Add no ai webring

Reviewed-on: #6

_data/metadata.js

@@ -348,6 +348,12 @@ export default {
 			previousURL: "http://geekring.net/site/350/previous",
 			nextURL: "http://geekring.net/site/350/next",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "No AI Webring",
+			ringURL: "https://baccyflap.com/noai",
+			previousURL: "https://baccyflap.com/noai/?prv&s=nat",
+			nextURL: "https://baccyflap.com/noai/?nxt&s=nat",
+		},
 	],
 	wooModeOnByDefault: false,
 };

_includes/nav.njk

@@ -7,11 +7,6 @@
 				class="home-link">
 				<svg class="logo" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="32" height="32" viewBox="0 0 8.467 8.467"><path d="M23.248 20.452v6.444c0 1.12.902 2.023 2.023 2.023h4.421c1.12 0 2.023-.902 2.023-2.023v-4.421c0-1.12-.902-2.023-2.023-2.023h-6.444m1.516 1.924q.102.007.255.013a8 8 0 0 0 .848-.013l2.39 3.18V23.32q0-.313-.039-.478a.36.36 0 0 0-.165-.243q-.128-.076-.402-.095v-.128a18 18 0 0 0 .676.02 8 8 0 0 0 .567-.02v.128a.65.65 0 0 0-.312.095.36.36 0 0 0-.147.23 2.3 2.3 0 0 0-.032.44v3.638a1.712 1.712 0 0 0-.268 0l-2.734-3.715v2.753q0 .306.039.478.037.165.166.242.134.07.401.096v.127a3 3 0 0 0-.312-.013 11 11 0 0 0-.676 0q-.153 0-.255.013v-.127a.7.7 0 0 0 .312-.096.34.34 0 0 0 .141-.23q.038-.159.038-.44v-2.943q0-.236-.038-.344a.21.21 0 0 0-.14-.153.9.9 0 0 0-.313-.051zm5.092 3.671a.5.5 0 0 1 .357.128q.14.127.14.337t-.14.338a.5.5 0 0 1-.357.127.52.52 0 0 1-.363-.127.45.45 0 0 1-.134-.338q0-.21.134-.337a.52.52 0 0 1 .363-.128" style="fill-opacity:1;" transform="translate(-23.248 -20.452)"/></svg>
 				</a>
-			{% if tags and tags.includes('posts') and not tags.includes('quiz') and not hideBlogTitleFromHeader%}
-				<a class="blog-name" href="/blog">
-					{{ metadata.blogName }}
-				</a>
-			{% endif %}
 			<ul class="nav">
 			{%- for entry in collections.all | eleventyNavigation %}
 				<li class="nav-item" {% if entry.url == page.url %} aria-current="page" data-currentpage="true"{% endif %}><a href="{{ entry.url }}">{{ entry.title }}</a></li>

