5 Things STILL Worth Doing Grandma’s Way (That Is, Without Gadgets!)

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No matter how many fancy little electronic gadgets I get, sometimes there is just no substitute for doing things the way your grandmother did.

I’m not going to bash gadgets in this article. I am a big, big fan of anything that makes my life less complicated. (Yes, I am forever grateful for dishwashers, video doorbells and washing machines).

However, some things just don’t seem to work out as planned once they go electronic. I have found that there are a few things that simply work out better when you do them the old-fashioned way. Yes, it might take a bit more effort, but you will find it is well worth it.

1. Use a real camera.

Of course, having a camera on hand for those spontaneous videos or spur-of-the-moment pictures is a great thing, don’t get me wrong, but gathering the family around a cell phone or tablet to view Christmas photos just doesn’t cut it.

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You don’t have to lug around an $800 camera and a box of lenses. A simple digital camera will do nicely for pictures you know you are going to take, including family photos, Christmas and other holiday photos, birthday parties, etc. Save your cell phone for times when you simply must send a picture of these shoes to your sister to see if they go with her new outfit.

2. Make a real photo album.

Again, there is nothing heartwarming about passing around a cell phone to view Susie’s first birthday party pics. It really is worth the effort to take pictures with a real camera (digital is great) and then order prints of the photos you think are the best. Put those photos (don’t forget to write who is in the photo on the back) in photo albums. When your family gets together, sitting around an album is much nicer than a cell phone. In addition, albums can be passed on to other family members throughout the years. I really cherish the pictures of my parents and grandparents, which would most likely be lost in a computer crash.

3. Keep a paper address book.

I only know three phone numbers now: my husband’s cell, my cell, and our home phone. Why? Because I don’t have to. My cell phone keeps track of all my phone numbers and addresses for me.

However, after losing my cell phone for a few hours one day, I realized that I would only have access to whatever backup I had as far as those names and addresses go. When was the last time you backed up your cell phone? Exactly! And what would we do if we had no way to access even our backup files?

For this reason, I now keep an old-fashioned paper address book in my home. I write in pencil and can make changes as often as needed. If I should lose all my contact information, even if it’s slightly out of date, my paper address book will still be there to help me out.

4. Use a paper calendar.

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Phone calendars can be a great thing when you are on the road or away from home, but how many times have you relied on your Google or phone calendar, only to find that you forgot to set the alarm or that you put the appointment for 2 p.m., when it should have been 12 p.m.? It has certainly happened to me.

For this reason, I use a paper wall calendar in my kitchen to write big notes or achievements, as well as a small paper calendar in my purse, in addition to my electronic calendar. When I make an appointment, I write it in my paper calendar in my purse, first. Just a simple “John Dr. 12PM” will do the trick. Once I am home and not so rushed, I add it to my cell phone, then to the wall calendar. This way, my husband doesn’t have to ask me six times when his doctor’s appointment is and I have a backup I can check in an instant if my electronic calendar should fail, or if I should misplace my phone. Again.

5. Paper invitations and/or thank-you notes.

Yes, I’ve heard how e-vites and thank-you notes are all the rage because they are “greener” than using paper, but if you use sustainable paper sources, such as bamboo or hemp, that argument quickly falls by the wayside.

There is nothing more personal or sweet that you can send someone than a handwritten, paper invitation or thank you-note. If someone took the time to go to the store, buy a gift, have it wrapped, and show up at your event, is it too much to ask to write a three line thank-you note?! Invitations and thank-you notes are also great mementos to keep in your scrapbook or photo album.

There are plenty of other old-fashioned things that I like to do, but when it comes to electronic gadgets, I prefer my grandmother’s way to the Apple way.

What would you add to our list? Share your thoughts in the section below:

5 Forgotten Things Grandma Did With Honey

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Who doesn’t love the taste of sweet, natural honey? For most people, however, it seems they know of only two uses: as a sweetener for coffee and other foods, or as a means of suppressing coughs.

