Microsofts Strange Connection to 911 & NYC!?
WINGDING WEIRDNESS
In 1992, Microsoft Corp. released Wingdings, created by Kris Holmes and Charles Bigelow of Holmes & Bigelow, a font design house. This font set -- coinciding with the release of Windows 3.11 -- contained 255 icons matched to the upper and lower case letters, numerals and symbols on the computer keyboard. Themes included computers, travel, religion, the zodiac, hand gestures, business and office, faces and bullet points.
In that same year, someone discovered that if you typed "NYC" in Wingdings, you got a skull and crossbones, a star of David and a thumbs-up gesture.
Some people interpreted it as anti-Semitic and anti-New York. Microsoft repeatedly denied any such intent, adding that it was an unfortunate coincidence.
"It's completely random," Microsoft spokeswoman Kimberly Kuresman told USA Today. "If you fix 'NYC,' it could lead to another combination that could be equally offensive."
A friend of Bigelow and Holmes also said the creators had no malicious intent. "These are two of the most peace-loving people on the face of the Earth. There's no way it was anything other than an unfortunate coincidence," Don Hosek, a typographer, told Wired magazine.
"We have enough symbols and combinations that it's almost inevitable that you'll find something that's a little sinister," added Hosek, editor of Serif magazine.
In 1992, Microsoft went so far as to investigate after receiving numerous complaints about the NYC oddity from the Anti-Defamation League, a group that crusades against anti-Semitism and other biases. The software giant found no ulterior motives.
Another NYC coincidence occurred with Microsoft's Webdings font, released in 1997. The symbols produced by typing "NYC" produced a human eye, a heart and an urban skyline. It bore some resemblance to Milton Glaser's famed "I Love (Heart) NY" graphic used by the New York state government since 1976 (and somewhat also by the city).
Microsoft said its typographer worked to avoid the NYC flap produced by Wingdings by using "positive" symbols for them in Webdings, Kuresman said.
David Mikkelson, an urban myth researcher, was aware of the NYC images, and thought Microsoft left them alone because there was nothing terrible intended, despite many people's beliefs about the computer company and founder Bill Gates being evil and rapacious.
"If Microsoft had thought there was anything to it, they've had 10 years to change the keyboard mapping, but haven't. I'm sure they (appropriately) consider it too silly to bother with," Mikkelson said.
The company's decision to leave the Wingdings alone led to a return of e-mails screaming about the NYC death message. They surfaced several days after the attacks. A new wrinkle also appeared in the e-mail:
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.
The language usage suggests this e-mail came from a nation where British English either was spoken or was taught to the writer ("aeroplane"; "Microsoft were..." instead of "was").
The e-mail was quickly dismissed as a fake, as none of the doomed jets' flight or registration numbers were Q33NY. If there were any code, it might have been based on the flight number; for example, AAL11, for American Airlines Flight 11, or UAL93, United Airlines Flight 93.
The so-called skyscraper icons are actually pieces of paper with writing on them, not the Twin Towers.
What do you think? [bandit]
Freaky isn't it? :S
