h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My son emailed me this from his college:

"Hows this for freaky?

Q33 NY is the code to the plane that crashed into the World Trade
Center Towers, right?

Load up Wordpad,
Write Q33 NY (in capitals) and font size 36
Change the font to "Windings"

How weird is that?"

Can you find me, anywhere on the internet, any proof that the code for the plane was Q33 NY?

yes. that is odd.

Urban Myth springs to mind.

Definitely Urban Myth.
One was flight 11, the other 173.

Someone told me about it a few days ago and I tried it on Wingding and Wingding 2, but it didn't work - it must be Wingding 3.

Apparently the 33 refers not to the flight number, but to the age of Mohamed Atta who is suspected as the pilot who hit the N. tower.

I think people are making things up to come up with the picture they want. Create the picture and then work back and try to justify it's meaning in some small way.

They should leave well alone, IMHO.

My mistake - it does work on Wingdings. I agree, someone smart-ass thought it up and then tried to create a link.

that one's getting old
But do try "NYC" (capitals) in Webdings and then in Windings ...
Tube

That one's getting very, very old.

A quick run down, but you can find the full story at myth debunking sites such as Snopes and About

Microsoft was accused in the early 90s of inciting anti-semitism when the original WIngdings font translated NYC as a skull and Cross bones a star of David and a Raised thumb - which was said to be a secret message to kill jews. Microsoft said it was a coincidence.

When several years later the WebDings font came out, NYC turned into an Eye, and heart, and a city landscape - again MS denied it was done on purpose, but most people suspect MS were having a laugh at the pranoid conspiracy theorists.

The latest incarntion is pure malice. The flights were American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175.

I wish people would simply spend 2 minutes at one of the urban myth sites before fowarding such garbage, a link to one site is on my home page.

ChawkE

I think the NYC in webdings is great, windings not great.

I agree that this is a hoax, but the flight numbers are not the only code a plane carries. The flight numbers vary depending on where the plane is going, but each plane has its own unique registration code that identifies it.

Sorry.
I won't post such garbage again.

Is there a use for these fonts outside school newsletters?

Awwww! Don't take it personally!

Tube

Wingdings lets you do in emails

Oh its woth posting such garbage as it gives me an opotunity to be patronising to people

ChawkE

Someone has sent me a pic of a tourist at the top of the WTC.
It's even got the date in the corner.
The plane is in the background.
Heading towards the tower.
The email swears the film was found by a "reputable person" and developed.
It's an astonishing snap, if macabre.
My email addy is [email protected] if anyone is interested in it, I will fwd.
I'm surprised I haven't seen it in The Sun.

Arrrdgh don't you learn anything

Please check the debunking pages linked to on my page, this photo is a fake or many reasons

plane is coming in wrong direction
Person is dressed for winter
the tower he is alleged to be on didn't have open air public area
shadows are wrong
Do you really think camera would survive



At last count there was over 20 new urban myths an netlore surrounding September 11, some are actually true - G W bush saying he wasn't going to send a $10M missile across the world to attack a tent and blow up a camel for example.


ChawkE - Myth debunker

I passed the photo debunking on to a friend who'd heard from a co-worker about the bogus Nostradamas "prediction", figuring that the same person would bring up the photo. As it happened, the timing was perfect: my friend had the debunking (from the urban legends site) printed out just as the co-worker brought up the photo. So it got stopped (once, at least) outside H2G2 as well.