I bet my grandmother could have rattled off a dozen ways in which you could use honey. I only wish that I had written it all down!

My grandmother is long gone now, but I do still remember a few of the things she used honey for. Here are five:

1. Skin care.

Honey is so sticky that you probably would never imagine washing your face with it! I did, however, as a teen, and I rarely had a pimple because of it. Yes, it’s messy — no getting around that — but clean-up is easy. Simply rub a tablespoon or so of pure, raw honey onto your face. Allow it to sit for 30 seconds or so, and then rinse with warm water. If you should find a zit, then use a cotton swab to put just a dab of honey on it; cover it with a bandage.

2. An emergency antibiotic.

Although modern-day antibiotics are absolute lifesavers, what would you do if you didn’t have any? You could always use the old WWI method and cauterize the wound, hoping infection didn’t set in (gives me the chills thinking about it!) or you could try some honey. Of course, we are talking about minor cuts and abrasions here.

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Keep in mind that honey contains tons of vitamins and amino acids, and is quite gooey, so that if the wound were washed and then “sealed” with honey, it would be harder for infection to take hold. We would be wise to keep a few big jars of honey in our emergency medicine chest.

3. Sweet relief from insomnia.

Although there are numerous thoughts as to why this old-fashioned folk remedy works, the fact is that it’s pretty darn reliable! This seems to work especially well for those who wake up between 2 and 4 a.m. and find they can’t go back to sleep. Take a tablespoon of honey and sprinkle just a tiny bit of salt on top. Let it melt in your mouth, and you should fall asleep. This has worked well for both my husband and me.

4. Reduce seasonal allergies.

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you may have heard this one before, so bear with me. We actually heard about this from a very elderly gentleman who grew up here in the mountains. My husband had terrible allergy symptoms after we moved here, and he relied on Zyrtec to get through the season until this gentleman told us that all my husband needed to do was eat a tablespoon of the raw honey that comes from the bees on this mountain — and he would be “cured.” This method absolutely worked, but you need to use the honey for your location! New areas mean new plants, and new plants means new allergies, but at least my hubby can stay home and not honk his nose every 30 seconds!

5. Burn relief.

In my opinion, honey is one of the best burn treatments known to man! When I was a young teen, I burned my arm on the side of a kettle. I remember it well because it hurt like the dickens. While I was holding my arm under the cold-water faucet, grandma went straight to the cabinet and brought out a big jar of honey. She used a wooden spoon to gently drop some big gobs of honey on the burn, and then she wrapped my arm with loose-fitting bandage. She repeated this for three days, and then let it scab over. I remember that the honey felt so soothing! I don’t even have a scar, although I don’t know if I can contribute that to the honey or not.

One of the great things about honey is that it never seems to go rancid. Jars of honey, estimated to be 2,000-3,000 years old, were found in Egyptian tombs and were still good.

Of course, you can still use honey to treat sore throats, nagging coughs, and to sweeten your tea, but isn’t it nice to know that jar of honey has other uses?

Did your grandmother have other uses for honey? Do you? Share your tips and tricks in the section below:

5 Brilliant Homestead Hacks Grandma Never Taught Us

If your grandmother was anything like mine, it seemed like there was nothing she couldn’t do. She could sew just about everything, grow just about anything, and seemed to know just about everything!

This is because my grandmother raised children during the Great Depression. She learned to make things herself … or do without! She passed some of these skills on to my mother, and I picked up a few myself, but I was thinking the other day about things my grandmother did that she really never talked about.

Looking back, I can see that these little “hacks” of hers were pretty darn useful, yet for some reason, she never felt the need to explain them.

So, in this article, I want to share the top 5 hacks that my grandmother practiced, but never talked about, just in case your grandmother never shared them with you, either!

