Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

A different kind of “research” aggregator

Dave Munger has done the science blogosphere a service by spearheading the effort to highlight and aggregate serious posts about peer-reviewed research through his Research Blogging aggregator website and his Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting blog. It’s a great idea and a great source for what science and medical bloggers say about the latest published research. Dave is to be commended for creating such a useful site.

Of course, aggregating serious research blogging is all well and good, but the assumptions behind it are that the research and the blogger are serious and honest and that they are doing a serious critique? What about other situations, you know, where we’re clearly looking at a pseudoscientific bunch of crap deserving of nothing but sarcasm and snark? We’re talking about creationists (be they of the young earth or “intelligent design” ilk), quacks, woos, charlatans, and pseudoscientists of all stripes? Where are an icon and aggregator for that?

The Pooflinger has shown me the way by pointing out the Blogging on PseudoScientific DoucheBags site. I’ve been remiss in not becoming a member and aggregating my more “insolent” posts, but I’ll try to rectify that tonight when I’m doing my usual blogging for Monday.

By Orac

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 this particular surgeon 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 35 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: [email protected]

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