content/blog/the-trauma-of-employment.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+---
+title: The Trauma of Employment
+description: Power imbalances at work negatively impact human relationships and leave long-lasting scars. We can do better.
+synopsis: Power imbalances at work negatively impact human relationships and leave long-lasting scars. We can do better.
+date: 2026-06-30
+tags:
+  - Life
+  - Work
+imageURL: /img/trauma-of-employment/Venetian-Glass-Workers.webp
+imageAlt: "Venetian Glass Workers by John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas. This backlit view of a shop in Venice is dark and atmospheric except for the brilliant strokes of light green and silvery white paint that describe the canes of glass as tradespeople prepare to cut them into bead-sized pieces, which will then be polished and strung into jewelry."
+mastodon_id: "116842107464446750"
+---
+::: info
+Content warning: sexual assault.
+:::
+
+Every year, I receive a glowing review from my employer, effusive, even. But each year, I dread the review. 'This time, it's going to be bad,' I think. 'I'm sure my boss was annoyed with me by the tone of their last teams message'. 'I can sense that she wants to replace me'. 'It's been a good run, but I'd better refresh my resume'. My thoughts run away from me and before I know it I'm experiencing a full-blown stress response in my body as I imagine myself with a bindle slung over my shoulder because I can't afford to pay rent. I'm aware that this is utterly irrational. My current boss is almost certainly the best I've ever had, and there are no real signs of trouble. This anxiety stems from something deeper.
+
+My first 'professional' role was as a print broker and artworker. I was paid peanuts, but I loved it. It turns out that I was a total print nerd, and specifying, designing, planning, managing, and procuring print work was a bit of a dream job for me. It was a small office, and my boss kind of just let me do my thing and, beside the pay, treated me well. Over the years, I've come to learn that 'professional' jobs (or as I like to call them, 'short-pile-carpet jobs') where a person with ADHD can truly thrive are scarce as hen's teeth. The problem is rarely the work itself, but those charged with overseeing it.
+
+Back in the nineteenth century, a Russian prince by the name of Pëtr Kropotkin was hard at work annoying capitalists and authoritarian communists alike with a deluge of pointed critiques. Kropotkin's thought was largely concerned with *power*, and how best to distribute and use it in order to prevent oppressive systems from repeating themselves, whether or not this occurs under a banner emblazoned with a hammer and sickle. Kropotkin also espoused the traditional human gift economy. Despite gift economies being humanity's default state, chugging along nicely for thousands of years, the idea is often subjected to the critique that human nature simply won't allow good behavior under this sort of arrangement. So prevalent was this idea that in 1888, Kropotkin replied with the essay "Are We Good Enough?" in which he wrote:
+
+>  Men are not good enough for Communism, but are they good enough for Capitalism? If all men were good-hearted, kind, and just, they would never exploit one another, although possessing the means of doing so. With such men the private ownership of capital would be no danger. The capitalist would hasten to share his profits with the workers, and the best-remunerated workers with those suffering from occasional causes. If men were provident they would not produce velvet and articles of luxury while food is wanted in cottages: they would not build palaces as long as there are slums.
+>
+> If men had a deeply developed feeling of equity they would not oppress other men. Politicians would not cheat their electors; Parliament would not be a chattering and cheating box, and Charles Warren’s policemen would refuse to bludgeon the Trafalgar Square talkers and listeners. And if men were gallant, self-respecting, and less egotistic, even a bad capitalist would not be a danger; the workers would have soon reduced him to the role of a simple comrade-manager. Even a King would not be dangerous, because the people would merely consider him as a fellow unable to do better work, and therefore entrusted with signing some stupid papers sent out to other cranks calling themselves Kings.
+
+In this indictment of human nature, Kropotkin exposes the problem inherent to bosses: their human fallibility. In a sensible world, power would be better distributed; it would be impossible for one flawed human to accumulate sufficient power to ruin scores of lives. But today, despite our lip-service to democracy, millions of petty tyrants rule, unelected, over billions of others. They control minute aspects of the lives of the workers they employ with a sort of horrifying totalitarian control that books have been written about where it concerns similar behavior from nation states. I like my boss. She's pleasant, kind, intelligent, and has never done me wrong. But if she were a tyrant, or were to become one, there would be no recourse for me or my colleagues[^1], and the consequences could easily be life changing.
+
