August 8, 2011 | 3:38 pm

MORE FREEBIES

Posted by Annie Korzen

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MYSTERIOUS CLIPSHere’s a puzzling fact: for some reason, there are always perfectly good paper clips lying on the sidewalk.  Unless you’re germ-phobic - which is one of the few fears I do not have – you can pick up all manner of paper clips in varying sizes and colors any day of the week.  And Mother Earth will smile upon you when those babies end up on your desk rather than in the ocean – which is where all street litter ends up. 

WATCH AND LEARN
WWW.YOUTUBE.COM  offers a huge variety of no/cost mini-classes on any subject imaginable.

• How to Wax your Pottery before Glazing.
• Playing E Minor 7 in 3rd Inversion Arpeggios on Guitar
• Ending Off a Spiral Knot Hemp Bracelet.

I don’t know what a spiral knot hemp bracelet is, but if I were making one I would certainly want to know how to end it off.  This site is a godsend for people like me, who never leave the house.  I just practiced the basic salsa step, and I’m about to learn how to introduce myself in Japanese.

A more cerebral free learning center is www.TED.com, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.  This site offers 15-minute talks on weighty subjects by the world’s great thinkers, plus entertaining pieces by off-beat performance artists. You can watch Steve Jobs, you can watch Jane Goodall, you can watch Gordon Brown - unless you’re a lowbrow like me: I watched some very funny jugglers.

FREE CAKE
Many restaurants will give you a complimentary dessert if you mention it’s someone’s birthday. I suspect some folks pretend it’s their birthday just to get the free slice of cake but, cheapskate that I am, I haven’t yet sunk that low. I couldn’t take the guilt of having the waiters serenade me while I was stealing from them.