The best things in life are FREE

sufi

lala
Like for example:

* Free food tastes better, and is more nourishing

* Free software is actually often qualitatively better than paid stuff (as well as ethically and financially obvs) - open source creates better products, at least in the short term (Dissensus doesn't use free software hence it's occasional technical woes)

* Sharpies - i steal them

* Free music, i haven't bought a record since woebot got married. i got him one as a gift. i may have paid the occasional gig/night whatever, but obvsly it's always better to be on the list.
So music for me is a very free of cost activity, and that's part of it's appeal, which i guess also goes along with ahoy there jolly piracy to some extent and makes music more equally accessible, against the vinyl junkie mentality. I think sxxlsxxk may still be used by some around here?

but then I love to be a freeloader & am most often skint.

"free" splits in translation to Libre/Gratuit meaning Free as in Beer/Free as in Speech (what about love?). the best things in life must be both types of free.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
You forgot free booze and drugs, which are always great.

Broadly agree except for free software, which can be anything from amazing to a malware-riddled nightmare. A particular pet hate is programmes that install parasitic 'custom' search options in your browser without asking, which is the main reason I haven't used Firefox (otherwise a good piece of free SW in itself) in years as Chrome seems to have a much better natural immunity to these.
 

martin

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If you work in an office, ALWAYS make friends with the IT department, even if they like Star Wars and nu-metal. Free software, free repairs (well, maybe buy them a pint or two)...once I even got a free laptop. Plus they can sometimes hack the emails of co-workers and you can have fun down the pub reading print-outs of ***'s emails to her boyfriend, saying "Just because I didn't hold your hand on the tube this morning, doesn't mean I don't love you anymore" (this actually happened). Sadly, none of them could give me a hacked Oyster card for free fares.
 

Leo

Well-known member
I was self employed for about 15 years before finally I ran out of all the office supplies I stole before leaving my last full-time job. pens, staples, tape, envelopes, you name it.

I'm a split personality when it comes to spending. I'll gladly spend money on some things, such as when traveling on vacations or buying a new laptop, but am a notoriously cheap bastard otherwise. I love free things, wife always gives me shit for taking any and all free t-shirts, tote bags, etc. even if I end up never using it and giving it away, I still love to get it free of charge. yet at the same time, I've got a dozen pairs of Paul smith socks at $30 a pop, which is utterly ridiculous and indefensible.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
a lot of people put boxes filled with stuff to give away on the street here. i love this system, usually they are gone within minutes. some weeks ago i found one filled with very expensive looking paintbrushes, brand new with even the foil around it. next to it some chemicals to treat paint and pastel and several very large pots of the best quality oil and acryl paint. i like to paint in my free time so naturally i take these kind of things as a sign. gives me a new boost.

i've also recently found out that one of my friend never buys toilet paper but just takes rolls of toilet paper from the jobcentre, because why not if they make you go there almost every week? thought it was quite brilliant.
 

martin

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I've got a dozen pairs of Paul smith socks at $30 a pop, which is utterly ridiculous and indefensible.

Nah! As our friend Marie Kondo would say, your socks spark joy. And you can afford them after scrimping on 15 years' worth of biros.
 

Leo

Well-known member
a lot of people put boxes filled with stuff to give away on the street here.

like a lot of people in cities, I furnished my first few apartments with discarded tables and chairs found on the street. unfortunately, it's been super risky the past 10 years or so due to bedbugs, lots of instances of little creatures being introduced to a clean apartments via a coffee table found on the sidewalk.
 
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