About Me Hi. I’m Steve Murch, and I’m the sole person behind ALIGNVOTE. I think it’s reasonable to know who’s behind the site, and I’d always planned to disclose my founding role when we rolled it out. So now that we’re in beta, let me introduce myself. I’ve lived in […]
Read MoreAuthor: Steve Murch
Why I’m Done Letting “The Stranger” Influence My Vote
The Stranger is a smug, snarky and occasionally clever Seattle media institution that makes some great nightlife recommendations. But when it comes to city politics, it’s on the wrong track. With 50+ candidates running for City Council, many Seattle voters are going to be looking for ways to winnow down […]
Read MoreOn The Accuracy of Self-Reported Data
In the urgent debate around Seattle’s homelessness crisis, many articles (such as this otherwise great one in Crosscut) cite the statistic that 35% of those who are homeless in the Seattle region have some level of substance abuse. It’s often a very central part of the framing, especially by those […]
Read MoreBridging Seattle’s Homeless Divide: Toward Common Ground
Fears matter, and they often prevent action. Each side of the debate needs to have a cogent, believable answer for the other side’s worst fears. That’s currently missing from the debate. But only then can we make progress. I’m lucky to have very smart, good faith, prominent and well-intentioned friends […]
Read MoreWhen Prophecy Fails
Flipping channels today on CNN, MSNBC and elsewhere I’m reminded of a famous book in social psychology. Social Psychologist Leon Festinger, the same researcher who coined “cognitive dissonance,” released a fascinating book in 1956 called When Prophecy Fails. When prophecies fail, the most fervent believers often double-down on their original […]
Read More“Seattle is Dying” : KOMO News Special
Last night, an hour-long program aired without commercial interruption in Seattle on the addiction crisis and homelessness. It’s an important watch. I found it devastating, riveting and motivating, all at once. There is already much being made over the fact that (a) it comes from KOMO News, a station now […]
Read MoreIntroducing popsee – easy video surveys
Have you ever been to an anniversary or birthday celebration which included video well-wishes from friends and family? Or, have you ever wanted to collect a series of video testimonials from customers? If you’ve ever tried to gather a bunch of videos from people, you know it’s not easy. It’s […]
Read MoreGit and GitHub: Tips and Tricks
Using Git to manage your code? We all know about git init, commit, etc. But here are some handy git commands for common scenarios: Clone from GitHub git clone {github url} Unlink your Local Repo from GitHub Ever want to use an example app on GitHub as a starting point for […]
Read MoreDeploying an Angular 6+ Web App to Azure
The process of deploying an Angular 6+ application to Azure is pretty Byzantine, but here are the basic steps to get it going. I really like Microsoft Azure, but the process of deploying an Angular 6+ app is complex, and filled with some very big hidden gotchas. As of this writing, […]
Read MoreNo, Denmark is not a Socialist Country.
Socialism is where the government owns or substantially controls the means of production and distribution of goods. (Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster) Nations like France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Canada… are capitalist nations. They are market economies, not centrally planned and controlled economies. Please correct your friends when you hear them say […]
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