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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39 replies on “Uh-oh. Randi’s million dollars may be in jeopardy…”
Wait, what?
A talent wasted on hamburgers, surely.
Got a little drowsy reading at that site, woke up surrounded by Happy Meals.
Randi’s millions are never in danger because he withdraws and makes silly excuses for the withdrawal if ever a serious challenger comes along (see how he strung Vithoulkas along for five years before screwing him over and then lying about the whole thing.)
And your evidence for your libelous allegation about James Randi is what, Dale?
@4 Why NaturalNews and Homeopathy sites, of course. It appears as though Vithoulkas feels as though filling out an application, as is required by Randi, is beneath him and has refused to do it. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/364-a-correction.html
I cannot read Dale’s post without visualizing it written with a crayon. F#$%ing certifiably insane trolls every where you go….
Dale has no evidence. Neither does Vithoulkas. Homeopathy is nothing but charlatans gone wild.
I assume this is the same Dale who has posted a comment praising the despicable Wakefield. Crank magnetism strikes again.
Must… obey… the… vagina…
No, but seriously. I know who wrote that and her real name isn’t Jennifer. It’s Cindy and she’s in one of my classes. I heard this thing before. And yes, Cindy does use her vagina to control some of us. Hopefully, she doesn’t know about SB or IR and won’t read this.
No, this ability is not paranormal. It’s entirely normal.
That was awesome.
Yes, Marc, you must. Anyone who tells you different is kidding themselves.
What an oddly apt convergence between this post and the latest iteration of PZ’s endless thread. It’s like middle school all over again.
Phear the power of kolpomancy!
Marc,
No more hamburgers or anything else for you. Go play on ChatRoulette.
Cindy
@Cindy: Not you! LOL. There’s a girl called Cindy in one of my math classes.
@10
Yes. I try not to abuse it. 🙂 Taking it all the way up to hamburger-level is a bit extreme, I usually refuse anything beyond a non-alcoholic beverage.
@Marc
Jennifer Dziura is a semi-well-known comedian. At the very least I’ve heard of her before.
There is one very serious problem with that claim. The vagina has been known to control the mind of men since the beginning of time. It’s even in the bible. (to paraphrase)
Eve: Eat this apple.
Adam: No, god said not to.
Eve: Look at my vagina. Now eat the apple.
Adam: OK.
Every man (including me) has done dozens, nay, THOUSANDS of incredibly stupid things under the influence of the vagina. Without that influence there would be no sports, no wars, no contests of any kind. Since this phenomenon is well documented it can not be considered supernatural. Randi’s money is safe.
@flounder: So good for Randi but so bad for the rest of us. We’re still prisoners of this vagina. Will we ever escape?
@ Marc, #19:
No, we won’t.
*And so it goes, Billy Pilgrim. And so it goes.*
Grin and bear it. The alternative is loneliness, which, as we all know, is only accentuated by the presence of the opposite (or complimentary) sex.
Men seem more prone to misery than loneliness.
Fuck yeah I have vagina power. Some of us brought you fuckers into the world and we can sure as fuck take you out of it if you can’t play nicely and maturely and treat-women-as-equals-ly.
As I have said many times, men tend to think with their penis and not their brain.
Of course, it often works out better that way. ;=)
Oops, wrong emoticon (though that does look interesting).
😉
Interestingly, gay men are likely immune to this vaginal control. That would make them best suited for high government and military positions. Or you could just put women in those positions… 🙂
Hmm… No, I don’t think I’ll be buying any vaginae hamburgers.
Probably because that’s the most intelligent part of too many men (which explains a lot of the idiocy we see around). Think I’ll stick with the brain–it done good so far. 🙂
Many items *beside* hamburgers are bought because of this well documented effect:houses,cars,jewelry,expensive clothing,fine leather goods,perfumes,vacations,dinners, etc.Indeed,its power as a stimulus could be very relevant during economic downturns.We women can do our part to battle widespread deflation inherent in our current economic recovery.
@Katharine:
“Fuck yeah I have vagina power. Some of us brought you fuckers into the world and we can sure as fuck take you out of it if you can’t play nicely and maturely and treat-women-as-equals-ly.”
>> As you may have seen from the many comments here, many of us are dependent on this vagina. I don’t mind treating you as equals but please don’t make fun of our pronounced dependence on the vagina. We’re working on getting over this dependence but it’s hard to reject something that feels so good around our… ok… forget it, I’m gonna go get some right now.
Neglecting the ironic tone of the post;-)
I think that test places a stretch on the definition of “paranormal”… that women use their femininity to personal advantage is neither new, nor paranormal. The fact (and machinery) of human reproduction is older than language… or thumbs… and I would argue that life would be very different if human men were equipped and socialized like mallard ducks, which human women should be very thankful about.
@Viggen
Wow, you sucked the fun out of that in no time flat. I am thinking the author of this letter to Mr. Randi wasn’t serious. If you were aware of this (?) your comment is very off-topic.
Viggen @ 29 for the buzz-kill!
@29
Having been prompted by your comment to look up mallard ducks and their behavior (and I missed some of it when I lived 2 doors from a duckpond with a couple of mallards in my childhood), I can say, yes, you’re right that I’m grateful that human males are not equipped and socialized like mallards. 🙂
@19
The first time around that I read that comment, I got the song “Eight Miles Wide” stuck in my head. It’s been there for over 24 hours now. 🙂
Off topic, but Orac will love this one:
Homeopathic Plutonium. Seriously. (Scroll down 3/4 of the page.)
Hmmm… either I really don’t get it, or it’s not that funny. Is it because of the fact that the word “vagina” is repeated? I guess it’s a kind of humor that escapes me. Too highbrow for me, perhaps.
@33, Orac was ahead of you there
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2009/06/homeopathic_plutonium.php
try some of the other humorous letters.
like:
AN OPEN LETTER
TO MY SISTER’S
PSYCHOTIC
DOGS.
AN OPEN LETTER TO
THE INTESTINAL PARASITES
I MANAGED TO PICK UP
IN WEST AFRICA
THIS SUMMER.
p.s. this one is pretty good:
A N O P E N L E T T E R
T O A N N C O U L T E R .
@35: Heh! Should have known he’d know about it. It’s just too perfect.
She can has cheezburger.
The whole “Randi is unfair!” thing could be reduced if the $1M challenge stipulated:
“Look, testing medical claims is a enormous undertaking. Heck – even real treatments take years and millions of dollars to check for efficacy. So we cannot accept claims for treatments of illnesses or other maladies, unless you can come up with a way of conclusively demonstrating it that doesn’t involve years of double-blind testing on thousands of volunteers.”