Free museum, Park, and Attraction Passes with your Library Card

Free museum, Park, and Attraction Passes with your Library Card

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Someone on the Slickdeals forum did a write-up on all the states that have library systems that provide free passes to museums, parks, and other attractions. All you need is a library card and then you sign up/check out a pass for the provided locations/parks/museums.

I have tried to use this program in Oregon a few times – but the amount of passes they have is limited and I’ve never been able to actually score one for anything I really wanted to attend. But if you’re looking for cheap and have the time to keep trying, you may be able to score one.

If you live in the Portland area, you might also check out Portland Living on the Cheap as they sometimes have links to free/discount programs like this.

Oregon (OR) – 2 Programs

  • Multnomah County Library (Portland) – My Discovery Pass [multcolib.org]
    Patron access – mydiscoverypass.quipugroup.net [quipugroup.net]. 16+ partners: Artists Repertory Theatre (2 adults), Portland Center Stage (2 people), Portland Opera (2 adults), Portland Columbia Symphony (2 people), Friends of Chamber Music (2 adults), Northwest Children’s Theater (2 people), Portland Art Museum (2 adults, children 17 and under always free), Japanese American Museum of Oregon (2 people), Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (4 people), Five Oaks Museum (2 adults, youth 17 and under free), Portland Japanese Garden (2 adults 18+ plus 8 children 17 and under), Boom Arts (2 people), Rose City Comic Con. Passes limited by availability.
  • LINCC (Clackamas County) – Cultural Pass Express [quipugroup.net]
    Libraries in Clackamas County via LINCC library network. Instant online passes for free admission to museums, gardens, and other local venues. “Your LINCC to Adventure!”
Needing the first 5 Saturdays devotion

Needing the first 5 Saturdays devotion

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Fr Dan Reehil shares this very real story on how he drifted away from his faith, but later became a priest. He experienced the emptiness of this world despite his great worldly success and why we so urgently need conversion if we want to find real meaning and happiness. He shares how we can find final perseverance through the First 5 Saturdays devotion. I completed my first 5 Saturdays years ago, but never really stopped. I regularly attend the first Saturday devotion as part of my monthly cycle of confession and prayer and attest it is a very powerful practice filled with many graces and great personal growth.

Fr Reehil, like many, fell away from his faith for 20 years. He had an extremely successful life on the east coast with lots of money, fancy vacation homes, all the man toys, and even a big New York marriage to an attorney which started with an engagement in Paris. But he was terribly unhappy because as he says, he was missing the one thing: God. After the nasty divorce and emptiness, he returned to the church. He went to reconciliation, started attending daily mass, re-engaged prayer, and started spiritual direction.

His journey involved living as an ascetic monk in Nebraska for 5 years and was later ordained as a diocesan priest – later to be made the exorcist for the diocese. But his talk here also focuses on the kind of conversion he, and we, need.

In this video he shares the simple but profound conversion message from Fatima that gave us the gift of the First 5 Saturdays devotion – and why it is so important to find and live conversion and union with Jesus.

A cluster of displays

A cluster of displays

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NTT describes newer advances of using scattered monitors to create an image. Robert Kooima previously wrote about using a clutter of monitors to create a image in his 2008 paper “Generalized Perspective Projection”

Interestingly, he found using just a random arrangement of monitors apparently doesn’t won’t work. The array is carefully calibrated to display a two-dimensional code on each monitor, then photographed in order to understand “the positional relationship between monitors.”

Self testing a Roland MT-32

Self testing a Roland MT-32

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To self-test a Roland MT-32, turn the unit on while holding down the 3 button, Volume and turn on the unit to enter test mode. You can check all the keys and play some test tones. To test the midi, you need to have the midi cables plugged in. To play a demo song, just hold just Master Volume. The “MIDI Message” light should flicker if it receives data.

Here’s a great guide for setting up an MT-32

Turbotax 2025 backdoor Roth

Turbotax 2025 backdoor Roth

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Reporting a backdoor Roth conversion isn’t always easy on your taxes. Turbotax requires a 2 part solution where you enter it as a 1099-R conversion, then characterize it in your income section as a conversion within 60 days.

As of Jan 2025, the form has *already* changed again; but this is the closest set of dialogs that matches what you need to do:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/retirement-benefits/enter-backdoor-roth-ira-conversion/L7gGPjKVY_US_en_US

Probiotic clothing?

Probiotic clothing?

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Rosie Broadhead has an idea – what if fashion could become skincare. She has experimented on obvious ideas like controlling odors, but she has gone further by working with a microbiologist with embedding bacteria into clothing to create probiotic textiles – despite the scientifically dubious efficacy.

It’s an interesting idea – if they can work the actual science and practicalities out. The news website has several other articles on bio-enabled technologies.