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

In which Orac struts his stuff elsewhere…

Believe it or not, I’ve had two weekends off, which is why there won’t be a full post today. Basically, what happened is that I’m an idiot. I took a long weekend last weekend, worked a couple of days last week, and then took a three day weekend at a cottage near a lake this weekend with my family. (Yes, believe it or not, I have a family, complete with a couple of incredibly cute nephews whom I love and who amuse the hell out of me, given that they are six and two years old.) I should have just taken the entire week off, but I had agreed to attend a Komen function on Wednesday night and things have been slow enough in my practice that I didn’t want to miss my Thursday clinic. Ah, well, stupidity won out last week, and now I’m beat even though I did go away for two weekends. Such is life. Maybe next year, I’ll have learned from this year.

The result is that I don’t have a post for Monday on this blog. Fortunately, I did manage to find time for a couple of podcasts. First, I was honored to be a guest rogue on the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe last week, even in spite of my USB headset having died, a death I only discovered just before going on the air with Steve Novella and crew. Fortunately, we managed to find a solution, and I had a hell of a good time as the guest rogue in The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. Check it out, if you haven’t already, and comment below.

Also, I did The Prism Podcast, discussing the difference between evidence-based medicine and science-based medicine. Check it out and enjoy (hopefully).

I also did the Point of Inquiry podcast on Friday, but it’s not yet posted online. It will be soon.

Orac will definitely be back tomorrow with the usual Insolence.

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]

14 replies on “In which Orac struts his stuff elsewhere…”

How dare you take time off to relax with your family! What do you think that you are, a human being?
Oh wait, you are. 😉

Seriously, time off is important, it reduces stress and hence, makes for a much healthier life.
We miss spending entire weekends with our grandchildren. Alas, they’re 1800 miles away and videoconferencing isn’t quite the same.

I recently noticed on one of my popular blogs, banner ads for Dr Whittaker selling supplements they don’t want you to know about. That crook ripped off a dear friend of mine desperate to find anything to relieve her MS.
I love the look on Dr Novella’s face with that quack pointing at him. It’s classic. Whittaker was on his own turf with the “Freedomfest” conventioneers. That was pretty courageous of you guys to crash and wreck their party.

Everyone,

Way off topic. I should be able to continue to add my sometimes bad, sometimes good comments to this blog.

Last Wednesday, after my workout at lunch, I began having severe chest pains. Luckily, I work in a Health Center for the Quinault Indian Nation. I walked into our medical wing and told them I had chest pain. They ran an ekg strip and the expression on Liz’s face was: oh, crap. I was then shipped to Grays Harbor Community Hospital ER, who was only a quick pit stop. I was then shipped to Providence St. Peter in Olympia and sent almost directly to the cath lab. A stent was place in LCA, which was 100% block.

I have been told that less than 10% of people with this issue survive. I am home and it looks like I am going to recover fully.

A large shout out to the Roger Saux Health Center med staff, Grays Harbor Community Hospital ED staff, Providence St. Peter ED staff and cardiac staff and my cardiologist Dr. Jimmy Swan.

I hope I can continue to write comments for a long to come.

Rich

Wow, Rich Bly! What a lucky man you are. Similar to my dad (except he ended up with a triple bypass), who felt fine but had an abnormal EKG at his annual exam.

So glad you had the surgery and may you write comments for many more years!

Rich – get well soon!

On Whittaker – he sells the “supplements that work as good as diabetes meds without side effects” that cost the earth that Mr Woo takes three times a day. He refuses any diabetic medication except insulin, and with lantus (30 units daily) his fasting blood sugars are between 150 and 180 most days (he only tests any other time maybe once a week). I am sure I will not be able to sue when Mr Woo dies from diabetes complications..

It makes me so angry!

It is interesting to me the hypnogogia thing is always menacing. Mine change, and have changed considerably from when they first started. At first they tended to be menacing, now they tend to be more socratic and constantly questioning me and picking my brain over. In some ways it isn’t a bad thing, it points out areas I can improve on and helps ingrain things I’ve learned. They have actually grilled me on the things I’ve read on this blog, and about Orac’s credentials.

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