+In my twenties, through a convoluted and tragic series of circumstances, I wound up working in hospitality. Mostly bartending at first, but I went into coffee later. People often don't realize how awful this industry is, especially in the U.S.A. The reality is that, no matter what you do, if your job involves short-pile-carpet and a laptop, your worst day at work almost certainly pales in comparison to the average day for a waiter, bartender, bar-back, busser, line-cook, or barista. The work itself is grueling, the pay is usually minimal, health insurance is a rarity, customers treat you like a servant with shit on your face, and employers treat you like a cheap machine—with shit on its face. To this day, I tip profusely. In hospitality, people are fired at a moment's notice. Bosses are routinely insane. Screaming at workers in front of colleagues and customers, wage theft, threatening to fire workers, and sexual harassment and assault are—and I need you to take this literally—completely normal. There's a [Mario Batali](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/dining/mario-batali-sexual-misconduct-lawsuits-settles.html) or a [René Redzepi](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/dining/rene-redzepi-noma-abuse-allegations.html) in most kitchens.[^2] I've worked for an operations manager known for grabbing the asses of the cocktail waitresses they employed. I worked for a man who—I kid you not—lived in the basement-office of the coffee shop he owned and would watch you on camera from his bed. He would scream at you over the phone if you didn't count the cash in full view of the camera at all times, and would also scream at you in front of customers if you didn't make espresso the way he did (which was wrong). I've personally been sexually assaulted by customers at work, multiple times. I've been fired. I've had customers threaten to have me fired because I refused to give them free product.
+
+In this line of work, people see you as something less than human. Your livelihood is worth less than their convenience. That stays with you. Mistreatment by your peers is unpleasant, but mistreatment by people who have the power to put an immediate stop to your ability to feed, clothe, and house yourself is an existential threat. When I feel such intense anxiety related to my employment today, years later, and despite working almost entirely from home, glowing performance reviews, meaningful pay increases every year, and a kind, reasonable boss, I realize that my time in hospitality hurt me in ways that are hard to heal.
+
+When you've experienced employment without that short-pile-carpet pretense and veneer of respectability, any sense of discomfort, dissatisfaction, or irritation from your employer feels dangerous. Because it is. No matter how good and reasonable they are, they are also fallible, and their bad mood could destroy your life. I've also been a boss, in charge of a couple dozen or so baristas, cooks, and store managers. I once walked into a café, and noticing that something was off, asked one of the workers to fix it in what I thought was a neutral 'by the way' sort of tone. I was later told that she burst into tears when I left. At the time I was hyper-aware that anything I said could be interpreted (or felt) as a threat, so I intentionally tried to ensure that I was as friendly and calm as possible. Still, the nature of the arrangement, the unjust power imbalance, made it impossible to take my words at face value. I was a threat to her livelihood, and nothing I could say or do could ever change that. They say that it's lonely being in leadership roles. It is. Workers are becoming friends and building genuine rapport, while you're always the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and you're kidding yourself if you think that you're an exception.
+
+Some six years into my current role, I still haven't decorated my office downtown. There's not a single item in a drawer anywhere that I'll need to collect when I eventually move on. I think escaping hospitality—even though I was head of the chain's Chicago operations at the time—felt too good to be true. It seems that I'm still afraid. This trauma is, I think, something that often goes neglected at the ballot box. It's so normalized that it seems a natural part of life. So while politicians are busy riling us all up over immigration and culture-war nonsense, we collectively forget that our employers exercise *infinitely* more power over us than any politician. We need to start demanding strong worker protections, right of first refusal, and other means of righting the power imbalance not because all bosses are bad, but because all bosses are human. And with this, we can slowly begin to build a world where work is carried out equitably, for the betterment of society, with respect and due care toward those who carry it out. Work doesn't have to be traumatic, and by turning our attention to these issues which affect our lives so intimately, we can see to it that it isn't.
+
+[^1]: And yes, you smarmy what-name, I recognize that technically you might consider it recourse to upend your life and find a new job, if you can, but that's a bit like saying "Yes, he fired an arrow at you, but could you not simply have moved out of the way?" "Yes, they kicked the fire-ladder away from the window, but could you not have simply knotted some bed-sheets?" What is possible and what is reasonable are often two very things, especially when your life, health, and well-being are at stake.
+[^2]: Remember that the next time you roll your eyes at the POS tip screen.

