Mark and David Geier, the père et fils duo of antivaccine pseudoscientists once again go dumpster diving in the VAERS database, using it for purposes for which it was not intended to “prove” vaccines cause autism.
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]
It’s worse than I thought
A while back, I mentioned how the budget proposed in the President’s budget for the NIH for fiscal year 2007 was flat. It turns out that, for those of us in the field of cancer research, it’s worse than that. Making the rounds at our cancer institute is an e-mail from one of the higher-ups, […]
So, what do you do when those pesky scientific facts won’t line up with your beliefs, be they beliefs that evolution doesn’t explain the diversity of life, that mercury causes autism, that global warming isn’t happening, or whatever your faith-based scientific belief might be? Click on the image, and White House Situational Science Advisor tells […]
Friday random ten (on Saturday)
The Friday Random Ten is a bit of a blog tradition that many bloggers periodically indulge in, including fellow ScienceBloggers PZ, Chad, and John. However, Orac, ever the contrarian, likes to indulge in this practice on Saturdays (when he does it at all). So, without further ado, take a plunge into a very small sampling […]
Personally, I was hoping for either the Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica crew. Besides, the second Matrix movie was a big letdown after the first one, and the third Matrix movie totally sucked. You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical […]