Another Foot Down

Whee!  And in just one day, after spending the morning writing up that long "design document" post.  Compared to my usual speeds that's pretty good!

Revamp Update & Checklist

On the surface this may appear to be an effort to keep breathless fans up to the minute on the progress of The Devil's Virtue.  Secretly, though, this is just a note to myself, posted in public with the vague hope that it will provide pressure to finish this project in a timely manner.

Joyful Noise

Andrew Wheeler over at The Post-Game Show delivers a terrifically snappy and pointed rejoinder to a recent geographically perplexing act of legislature.  Take that, the state of California!

More Wordstuff

Compliment, with an i, is the word you want when you mean positive commentary, flattery or praise: He complimented her hat, they received many compliments on the show.  In actual usage, the word sometimes takes the metaphorical meaning of improving or reflecting well on (the gold fringe tastefully compliments the red velvet), but strictly it refers to words specifically, actual spoken or written praise, and some readers may still hold this standard strongly enough to make such usage seem jarring or humorous.

Complement, with an e, means something that completes something else, makes a set with it, fills in a missing place or reinforces:  socks and shoes are natural complements to each other, as are hammer and nails, washer and dryer, or even beans and rice.  Very often, complement implies an option, something that could be left out but which enhances or transforms the experience if included; the orange sauce perfectly complements the duck, Mr. Thompson found massive drug use a perfect complement to the Vegas experience.

There are some cases in which either word might be appropriate; a dress could conceivably both compliment and complement someone's figure.  In this instance, though, you'd be better off with a less ambiguous word such as flatter or enhance.

What never works is the belt complimented the shoes, unless you mean the belt can speak, or has gold-foil lettering on it spelling "Hey, check out the hot shoes!"

Ziggy Goes a Little Too Far Sometimes

I mean, bad enough the guy goes around without pants...

(view the original cartoon)

Picking out Drapes

Continuing the big push to renovate the Devil's Virtue, working on the graphics now. Here's a preview of the new look -- be warned these are big huge images.

What's Going On?

Which is surely what everyone is clamoring to know.  The new wallpaper here is part of a big revamp project for my website (The Devil's Virtue), which is currently laboring under some pretty terrible graphics that I dunno, I guess I thought were a good idea at the time.  The new look will be much more attractive and interesting, as well as being hosted on a friend's server instead of being a fill-in-the-blanks Google page.

Once the new look is done, there's a ton of content waiting in the wings, needing to be polished and posted.  So the next month or so ought to be a pretty big one over at The Devil's Virtue.

Oh, and my head is fine.  Just got a little scar now, and a bunch of business piled up that didn't get taken care of while I was languishing on Vicodin.