Pawn Shops?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Are there any decent pawn shops in the area? I've got some small electronics that I'm interested in selling, and don't have the patience to deal with meeting people from Craigslist or mailing/paypaling Ebay stuff right now.

I've not heard of any in Somerville itself, but I might have missed something. Otherwise, does anyone have any good experience with any pawn shops anywhere within biking/walking distance (5 miles or so) of Somerville?

Wheel Alignment

[kennygster.livejournal.com]

My car's alignment is seriously out of whack.  Has anyone had a good experience getting a 4-wheel alignment in the Cambridge/Somerville area?  If so, where would you recommend?

OpenStreetMap Mapping Party

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

The OpenStreetMap project is having a Mapping Party, hosted in Somerville, MA on February 14th and 15th.

From the OpenStreetMap website: "OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you. OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth." In Boston, it includes roads, buildings, and more: you can see the map for an example.

Streets aren't the only thing that OpenStreetMap does -- whether your interest is green space, walkways, or bike paths, OpenStreetMap may be the project for you. Help put your house on the map -- or make sure that road that's closed for construction is marked, long before Google Maps finds out about it.

OpenStreetMap data is licensed under a Creative Commons license -- meaning that you can re-use the data for whatever you like, something that other mapping providers don't do. That means that if you've got an idea for a map, you can create it. Whether it's the local Davis Square hotspots, putting together a map of neighborhood house forclosures, or simply creating a map of a nice walking path you take on the way to work, with OpenStreetMap, if you can imagine the map, you can make it happen.

If you're interested in learning more about OpenStreetMap, and getting involved in helping to keep a free map of the world available, starting with your neighborhood, join us at the Bloc 11 Cafe in Somerville on Feb 14th and 15th. More information is available on the OpenStreetMap Boston wiki page.