Introducing: dan·nix

Submitted by Dan on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 14:59

Dan - noun (dein) - First name of Daniel Mantyla, utility infielder of all things software development, and creator of this website.

*nix - noun (stahr·nix) - A Unix-like operating system, one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification.

 

Dan·nix. So there you have it, my clever little blog title, proof that I have both wit and geek cred. The idea, of course, is that this site is like a Unix derivative—if even only in the way that the menus mimic the file structure (/bin, /sbin, /lib, /home, /etc) and that many blog posts and articles will deal with linux topics.

As you may have guessed, this site is under construction.

Wait. Stop. Allow this author the rare opportunity to indulge in the sort of literary trickery that challenges the sovereign authority of poetic license, even if it may be overreactive to the instance, let us reach into the ASCII jewel box and withdraw two sets of exquisite superscript signs— ❝ for the left and ❞ for the right—and hang them from the lobes on either side of the words under construction. Like so: “under construction.”

This, of course, is not for purposes of ornamentation, although these apostrophic clusters possess an understated, overlooked beauty that transcends the merely chic. No, these scare quotes so adorn the stern words of under construction to emphasis the absurd use of it in this context. The phrase "under construction" (there they are again) may be one of the most overused phrases in web design (although some may argue that, with the state that this website is in currently, it's used immaculately in this case)—yet has no real meaning. You see, this website will always be under construction, will always have new features being added to it, the appearance will always be changing, and the content always being updated. Saying that it is now, or at any one point, under construction is most deserving of apostrophic disclaimer.