1. Keep straight pins sharp

My grandmother kept two pin cushions. One was the typical cloth “tomato,” but she also had another one that was simply a bar of soap. I foolishly thought that my grandmother was just too cheap to buy a new pin cushion, but low and behold, I later found one of my friends using a bar of soap as a pin cushion. When I asked him why, he told me that this kept his straight pins sharp and the soap made them glide through the fabric easier.

2. No more lonely socks

When I would lose a sock or if by chance one sock developed holes or the elastic wore out before the other one did, I would give them to my grandmother. This was at her request. I never asked why she wanted them; I assumed she would make sock puppets (which she did on occasion) or use them for some “silly” purpose, but it wasn’t until I saw my mother use an old sock for dusting that the light bulb went off in my head.

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I was buying those microfiber towels for dusting, and here the answer to dusting was right under my nose. My old socks work just as well as my microfiber towels — and they don’t cost a dime!

3. Umbrella or sunhat?

My grandmother was fond of saying things that seemed strange as a kid but later made me laugh, such as “if you can see the moon and stars, it won’t rain.” Well, if you can see the moon and stars, that means there are no clouds! She would go stand in the front yard and stare at the clouds for a minute or two, and then come inside and announce whether we should take umbrellas or hats for a sunny day. It was many years before I realized what she was doing; grandma was watching the movements of clouds. Clouds that become bigger as they move toward you (of course) indicate it likely will rain later.

4. No more sticky salt

It wasn’t until I moved to a more humid climate that I realized why my grandmother always filled her salt shakers with a mixture of uncooked rice and salt. The uncooked rice absorbed the moisture in the air, allowing the salt to stay drier and move more freely. I discovered this while Googling how to stop the salt from clumping! My grandmother knew this secret years before Google did!

5. Loose screws

No, I’m not talking about your in-laws; I mean those nail holes or screws with holes that have become enlarged over time. Occasionally, you can simply use a larger screw or nail, but with some items, such as a wooden kitchen cabinet door with a handle that will only take a certain size nail, you need a better hack than super glue! This is a true grandma hack that everyone can appreciate. Simply take a wooden toothpick and insert it into the hole. Break it off and then re-use your nail or screw. If it’s a really big hole, try two toothpicks. If grandma didn’t show you this one, perhaps grandpa did.

If you were lucky enough to come from a family who believed in handing down hacks like these the way some families handed down clothes, consider yourself fortunate!

What are your favorite grandma or grandpa hacks? Share your tips in the section below:

NASA SWAT Team Raids 75yo Grandma, Forces Her to Defecate Herself, to Steal Her Moon Rock

Lake Elsinore, CA — Here at the Free Thought Project, we’ve seen some outright insanity when it comes to the actions of government and the police state. However, a grandma being raided by a NASA police force so they can steal her dead husband’s moon rock, is definitely up there.

When Joann Davis was 75, she hit some hard financial times after finding herself raising grandchildren following her daughter’s death and her son’s illness. So, being the resourceful grandmother that she is, Davis began to think of ways to earn some extra cash.

Then it hit her.

Her first husband, Robert Davis worked as an Apollo 11 engineer, and he saved a paperweight with moon material and another with a bit of the heat shield. Joann, who also worked for the space program at the time, came up with the idea that she’d ask NASA if they’d like to buy it from her, so she could raise some funds to feed her grandchildren.

Brilliant, right?

Well, to most people with common sense, this is a great idea. However, to the American police state, it’s a felony. Now, Davis is attempting to sue officials for the brutal and humiliating treatment she endured at the hands of NASA agents.

The lead agent “organized a sting operation involving six armed officers to forcibly seize a Lucite paperweight containing a moon rock the size of a rice grain from an elderly grandmother,” wrote Judge Sidney Thomas of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in the recent decision allowing Davis to sue, per the Los Angeles Times.

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Instead of telling Davis that it is against the law to sell moon rocks (yeah, we didn’t know that either), NASA set up an elaborate sting operation to nail this grandma — turned would be international moon rock fence — to the wall.

