I was curious about looking backward on a mountain bike ride, so I mounted the GoPro camera onto the seatpost aimed over the rear wheel. It’s neat seeing the rear suspension work and watching the view speed away. My shadow splashes over trail and trees as I descend Hide and Seek Trail at Sandy Ridge on a warm morning in October.

MTBRearView Sandy Ridge from David Shrock on Vimeo.

National parks entrance fees are waved for Veteran’s Day (November 11th), so my sister decided to visit Mount Rainier National Park. Neither of us had visited Mount Rainier since childhood, and never during snow season, so I mounted the snow wheels on the car and we drove up to Paradise. Only one road open, and no going beyond Paradise. The weather turned out better than forecasted, and the mountain shook off the clouds long enough for a nice view.

There she is dressed in fresh snow and a cloudy veil.

“Apple TV Apologizes” cartoon posted on recode.net nails the problem on the head.

What’s crazy is that this New Apple TV (4th generation) can use your iPhone via Bluetooth to speed setup without having to manually input information, but entering your password becomes more painful compared to older Apple TV models. Entering text on-screen using the former block-arranged alphabet was tedious, but much quicker than this single line of characters. At launch, there is no support with Remote app (supported as of tvOS 9.2 in 2016) which was very handy for entering text and pasting passwords. Bluetooth keyboard is not supported in 4th generation TV (support.apple) in 2015. (Support added in 2016.)

Poor interface designs encourage users to create short, simple passwords. Exactly the opposite of what Apple should be encouraging. One could avoid apps requiring logins, or use iPad instead. If you don’t like storing your password on Apple TV for iTunes rentals, you may rent on a Mac or iPad and stream to TV.

For those hoping for an improved navigation experience, forget it. Same layout, but larger icons means more navigating. Apparently Siri is Apple’s primary answer to tiresome on-screen navigation clicking/swiping.

Update: Remote App updated for 4th generation Apple TV, and tvOS 9.2 (early 2016) includes support for external keyboards. I highly recommend using Remote App for entering text. Speaking to Siri is another password entry option, but tedious for strong passwords. The update also includes minor improvement to navigation.

Update WWDC: Apple announced “single sign-on” feature for tvOS coming later in 2016 enabling supporting apps to sign on just once reducing the need to enter passwords for difference subscription services.

(full res)

Skyrim adventurers need to look good when fighting dragons. Follow my post on beautifying Skyrim to help your characters look their best with improved scenery and lighting. If you’re new to mods or Skyrim, check out my first post in this series.

If nothing else, give “Enhanced Lighting and FX” (ELFX) a try. Some of my screenshots use “Seasons of Skyrim” ENB, but most are with a modified “RealVision” ENB and other mods listed in my “Pretty Skyrim” post. One technique to help light a character is to have the follower hold a torch. You may also use “Face Light” spells (2 levels of brightness) for gentle illumination. Think of it as like having a helper hold a reflector at a photoshoot. “Face Light” is an actual light, so remember to dispel it before sneaking or preforming criminal acts. Unless your intent is to get caught and look great in jail. Like in the real world, best results are captured near sunrise or sunset.

• Face Light by tktk

Installation note:

Here I share my choices on body mesh and texture replacers. For detailed steps on installing with breast-and-butt physics (BBP) or dual sheath support in the correct order, see my previous post. Swapping textures is safe, but installation and load order matter for custom skeleton and body mesh.

Dragonborn always looked like a robot when standing or sitting, and have you noticed how woman walk exactly like men? It might also be nice if a secondary weapon shows on a character. New stand or sit idles are easy fixes, but dual sheathing or special body physics (boob jiggle or combat) require some extra steps.

Here I cover how to install new bodies, with or without breast and butt physics, new animations for idles or walks, and having two sheathed weapons show up on your character. In another post I cover my choices for body replacers, skin textures, and more on making characters pretty.

Keep in mind that some non-FNIS custom animations replace existing animations, and for each action you generally get one animation. Your character can sit in a different position, cross-legged or whatever, and will always sit that way with a few exceptions. I share a couple suggestions below under step H.

Dual sheathing, including shield or staff on back, needs a special skeleton. Boob physics (HDT) requires a new skeleton and supporting body mesh. I’m using XPMSE skeleton since it has both covered along with many popular body meshes. For best results certain requirements, including optional animation packs, must be installed before installing XPMSE.

Use a mod organizer supporting FOMOD, such as NMM or MO, to include install options. If you’re new to installing mods, see my first post in this series.

Installation order matters:

These install steps are based on documentation for XPMSE by Groovtama. Follow the steps no matter if you want breast physics or dual sheath. I bet you never considered boobs and swords depended so much on the same things. You’ll want to follow the same order for hair and cape physics, too. This tutorial assumes you want HDT physics for body jiggle. Other pure-animation BBP mods also exist that don’t require HDT Physics Extensions.

Review the XPMSE description page for mods not compatible which include some HDT equipment.

After installation of other mods, you may review load order on this Google doc by the HDT Physics Extension team.