Travin's Spot

The quest for 6400x1024

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Well I suppose after meeting my goal of finally setting up a Widescreen gaming rig, it could only be outdone by an even wider view angle. My current setup is three displays at 3840x1024 and the experience (on games that actually support it) transcends any gaming experience I can think of. According to studies, one’s peripheral vision captures greater detail than what is in your center view. I never understood this until playing Modern Warfare 2. Here is an example:

and Dragon Age:

Effects, explosions and the extra ambient landscape all play into having one hell of a good time in any game that support these types of resolutions. There is even a website dedicated to identifying which games run best on these setups http://www.widescreengamingforum.com

So far I’ve only experienced Modern Warfare 2, MS Flightsim X, Dirt 2, and DragonAge at these resolutions, but my thirst grows for more! As too does my desire to upstage my current rig at some point.

So enters the next quest, 5x1 displays at 6400x1024. I’ve got the monitors, but just need to obtain an ATI 5850 or ATI 5870 so I can crossfire and conquer. So if you happen to notice one of these cards just sitting around (chuckle), give me a buzz and I’ll pay for shipping.

Anyway, as a parting note… Enjoy the view from FSX under my current rig:

Beautiful Grim

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:28:00 +0000

A wonderful lady and good friend of mine, "Cat" was diagnosed with breast cancer just under a year ago. She has undergone many treatments and while she is fighting hard, it has been quite a strain on her mentally, physically, and financially. Her dedicated boyfriend, "Daarken" has established a site which will begin selling artwork around February 1st, 2010 to take some burden off of Cat. Any funds remaining will then be donated to a breast cancer related charity to be determined in the coming weeks. Please take a moment to head on over to their website: beautifulgrim.org and bookmark it so you can return early next year. Their artwork promises to be something special and you would be helping out someone in need if you decide to purchase.

Benifits and Costs of lowering the minimum wage to assist teenage workers

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:47:00 +0000

Just drafted this short analysis for my Economics class this evening. Interesting data...

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A proposal to lower the minimum wage for any group (in this example we focus on teenagers) would certainly be unconstitutional. Regardless of race, ethnic origin or age all workers in the labor force are entitled to be treated equally.

If we ignore this key roadblock, the lowering of minimum wage for any group diminishes the total size of that group’s workforce as the quantity supply diminishes with a price per worker falloff. If the wage was already above the standard market price, this in turn would push the current quantity supplied/demanded toward equilibrium and provide healing to that group’s market. However, according to some groups there is insufficient evidence that the demand for teenage workers justifies the lowering of minimum wage. Many of the reporting processes we rely upon such as the Current Population Survey (CPS) supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Census have under and over estimates as independent studies show the surveys are not always verified (Mellow & Sider, 1983). Because of this, any adjustments to the minimum wage for this group could risk the stability of a market which might already be in equilibrium.

Unemployment among teens

The 2009 August Seasonal CPS report for Employed and unemployed full- and part-time workers generated by the U.S. Bureau of Census indicates that out of a study group of 4,905 teens working or looking for work surveyed between the ages of 16 and 19, an average of 30% are unemployed. This number of unemployed is a substantial increase in the approximate 21% unemployment rate for August 2008 and the 15.7% rate for 2007. In contrast, the same report details that for the national labor market (teens and adults) an average of 8% workers are unemployed or looking for work, 6.7% in 2007, and 5.6% in 2006. Given this data, the unemployment rate for teenagers has increase at a rate almost double that of the national rate. This shows a dangerous trend, establishing that the market for individuals between ages 16 and 19 has become saturated and is forcing a would-be labor pool to wait on the sidelines till change in their labor market occurs.

Supply and Demand analysis

According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, 91% of teenage workers are at or below prevailing Federal minimum wage. Using supply and demand, we can see that there was a 14.3 million surplus of minimum wage workers in 2008. This is represented by the attached chart. Taking these two items into consideration, in order to affect a return to market equilibrium the federal government would need to cut minimum wage by a range of [$1, $1.25] returning it to $4.60 an hour. Based off the law of supply and demand, this would decrease the surplus of workers and increase the overall quantity demand by employers for minimum wage workers. As the surplus is decreased, the total number of unemployed teenagers would also decrease.