While Davis became excited to think that she’d finally get some financial padding by selling this moon rock, armed NASA agents were plotting away to take her down.

The sting would take place at a local Denny’s restaurant. These brave cops must’ve obviously known they were dealing with a hardened criminal when she asked to meet them at Denny’s.

The armed NASA agents then raided the Denny’s and forcibly restrained the dangerous 75-year-old grandma and her second husband who was along for the trade.

As they heroically protected society from the likes of a poor grandmother trying to support her dead child’s children, officers refused to allows Davis to use the bathroom. They forced her to defecate in her pants. Heroic indeed.

As Mercury News reports, Davis stood in the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant in pants soaked in urine, answering questions from a federal agent about a rice-sized piece of moon.

“He kept saying, ‘You will be going to federal court, you will be going to federal jail,’ ” Davis said Friday.

“In the end, Ms. Davis spent her whole life proudly working for aerospace and the government, only to be jumped by a NASA-organized swat team because someone in NASA made a mistake and wanted to get it back,” said Davis’ Redlands-based lawyer, Peter Schlueter. “And they did it in a way that humiliated her.”

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As authorities made the case against the moon rock-dealing elderly woman, they likely garnered the attention of prosecutors on the way through the system. Eventually, those prosecutors would drop the case against Davis. However, not before she’d be arrested and brutally humiliated by NASA agents.

In this week’s ruling, according to Newser, the judges said Davis made a case that the detention violated her constitutional right regarding unreasonable seizure. She is suing agent Norman Conley, who “had no law enforcement interest in detaining Davis for two hours while she stood wearing urine-soaked pants in a restaurant’s parking lot during the lunch rush,” wrote Thomas.

California woman who tried to sell a moon rock wins round against NASA https://t.co/sKNmNXKi3j pic.twitter.com/nhSOeV5h1l

— Mercury News (@mercnews) April 14, 2017

In what world would it be considered in the interest of public safety to organize a sting operation, carried out by a team of armed agents, to kidnap and cage a woman for selling her dead husband’s moon rock to feed her grandchildren? Well, apparently, this world.

As Mercury News reports, Davis’ son died seven months after the incident. If Davis, who will be 80 next month, is successful in her suit, she says she would like to build a picnic area at Whitefish Lake in Montana as a memorial to both her son and her daughter.

9 Forgotten ‘Everyday Survival Skills’ From Grandma

Our grandparents didn’t spend their spare time watching TV or playing video games. The truth is they didn’t have spare time. Keeping the family fed, fields tended, livestock healthy and a roof over their heads kept them busy from dawn to dusk. They did whatever it took to survive and thrive.

While grandma and grandpa each had everyday skills that all homesteaders and survivalists should learn, today we’ll focus on Grandma’s day.

Grandma was a dynamo. She rose before dawn with a mile-long to-do list in her head. Feeding the family a hearty breakfast and sending them on their way was first priority. She then could get to her own busy day. Housework, fixing a fence with grandpa, helping the cow give birth, making pies to trade, fixing lunch, canning peaches and pulling weeds were checked off the list. Then it was time to make dinner and send everyone off to bed.

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Here are some of the skills that helped her succeed at all of these tasks.

Feeding the Family

Grandma didn’t just run to a drive-thru to grab dinner after work. She planned ahead and made meals from scratch. She knew the night before what she would make for dinner. To accomplish this, she knew how to do these things:

1. Cooking from scratch – When grandma made dinner, she created masterpieces with no help from any cardboard box mix. Her meals were nutritious, tasty and far less expensive than any of the quick foods today. Love and care for her family were the special ingredients in every meal.

2. Cast iron cooking – It is amazing how many different dishes grandma made in her cast iron cookware. An entire meal, from soup to dessert, can be made with just one cast iron pot or skillet.

