Interests for Chris Jamison and Linda Jamison
(listed alphabetically) Last update 2/21/2007 at 1:11:33 PM
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”
- Psalm 19:14 (NIV)
Agriculture
Growing up on a NY dairy farm instilled me with a life-long interest in agricultural issues. I think that farming is the most wholesome livelihood possible for a man and his family. Farmers are reminded daily of their reliance upon God for every good thing.
Art
Art takes many forms, and nearly defies definition. At its root it is ‘the creative process’, which is a human-dimensioned reflection of the creative attribute of God.
My Art page. See this for all the links & discussion.
My Thomas Cole appreciation page (under
construction). Check my art page – I
think a link is there.
My Joseph Noel Paton appreciation page.
See my Charles Vess pics page.
.
I had a plan to spend a fixed sum of money buying good quality original paintings each year. My thought was that if I like art, I need to support the artists. I bought one painting on that plan, but then got married, had kids, etc. Someday I would like to return to that plan.
Arthurian & Celtic Studies
[cross
reference to Mythology]
I have always liked the Arthur stories. I expanded backward in time to the Celtic & Irish myths. Also some comics (like Slaine) which depict that mythos. This merges in with my interest in the Green Man (see below). There are many Arthur sites on the web, so I’ll let the reader do his own google search. My favorite non-fiction author on the subject: Geoffrey Ashe.
Some Arthur books I have:
.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
[cross
reference to Religion]
The more we look & learn, the more I am convinced that God is revealed in the plan of the heavens. Of course, this same statement applies to biology, chemistry, ecology, physics and other sciences.
Start with old-earth creationist Hugh Ross’ Reasons to Believe.
Here is a research site with interesting things: Patrick Bangert
Someone’s amateur page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/galen_raben/astronomy.htm
Check out http://www.classicalastronomy.com/
Autism
Our son Sam has been diagnosed with Autism, Hypotonia and Dyspraxia (11/2002).
Sam’s page
Author / Livestock apparatus inventor
Bird Watching
I feed the birds, identify them in my Peterman Guide and generally watch them with enjoyment. I am a member of the National and our local Audubon Societies, although not active at this time.
I made up some bird-watching checklists for my kids to use for homeschool projects. Another good way to have the kids participate is to join in the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project FeederWatch (see links below).
I also try to make sure I keep berry-bearing trees growing on my property. We have Dogwood, Holly, Carolina Laurel, Washington Hawthorn and Crab Apples growing. I also have left uncut a section of woods in the back that contains many shrubs & trees for nesting sites.
Links:
National Audubon, Atlanta Audubon.
Bird Source (Audubon & Cornell), where you’ll find the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Here’s an on-line bird reporting site: www.ebird.org
Butterfly Watching
As with the birds, I enjoy watching and identifying butterflies. I have several butterfly-friendly plantings, and reserve some of my plants as food for the caterpillars. I have one returning growth of Passion vine each year. It grows well in the first half of the summer, then the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars come and eat all the leaves.
Christian Environmentalism
This is a lifelong project of mine. I want to collect together writers, philosophers and biblical references to develop a coherent thesis of living the Christian life without simultaneously trashing the environment. I do not worship the earth, or imbue it with any spirituality. However, it was created by God, and is therefore of worth beyond what we can get out of it. We are commanded to be its stewards. I think most honest people will say we’re doing a pretty poor job of it.
My Christian
Environmentalism page.
A Wendell Berry page: http://www.louisville.edu/library/ekstrom/govpubs/states/kentucky/kylit/berry.html
another: http://www.serve.com/ecobooks/berry.htm
and a third: http://www.alteich.com/links/berry.htm
.
Christian Music
Part of living for Jesus involves giving up things of the world. One of the things I am giving up is the contemporary music ‘scene’. I don’t deny there are good artists out there. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to weed through the junk to find them. I am extremely tired of the in your face, cop killer, have sex with everyone, defy authority messages portrayed so graphically in music and video. One way I can demonstrate to the world that I am living a changed life is in my choice of music. I have chosen contemporary Christian music.
My Christian
Music links page.
.