Summary
Given this information, the federal government faces a difficult challenge. The surplus of teenage workers is rising at an exponential rate. Minimum wage has also continued an upward trend which incurs a national surplus of workers as well. However, the total percentage of teenage workers within the labor market is roughly 2%. While applying a cut to the national minimum wage would ultimately benefit teenagers, it has a high risk of disastrous effects on the rest of the minimum wage labor pool. The challenge before the current administration is enormous! Should the government apply a different standard for the U.S workforce within the 16 to 19 age bracket, thus going against the constitution? Is this acceptable simply to return ~2% of the labor pool back to the labor market? How important are the roughly 452 thousand teenagers who cannot find a job in the current labor market? These are questions left to a better economist than the rookie writing this analysis.

References

U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008-2009). Employed and unemployed full- and part-time workers by sex and age, seasonally adjusted Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/web/cpseea6.pdf

U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008). Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by sex, 1970 to date Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat2.pdf

Mellow, W., & Sider H. (1983). Accuracy of response in labor market surveys: evidence and implications. Journal of Labor Economics, 1(4), 331-344.

Reconnecting

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Reconnected with a good friend today! We havn't spoken in almost 16 years and it was good to share stories. So many happy memories and LOTS of flashbacks! Thanks Penny, I can't wait till we talk again.

Spam

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:15:00 +0000

Sorry for the spam. A weakness in the Blogger code was exploited this morning and two odd posts made it onto travin.com. I've made some changes so hopefully that will resolve the problem.

Only now starting to relax

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:45:00 +0000

If you haven't been around me lately, then you should know that I've been REALLY stressed. A lot has played into generating that stress such as an increased workload, a new baby, and obviously the troubled economy.

It's funny how stress works. It is certainly useful in keeping focused at times, but too much can really cause one to make mistakes. Fortunatly the ill effects have been small and infrequent, but they still get under my skin when I think back to them.

It is even more interesting in how you go about releasing the stress and the side effects it can have on you. For example, I had a week off a few months back. By the time I had returned to work, I had only started to relax. I also came back to an increased workload and so any released stress was quickly added back. Not to mention, the fact that my time off didn't really help caused me even more stress.

I'm fortunate that I am now nearing a point where I am starting to relax AND still have a whole week to continue relaxing (probably just jinxed myself). It would be nice to retun to work next week, calm and ready to tackle the new year.

At the least, I will have plenty of time to hang out with Olivia...

Back, safe and sound.

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:04:00 +0000

We have made it home. All is quite, Liv and Georgia are fast asleep.

Me?

I've just finished setting up a method to update both blogs and facebook with one e-mail sent from my Blackberry. Funny enough, doing something like that actually relaxes me. :)

Have a good evening and check back soon for photo's and videos.

There and Back Again

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:07:00 +0000

It's been a long week, traveling to NC, visiting Georgia's family, visiting my family and now driving back to VA. Our visit started out with Olivia having a high fever and heading to the ER (she is fine now). Christmas day was crazy with driving back and forth between houses. My cousin fell ill right after dinner (he is fine now too) and so that was a bit too much excitement.

However Friday and today made up for it. Liv is feeling great and most of the family got to spend a good deal of time playing wither her.

We are traveling home now. It will be good to return to a bit of a normal pace.

We will post pictures and videos on our family blog soon.

Happy Holidays!!!

Warhammer Video Production - Travin.com strikes again!

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Well I haven't made a game video in about 2 years, but I guess I've still got the knack as the production I did for Warhammer's most current phase of development made it into a company wide presentation and is also included in this months newsletter. I had to re-master the music for public release, so it isn't as glorious as it use to be. But I am still tickled pink that they decided to use it at all. Anyway, here is the video!

Five Weeks of Baby Music

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:48:00 +0000

So here is the complete collection. This has been a joy so far!

