Open House/Open Hack tonight at 7:00

[wbaltic.livejournal.com]

We are hosting our "First Friday: Open House/Open Hack" starting tonight at 7:00. Bring whatever electronic project you are currently working on and come on over. You'll be able to check out the projects our members have been creating, relax and make new friends.

Willoughby and Baltic's Hackerspace
197A Elm Street-Above the Subway Sandwich Shop
Davis Square

www.willoughbybaltic.com

Binoculars?

[perich.livejournal.com]

I lucked into a ticket to the Pats game this Sunday, but my generous host advised me that I might like binoculars, as the seats are pretty high up. Unfortunately, my Saturday is absolutely swamped and we're leaving early on Sunday to get in some tailgating. And I don't own binoculars (who does?).

So, odd question: is there anywhere in the Davis / Porter area where I could buy cheap binoculars? They don't need a lot of fancy features - just being compact would be enough.

Plan B: we're leaving from my friend's house in Newton, so if anyone happens to know a spot there that sells cheap binoculars that would be open early Sunday morning, that'd also be clutch.

Thanks!

Edit: None of the places listed open before 11:00 AM on Sundays, if they open at all. I ended up going to the Target in Watertown, en route to Newton. I got some decent Eddie Bauer-brand binoculars that came with a small mini-tool for $22.

Dental recommendation

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

I wanted to let the community know that I had an amazing experience today with Dr. Ramesh Izedian of Dental Arts in Somerville. I picked him because my insurance approved of him and because he was conveniently located on Highland. But:

1 sitting.
4 fillings.
No Novocain (!)
No pain.

Dr. Izedian was courteous, respectful, reassuring, and highly competent. He showed me exactly what he was going to do before he did it, and he explained everything along the way so that I wouldn't be scared. And when I walked out, my face wasn't numb and I could go straight to work and work a full day without any difficulty.

Of course, if there are any problems later, I'll certainly update this post and express my dismay. But right now, I am very, very happy, deeply relieved, and delighted to recommend him.

(Please note: this is my first time posting to this community, so if I haven't done this right, I will be happy to correct it. Thanks!)

Somerville and Cambridge election results

[ron_newman]

Somerville election results are available on the city web site by ward (HTML) and by precinct (PDF).

All of the votes are pretty lopsided. You'll find no surprises here, except possibly for the two non-binding questions.

The confusingly-worded Question 4 regarding religious discrimination in Israel won, 9100-5542 (with 4431 blanks). Question 5, which proposed replacing the state legislature by an assembly of 100 randomly-chosen citizens, lost resoundingly, 3468-11415 (with 4090 blanks). (Edit: In Somerville, these were on the ballot only in Denise Provost's legislative district, which covers about half the city.)

Cambridge election results are here, though only as totals and not broken down by ward and precinct. They either didn't bother counting write-ins and blanks, or just didn't report them online. Part of Cambridge had the same non-binding Question 4 as Somerville, and it won there by 9668-3662. Another part of Cambridge had a different non-binding Question 4 regarding greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy; that also won by a huge margin.

Besides President and US Senator, no other offices were contested in either city. Just a bunch of Democrats running unopposed for 1 US House seat, 8 Mass. House seats, 4 Mass. Senate seats, 2 Governor's Council seats, and Middlesex County Register of Probate.