3. Preserving foods – Many of us remember coming home with jars of jelly, apple butter and pickles from grandma’s. Her cellar or pantry was always lined with shelves full of preserved goodness. Learning to preserve food via canning, pressure cooking or other methods is a wise investment in your own future.

Growing or Raising Food

Running to the grocery store each day was not an option to grandma. She essentially could shop every day in her own pantry or backyard.

4. The kitchen garden – No matter what grandpa grew in the fields, grandma always had a kitchen garden. She could walk out back and pick fresh dinner fixings. She often had fruit and nut trees, as well as her herbs and vegetables.

5. Animal husbandry – Grandma tended to be the one who cared for the livestock — a cow or goat for milk, a steer or pig for meat and then, the chickens. It was hard to find a homestead that didn’t have at least a few chickens – if not more. Aside from eggs, many times an old hen or rooster ended up as Sunday dinner. Which leads us to the next set of skills …

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6. Butchering livestock – Although it was more often grandpa who killed the large animals, grandma was the one who usually cut up or butchered them. Her skills with the butcher knife were admirable. She also could efficiently wring the neck of that old hen for the stew pot.

‘Jill of All Trades’

Our ancestors did as much as they could for themselves. Things were made to last, and those that didn’t were repurposed. Here are just a few more things that grandma did in caring for her family and home:

7. Crafty creations – Grandma needed basic sewing skills to keep her family clothed. She might even be talented enough to make clothing in addition to repairs. Quilting and weaving were other abilities which could provide additional income, as well as add to her family’s warmth and comfort.

8. Stretching a dollar – Being thrifty came naturally to grandma, as nothing went to waste. She reused, repurposed and recycled everything. She often was a skilled negotiator and bartered goods or her skills for things she needed or wanted.

9. Medical care – Doctors and hospitals weren’t readily available. Grandma was required to have basic medical skills and more. She even might doctor animals as well as people. Her familiarity with medicinal herbs and plants came in very handy.

So, how did your day compare to grandma’s? Did it seem a bit lacking? It’s not too late to start learning some of these skills that she used on an almost daily basis. So put down the remote and game controller and invest your time in useful endeavors. These skills could even save your life and those of your loved ones.

What would you add to our list? Share your thoughts in the section below:

Julie Dees is a freelance writer from Central California who also happens to be a real, lifelong cowgirl. She enjoys writing about her animals, her interest in homesteading and anything related to the outdoor life. Visit her website, TheCowgirlWrites.com.

Grandma’s Forgotten ‘Everyday Survival Skills’

Our grandparents didn’t spend their spare time watching TV or playing video games. The truth is they didn’t have spare time. Keeping the family fed, fields tended, livestock healthy and a roof over their heads kept them busy from dawn to dusk. They did whatever it took to survive and thrive.

While grandma and grandpa each had everyday skills that all homesteaders and survivalists should learn, today we’ll focus on Grandma’s day.

Grandma was a dynamo. She rose before dawn with a mile-long to-do list in her head. Feeding the family a hearty breakfast and sending them on their way was first priority. She then could get to her own busy day. Housework, fixing a fence with grandpa, helping the cow give birth, making pies to trade, fixing lunch, canning peaches and pulling weeds were checked off the list. Then it was time to make dinner and send everyone off to bed.

“The Big Book Of Off The Grid Secrets” — Every Homesteader Needs A Copy!

Parking or storage for trailers, ATVs, snowmobile

Here are some of the skills that helped her succeed at all of these tasks.

Feeding the Family

Grandma didn’t just run to a drive-thru to grab dinner after work. She planned ahead and made meals from scratch. She knew the night before what she would make for dinner. To accomplish this, she knew how to do these things:

1. Cooking from scratch – When grandma made dinner, she created masterpieces with no help from any cardboard box mix. Her meals were nutritious, tasty and far less expensive than any of the quick foods today. Love and care for her family were the special ingredients in every meal.

