Earlier this week Valve released a 20th (!!) anniversary update for Half Life 2. One of the major features added is developer commentary, which they shipped for Episode 1 and 2, but never for the original game. It's been very interesting to listen to the commentary so far (I'm only about half-way through the game), and I've learned several interesting things that I didn't previously know:

• In the very first platform puzzle, if you try to throw all of the crates out of the window (breaking the puzzle in the process), a new crate is spawned in while you aren't looking; very clever!
• Loot crates will typically drop whatever you're most in need of at the moment.
• Eli winks at the player when he says that Alyx is the only thing Gordon can't handle; I've played this game countless times and I've never noted that detail!
• If given long enough, seagulls will perch on the dune-buggy and poop on it! You can then clean the buggy off by driving through shallow water.

Also released was a 2-hour documentary on the making of the game, which I'm also about half-way through. It's always fun to peer behind the curtain on stuff like this.

The recent devastation in western North Carolina from hurricane Helene is truly mind-boggling. There is no doubt that it will be multiple years before the roads there are back to anything resembling "normal." I'm sure the death toll will also only go up from where it is now, which is heartbreaking. Watching on the news, one can't help but to feel utterly helpless.

One aspect of this ever-changing story that will be fascinating to watch will be how the North Carolina DOT chooses to repair the collapse of I-40:

In addition to the curved section shown above, a longer, straighter section also washed out, with the adjacent river coming perilously close to the road's edge. From a logistical perspective, it's going to be very interesting to see how they choose to fix this collapse. Is it better to cut into the neighboring rock and essentially shift the road away from the river's edge? Do you try to backfill the river somehow? I can only imagine the engineering challenges that await this repair.

A terrific YouTube channel to follow for this kind of content is Casey Jones - Professional Engineer. He often digs deep into stories such as this, providing his own insights as a certified civil engineer. The video below has some good footage of the damage the highway received, along with some brief commentary about the challenges ahead.

Here's an interesting video describing how the calories within food are determined.

Here's a terrific video from Rick Beato on why music is getting worse. He's a music producer (and has a terrific channel), so if anyone knows the ins and outs, it's him. Check it out.

I really enjoyed this video detailing the surprising history of blue LEDs (and why they were so difficult to produce).

The Essential Craftsman channel on YouTube occasionally has great philosophical videos (I've featured a few here on the site before). Today's video on "The Mindset of Doing High Quality Work" is worth a watch. In the new year, one of my professional goals will be to improve the quality of my work. In recent times, I've become much more lax in testing the code that I write. This has led to bone-headed bugs that ended up needing a hot-fix, often something that I could have caught had I spent some time testing.

One of the comments in this video really resonated with me: "Strive for perfection, settle for excellence." I think that will be my mantra in 2024 for my professional work.

Pretty cool video on the complexity of one of the greatest songs in Sesame Street. It's amazing just how intricate the musicianship is in this!

The latest Smarter Every Day video is engineering on an entirely different level. The math, software, and other challenges this company face are tremendously complex. It's amazing that people get to do this for a living! I bet we hear a lot more about this technology in the future; this seems like a promising area of development and manufacturing.

The Operations Room channel on YouTube has been killing it for a while now. Their top-down, animated videos show some of the most important battles and events in history. I've learned a ton about events in World War 2, Vietnam, the Gulf war, and even interesting isolated events. Their latest video, on the battle of Alligator Creek at Guadalcanal, is fascinating and I've linked it below. This is definitely a channel to follow; there's lots of terrific content.

Today's Tom Scott video feels very prescient. I too have had the feeling that we are standing on the cusp of something big; though I'm not sure if that something is good or bad. The problem Tom was trying to solve was also interesting (who knew that subtle quirk about GMail's labels?!?).

I learned this morning that The New Yankee Workshop is now posting full episodes of the show to YouTube! The woodworker in me is freaking out just a little bit at this news; there are so many good episodes of this classic show! Below is a small message from Russell Morash, the producer of the show (and the owner of the shop where they shot the show). It's a neat walk down memory lane.

The story in this Essential Craftsman video is truly remarkable; it's well worth its 10 minutes.

Rail fanning videos are among my favorites to watch on YouTube (and there are plenty of great channels for this kind of content). I'm not much of a steam train fan, but the video I have linked below is a real treat. There is no narration; just the sights and sounds of the steam train rolling through the Pennsylvania countryside. It's incredibly well shot, and is a real treat in 4K resolution. This makes for great background material while you work.

Having grown up in the southern United States, I've known about irrigation pivots for most of my life. What I didn't know, however, is just how complicated they are. This fascinating SmarterEveryDay video showcases the inner workings of these amazing devices.

The Springfield Files, an episode in the 8th season of The Simpsons (and a terrific episode), briefly introduces the video game Kevin Costner's Waterworld. The joke is that the game costs 40 quarters to play, and after only a few seconds, the character dies and your turn is over.

Recently, a person by the name of Macaw45 developed and released a full-fledged video game based on this idea. Below is a video that shows a perfect playthrough of the game, including the insta-death joke at the beginning of the game. It's a longer video (~20 minutes), but is worth the watch.

How do you keep the world's longest and deepest railroad tunnel safe? Tom Scott takes a look at the fascinating systems behind the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland:

The latest Smarter Every Day video is on tractor pulls and the science behind them. I grew up watching these on TV (alongside monster truck rallies), and I was aware of the basics. It turns out, however, that there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye. This was a really entertaining and enlightening watch; check it out!

YouTube recommended the following video to me tonight. It answers a number of questions I've always had about how the power lines for electric trains are structured:

• How is the contact wire kept straight?
• How does it deal with temperature variations?
• Why do the electric lines have so many components?

The animations in this video make it all clear. It's well worth the short watch if you're curious about this stuff like I am.

Matt Cremona, one of YouTube's best woodworkers, is having his house renovated. He's filming the entire process, and is up to 37 episodes as of this writing (check out the full playlist). He claims that there will be well over 100 episodes in total!

I cannot recommend this series highly enough; it's what I wish shows like This Old House were like. He covers the detail of every stage, showing how they tackle the problems they encounter (some of which are doozies!). I'll link the first video in the series below. This series is a slow burn, but it's well worth the watch.

Here's an enjoyable video from the always terrific Atomic Frontier YouTube channel on the history of weather forecasting, and how we do it today. I learned some stuff I didn't know!