Nelson Family: Adventures (site launched)

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:42:00 +0000

As promised, Georgia and I (mostly Georgia) have launched our family site. It is cleverly (my idea) located at the URL http://family.travin.com/

We have already begun posting to the site and will continue to do so well after the birth. So if you are willing to endure the "Do I look fat?" or the endless pictures of things that make us say "Awwwww..." then come on over and leave us a few comments.

Guys, don't feel like you've got to stay away just because it's baby stuff. I need all the help I can! She routienly chains me to the couch and forces me to watch A Baby Story, House of Babies, Bringing Home Baby, Amazing Births, and Babies: Special Delivery.

Anyway! I'm sure it will be a great location for all of us to share in the laughing, crying, and shear excitement I know is soon to come.

We're off!!

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:53:00 +0000

Can't say much more as I'm sure your eyes have already been drawn to the image below. Yep! Georgia and I are 13 weeks along! We are so unbelievably happy. I'll be constructing a page soon so you can track our progress. Thank you all for your warm words and encouragement. Please continue to pray for us and our baby.

Chemical Brothers

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:52:00 +0000

If you don't know it, Chemical Brothers is simply one of the best groups that exists. Their music bridges the gap between the east and west and their unique style in presenting that music has touched millions. I found this video just recently and hadn't seen it in awhile. Now I have the chance to share it with you. I've also posted their newest release "Do it again" in my playlist section so please enjoy!

Now sit back and witness this group perform their magic...

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:45:00 +0000

So if you know me at all, I've been a huge fan of Trance music (specifically GOA) for a LONG time now. I even use to run a website back in 1994 (yes I'm old) where I would post trance songs in the MOD format (yes, we already confirmed I'm old). In the spirit of that site, I've decided to create a small playlist section. I'll update this section to play my current favorites. To wet your whistle I'm embedding this video of the Sensation White rave. Someday perhaps I'll have a chance to go to it. Until then, I'll just keep on listening to my mp3s...

Video Editing - Take one!

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:18:00 +0000

So for a LONG time now, I've been into making videos of the games I play. I've been doing it ever since I first made a video for Magestorm way back in the 90's. Recently however, I've been interested in learning how to do special effects for live action videos. It's a whole different ball game, but fortunately the lessons learned on my previous projects have helped out immensely. The process is very similar in the use of keyframes and layers and I can't wait to try some of the more involved effects. For now however, please enjoy my VERY noobish attempts at special effects.

We are home! - Less sand, and no waves

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Well the beach was fun while it lasted. We are back now and just spending the final half of our vacation relaxing around the house.

Our last full day at the beach did present a few photo ops. We built a castle! It started out as a small project with Georgia and I. Then after a few minutes, most of the family joined in added pieces here and there. We had a wave break at the front of the castle to ward off the inevitable doom of high tide. Multiple moats to aid when the hoards of orcs attacked from across the sand dunes, and a small village adjoining the keep to supply the incredible amounts of wine the king and queen demanded from the subjects.

Georgia did an incredible job with the center keep and it lasted long after the rest of the castle had washed back into the ocean. We really had fun the last few days and we were very sad to leave. Her family is really fun to be around and they have really accepted me it seems.

So now we are home and getting caught back up with school and house work. We really miss the waves at night, but if anyone feels overly generous, I've added the Conair SU7 Sound Therapy machine to my wishlist . I also took time last night to adjust the frame of this site so that the menu on the left can incorporate more descriptive text. I also increased the size of the main display area a bit. Overall, I think the ease at posting has helped me with wanting to keep the site updated. Hopefully this will continue on into the coming months. I'll post more late, but here are the remaining shots from the castle work.

