Urban Legends

[Graphik Styles]

1. open MS word 2. type "NYC" in uppercase letters
3. change the font size to 72
4. change the font to webdings
5. change the font to wingdings


Apparently "q33ny" - supposed to be the flight number of one of the crashed planes - gives an aeroplane, two buildings, a skull and crossbones and the star of david. Again, no comment, although whether this is in fact the number of one of the planes seems unlikely.


I've heard a few people suggesting that this is a sign that Microsoft were involved in the terrorist attack.



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It's been known for years that typing NYC then switching to the Webdings font produces pictures of an eye, a heart, and a city, which some thought meant "I love New York," and switching this to Wingdings brings up pictures of a skull and crossbones, a Star of David, and a thumbs-up symbol, which some have that symbolized the killing of Jews. The New York Post ran an article in 1992 about this strange occurence.



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ANTI-JEWISH CODE LURKS IN POPULAR SOFTWARE
One of the world's best-selling computer programs contains a secret anti-Semitic message apparently urging death to Jews in New York City.


A computer consultant discovered the diabolic message while installing Microsoft's new Windows 3.1 software for a client yesterday.


The consultant was testing a mailing-address use of the program when he noticed the letters "NYC" had been replaced by a hateful message - a skull and crossbones, the Star of David and an approving thumbs-up symbol.


Microsoft strongly denies any hidden message. Others disagree.


"There's no way it could be a random coincidence," said Brian Young, a friend of the consultant, who does not wish to be named.


"It's pretty scary. I was pretty shocked by the whole thing."


Computer owners who use Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word or any other Microsoft program containing a print font named "Wingdings" can duplicate the anti-Semitic message by typing the letters "NYC" on their screen.


Microsoft said "Wingdings" was designed by Bigelow and Holmes, an outside vendor, and denied that Microsoft intentionally designed the secret message.


Prof. Charles Bigelow confirmed that his company provided the symbols, but insisted that Microsoft made the final "mapping" decisions assigning his symbols to specific keys on the keyboard.


But a senior Microsoft spokesman said the charge that the fonts contain a hidden message is "outrageous."


"It's like saying that if you randomly type out characters on a keyboard to spell 'Satan', you can do that, but it's incredible to say that there's anti-Semitism in Microsoft or one of its vendors," said Charles Hemingway.


But Young, who discussed the matter with other computer consultants, isn't so sure it's just a coincidence.


The "Wingdings" font contains no letters - just 255 symbols.


Young calculated the odds of three letters of the alphabet being combined with 255 symbols, and said he found that the odds of obtaining the message were less than one in a trillion.


"It's mind-blowing," said Young. "Somebody's responsible for this. This is very offensive."


"I found it hard to believe some of the stories about the resurgence of Nazi sympathizers - but this puts things back into perspective."



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Microsoft, defending itself, countered the article.



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We can certainly understand how people would respond with some shock to this apparent issue. We did too when it first came up nine years ago and we investigated it thoroughly in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. The conclusion was that the sequence in the Wingdings character set is coincidental and that there was no malicious intent. In fact, it impacted several software companies at the time and continues to do so. Unfortunately, there was not an easy way to fix the problem. We understand that this requires explanation.


At the simplest level, wingdings and webdings are much like an alphabet of characters and provide thousands of potential combinations from which a person could choose. Changing the character set would create an impact of unknown scale on existing data and code using the affected font. Again, using the example of the alphabet, what would happen to existing documents and applications if we switched around a handful of letters? The likely result is that we would create significant issues for people, cause some unintended humorous moments and several offensive ones. For that reason Wingdings has been left unaltered since its inception.



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However, the pictures created by Q33NY (an airplane, two buildings, a skull and crossbones, and a Star of David) were no coincidence. The planes that crashed into the World Trade Centers were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175; Q33NY doesn't correspond in any known way to the planes involved in the attack.


Here is a list of words that I've found on the net that can be translated into 'messages'-


NYC Q33NY
MILLENIUM
BUSH (crusade for Oil, finishing in hell?)

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also dont start to flame me, because i dont believe this, but i just found it, and i posted it because i saw the other thread about Carburators, and that was basically urban legends and stuff, so i thought hell why not........

[taranaki]

www.snopes.com

all the urban legends a man could ever think of.

[ROB3000GTVR4]

[Graphik Styles]

Originally Posted by taranaki

www.snopes.com

all the urban legends a man could ever think of.

pretty cool site, still checking it out though

[2strokebloke]

One really urban legend, is about this weird old hermit, who lives in a factory among many tiny human-like creatures, that visits your home in the winter - delivering presents, he travels by way of flying deer. Ever heard that one? or did I just imagine this after sniffing too many permanent markers that I thought were those "Mr. Sketch" smell markers?

[Oz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want a reasonable explanation for why my naval lint is always blue, even when I haven't worn blue in a week AND where all those single socks go when they disappear. Convalesence home? Abused spouse counselling group?

[2strokebloke]

Originally Posted by Oz

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want a reasonable explanation for why my naval lint is always blue, even when I haven't worn blue in a week AND where all those single socks go when they disappear. Convalesence home? Abused spouse counselling group?

Actually, all washing machines are really transporters, using wormholes to transport your dirty laundry to a different dimension, where electrical water beings remove dirt - which they need to survive (duh, it's symbiotic relationship) and then return the clothes to your machine. This is why the machine sometimes halts if you open it while washing, so you don't know that this is happening - the World Goverment made this a safety device to keep people from being tranported to this alternate dimension. There, missing socks explained.

But here's a more troubling unanswered question: Why don't we ever see baby pigeons?

[zebrathree]

q33ny is not a flight number.

Yeah, I know this post is a waste of space.

[Steel]

Originally Posted by 2strokebloke

Actually, all washing machines are really transporters, using wormholes to transport your dirty laundry to a different dimension, where electrical water beings remove dirt - which they need to survive (duh, it's symbiotic relationship) and then return the clothes to your machine. This is why the machine sometimes halts if you open it while washing, so you don't know that this is happening - the World Goverment made this a safety device to keep people from being tranported to this alternate dimension. There, missing socks explained.

But here's a more troubling unanswered question: Why don't we ever see baby pigeons?

No man, you're completley wrong. The socks are actaully lost in the DRYER, which uses alien technology to zap the wetness out of clothes. However, every now and then, it zaps a sock into a random point in the universe. Usually somewhere out in deep space. Sometimes on the moon. Except we wouldnt see hardly any on the moon because most socks are white and blend in the the moons dust.

[taranaki]

The process works in reverse too....My wife found a black lace thong under the back seat of my car,definitely to small and tasteful to be anything she ever owned....I have no idea how it got there...Could it be that the humble sock is merely a juvenile type of lingerie ,in much the same way that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly?

[dayna240sx]

Claim: A complicated Honda Accord commercial required 606 takes to get right and was achieved without the use of computer-generated images.

Status: True.

http://www.creativeclub.co.uk/(oscgkb55ogfcav55vlgynb55)/prelogin/mg.aspx?m=tv&r=208543&ref=