Of course, people thought the same thing about 10/10/10, 09/09/09, 08/08/08, 07/07/07 (billed by wedding planners as "the luckiest date in 100 years"), and so on.
And who could forget that previous once-in-a-lifetime alignment that occurred at precisely 12:34:56, 07/08/09? (Actually, I did until just now!)
What does it all mean? It means we're hard-wired to find meaning in things, so patterns, symmetries, and coincidences light up the synapses of our brains whether they have any practical significance or not.
Scientific American blogger Susanna Speier notes that according to Stephen Jay Gould our "eerie fascination" with these patterns is a function of how little most of us understand probability. "And yet," he wrote, "I would argue that these numerological coincidences remain fascinating precisely because they can boast no general or cosmic meaning whatsoever (being entirely unremarkable at their observed frequency under ordinary expectations of probability), and therefore can only embody the quirky and personal meaning that we choose to grant them."
Case in point: It's Nigel Tufnel Day!
Read more about it:
• World Marks 11/11/11 with Weddings, Lotteries and Hope
• 11-11-11 Meaning: A Special Once-a-Century Repunit Palindrome Day
• 11/11/11: Is Date Tied to the Mayan Apocalypse?
• 11:11:11 on 11/11/11: Friday's Once-in-a-Lifetime Moment
• Egypt Closes Great Pyramid After Rumors of Rituals
• The 11/11/11 Effect: What's in a Number?
• Does 11/11/11 Have Anything to Do with Science?
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