It’s another XRT 4D Flashback Weekend coming up, closing the 4 decade cycle of XRT’s existence with our time thus far in the little baby century. Of course, long before the millennium began, our wise leaders and books of future history warned us of the danger of over reliance on machines. Like all good advice, it was ignored until computer Armageddon loomed in the form of that little glitch known as Y2K.

When the year 2000 looked like it was really gonna happen despite the continued absence of (wait for it) practical jet packs, longevity serum and Holiday Inn Express on the Moon (the low gravity honeymoon suite!), our friends in IT finally chirped up and said, “our computers might stop working.” We replied, “they already do that every day!” No, all the computers everywhere might freeze up because at one time RAM was so expensive programmers wrote code that abbreviated each year to two digits. and when the triple whammy of 3 zeroes hits, no ATMs, no more power grid, cars won’t start, planes fall from the sky and you tube and Facebook will never be born. It’s the apocalypse on a technicality!

Needless to say, cooler heads did not prevail. Radio talk shows sold Y2K survival kits and people headed for the hills. Living off-the-grid became a popular conversation vector. Governments replaced microchips at a frantic pace. Most went on with daily life but kept a nervous eye on the calendar. When the New Year dawned, everything stayed the same except a gas station in Sweden wouldn’t accept Nordic-Card and 3 clock radios in Des Moines failed to sound the alarm and they all missed no-panties Thursday on the Z100 morning zoo. Our software relationship has stayed hard ever since. Don’t miss The XRT 4D Flashback Weekend: 21st Century XRT, starting Friday at noon. Now, about that stoneware calendar…