As anyone who read my old blog knows, I have some very strong views on free speech, viewing it as the single most important basis of a free society. It is therefore not surprising that I recently commented on the Danish cartoon imbroglio, in which fundamentalist Muslims, outrage stoked by their Imams and by Muslim […]
Author: 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]
Blogging Alzheimer’s
How annoying. I had the perfect dubious medical test that I had wanted to write about from a skeptical viewpoint. It was a test that looked at many different blood tests and biomarkers and claimed to be far more sensitive at detecting cancer and a wide variety of diseases. It was obvious to me that […]
Orac disembodied, day 3
Nope, Respectful Insolence is still not integrated into the main ScienceBlogs page or into its aggregated feed. Patience, Orac-philes. It probably won’t be until next week now; so please keep this blog bookmarked, or, if you use an RSS feed aggegator, don’t rely on the aggregated ScienceBlogs feed to catch your daily helping of Respectful […]
Last Call For The Skeptics’ Circle
Besides running my own blog, I also happen to have the distinct honor of being responsible for organizing the Skeptics’ Circle. One of the great things about the blogosphere is that anyone can have a blog, either for free through a service like Blogspot or at a nominal cost. This greatest aspect of the blogosphere […]
Here is the second in a series of links to essential classic Respectful Insolence from Orac’s old blog. In a continuing series of posts, for the benefit of new readers (and a trip down memory lane for old readers), I now present: The Galileo Gambit What is a theory? Breast cancer “dormancy” Public speaking “Short […]