Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for April 06, 2021

Mike learning how to do Christmas as a single Dad.

A 28.8 modem? BLAZING speed…

Deal for the ears. It’s all Mike can afford.

Here we go again, another 100 comments about what someone had bought back in the day.

Send that kid back to mom !

How do Mike’s glasses stay on without a bridge or earpieces?

I like Mike and Alex. It’s great to see WINNERS on this strip, for a change.

“Ear piercings are really more of an Easter thing, honey.”

28.8 modem…. I remember being jealous of those.

I miss the modem call up sounds ….at times.

Looks like someone wants to open a computer museum!

Shopping is easier when the intended recipient provides products specs.

I remember when things were so simple… Ah, the good old days.

Totally off-topic except to the extent that “Bloom County” is considered by some to be a “Doonesbury” ripoff: Does anyone remember a “Bloom County” ripoff whose main distinction was that instead of a penguin, it had two flamingos? Every now and then it’ll come to mind and each and every time I fail to remember the title. Anyone? Thanks. :-)

Wait, did I just hear the girl do some horse trading there. She wants an expensive computer with all the bells and whistle, ..or, …perhaps, her ears pierced.

133 MHz? How quaint!

Why are we reading about Christmas in April?

Why is he wearing a tie

In the words of Weird Al, “it’s all about the Pentiums”

She wasn’t like this in the old place. I blame living in Seattle.

28.8 modem? This was a very long time ago.

The good old days going hand-to-hand trying to free up an IRC to install another piece of equipment like a modem.

Ahhh the REAL ask emerges…

Ah, so that’s the plan. The real objective was an ear piercing.

I believe it’s referred to as ‘framing’.

Mike’s learning that kids grow up a lot faster than we want them to. My daughter, when she was about Alex’s age, was downright scarey!

Actually computer shopping in the ‘90s was quite fun…Dell’s original “build your own” website allowed one to highly customize their gear…

What kind and length of peripheral interface cable? ☺

those specs: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

that’s like trying to hook up a Commodore 64 to the internet at that time.

Those were the days.

Should be a 56K modem. 28.8 was old school then.

My first PC was a 386sx clocked at 8 mHz and 12 in turbo mode.

8MB SIMMs! How adorably archaic.

Brave new world, and such children in it.

Before anyone points out that it’s illegal for a child Alex’s age to get her ears pierced — or, at least, such I presume to be the case — it’s also illegal for a child Earl’s age to get a tattoo or to be served alcohol, and yet…

A modem? This really is the 90’s!

How about a real mom for Christmas, instead of the fake one she had before?

By this time, he was so befuddled, he didn’t even Notice that he’d given her permission to pierce her ears.

Roughly equal to IBM’s top mainframe (System/360 Model 75) in 1966. On the other hand, roughly 1/200 the computing power of an Apple Watch.

My first exposure to anything computer related was in the later 1950’s and early ‘60’s. My dad would bring home used computer paper, the large kind that was all connected in switchback folds. It was absolutely the best drawing paper. The most creative and fun ‘interface’ I’ve ever had with anything computer related. If memory serves me the computer filled a basement room at MURA. (anyone family with MURA?)

Wonder how long it will take for her to get her “trendy” haircut that she will keep for…well until now. She still has those stupid late 90s issue rubber bands in her hair, right?