7-7-06

Business First
If you ever actually click the "news" button, you know that I'm planning some changes for the site.  For one thing, I've decided that Casual Notice needs to be at least partially self-supporting.  No, I will not have a donations button on the front page, ever.  But, Once Joe and I determine the best way to go about it, I will be selling swag.  Probably just a few t-shirts at first, but I'll probably eventually expand into other items that have been requested or commented on (Scot's "Ask" mug comes immediately to mind).
          I am also looking into means of auto-updating the comic.  Both Joe and I are toying with learning php design in our respective free time, and a custom autoupdater (and maybe archive html generator) is something we each have thought about.  Joe's a better program and web designer, but I have more free time, so we'll see who gets there first.
          There will probably be a comic tomorrow.  If that is the case, then Monday's comic will be late, but it will be an extended-size comic with action and all that stuff that is hard to draw and costs me money in thrown-out drafts.

Into the Sunset...
Fellow Houstonian JinWicked has pulled her site "Crap I Drew on My Lunchbreak" until July 30.  She'll put it back up then either with updates or with the archives open and an explanation that she won't be updating any more.  If you're a regular reader of her news box, you probably knew this was coming.  She's been expressing a certain dislike for the comic for a while now, especially its demands on her time and physical capabilities.
          She has also been harassed.  A lot.  Much of the harassment has come from people who probably believe themselves to be conservatives, although I don't think trying to impose your own personal morals or politics on another human being is in any way conservative.  I rally don't understand the thought processes that go into such harassment. 
          Seriously.  Going to someone's web site (especially one that is so obviously just a hobby) and tapping out an e-mail filled with angry vituperative is tantamount to crashing a party, seeking out the hostess and shouting "Bitch!" in her face before stalking off.  Why would you go to such great lengths just to cause yourself and others unhappiness.
          Miss Wicked, if you're reading this, on behalf of the entire conservative community, I would like to apologize for the psychotic monkeys that hide under the banner and fling poo at passing liberals.

English as a Second Language for Native Speakers of English
Okay, now I'm going to be petty and pedantic, so if that's the sort of thing that gives you blood-pressure trouble, then maybe you should go read Heathcliff.
          Learn your fucking language!  Seriously, if you're a native speaker of American English, learn how to spell, learn the various commonly used figures of speech and what they mean, learn the language.  It's a beautiful language, and it's very precise, if you use it correctly.
          Speak your piece.  One doesn't speak one's "peace".  That's stupid.  Peace is a state of being and can't be spoken.  The phrase "speak your piece" refers to having spoken one's portion of a conversation and no longer having anything new to offer to the discussion.  Homophones:  Know which ones are correct.
          Should have, would have.  "Should of" and "would of" are also stupid and senseless.  Even if you (mis)pronounce them that way, the words to which you're referring are the contractions "should've" and "would've".  Now hard is it to take an eighth of a second and look at a sentence to ensure that it even makes sense?
          "Sure" is not spelled with an "h", "usage" refers to the proper application of a word (for everything else "use (pronounced "yooce") is preferred), "utilize" is annoying and needlessly long.  While I'm on the subject, you can not "disrespect" anyone.  "Disrespect" is a noun.  It is the state of not showing respect.  Nobody gets free respect.  Disrespect is not the opposite of respect;  the opposite of respect is contempt or despite (the verb forms of those words are contemn and despise, respectively).  People who complain about being "disrespected" fill me with contempt.
          Look for more of these in coming weeks.  Or learn the language to which you were born.