Wingdings

Supposedly, if you go into Microsoft word and type in certain words, phrases, etc, you get strange 'messsage' and pictures. First of all, here is something posted up at http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/wingding.htm-

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.

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.

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The consultant was testing a mailing-address use of the program when he noticed the letters "NYC" had been replaced by a hateful message - a skull and crossbones, the Star of David and an approving thumbs-up symbol.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

Microsoft, defending itself, countered the article.

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.

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?)

If anyone knows of any other words that produce 'messages', let me know.

-Andrew

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