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A photon has moved

Way back when I first started my blog, one of my favorite blogs was A Photon in the Darkness, in which Prometheus regularly demolished quackery, particularly autism-related quackery. Sadly, Prometheus’ blogging has become more and more sporadic over the last year or so, with gaps sometimes longer than a month between posts. I was worried that he might be retiring permanently from the blogosphere. That would be a great loss.

Recently, however, Prometheus has been a bit more active. In fact, he’s even moved his blog to a new location: http://www.photoninthedarkness.com. Moreover, he’s recently posted a great set of articles entitled Myths and Legends of Autism (Parts One, Two, and Three), suggesting that he’s resurrected his blog and will be posting more regularly in the future.

And a welcome return it is!

Of the three parts thus far, my favorite is Part Two: The Brave Maverick Doctors. In it, he discusses three main types of “brave maverick” doctors who embrace woo to treat autism specifically or who use woo in general: the Misfit, the Iconoclast (the one that gives me the most pause, given that I come from academia and do not want to become one of these “brave maverick doctors”), and the Reluctant Hero. I might have to write a post in the future in which I suggest a couple of more distinct types of these “brave maverick doctors.”

ON A SIDE NOTE: Given that Prometheus finally moved his blog over to his own domain (probably to keep J. B. Handley from cybersquatting it as he did with me), it occurred to me: Although I blog for ScienceBlogs, a while back I purchased the domain www.respectfulinsolence.net. Right now that domain just redirects to my ScienceBlogs blog. However, in the unlikely event that I ever leave ScienceBlogs, the same address will be reset to whatever my new blog location might be. (Don’t worry, I have no intention of doing so for the foreseeable future unless my benevolent Seed overlords get fed up with me.)

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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