quiet. I'm referring, of course, to Deepak Chopra, that Indian physician who demonstrates that a medical training is no protection whatsoever against pseudoscientific…
January 1, 2009
I realize that I said I would take New Years Day off, but I saw this and felt a brief post was in order. I also realize that some will never believe that it's not false modesty when I express amazement that so many people show up here day in and day out to read my written meanderings. It's also not…
December 31, 2008
Happy New Year, everyone! Here's hoping that 2009 is better than 2008 was, which, quite frankly (at least for me) sucked big time. In any case, I'm taking the day off. In the meantime, enjoy Jib Jab's 2008 Year in Review: Not Jib Jab's best, but still amusing enough. Perhaps it's appropriate for…
December 31, 2008
Yesterday, I commented on the tragic death of HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore, who was HIV-positive herself and refused to use antiretroviral drugs during her pregnancy to prevent maternal-fetal transmission of the virus and insisted on breast feeding even though the virus can be transmitted…
December 31, 2008
I know, I know, I've criticized P.Z. Myer's poll-crashing proclivities as being childish and pointless. However, so few people seem to agree with my take on it that I'm wondering whether, if I can't beat 'em I should join 'em. So let's try it out. On the Obama Transition Team website, Generation…
December 31, 2008
Now here's something that'll go to Orac's head (if, in fact, he actually had a head instead of a Plexiglass cube of blinking colored lights). He's been named by Rebecca Watson (a.k.a. The Skepchick) as one of the Top 10 Skeptics Who Kicked Ass in 2008! src="http://skepchick.org/blog/wp-content/…
December 30, 2008
...who needs a lot of practice still? I would say he might look like this. I still have to figure out what Zionist juice is, though.
December 30, 2008
Longtime readers of this blog may remember the case of Eliza Jane Scovill. For newbies and those who might not remember, I've copiously linked to posts written by me and others. To boil it all down, three years ago a child named Eliza Jane Scovill (often called EJ) died tragically three years ago…
December 30, 2008
Here's one for our favorite creationist neurosurgeon: A whole Grand Rounds all about the interface of and application to medicine of the theory of evolution.
December 29, 2008
Last week, I gave everybody's favorite creationist neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Egnor, the gift everyone loves to read but not to receive: the gift of not-so-Respectful Insolence. Christmas or no Christmas, he did ask for it, and far be it from me, given my benevolent nature, not to respond to his…
December 29, 2008
I've been meaning to write about this topic for quite a while but never really found a reason to. Indeed, this one's been floating around in the back of my mind for a long time. Perhaps one reason is that it's hard for a surgeon to write about this topic without coming off sounding like an old fart…
December 28, 2008
I rarely blog about sports, but I'll make an exception for today, given that football history is likely to be made later this afternoon. I'm not much of a football fan, at least not of professional football. These days, the games take even longer than a baseball game and all too often lack the…
December 27, 2008
An oddly racist commercial, or just bizarre? You be the judge: Oddly Racist Commercial - watch more funny videos
December 26, 2008
...more not-so-Respectful Insolence, courtesy not of Orac this time but of other skeptical physician-bloggers! Enjoy: Smackdown, please (yes, Egnor, I'm talking to you) (by blog bud PalMD) Defending science-based medicine (by skeptical neurologist Dr. Steve Novella, who's been known to spar a bit…
December 26, 2008
Welcome back. I hope you and yours who celebrate Christmas have had a happy one. Ours was kind of mixed and bittersweet for reasons that I don't particularly feel like going into now, although sooner or later I will probably have to say something about it. In the meantime, as much as I hate to be a…
December 25, 2008
To wish you happy holidays, here's a perfect carol to sum up the pile of crap that was the latter half of 2008: I had never heard of the Loomis Agency before, but it must not be doing too bad if it has the excess money to produce this. Either that, or its workers don't have anything better to do…
December 25, 2008
Continued from Christmas last year... Well, if I were Santa, I'd be scared too if this guy sat on my lap: You didn't think Christmas could pass without our old friend making an appearance, did you? Yes, our blog mascot can be a bit scary at times to those who have not met him before, but as you…
December 24, 2008
It's Christmas Eve. I know, I know, it's all supposed to be Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men (and Women), and all that jazz. Really, that's exactly what I had intended for today and tomorrow. Indeed, my plan was to do nothing more than a quickie post today and a maybe a couple of brief (and…
December 23, 2008
Of all the forms of quackery out there, the "energy healing" methods and "faith healing" methods have to be the most ridiculous. After all, the claims of "healers" using such modalities, when boiled down to their very essence, are nothing less (and nothing more) than claiming the ability to do…
December 23, 2008
I'm happy to say, I've never watched an episode of The Doctors, at least if the episode segment I've just been sent is any indication of the quality of the science and medicine discussed on the TV show. The episode, which aired on December 11, featured a segment on autism featuring an old "friend"…