Coin Collecting
Ongoing collecting is limited to
Elogated Coins (ECs) at www.pennycollector.com
Comics, Graphic Novels and Sequential Art
2004: I can’t believe I haven’t added a section on this yet. I have a modest collection of graphic novels, and a few comics. Not the kind of large-scale horde that the real collectors build, but some things I like. I haven’t bought comics in about ten years though, mostly on economic reasons. I do like to read & reread them. Some years ago I came across Scott McCloud’s book Understanding Comics. It really brought the art & science of comics to life, and made it more of a serious topic than a simple pleasure. Now he has a website:
I haven’t been through it all, but it looks very good. Pay attention to the use of space & graphics to propel the user through the site. It’s all purposeful.
Moebius, Charles Vess, Paul Chadwick, V. Segrelles, Neil Adams and more are particular favorites of mine.
10/2005: The
M.W. Kaluta has recently illustrated the Celtic League’s 2002 and 2003 calendars. By coincidence, I happen to have copies of the 1993 & 1994 calendars.
Economics
I really liked Economics in High School and College. In fact, if it weren’t for Economics courses, my GPA would have been unacceptably low. This interest has waned a bit.
I have many interests, but Economics is the one for which I can generate an infectious passion. If I ever become a teacher, it will be in the subject of Economics. I believe that basic economic concepts, such as supply vs. demand and opportunity cost [along with business math] are things that every high school student should know, since they impact daily life. Long term plans: develop an on-line Economics 101 course. I think it would be fun to get a Master’s Degree in Economics.
The best weekly magazine by far: www.economist.com. They have a great habit of writing an article on something that then becomes the subject of major news stories two weeks later.
Environment – see Nature below
Food
Who doesn’t like food? God gave us senses to enjoy the works of His creation. He gave us every seed-bearing plant, and all fruit & seed bearing trees as food (Gen. 1:29). Then later, he expands our charter: “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you” (Gen. 9:3). I truly enjoy tasting the combinations that chefs come up with.
See my recipes page.
Gardening
One of my greater joys is working outside. I don’t have much of a garden, but I do enjoy working in it. I have collected a set of links to pages for help with plant identification, pest identification, plant uses, etc. I am keeping a journal of planting and flowering dates, but nothing is ready for inclusion here yet.
Genealogy
Another interest is in the ancestry of my children. That covers my people and Linda’s. With the advent of the internet, a huge amount of information has become easily accessible. Thanks to all the people out there who continue to publish their information on the internet. Here are my contributions:
My Main Genealogy Page
on Geocities / Yahoo, including my material and links to many sites.
History
of the Town of
.
Green Man
The Green Man pops up all over when you least expect him. This section needs a lot of work (9/2002). I can’t believe I haven’t started it sooner.
9/12/2002 – I went ahead and made a green man page.
Some links:
Review of books, etc. www.greenmanreview.com
Terri Windling’s Endicott Studio’s greenman page www.endicott-studio.com/galgreen.html
Homeschooling
We are homeschooling our children. It’s a big job, which falls mostly on Linda. I totally support it. If you can afford to, and have the will and desire to, consider homeschooling your own children. Just because we have public schools doesn’t mean you have to send your kids there.
Our homeschooling page. Includes my essay ‘a personalized defense of
homeschooling’. I really need to update
this page!
We joined to Gwinnett Christian Home Educators
(GCHE), but are now no longer members.
A homeschooled fiddler: http://www.scottishmusician.com/brendan/
here’s someone’s page of contacts &
essays: http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/Web_Pages.f.html I need to look around more.
Did you know that Thomas Edison was
homeschooled?
Go to www.teachnet.com
for lesson plans and other ideas.
Radio program’s site – Christian homeschooling: www.issuesineducation.org. This site has links to other sites.
CD from the Haylers. Daughter Rebekah is homeschooled: www.songofangels.com.
.
Knowledge Management
How does one capture, maintain and make available organizational knowledge? I believe the vast majority of knowledge is still transferred orally, person-to-person.
