Wow, the 24 post from last week is one of the most-trafficked items I’ve ever posted here. A lot of people obviously find such an analysis to be freakish and obsessive, but honestly, those of us who care about type and design can’t help but notice those sorts of things. Most people don’t even know the difference between a serif font and a sans serif font; naturally many of those people are going to say, as one person did on Dave Barry’s blog, “WTF is he talking about?” The post has been called “astounding” and “rad” and “a great find,” but also “nutty” and “admittedly dull.” And then there’s this comment that was posted on CNet’s blog, which I can’t resist quoting in full:

CNet, you have officially reached the bottom. Not only did you come across this absolutely ridiculous blog posting, but you actually felt the need to torture us by linking us to it and making us think it actually contained even a tiny bit of relevant information. I can never have those few minutes back. I hate you.

Needless to say, I do not want to get a beer with that guy. I’d rather get a beer with Stephen Coles of the excellent site Typographica, who wrote to tell me that the font used for the 24 clock is a commercially available typeface called “LCD,” which you can buy here for $34.50. As you can see, the kerning of the 1’s is built into the font:

I’d also rather get a beer with my pal Lindsay, who wrote to say this: “Finally, something so nerdy that it’s travelled through a worm hole and come out on the other side as cool. … This post is what the internet is FOR.” Right on!

I would also like to call your attention to the fact that Dave Barry has been liveblogging 24 regularly over the last few months, and it’s pretty hilarious.