Don’t let newscasters convince you this April 20 won’t be the most palindromic day to smoke pot of all-time
There is nothing overworked or lazy journalists and television news producers love more than a cutesy story that pokes fun at a fringe group in a way that compels normbots to click through for a quick and easy chuckle. And even though cannabis is hardly the countercultural fascination it once was, weed remains a cheap and simple subject to lampoon for lulz.
So you can imagine how much fun they’re having with the fact that April 20, 2024—4202024—is a palindrome. Kind of like “Taco Cat,” or “Murder for a jar of red rum.” Even better—they’re calling it a “stoner eclipse.” And the fun doesn’t stop there …
From threads, to drive-time radio, to podcasts, to actual articles, the high-holiday prep warmed up over the past week. In one version that has been syndicated, the Cincinnati Enquirer went all in, explaining what a palindrome is and noting how the “hazy occurrence will take place once every millennium, with the next falling on 4/20/3024.”
They’re not the only ones to harp on the millennium exclusive. Nothing is good enough for these people, so they’re already loading up the party cannons for a thousand years from now. As FOX 35 in Los Angeles covered it: “The trippy event won’t happen again for another millennium, with the next 420 palindrome happening on April 20, 3024.”
It all just seems like a whole lot of pressure. There we were, getting ready to party like it’s 4/20 in 2024, and we’re reminded that another one of these is coming right around the corner in 3024. This revelation almost took all of the fun out of planning, but then we noticed how much better the number “2” looks in the middle of this particular palindrome. The people of the future are lucky, in that they will probably have social consumption spaces that we won’t likely see in our lifetime. But they can keep their precious lopsided awkward 4203024; ours is far more aesthetically pleasing, not to mention sooner.
As for those who came before us … we searched the web and even called our local library to see if there are any news clippings from April 20, 1024 noting similar celebrations. Unless we’re missing something since the internet was shit back then, it doesn’t seem like there was too much going on.
All millennia considered, this month, we have the chance to set a precedent and show the children of our children’s children’s children how to party through a stoner eclipse.
