Look at this: I’m dispensable. MAJeff is organizing a gathering of Pharyngula readers without me. Go ahead, go, and send me pictures and make me jealous.

This gallery of science fair projects is partly funny, partly cringe-worthy, and partly petty and annoying. Some of the projects are weird, but some of the entries are simply mocking the appearance of the kids … and as a former high school nerd myself, I rather resent that.

But yeah, “Crystal Meth: Friend or Foe” is amusing — I just wish we know something about their experimental protocol.

And it’s a good thing! The Texas ban on sale of sex toys has been ruled unconstitutional. There will be a lot of people smiling in that state in days to come — I’d like to think that flooding the state with vibrators would have a salutary effect on the repressive prigs who are also responsible for the promotion of creationism.

So, Texans, you know it’s Valentine’s Day … does this give you any gift ideas?

James Randerson scrapes a little more info on the Han and Warda paper. The editor, Michael Dunn, sounds uncommunicative, but I can’t blame him for wanting to proceed cautiously…I just hope that eventually we get a better accounting.

The interesting revelation is a letter from one of the authors, Warda. I think we’ve found the source of the weird fantasies in the text.

The problem is that we described in very clear and definite way the disciplined nature that takes part inside our cells. We supported our meaning with define proteomics evidences that cry in front of scientists that the mitochondria is not evolved from other prokaryotes. They want to destroy us because we say the truth; only the truth.

Yes, the paper does describe the complexity in mitochondria. However, the paper does not back up their claim to have “disproven” the endosymbiotic hypothesis for the origin of mitochondria at all, nor does it provide any evidence for an alternative…and postulating a “mighty creator” is not a scientific alternative hypothesis. Complexity is not an argument against evolution!

Nobody was interested in destroying them. They wrote some foolish things in a science paper that were completely unwarranted, and people are discussing the sloppy and inappropriate content. There is no fatwa here.

He also denies plagiarizing anything. Sorry, guy, the evidence is there, and stonewalling is not a credible option right now. It just makes me want to reject everything you say, since the smoking gun is right there in your hand, where everyone can see it.

Mr Warda revealed his agenda yet further in comments to the the Times Higher Education supplement:

Co-author Mr Warda told Times Higher Education that to criticise Western science was “taboo”. He said: “It is clear that the fingerprint of (the) mighty creator (is) inside everyone in this Universe.”

After initially claiming that evolution was a “useless, evidence-less” theory, he said the process did take place, but under the control of “complete, disciplined wisdom” and not in a chaotic way. “Even one amino acid, when mutated in any of millions of tiny different cell receptors in their body, can kill or ruin life,” he added. “Is this chaos?”

So I think we can now safely say how the goofiness got into the paper: one of the authors simply and unashamedly put it there. Now the puzzle is to figure out how such blatant garbage got past peer review.

The other big holiday coming up is Valentine’s Day … so how about some appropriately silly valentines?

Warning: that one is the best one. If it makes you groan, the others will be pure torture. But they do beat out the sappy things we used to hand out in fifth grade.

OK, so I was sent this picture, and I want to make it clear: this is not me giving a lecture.

Although, I must say that if you look closely, there is a distinct resemblance to Ken Miller…could he be a closet cephalopodophile?

I have heard a rumor that tomorrow there will be some strange game called the “superbowl” going on … I don’t know who is playing, I won’t be watching, and I really don’t care who wins, so I think I’ll just root for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if that’s all right. But I did discover another fun game that could be played.

The NFL doesn’t like it when churches show the Superbowl on big screen TVs for their congregations (which is actually kind of a strange thing for churches to promote, anyway.) Maybe atheists should cruise their neighborhoods and rat out any churches that violate the rules.

Not to be nasty about it, though. I don’t care about the Superbowl, but a matchup between the forces of American Foo’bawl and American Evangelical Christianity … that would be an exceptionally interesting contest, especially since it would probably lead to open warfare in places like Texas.

(hat tip to RPM