My explanation is called "align to grid". If you try to drag and drop your Windows desktop icons to different positions, you might notice that they either drag continuously anywhere a pixel can be defined, or they snap in place according to a well defined but invisible grid pattern.
I think the default setting is "align to grid" and can be changed by right-clicking on any empty space of the desktop and selecting "Arrange Icons By > Align to Grid"
So that is the Windows explanation by way of allegory. What it means in real life is that the mind will sometimes establish an invisible grid of "best possibilities" within which to hold, for example, a "coincidence of wants or desires", "signs or tokens" of a certain belief or action, etc.
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But in your specific case (and there are gazillions of different scenarios) you see number symmetries.
These number series are aided by the body's uncanny ability to tick off seconds, minutes and hours accurately using the same principle found in the Real Time Clock (RTC) embedded in computer CMOS chips. Computers can't tell time - they simply tick the seconds off. The Windows operating system will then take those ticks, count them up, and give meaning to the number of seconds ticked off in terms of human-understood seconds, minutes, days, and months and years that you set a baseline date and time for (that's why Y2K was such a problem - RTC's only tick - they can't tell time)!
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 862437I'm reviving this thread because I've long had spells of seeing a lot of repeating-digit times on digital clocks - and enough so lately that I felt I had to look really look into it.
I'm not at all prone to mystical beliefs, but this numbers thing has been weird enough in my case that I'm prepared to accept some pretty "out there" explanations for it.
Right now, I want to address this anonymous guy's "align to grid" argument, although the chances are good that he won't be back here to see my response.
His idea is that the combination of people's brains being really good at telling time, + our tendency to focus on "grids" (round/significant numbers, etc.) makes it more likely that we'll see repeating-digit times than any other given times. Therefore, there's nothing spooky or mystical about it.
But it we're so good at telling time naturally, why do we all need clocks? I don't know about other people, but I can tell you that I'm no good at guessing the time without looking at a clock. I've tried it several times randomly, and I'm typically off by 10-20 minutes.
Anonymous' theory also doesn't take into account the fact that different timepieces can show different times. For example, right now, my clock radio reads 11:49, two other digital clocks in my place show 11:50, and my cell phone reads 11:51. Even if my brain is dead accurate in counting off the time, it will only match one of the three times on these timepieces (and perhaps none of them!). So if I'm "snapping to the grid" of, say, 2:22 by being unconsciously wanting to look at a clock when my brain knows it's that time, the clock I look at may very well be reading 2:21 or 2:23 instead.
The fact of the matter is that I have seen repeating digits - and often - on all of my various digital clocks, and on others. There has to be another explanation.