2. Cast iron cooking – It is amazing how many different dishes grandma made in her cast iron cookware. An entire meal, from soup to dessert, can be made with just one cast iron pot or skillet.

3. Preserving foods – Many of us remember coming home with jars of jelly, apple butter and pickles from grandma’s. Her cellar or pantry was always lined with shelves full of preserved goodness. Learning to preserve food via canning, pressure cooking or other methods is a wise investment in your own future.

Growing or Raising Food

Running to the grocery store each day was not an option to grandma. She essentially could shop every day in her own pantry or backyard.

4. The kitchen garden – No matter what grandpa grew in the fields, grandma always had a kitchen garden. She could walk out back and pick fresh dinner fixings. She often had fruit and nut trees, as well as her herbs and vegetables.

5. Animal husbandry – Grandma tended to be the one who cared for the livestock — a cow or goat for milk, a steer or pig for meat and then, the chickens. It was hard to find a homestead that didn’t have at least a few chickens – if not more. Aside from eggs, many times an old hen or rooster ended up as Sunday dinner. Which leads us to the next set of skills …

Want Out Of The Rat-Race But Need A Steady Stream Of Income?

6. Butchering livestock – Although it was more often grandpa who killed the large animals, grandma was the one who usually cut up or butchered them. Her skills with the butcher knife were admirable. She also could efficiently wring the neck of that old hen for the stew pot.

‘Jill of All Trades’

Our ancestors did as much as they could for themselves. Things were made to last, and those that didn’t were repurposed. Here are just a few more things that grandma did in caring for her family and home:

7. Crafty creations – Grandma needed basic sewing skills to keep her family clothed. She might even be talented enough to make clothing in addition to repairs. Quilting and weaving were other abilities which could provide additional income, as well as add to her family’s warmth and comfort.

8. Stretching a dollar – Being thrifty came naturally to grandma, as nothing went to waste. She reused, repurposed and recycled everything. She often was a skilled negotiator and bartered goods or her skills for things she needed or wanted.

9. Medical care – Doctors and hospitals weren’t readily available. Grandma was required to have basic medical skills and more. She even might doctor animals as well as people. Her familiarity with medicinal herbs and plants came in very handy.

So, how did your day compare to grandma’s? Did it seem a bit lacking? It’s not too late to start learning some of these skills that she used on an almost daily basis. So put down the remote and game controller and invest your time in useful endeavors. These skills could even save your life and those of your loved ones.

What would you add to our list? Share your thoughts in the section below:

Julie Dees is a freelance writer from Central California who also happens to be a real, lifelong cowgirl. She enjoys writing about her animals, her interest in homesteading and anything related to the outdoor life. Visit her website, TheCowgirlWrites.com.

5 Things Made Better In Your Grandparents’ Time You STILL Can Find In Thrift Stores

The trope of “things were better in the good old days” is often just that. An empty trope of viewing the past through rose-colored glasses of idealism and bias, which clouds our judgment of the future and present day.

We can certainly agree that great strides have been made in science, medicine, technology and social matters, and as pleasant as it may seem to go back to a so-called simpler time, I for one would not care to live in, say, even the 1930s without at least some modern medical and labor-saving advancements.

However, even if you take off the rose-colored glasses, there are some things that were, in fact, better in our grandparents’ day – and we often can find these things in a local thrift store.

Let’s take a look at a few.

1. Pyrex dishes

Made of thermal shock resisting borosilicate glass (a mix of boron, silica and a few other ingredients depending on the formula) Pyrex ovenware was a boon to housewives of the 1920s and forward. Offering a lightweight, transparent and easy cooking dish that also was attractive, it was a near instant hit. Unfortunately, today’s Pyrex may not even be the glass our grandparents used. Corning sold the brand name in 1998, and subsequently, the cookware was made from cheaper (and less resistant to thermal shock) tempered soda-lime glass (the same kind of glass jars are made out of).

