DISQUS

achellios · 3 months ago

The font used in the main body of text here is TERRIBLE. Please stop using it.

dcurtis · 3 months ago

Use Safari.

achellios · 3 months ago

"Finally, I want to ask you something: what will keep you interested and coming back here every day?"

For a self-titled UI guy, that's one hell of a reply.

papyromancer · 2 months ago

Looks fine in Chrome, too.

David Collantes · 1 month ago

Terrible? How so? With Firefox and Chrome, under Windows 7, OS X and Linux, it looks perfectly fine.

Brade · 3 months ago

The fear isn't "completely irrational" at all. In fact he just provided the reason one paragraph earlier: "no control over the guy in the cockpit." That's what it all comes down to for people who hate flying. If you're driving, rock-climbing, skydiving, or what not, you still retain some measure of control. Statistics about the percentage of deaths mean very little when it comes down to this basic difference.

Name · 3 months ago

control is an illusion

Simon · 3 months ago

The fear is rational. He has no more control over the battery at the back of his prius or the person driving in front of him then he does over the pilot. It's the comfort on the ground that's irrational.

papyromancer · 2 months ago

I'd agree on the control issue not being completely irrational: Kubric refused to fly on airlines, yet he got his pilot's license ;)

Thomas Paine · 1 month ago

As click (or is it clack?) would say "Booohooohoogus!" By definition a phobia is irrational.

Main Entry: pho·bia
Pronunciation: \ˈfō-bē-ə\
Function: noun

: an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation

Kevin · 3 months ago

Why not drive or take the train? It's a long trip, but if it makes you feel better...

Jeff · 3 months ago

Great story, well told. My sister is like this guy. The dialog you had with "Mark Kandarski" rang true.

marcusbarber · 3 months ago

Very Interesting story. I've witnessed this irrational fear of flying numerous times. Remember, "Perception to the individual is real."

DW · 2 months ago

Seriously, Stop using Sans seriff fonts. It makes it really tiring to read.

JP · 2 months ago

Not nearly as tiring as reading absurd complaints about Dustin's choice of typeface, which indeed renders quite well in Safari. I'd love to see the scientific research behind your contention, though. Right? The study that says reading less than a thousand words in a sans-serif font requires more physical resources than reading the same text in a serif typeface. Perhaps you'd like it to be in blackletter?

I'd also be keen to hear your justification for taking the time to post a complaint in the comments when it would have taken you less time to, oh, copy and paste the text into a document and change the typeface to one of your choosing.

Sorry for the rant, DW, but you achellios seem poorly informed and rude, at that.

Joseph · 2 months ago

I agree JP. DW and achellios are wrong anyways. Sans-serif fonts might work well for print, but for the web, they look shitty on a lot of PCs.

In my opinion, Dustin's site is a thing of beauty. He can use whatever typeface he pleases, it's his site.

doniree · 2 months ago

I'm the same way though (but it doesn't stop me from flying, and often). That initial rev of the engines, the feeling of power and surrendering control to someone else gets me every time. I do better when I'm traveling w/ someone and can keep up a conversation to distract myself. I've flown my whole life, being the daughter of an airline employee, and am familiar enough with the sounds that airplane engines make, but it still gets me. I think that even though the statistics are in my favor, the degree of panic one might feel in an airplane crash vs. a car crash are exponentially higher. If my car gets hit, it's instantaneous, I didn't see it coming, and it's over quickly. If a plane goes down from 30k feet? Well, that's an awful lot of time to think about it. The end result may be the same (ouch), but I think my panic comes from the opportunity to process it and lack of control to change it.

Doesn't stop me from flying though! Oh, and cocktails before and during flights help.

campbellpaige · 2 months ago

You're a really good writer.

ellen · 2 months ago

A plane I was on recently was a few seconds from a normal landing, and instead of hitting the ground as expected, it rocketed with straining engines back up into the clouds. The lack of control in that situation, putting your life in someone's hands, not knowing WHY until they decide to inform you what the situation is... its all adrenaline fuelling panic, and those are the longest minutes waiting... imagining the fiery end to your fragile little life.

Won't stop me from flying tho - motivation to travel wins over fear.

Gene M · 2 months ago

Interesting, I actually read it all the way through. Regarding the font issue, I think it WOULD look better in a different font (that one was hard to read) - Firefox.

Nice job DCurtis.

George · 2 months ago

The font is definitely a bad choice.
And the behavior too.
(no I'm not dropping FF just so I can read a blog.)

jmt_db · 2 months ago

I avoid travel because of this very same problem. When I do travel, I get an Rx from the doctor to help settle my nerves the night before, during and then again when I have to fly home. Doesn't lend itself well to spontaneity, which is how I live the rest of my life. Therapy was a bust too. I know that it's irrational, but the panic part of my brain doesn't listen.

Stewart McCoy · 2 months ago

I've difficulty with discerning readability between most typefaces, whether serif or sans-serif. I do notice that more leading for sans-serif fonts improves readability, and that having a measure proportional to the point size greatly impacts readability. However, when it comes simply to serif versus san-serif -- I just don't get it. I've no problems with the typeface used in this article, and actually, I think Avenir is a very well designed typeface.

Tyler Willis · 2 months ago

Dustin, this is extremely well-written, what a great character description.

If I met this guy, I would love to ask him the story behind his psuedonym, seems like their might be something interesting behind it.

ToddRuehmer · 2 months ago

What is the significance of how many days you've been alive?

Adam V · 1 month ago

I have the sense that his pseudonym was funny to him because it's the name of someone he knows, perhaps even someone who he knows to be afraid of flying, and thus this person might find this article and wonder when the heck he'd talked to you.

I agree with the people who say his fear of flying is irrational compared to driving. Even more than the battery in the back of his Prius exploding (side note: I also drive a hybrid), he's much more likely to get into an accident with people who have been drinking or who are distracted.

An enjoyable story, well told.

Dave · 1 month ago

"roughly 2000% lower"
is very rough as nothing can more than 100% lower.

connortomas · 1 month ago

Beautifully designed page, well-written article (as always).

Thomas Paine · 1 month ago

It's ironic realy that people are so afraid of the take-off. As a pilot taking off is one of the easiest things to do. Just point it down the runway and pull the throttle all the way back. Flying itself is also pretty easy, it's landing that so hard. You have to stall the airplane just above the runway. If you don't stall you bounce down the runway like a pogo stick. If you stall to high, well, you crash :)