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content/about/index.md

@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ eleventyNavigation:
 <p>This is my personal website and blog, a little corner of the internet where I can talk about whatever I like without worrying about maintaining a ‘personal brand’, or constraining subject matter to those topics which might help advance my career or establish me as a ‘thought leader’. I’m here to express myself as a human and have fun writing about topics I enjoy. If you’d like to learn more about my professional accomplishments and work, I’ll link my professional website here soon.</p>
 
 <h2>About this website</h2>
-<p>This website is made with <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/">the 11ty static site generator</a>, free and open source variable typefaces <a href="https://www.gent.media/manrope">Manrope</a> and <a href="https://fraunces.undercase.xyz/">Fraunces</a>, along with plain-old HTML, CSS, and some vanilla JavaScript for the web components that I built to handle comments. I used the handy calculators on <a href="https://utopia.fyi">utopia.fyi</a> to help me implement fluid typography and spacing.</p>
+<p>This website is made with <a href="https://www.11ty.dev/">the 11ty static site generator</a>, free and open source variable typefaces <a href="https://fraunces.undercase.xyz/">Fraunces</a> and <a href="https://www.gent.media/manrope">Manrope</a>, along with plain-old HTML, CSS, and some vanilla JavaScript for the web components that I built to handle comments. I used the handy calculators on <a href="https://utopia.fyi">utopia.fyi</a> to help me implement fluid typography and spacing.</p>
 
 <p>I don’t collect any of your personal information, full-stop. All webfonts, icons, and images are hosted locally (these things can sometimes be used to <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/how-google-uses-fonts-to-track-what-users-do-online-and-sell-data-to-advertisers-12496552.html">track people across the internet</a> otherwise). I use <a href="https://umami.is/">umami</a>, an open source, privacy-respecting analytics tool, to see how many people visit this website.</p>
 
-<p>Miss when the internet was fun? Find more interesting personal blogs at <a href="https://blogroll.org">blogroll.org</a>, or <a href="https://ooh.directory/">ooh.directory</a>.</p>
+<p>Miss when the internet was fun? Find more interesting personal blogs at <a href="https://blogroll.org">blogroll.org</a>, <a href="https://ooh.directory/">ooh.directory</a>, or surf through the webrings at the bottom of the page.</p>
 
 <h2>Contact Me</h2>
 <p>If you would like to say something nice, ask a question, or simply follow me on the fediverse, <a href="../me">here’s where you can find me</a>.</p>

content/blog/gourmand-sandalwood-incense-a-perplexing-failure.md

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+---
+title: A Perplexing Failure
+description: Failing to make the most delicious batch of incense ever.
+date: 2024-04-13
+tags:
+  - Incense
+synopsis: My grand designs crumble as I fail to make the most delicious batch of incense ever devised.
+imageURL: /img/_DSC0079_copy.avif
+imageAlt: A small pile of short smooth brown incense sticks on a piece of MDF.
+mastodon_id: "112266582201922869"
+---
+This January, I had grand visions for a sweet, gourmand batch of incense sticks. I'd start with a creamy base of sandalwood, combine it with plenty of guggul resin for that touch of caramel, a dash of warm cinnamon, and a sprinkling of sweet, vanillic tonka bean; these things were going to smell like dessert, like baking cookies, like your high-school English teacher's classroom when her most cloyingly sweet scented candle had been burning for the past four hours.
+
+Things seemed to be going well while making the sticks; the dough smelled incredible, and extrusion was a dream — long, straight noodles that could be manipulated without breaking came one after another. I didn't sense that something might be wrong until I saw the sticks after they'd dried overnight, when I noticed that they were very smooth, compact, and *hard*. They didn't burn, either, which [isn't necessarily the death-knell](../patience) for a batch of incense sticks, but neither is it a good sign.
+
+[![A small pile of short smooth brown incense sticks on a piece of MDF.](/img/_DSC0079_copy.avif "The sticks in question.")](/img/_DSC0079_copy.avif)
+
+It's now three months since the sticks were extruded; they haven't shown any signs of improvement, and I'm left scratching my head. The ingredient ratios in the build I used were based on those of a successful batch; by all estimations, this batch had everything it needed to combust! It may or may not smell nice, but surely, I thought, the batch will burn! Alas, my hubris was met with disappointment. Here's the build I used:
+
+|Ingredient|Grams|% of Build|
+|----------|------|-----------|
+|Tonka Bean|0.3|5%|
+|Cinnamon|0.75|11%|
+|Guggul Resin|1.5|23%|
+|Sandalwood|3|46%|
+|Joss Powder (Litsea Glutinosa)|1|15%|
+
+My best guess as to why this build didn't work out has to do with the cinnamon. I know that some cinnamon varieties are mucilaginous, producing a mucilage (plant slime), when mixed with water. Knowing that gum binders, such as xanthan gum, can cause combustion issues in incense when used in higher concentrations, I suspect that the combination of 15% joss powder plus another 11% of the mucilaginous cinnamon somehow bound the sticks too tightly, preventing combustion.
+
+[![A tiny MHP30 circuit board heater with a little tin of incense powder on top. The heater is shown beside a mostly used blackwing pencil and a fountain pen; it's barely wider than the length of the blackwing ferrule and eraser.](/img/_DSC0014_copy.avif "This dusty wee MHP30 circuit board heater makes a great warmer for incense powders, woods, and resins. The pencil beside it may give you some idea as to just how small it is.")](/img/_DSC0014_copy.avif)
+
+Hypotheses aside, I may never know why exactly this build failed. It's always a shame when a batch turns out to be a complete flop after you've put so much time into carefully grinding and sifting precious aromatics, then kneading, extruding and drying neat little noodles of incense — waiting weeks or months to see whether your hopes for them have come to fruition. But all is not lost after all: when I break up the sticks into small pieces and put them on my mini ~~circuit board,~~ erm, *incense* heater, the fragrance is everything I had thought it might be. I'll content myself with that as I wait for yesterday's batch of rose and myrrh to cure.
+

public/css/index.css

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
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 	--meta-font-style: italic;
 	--meta-font-variation-settings: "opsz" 12, "wght" 310, "SOFT" 40, "WONK" 0;
-	--ui-letter-spacing: var(--space-3xs);
+	--ui-letter-spacing: calc(var(--space-3xs) * 0.5);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -289,6 +289,11 @@ p, li {
 	font-size: var(--step-0);
 	line-height: calc(var(--step-0) * 0.5 + var(--step-0));
 }
+th {
+	font-variation-settings: "opsz" 25, "wght" 500, "SOFT" 40, "WONK" 0;
+	padding-bottom: var(--space-2xs);
+	text-align: left;
+}
 figure {
 	margin: 0;
 	padding: var(--space-m) 0 var(--space-m) 0;
@@ -560,7 +565,7 @@ nav ul {
 	font-family: var(--font-family-ui);
 	font-size: var(--step--2);
 	font-variation-settings: var(--font-variation-ui);
-	letter-spacing: var(--space-3xs);
+	letter-spacing: var(--ui-letter-spacing);
 	margin-top: calc(var(--space-3xs) * -1);
 	padding-left: var(--space-xs);
 	padding-right: var(--space-xs);