We're not talking Pitt here

So, here's a cartoon that will likely strum the heartstrings of more than a few pals, including the Spectacular Sissy:

Credit: Stephan Pastis and Pearls Before Swine

First question: Does anybody send in looseleaf manuscripts held together with brads anymore? For that matter, does anyone send in hardcopy manuscripts anymore? Didn't brad usage peak in the era of Mad Men? I can remember using them for papers in grade school, and in the office when I first began work in the seventies, but I can't recall the last time I saw one anywhere, much less in a work setting. This sounds like a joke that somebody remembered hearing in 1968 and thought it was too good not to use, even though most people reading the strip wouldn't know what the heck it was about.

And speaking of anachronisms, this strip came out in June 2010. (Yes, I have been holding onto it for that long, waiting for the right time to blog it.) The computer that Rat is using appears to be an iMac G4 "desk lamp," the model that I purchased in 2002 and which Apple stopped making in 2004. So when this strip came out, the computer shown was six years old - was it still instantly recognizable as a "real" computer even then? It barely is now.

I'm really not trying to bite The Comics Curmudgeon's style, but I just didn't get this strip.

Oh, for all those who need to ask, this is a brad: