Mapping beliefs from past videos | Ramblin' & Amblin' | Nov 4, 2026
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer)
Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
• Series Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNtb969T2-l0
• The Sound Above Curriculum: https://www.just3ws.com/series/the-sound-above/
• Canonical Profile: https://www.just3ws.com
Spoken Overview:
"Part of why I'm looking at the old UGTASIC videos and I'm thinking about what was going through our head, well I can only speak to my head, but what was I seeing, what were people putting out into the world and what did I believe..."
Recorded: November 4, 2026
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Part of why I'm looking at the old UGTASIC videos and I'm
thinking about what was going through our head, well I can
only speak to my head, but what was I seeing, what were
people putting out into the world and what did I believe
and what denial did I have for the state of things
and things I gave a pass for because I just didn't realize
what they meant at the time or just blind optimism and not
seeing what was the real motivations of people and
corporations
and that like with companies that we see that are more than
happy to flip for whatever they think is going to benefit
them the most, remember once upon a time Target was pride,
right? Once upon a time, once upon a time, once upon a time, once
upon a time, were they ever? No, they weren't. They were a
capitalist corporation who was aware of their customer and
what their customer liked and what brought their customer
into the store.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
What the customer wanted to be affiliated with. Once upon a
time, Starbucks, you know, was seen as a progressive
company. Oh, they pay good. Blah, blah, blah.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Well, then
they turned into a bunch of union busting. Well, you know,
what we have now in Google, Benton E and renamed Lake
America and Gulf of America. You've got to be kidding me. What do they think?
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
They
thought they had it locked up. They thought the door was
closed behind them and that we were in here with them and
we are still. I'm publishing to YouTube, which when I first
started Ugetastic, I didn't use YouTube because I didn't
trust them. I went with Vimeo because there was something about the
licensing.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I can't remember what it was. And there was like
a 15 minute limit or something like that, if I recall
correctly, for YouTube back in the day, which all of that
has changed. And I used Poster S, which I've found out that was owned by
somebody who was just delightful. Totally not a jerk, in my
opinion.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
That's my personal opinion. And for my own reasons
. And, uh, you know, that, uh, that got shuttered and man,
when that thing got shut down, that really messed me up
because, uh, lost a lot of content, um, that I had written
out of writing. Um, we are still in a panopticon and just because there was
this blue wave doesn't mean it's gone.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, a lot of
people who've gone mask off are now, um, you know, it's
funny is they were always the ones who had the most trouble
with putting the mask on when we were all just needed to
cooperate and get along with each other and stop breathing. They were in the same space for a little while, you know,
put on the mask. Um, now they, now they breathe just fine
with a mask on, um, for the ones that are doing the worst
stuff, ice. Um, but everybody else thought they got this
locked up.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And now it's going to be a whole lot of awkward, awkward,
awkward, awkward, awkward moments where Proton was supposed
to be, uh, you know, a, uh, bastion of, of, of, of privacy. And then they want AI. Amazon was never on our side and,
and basically moved all of the internet into Amazon. Uh, which, uh, you know, the only thing I give Bezos credit
for is, you know, AWS was, is, is a technical marvel for
all of its problems.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Um, much like, uh, Steve Jobs, who was not exactly
humanitarian, but, uh, you know, he actually did build
computers and in a garage. Um, he had a vision. Bezos had a vision. What the vision is now has become horrible and warped.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, uh, I'm, uh, I'm listing a lot of things here that I'm
talking about. It's how, as I'm going back through eubatastic, this is
before, before all of these things were known. And even, you know, things that I've learned about people. Um, I've worked with some of these people, um, and none of
them compare to, to what I'm talking about here.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But I, I know that they know stuff about me. And I know stuff about them. And the world is a different place now. And there's a whole lot of awkward moments I had.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And that as we're looking at, as I'm looking back, I'm
going to just keep it to myself here. So I'm looking back at, at those videos. This is where it is a challenge, um, is, uh, mapping, like
trying to triangulate. What, what was I believing and thinking and imagining then?
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And what is it that I've learned since then? Ultimately, eventually I want to have conversations with
some of these people and find out what they see and triang
ulate with them. Um, because all of this is, it's really, I don't know,
except I have to, like, how far is it from here to there? I don't know, I'm going to have to go there and, and
measure, you know, I'm going to have to travel.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
I'm going to have to walk the path to get there before I
can tell you how far it is. And yeah, I could, uh, do some triangulation, funky stuff. I'm, I'm not trying to beat the, uh, analogy here, the
metaphor. But, um, uh, we're here after a big midterm election, and
there's going to be a change of power.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
But, what was said, and what was done, has already been
said and done. And if people all of a sudden, who were bending the knee to
our regressive authoritarian regime,
because they thought they were locked in, they're not done
with us. They're not done. And they never, they never were on our side.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And that's what we're finding out. This is going to be really awkward going forward. And I'm, I'm, like, I keep putting off recording, because I
, like, want to have my ducks in a row. But, I know that I will never be able to get all my ducks
in a row, because they're ducks.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And, um, I have to accept that. And I have to sit my butt down and do the recording. And start this. And accept that whatever it is, it is.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And there's going to be people who are going to agree with
me, or disagree with me. And then I have to accept that people are going to look at
the way I structured it, or my use of AI, whatever I did. It's going to, there's going to be people that aren't going
to like it. But I think there's going to be more that will.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And then ultimately, I think where I will be at the end of
this will be in a much more educated place. And I'm trying to stay focused on that. So, it's, it's also fun just to see this finally, uh,
coming, coming full circle. Closing the, the loop on those conversations.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Here, where we're in the era of awkward, awkward
interactions. And some people who, uh, made bets are going to find out
that those calls are, um, not in their favor. It's going to be real interesting. But those of us who have bet a certain way, and think we're
having a big win right now, need to learn from our own
history.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And understand that just because somebody says they're on
your side, or even acts like they're on your side, it doesn
't mean anything. Because they just have their own agenda and they just see
this is another mask that they can put on or take off at
will. And how, how many times did I put masks on other people
because I wanted to see them a certain way? Hmm?
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
How naive was I? How blind was I? How much did I willfully not see the truth? And how many times did I, and that goes both ways.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
It goes both ways for good seeing people and for believing
people that weren't so great more. Um, and that some of them were just humans. They weren't even, and, and so was I. So I, I have to approach this from that perspective.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
And that's what I'm trying to brace myself for. And accept that it's never going to be as perfect as I want
it. Because I never was. And I never, it never was.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Alright. Alright. Alright. Thanks.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Bye.