One problem? My taxonomy is not your taxonomy! One interesting solution: someone suggested blogs as a great form on knowledge capture. I guess the idea is to capture ideas in a blog (which are on-line), then use a search engine for retrieval. Actually, this is a good idea: I just realized that I use blogs all the time on my laptop. <I guess they’d be llogs?> I have a log of all activity for a particular client. I have a log of computer development trick/lessons for Unix. Another one for development in my company’s WiseB2B product. I simply use wordpad or MSword to capture the info, arranged chronologically. Then to retrieve something I use <cntl> F to find it.
buzzwords: Knowledge Management; KPIs (Key Performance Indicators); Metrics; Graphical Presentation of information; Blogs and Wikis; Information silos.
I subscribe to Intelligent Enterprise (www.intelligententerprise.com) which handles all this very nicely.
Idea: develop a ‘technobabble’ addition to the Spell Check dictionary in MS Word.
Literature
I’m a big believer in history repeating itself, and the universality of themes. I’m not so culturally conceited to think that the current time represents the height of human intellectual development. Therefore, there is a lot we can learn by reading the classics. We could learn all these things by experiencing them ourselves (and in no way do I de-value that), or we can read about them and save a lot of wear & tear (“vicarious catharsis” is a great buzz-phrase).
On a basic skills level, the best way to learn to write is to write. The next best thing is to read excellent writing. My advice: START WRITING A JOURNAL NOW.
My Literature
page.
My Life
Bibliography. This is woefully out
of date, and ignores all the reading I did in school.
.
Take me HOME
Markets
Newsflash - In the commodities markets today: Helium is up, goose feathers are down and diapers remain unchanged.
I have browsed a bit on E-bay, and someday I need to try to sell things on-line. In the meantime, here is a page of items we have for sale:
My Stuff to Sell page.
Here is my Stuff to Buy page too.
I think that to make internet markets really cost-effective for society, we’ll need local electronic markets. In the end, goods need to be physically transferred. With e-bay & similar, this works only if transportation costs stay low. This is possible only because postage costs do not reflect the true cost to society of cheap energy! Someday this will change and electronic markets will need to introduce a geographical element. Don’t get me wrong, one of the best things about e-bay is that it connects buyers & sellers without respect to geography. I just think that the cost of transferring goods should more closely reflect the distance between the buyer & seller. We should try to focus on local markets. Of course, if the buyer & seller meet in person maybe they wouldn’t need e-bay anymore…
I guess what I envision is a collection of local ‘want
ads’. Where the seller pays for
advertising on a local board or on the entire
Movies & Video
With small children, we don’t get out to the movies much. When we do, it’s nice to know in advance what you’re in for. Check out these Christian reviews of movies. My thinking is that you’ll want to read more than one.
From Focus on the Family: http://www.family.org/pplace/pi/.
now http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/index.cfm
Ted Baehr’s outfit: www.movieguide.org
- very extensive rating system. I saw
current listings, but no archive. Pay
for full texts, but the free ones are thorough.
From Gospelcom: http://www.gospelcom.net/preview/,
but you have to pay for the full texts L
now http://www.gospelcom.net/entertainment/
Another:
http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/home.html.
?? http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/
- I haven’t checked this one out yet.
Here’s what our kids like to watch (2001):
Veggie Tales – great Christian messages, and
silly songs to infect your brain
Thomas the Tank Engine
Rescue Heroes – no gadgets or magic, no evil
monsters
Mythology
[cross
reference to Arthurian & Celtic Studies]
I always enjoyed reading mythology tales (Arthurian, Norse, Celtic, Greek/Roman). I especially like the archetype of the Ranger. I enjoy walking in the woods, blazing new trails in the mountains, working beneficially in the background.
Some Ranger examples are: Strider/Aragorn in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood, Heart’s song “Dream of the Archer”, Natty Bumppo (Hawkeye) from Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans. If you can think of some others, shoot me an e-mail!
6/11/2004 – here is an interesting research subject. Think of young King David as a Ranger archetype. Compare him to Aragorn – the anointed king in the wilderness, etc.
2/5/2007 – recently finished reading Ken Davis’ “Don’t Know Much About Mythology”. Good book (although clearly from a non-Christian world view).
I just ordered Ludmilla Zeman’s Illustrated Gilgamesh trilogy (on AbeBooks).