Vacation = Food, more food, and BEER

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:03:00 +0000

Dinners around here are something special! Each family is in charge of a dinner, and this makes for a big variety of foods. Tonight was our night and we supplied a huge dinner of BBQ pork, chicken, coleslaw and bake beans. I think I almost ate myself into a coma the food was so good! After an hour or so of our coma naps, the evening broke down into games on the beach. Our favorite is Bocce ball. Quite a challenge when there is loads of soft sand and high winds. The kids had fun by watching one of Georgia's cousins being buried inside the partially remaining sand castle not to return until the rising tide had all but uncovered him. With the setting of the sun, we've retired inside to eat watermelon and of course drink more beer. I even think there might be a bit of scotch in our future as well
It's a non-stop party here folks, and the week isn't even half over.

82 degrees, light breeze & BEER

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:00:00 +0000

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the house and the surrounding beach. The waves were pretty nice today and the temperature is perfect. 80-82 degrees with a light breeze. Still getting a few light showers from time to time, but they are barely noticeable. We spent most of the morning being kicked around by the waves. Then we retired to the house for lunch and so the kids could play the Wii (of course). I'm telling ya, that console is one of the best inventions of all time. I've never seen a group of kids so hooked on being active instead of just sitting on the couch barely moving. Thank you Nintendo! Overall, the house is a really great place. It is just big enough for the family, and no one ever feels like they are sitting on top of everyone else. I can comfortably sit at the laptop and relax while writing this post. There are over 10 rooms in the house, two separate living rooms each having their own TV. High speed wireless is a good bonus for the two MMO geeks in the house (take a guess who those are) and two separate kitchens as well. The house is also so far down off the beaten path that we get almost zero traffic and little if anyone else on our beach. I highly recommend this location to anyone looking to rent a beach house for the summer. Well, I'm off to a cool beer and spend some more time on the sandy beach. Cheers!

Day One - Thank God for vacation days!

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:39:00 +0000

Well we've arrived! The drive was pretty bad, but we are happy to finally be stopped and stationary for five days. We are in the same house here on Topsail Island, NC. The first day is always pretty much the same. Everyone doing their own thing until the whole family arrives. A perfect time for a nap! We had a nice little storm roll in around 7pm. Was great to just sit on the deck (with a "few" beers) and watch the lighting roll in across the ocean. Glad to be here and hopefully I'll finish unwinding by Monday so I can really get on to relaxing!

GameSpy - Warhammer Review

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:07:00 +0000

If you've been out of the loop, then you might not know that I am working on EA's next MMO: Warhammer online. I'll spare you from previous reviews and just start anew with the most recent one from Gamespy.

In a recent conversation with GameSpy, EA Mythic General Manager Mark Jacobs offered up the official reason for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's delay to Q1 2008: the team simply decided to invest more time in development in order to make the best game possible. Given how fluid release dates are in this industry and how many reasons are offered for their changes, such an explanation couldn't help but raise a few cynical eyebrows among Warhammer fans. Clearly the team is aware of this, because at a recent EA pre-E3 event the team was showing off the fruits of that delay: a completely revamped Dwarf and Orc play experience and redesigned starting areas to take advantage of all the team had learned in the development process. Well, good on them, because after playing the revised Orcs, I'm starting to believe I should be less cynical. (read more...)

Google - Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Travin) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:33:00 +0000

So I figure my first post should be about the system that actually provides the service for me. I looked everywhere for good blogging software. I started first with compiled solutions, and then moved to PHP solutions. I even looked at what Georgia uses. Which is an installed app called Wordpress. In the end I figured that the time investment wasn't worth having to maintain my own code. It was at that point I started looking for providers. I looked at quite a few namely, Google's Blogger, Blog.com, Livejournal, MySpace, Windows Live Spaces, and Yahoo! 360°. In the end I settled on Google's Blogger. Shameless plug:

I chose Blogger because of it's commitment to site developers, the data is backed up and stored on Goggle's servers, and can be controlled via e-mail and cellphone if desired. It was also extremely easy to integrate into my own site and makes use of RSS and ATOM feeds.

Time will tell if this was a good decision. If you find that I update this blog more than once a week, then it was a good decision after all. I look forward to any responses I get. It is the first time I've really opened up this site for comments from anyone out there. Time will tell if that was truly a wise thing to do.