content/changelog/index.md

@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ h1: Changelog
 includeTOC: true
 ---
 ## 2026
+### June
+* 2026-06-28
+	* Updated site style.
 ### May
 * 2026-05-26
 	* Updated [blogroll](/blogroll).

content/now-burning/Now Burning_2026-06-29_10:44.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+title: Dragon's Blood
+manufacturer: Bhagwan Incense
+date: 2026-06-29 10:43:50
+time: 10:43 AM
+---
+

content/now/index.njk

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ tags:
 {% set postsCount = collections.now | removeMostRecent | length %}
 {% if postsCount > 1 %}
 <h2 class="postlist-header">Previous Entries:</h2>
-{% set postslist = collections.now | removeMostRecent %}
+{% set postslist = collections.now | removeMostRecent | reverse %}
 {% set showPostListHeader = false %}
 {% include "postslist.njk" %}
 {% endif %}

content/now/now_2025_11_28.md

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ title: Me Time
 description: "Taking time off for the holiday, incense stuff, leisure, and displacement."
 synopsis: "Taking time off for the holiday, incense stuff, leisure, and displacement."
 date: 2025-11-28
+imageURL: /img/maroma_sandalwood.webp
+imageAlt: An incense stick protruding from a round blue ceramic censer.
 ---
 Not much of tremendous interest has been going on lately; I took the week off because I forget to take time during the year, and thanksgiving is as good excuse as any to cram in some PTO at the end of the year. I've also been taking Fridays off lately. Sol and I had planned to spend thanksgiving day with their folks, but we unfortunately had to cancel the day before due to some medical stuff. Instead, we had a nice wee dinner just between the two of us: a [nut roast](https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-nut-roast/), mashed potatoes, and gochujang-glazed carrots, all with lashings of gravy. Nut roasts are one of those foods that more people ought to eat. I think people avoid it because it sounds like too-healthy hippie food, but it's genuinely lovely. It's good hot as part of a roast dinner; it's also fantastic cold on sandwiches.
 

content/now/now_2026-06-29.md

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+---
+title: Getting Old
+description: "Life updates and thoughts on moving, aging, doing human stuff, and work."
+synopsis: "Life updates and thoughts on moving, aging, doing human stuff, and work."
+date: 2026-06-29
+imageURL: /img/Still_Life_with_Lemons_Oranges_and_a_Pomegranate_about_1620–1630_Jacob_van_Hulsdonck.webp
+imageAlt: A still life painting by Jacob van Hulsdonck of lemons, oranges, and a pomegranate.
+---
+It's been a while since my last update; I wanted to finish refreshing the style of my website before writing anything. The update took quite some time. At first, I implemented a design with big full-width header images on blog posts, and it looked pretty good. But, for some reason, after putting in all of the effort to accomplish my design I found that I lacked any motivation to keep going. I eventually realized that I just wasn't keen on the design. There was nothing wrong with it per se; I think it was just too loud. After some more time in Inkscape, I settled on the current look and worked feverishly to complete it. It's not terribly different: just a little tidier, more green, with some type tweaks.
+
+## Moving on
+
+Kicking-out time approaches for my apartment. I knew the new landlord was fibbing when she said she hoped that I, and the other residents, would stay on as tenants. It just isn't tenable without huge rent increases. For a first-time property owner it seems like she's already got the slum-lord routine down; no contact whatsoever unless rent is remitted ever so slightly later than usual (honestly, I don't mind this). She also opted not to pay a professional to replace the water heater, and simply left the broken unit taking up space in the basement after installing the new one. I realize I sound salty, but I'm not. For a man with lots of big feelings, I find it extremely difficult to hold a grudge. I recognize that she has done something awful by forcing six people from their home irrespective of their attachment to the place or ability to bear the cost of a move financially. I also don't have to hate her for it. In fact, I'm close to incapable.
+
+## Getting old
+
+But beside all of that, I've been feeling pretty vulnerable in other ways too. It's impossible to save money in this economy, and I'm starting to really internalize what a tenuous position this puts me in unless I can escape the U.S. before I'm old and decrepit. The driving force behind this awakening is that I have health stuff to consider these days. Nothing remotely serious, but, lord, It seems not so long ago that I was a twenty-something running around the city utterly uninsured, working too much, drinking too much, recklessly re-using old contact lenses, and sowing my wild oats without so much as a thought to donning a pair of dungarees. Don't get me wrong—I'm as strong and lively as ever—but you sure do start to acknowledge that you're merely a squishy machine when you have to fire up an electronic breathing box so that you don't hold your breath too long in your sleep. At the ripe old age of 36 I'm beginning to feel a bit like a monk; my only remaining vices are drinking tea, burning incense, and pondering my mortality.
+
+## Human stuff
+
+This is a good phase of life for me too, however. I'm no longer filled with the acute sense of existential dread that hits you when your life suddenly becomes more stable. Only a little of that these days, [as a treat](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cats-can-have-little-a-salami). I'm starting to regain that rich appreciation of beauty that I had too many feelings for as a teen and too little time for as a twenty-something. I've started buying the chocolate bars with love poems inside the wrappers, for the wrappers. I'm slowly remembering how to not worry too much about things I can't change. I've really come to relish small treats. I know what it's like to love someone, and be loved by someone, for close to a decade. In a world where everything seems to be going to pot and nobody has any money, I've been retreating into what it is to be a human, and it's been pretty cozy. Drinking tea, making and appreciating incense, playing music, reading and writing more prose and poetry. All really nice, really human things to do.
+
+## A big work event
+
+We had our big annual event at work not long ago. This year, Hillary Clinton was one of our speakers, so there was a big to-do with secret service, et cetera. It's par for the course for VIPs to be present at these events, so it's not uncommon for attendees and speakers alike to have private security. But this was another matter entirely and it required a lot of work from everybody involved. Despite some sleepless nights for our events director, it went very well and got quite a lot of news coverage. I didn't speak to her but I hear that Hillary had a nice time as well, which is great. You want your speakers to enjoy themselves. I rather enjoyed the conversation too.