And here’s a link to Hediod’s “Works and Days” and Theogeny, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914). And Hediod’s texts compliments Gutenberg.
Nature
I have a great love of hiking. I don’t get to go hiking much now, but that will change in time. I also have fun identifying different things. I like looking at trees and knowing what type they are. I like looking at butterflies & caterpillars. Also bird watching in the wintertime. I like knowing what the various wildflowers, vines & shrubs are around the house.
I have a small collection on natural oddities, nuts & seeds. Some day I want to try to create some work of art using only natural materials as the medium. That is a long term project. Now I am only trying to collect the ingredients.
Here are some web sites of national or local environmental organizations:
Organizations:
The Nature
Conservancy – Taking practical steps:
Buying & preserving land
The Audubon
Society – protecting habitat for birds; education
and locally Atlanta Audubon Society
The
Wilderness Society – Watching over our nation’s designated Wild Lands since
1935
National
Wildlife Federation (of Ranger Rick fame)
Natural
Resources Defense Council – the legal eagles
Georgia
ForestWatch – protecting Forests in GA
The
Orion Society – very high quality magazine – Wendell Berry contributing
I also subscribe to the New York State
Conservationist to remind me of NY
Some links:
The E. F. Schumacher Society / Small is
Beautiful – www.smallisbeautiful.org
A review of Callenbach’s Ecotopia: http://www.strangewords.com/archive/ecotopia.html
& essay by E.C: link
.
Politics
My father’s family has a history of service in local government. We feel that service to the community is important, and a requirement of good citizenry. I guess the four ‘pillars’ would be: Church, Family, Work and Community.
My current dilemma:
In the bible, the Hebrews had their government imposed on them. Jesus told them to obey their authority since
it was placed over them by God. Here and
now in the
Regional Economics and Land Use Policies
Wow – that’s a broad topic. This is distinct from my ‘Economics’ topic above in that it addresses more societal issues. My brother is on the Planning Board of the Town of Crawford, Orange Co., NY. Here is the Master Plan for the town.
I did have the privilege of living in a planned city,
Religion
Sorry about the choice of titles, but I needed something recognizable by everyone.
check out my origins page.
check out my new spiritual research page.
We are evangelical Christians, attending Grace Church in
08/02/2003: There are a number of links below regarding the evolution vs. creation & young-earth / old-earth creationists. I can tell I need to do a lot more research here. In general though, I think the more we learn through science, the more God is revealed. I think that science helps to reveal God to humans, and that God created science & the thirst for learning in man’s hearts in order that He would be revealed & glorified. God isn’t revealed once and that’s it. He is so amazing that we could be in a constant state of realization and yet not comprehend all of Him.
So, God doesn’t hide himself. He doesn’t try to trick people. He enjoys having us find out about Him, and enjoys having us search after Him. That said, science exists as a way to reveal God, not as a contradiction of God or as a replacement for Him. The more I look into these debates, the more I think ‘wait, we are getting away from God here and into a world of back-biting and semantics’. So let’s focus on the realities: God created everything and remains actively involved in the world today. Man did not evolve from amoebas; man was created by God. I’m convinced that science & religion will lead to the same realities, and will compliment each other provided: enough understanding through science & correct interpretation of scripture. Those are big caveats. I think science has the more work to do, but I think the more we tinker with interpretation the farther we get from the Truth. I am a scientist at heart (as opposed to an engineer). I believe that we can apply our minds and discover truth. I believe that’s the way God designed us. The bible lays it all out plainly. Science allows us to confirm God’s truth through painstaking research.
Some Links:
CMA’s Homepage: www.cmalliance.org
Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family: www.family.org
Ravi Zacharias’ page: www.gospelcom.net/rzim/newindex.php
Google’s CMA Search: Google:CMA
Apologists, Old Earth creationists, Reasons to
Believe: www.reasons.org - home of Hugh Ross.
New Earth creationists: www.answersingenesis.org - not to be confused with Kent Hovind. I need to dig a little more here.
A web site for Kent Hovind (a new-earther): www.drdino.com. Compare him to Hugh Ross. Hugh always gives footnotes & fact-based
reasons. I think I’ll stick with Hugh.