“The Big Book Of Off The Grid Secrets” — Every Homesteader Needs A Copy!

Now, if you’ve canned food, you are already familiar with tempered soda-lime glass, and the importance of temperature curves when canning. Well, Pyrex cookware is made out of that same kind of stuff now. While it is true that modern tempered soda-lime glass is extremely strong (certainly better than it was a century ago), if you buy brand new Pyrex dishes, you aren’t getting the same stuff your grandparents used.

It appears, though, that if you find a dish with PYREX in all caps, you are good to go. Shop carefully and make sure you get the good stuff.

2. Cast iron cookware

Now, granted, modern cast iron cookware is every bit as good as the stuff your grandparents used. Except for one niggling, cost-saving thing. Namely, nearly all modern cast iron cookware I’ve seen has been rough cast inside, and not polished smooth like back in the day. Some folks might not be bothered by this, but I absolutely hate it. I’d rather pay a couple dollars more for a pan that has been polished, than still retain its rough cast finish. I’ve never been able to peg when this trend started, but my gut says sometime around the 70s or 80s. Watch for this nicer, more finished cast iron in your local thrift shop or second-hand store, and enjoy a bit of refinement that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the name of profit and price point.

3. Woolen blankets and clothing

Modern synthetics are, quite frankly, amazing. Lightweight, warm and often water-resistant, there is a lot to be said for them. I, for one, would rather be out in the woods with Gore-Tex than wool. However, there is no denying the usefulness of the old standby of woolen clothing and blankets. Because market preferences have moved on, it is harder and harder to find quality wool clothing and bedding, and when you do it is pricey. The careful thrift store shopper often can snag everything from old army blankets to old hunting shirts. Heck, I’ve even found Korean War-era wool uniforms! Bottom line, if you want wool, see what has been donated. Many estates don’t waste time with out-of-date clothing and bedding and simply pass it along.

4. Furniture

Is yesteryear’s furniture better than today’s? Well, that all depends. High-end furniture is high-end furniture, regardless of when it is made. What we are looking at is low-end and mid-range furniture, because 50-60 years ago, even cheap stuff wasn’t being build out of particleboard and synthetics the way it is now.

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As an added benefit, buying quality used furniture is good for the wallet and environment. Look for older solid wood or laminate furniture in good condition. A little elbow grease with refinishing can save you big. Sometimes out-of-fashion furniture can be had cheap, and searching economically depressed areas can land you real bargains on durable goods.

5. Computer keyboards

Don’t laugh. If you are handy with upgrading connection cables, some 1980s keyboards are vastly superior to the modern thing. Keyboards are often a very cheap item bundled with a PC, and better-quality ones tended to be upgrades or packaged with premium systems. The IBM Model M is perhaps the holy grail of old school keyboards, but there are other nice ones running about. Who knows, you might get lucky and find a few. If you do a lot of typing, or simply enjoy a high-end keyboard, your fingers will thank you.

Conclusion

As I said earlier, it is something of a fallacy that things were made better in the “good old days.” After all, as cool as they are, a 1930s car is nowhere near as safe and fuel-efficient as a modern automobile, but on the other hand, you couldn’t pay me to use modern Pyrex dishware.

Understanding the limitations of past technology and modern progress can put you in a unique position to cherry pick the surviving goods of past generations to equip yourself with high quality merchandise for pennies on the dollar. Sometimes things go out of style but are still quite functional, and sometimes things were just made better back then. No matter what, there are quality bargains to be had if you look!

What would you add to our list? Share your thoughts in the section below:

VIDEO: Cops Sic K9 on 81-Year-Old Grandma They Accused of Robbing Her Own House

Coon Rapids, MN — An 81-year-old grandma was hospitalized last month after she was attacked by a police K9 while cleaning her shed in her own backyard. Police are now claiming that they ‘acted appropriately’ when they unleashed their dog on this innocent woman.

