I see what you are getting at, but I'm just not sure it is true, or at least, largely true. Perhaps your church is after nominal Catholics, but the majority of missions I was aware of were not shy about wanting to save church-going Catholics, as they considered it to be a heresy. Missions to the Philippines and South America were the most egregious. There was even a Spanish speaking church started in the local town I lived in which was focused on converting the local immigrant Catholic population. They were quite open about it, and the times that they worked the local prisons with the Catholics were interesting to say the least. Of course, the Catholics were trying just as hard to convert the Protestants, so I don't mean to give the impression that it was one sided. Both sides were "poaching," so to speak.

I doubt that Texas creationists are going to find the interpretation of science from a Buddhist viewpoint very compelling.

There are some options in that area. Here is one: http://www.ck12.org/about/freetextbooks/

However, you also have to overcome the occasional stupid rule. For example, my son was issued two books that his teacher told him they would not even crack open this year. Both were replaced with other sources(digital books and such), but state law dictates that they receive a physical book for these classes. So, the district is forced to buy and distribute(and maintain) books that they never actually intend to use.

I wonder, how many of these evil "evolutionists" can you dig up who actually want less research and thought put into it by everyone involved?

Oh, and where I come from, they are called "biologists," not "evolutionists."

Apparently not...

Amusing. I'm an ex-Catholic, and we viewed mainstream Protestantism in the same light. As a non-believer, I now watch the antics of both, and they look strangely the same.

The Eastern Orthodox churches think that Catholicism and Protestantism are branches of the same heresy.

I would also note that, while the Catholic church is more monolithic in its belief structure, there are many, many branches of Protestantism which actively seek to convert and save Catholics. It is not by accident that many Evangelical churches sponsor missions in Catholic dominated countries.

Susceptible to not being an ass in the workplace? I suppose I am.

The rallying cry of every egotistical manchild with an overly inflated sense of self worth.

Well, it's a good thing that we have dudebros like you around to tell us what women are thankful for.

There's the rub. You shouldn't have to hope that your actions in the workplace(or in public more generally) aren't misconstrued and that, if they are, your coworker feels comfortable enough to ask you to stop.

And you think that ass slapping and chest bumps are going to accomplish this?

I would much prefer a work environment where people didn't feel the need to engage in locker room play, regardless of gender.

Well, one of those things is not like the others. But, ignoring that, why? Why do you think that that adds rarity and value? Is that not an implicit admission that you think that there is a general mutual exclusion between engineering accomplishments and being a cute female, and that the confluence of the two is a rare event?

It has nothing to do with puritanism. If you want more women to engage in engineering, per your initial question, one thing that you need to do is to attack sexism, even latent sexism. Comments like "pseudo-feminist crap" in response to a mild criticism seem a bit defensive to me. You can engage in chest thumping on /. or you could engage in some introspection.

So, your argument is that since you and your buddy are assholes who are prone to throwing around homophobic sexual smears in private, women should be thankful that you aren't also misogynistic pigs in public as well?

If you are so sensitive that you think that girlintraining's post was an "excoriation," then I would suggest that you are the one with the problem.

Sure. You have a ton of Arduino stuff already set up, and this is a new addition to the number of interesting projects you can play with. In my case, the original Gameduino was fun to mess around with as a learning tool, both for myself and my kids. In addition, I plan to use it as a general purpose display for other 8 bit projects. This version just gives us more to play with.

Um, no.
First, there is no such thing as "devolution."
Secondly, it doesn't fit the evidence in the least. Show me evidence of multicellular life preceding the development of unicellular life, and we'll talk.
Third, horizontal gene transfer is more common than you seem to think.

Then consider it. The most common form of reproduction in the world is asexual. Hermaphroditism is also quite common. It is also not uncommon for species to flip sexes depending on environmental queues, even in multicellular species as complex as fish and amphibians. Hell, there are species of fish in which the male is absorbed into the female and becomes a new set of gonads for her! Even the more familiar male/female dynamics are not clearcut. Many species have neuters. Others have evolved complex behavioral patterns which create de facto sexes.

Your bible talks about two sexes because humans generally have two sexes(and this is not even universal). It's an attempt to explain sexual dimorphism with no knowledge of genetics or evolution. In short, your bible IS an observation, not a second source of information useful for corroboration. It is just a non sequitur to assert otherwise.