OK here’s a debate between Hugh & Kent
with liberal editorial by AiG: http://answersingenesis.org/news/ross_hovind_analysis.asp
Another site to research: www.creationists.org
(Young Earth Creationists).
I need to check this out: www.swordandspirit.com
Winning battles for Christ in the courts, the
Alliance Defense Fund: www.alliancedefensefund.org
Our Local Baptists, Charles Stanley and In
Touch Ministries: www.intouch.org
Link page of Christian images: http://members.spree.com/education/webbge/megajesuslinks/laughing_jesus.htm.
In 1997, Linda and I went to a retreat at
CMA directory site: http://dmoz.org/
History of the CMA: http://users.drew.edu/~sgillesp/
Check out this song
by Jeni Varnadeau. About 6 minutes into the song, she starts
with a series of scriptures describing the path to being a born again
Christian. She has this in a flash
application on her web site. It’s good
listening.
.
Some People’s Web sites:
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/cis/mp3/
- this site includes a creed
A young earth creationist argument: http://home.switchboard.com/antievolutionist
A creed:
http://www.walkinthelight.addr.com/about.htm
From Freddy Hayler: www.songofangels.com/How_to_Know_God.htm
Donovan Martin: http://www.angelfire.com/on3/DonovanMartin/apologetics.html
.
Scotland
Jamison is a surname of the Gunn clan of
I lived in
A great place to start surfing is www.electricscotland.com. Here’s another: www.rampantscotland.com.
Ask me about eating butter on my first trip to
My Joseph Noel Paton appreciation page.
I was last in
Favorite ale:
Tennents
I saw Nessie!
I really did – see my Facts about Chris page.
Check out The Real McKenzies on mp3.com. I especially like their version of Scots Wha’
Ha’e. Warning – it’s Robbie Burns &
Bagpipe-based punk music.
I have never been this far north; I’m sure
I’ll enjoy it when I do:
There is a Gunn clan museum in
Latheron (intersection of A9 and A99).
It’s only open in the summer.
See http://www.caithness.org/community/museums/clangunn/
for directions.
Gunn people on the web: www.celticviking.com
I like the work of architect Charles Rennie
Mackintosh.
A guide to traditional Scottish Music: http://www.sfcelticmusic.com/SCOTMUSC/scottcds.htm
Neat wallpapers: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/uswallpaper/index.html. I haven’t yet explored the rest of the site.
Bill McDonald’s travel photos: http://www.bill.mcdonald.name/images/Travel/Scotland/index.htm
The Orkneyjar
site (
A very nice picture
site of Scottish Neolithic stones.
Here’s the starting
point at Megalithic Walks. There is
lots of good stuff here.
Another picture site: http://www.bordersphotography.co.uk/index.html
.
Shawangunks (New York
My Shawangunks
page. If you don’t know these mountains,
you need to. Check it out.
.
Stamp Collecting
This interest is basically on hold for financial reasons. I have some first day covers from the early 90’s and several sheets from the 80’s and 90’s.
Travel
[cross
reference to Scotland, Shawangunks]
I am really looking forward to taking vacations in
My travel page is a work in process. In the meantime, ponder this wisdom from Mark Twain:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime”.
Voluntary Simplicity
Here is a page I put together on simplicity.
Else
Some of these pages are unclassifiable!
Pine Bush, NY’s Coordinates: long W74.3, lat N41.6
Ever wonder what the ‘N.A.’ stands for in a
bank’s name (eg. Wachovia Bank, N.A.)?
National Association.
The Official US Time: http://nist.time.gov/ with a few related exhibits
US Naval Observatory Time: http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl
US & World sun rise/set and moon rise/set
times: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html
Confused about your time zone? http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc
Human Population Clock: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/clock2.html
Political Graveyard: http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/NY/OR.html
- obscure history; look up YOUR county to see its famous sons & daughters.
Check our national terrorism threat
level: http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/
Proof that you can find anything on the
web: The world Rock, Paper, Scissors
society!! http://www.worldrps.com/index.html. Where is the ‘Evens-Odds’ page (as in “let’s
shoot for it”)?
Ever wonder what would have happened if Abe
Lincoln had PowerPoint? Peter Norvig
has: http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/making.html
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