diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5b252a4c..dfb73029 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ What tools are there?
 ---------------------
 
 * disk-image-create -o filename {element} [{element} ...] : Create an image of
-  element {element}, optionally mixing in other elements.
+  element {element}, optionally mixing in other elements. You will usually want
+  to include the "base" element in your image.
 
 * ramdisk-image-create -o filename {element} [{element} ...] : Create a kernel+
   ramdisk pair for running maintenance on bare metal machines (deployment,
diff --git a/elements/base/install.d/00-baseline-environment b/elements/base/install.d/00-baseline-environment
index 85c249ec..6438bc7d 100755
--- a/elements/base/install.d/00-baseline-environment
+++ b/elements/base/install.d/00-baseline-environment
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# These are useful, or at worst not harmful, for all imges we build.
+# These are useful, or at worst not harmful, for all images we build.
 
 set -e