content/status/Status_2026-06-29_13:29.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+date: 2026-06-29 13:28:40
+emoji: 🤖
+comment: I wish that before companies bolted-on AI assistants to their products, they first considered whether they have been neglecting basic quality of life features like fuzzy search, trimming whitespace from inputs, good info hierarchy and discoverability, etc. Like, if your software is a labyrinth full of foot-guns, of course people are going to want a magic lamp.
+---

public/css/comments.css

@@ -168,9 +168,9 @@ p.isso-input-wrapper {
   border-top-left-radius: 0;
 	color: var(--background-color);
 	padding: var(--space-l) calc((100cqw - (var(--grid-gutter) * 11)) / 12) var(--space-2xs) calc((100cqw - (var(--grid-gutter) * 11)) / 12);
-  margin-left: calc(((100cqw - (var(--grid-gutter) * 11)) / 12) * -1) !important;
+  /*! margin-left: calc(((100cqw - (var(--grid-gutter) * 11)) / 12) * -1) !important; */
   margin-block: 1lh 1lh;
-  width: calc(((100cqw) / 12) * 14);
+  /*! width: calc(((100cqw) / 12) * 14); */
 }
 @container (width < 460px) {
 	.isso-postbox {
@@ -223,6 +223,12 @@ textarea.isso-textarea {
 	width: 100%;
 }
 
+/* reply form */
+.isso-root > .isso-comment > .isso-text-wrapper > .isso-postbox {
+	width: 100%;
+	margin-left: auto;
+}
+
 @media (max-width: 900px) {
 	.isso-postbox {
 		margin-left: auto !important;

public/css/index.css

@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ body {
 html {
 	font-size: 13px;
 	height: 100%;
+	scroll-padding-top: var(--space-2xl);
 }
 abbr {
 	cursor: help;
@@ -240,7 +241,6 @@ body {
 	font-size: var(--step-0);
 	height: 100cqh;
 	padding-inline: var(--grid-gutter);
-	/*! width: 100vw; */
 }
 button {
 	align-items: center;
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ h3 {
 	text-wrap: pretty;
 	&::before {
 		color: var(--contrast-color);
-		content: "🢒";
+		content: "▸";
 		margin-left: calc(1em * -1);
 	}
 }
@@ -715,6 +715,7 @@ article > .post-image,
 nav {
 	background-color: var(--nav-footer-color);
 	border-bottom: var(--border-header-footer);
+	height: var(--space-xl);
 	left: 0;
 	margin-left: calc(var(--grid-gutter) * -1);
 	margin-right: calc(var(--grid-gutter) * -1);
@@ -1056,24 +1057,6 @@ ul.taglist {
 		display: flex;
 		justify-content: center;
 		width: 100%;
-	}
-	nav {
-		& > .nav-elements-grid-container {
-			& > .nav-elements-container {
-				& > .blog-name {
-					font-size: var(--step-0);
-				}
-				& > .home-link {
-				}
-				& > ul.nav {
-					flex-flow: column nowrap;
-					gap: 0;
-					& li {
-						line-height: calc(var(--step-0) * 0.25 + var(--step-0));
-					}
-				}
-			}
-		}
 	}
 		.postlist {
 		& .postlist-item-container {