The Free Thought Project reported the incident when it happened in February. Now, the local news station has obtained the dashcam from the incident. It is nothing short of infuriating as the innocent woman is thrown in the back of the car after being bitten by a K9 and treated like a criminal.

Choua Xiong got up early on a Sunday morning last month to clean out her shed in her backyard. She had done nothing wrong and posed no threat, when police, looking for a ‘suspect’, entered her backyard without a warrant and unleashed their K9 on her.

According to police, a neighbor called 9-1-1 after she saw a suspicious person in a black coat in her backyard. The caller said she heard a loud noise outside but couldn’t tell where it came from. As police investigated, they entered Xiong’s yard and saw a person in her shed. That person was Xiong.

Xiong, who is hard of hearing, did not hear the officers calling for her to come out of the shed. According to police, they yelled for the ‘suspect’ to come out of the shed 10-15 times, however, no one emerged — so they unleashed the dog.

Instead of entering the shed to see if it could’ve been a child with headphones on — or an innocent old woman who was hard of hearing — police sent in their K9 to tear apart whoever it was that couldn’t hear their demands to come out.

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The officers could’ve simply waited for the ‘suspect’ to come out of the shed as well. However, they chose to rush to violent escalation. From the time police entered Xiong’s back yard to the time they unleashed the K9 was less than 10 minutes. 

“They didn’t see her in the storage. They just see the flashlight. That’s what they told us,” WaamXee Xiong, Xiong’s grandson said. “If you don’t see nothing and you just see some people inside, why did you let your K-9 go in there?”

To add insult to injury, after siccing the K9 on the 81-year-old grandma, they continued to treat her as a suspect. As she is bleeding profusely from the attack, Xiong was then dragged across the yard with so much force and violence that her knees were bruised and her ankle was sprained, according to her family. Part of this was captured on the dashcam which police appear to have edited before handing over.

When reviewing the video, the chief said the officers were ‘helping’ her across the yard. However, according to Xiong’s family, she was, in fact, dragged.

“Social media sort of took on a life of its own. A grandmother got bitten morphed into police dogs–multiple police dogs–mauled her, tore her clothes off, we drug her across the yard, all sorts of horrible things that never happened,” said Chief Wise. “It’s important that the video get out there… and put these rumors to rest.”

“We don’t like that we bit a grandmother,” said Chief Wise. “I don’t like that. We try and avoid those sorts of things.”

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After they had captured their ‘suspect’, it took police nearly 30 minutes to realize that Xiong lived at the house. Thankfully, her grandson WaamXee showed up to tell the officer she’d been cleaning her shed. Forty minutes after being viciously attacked by a police dog and assaulted by police, Xiong was finally brought the hospital.

When news of the story was posted on social media, naturally, the residents of Coon Rapids expressed their outrage. However, the department responded by calling the incident unfortunate but quickly noted that the officers did everything right.

The department understands there is public concern on social media about the way this incident appears at first glance. However, with the facts the officers were dealing with at the time, including dispatch information and assessment of the scene, they responded to the incident in an appropriate manner. Officers are trained to speak clear, simple commands in the hopes that officers can be understood when they are dealing with people on calls. It is always our goal to have a safe outcome for all citizens and officers, no matter the circumstances….

The Coon Rapids Police Department takes reports of suspicious activity very seriously and appreciates the public’s help in alerting officers to suspicious situations. In this case, officers responded to the suspicious person report that occurred at a time of day and under circumstances that led officers to believe they were interrupting a burglary in progress. In this context, officers acted appropriately. Witness reports state K-9 warnings and yelling could be heard loudly in the area as several neighbors woke up to the noise and began turning lights on.

No officers have been disciplined in this case.

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In the video below, WaamXee is seen confronting one of the officers involved in releasing the K9. He asks a pertinent question, “what would happen to me if I sicced a dog on your grandma?”

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Facebook.