JJF1Y39: housekeeping (README unslop, CI boot check, format pass)

[T-Crypt]

Speculum is kept as a light monitor service (un-archived 2026-10-12; berth takes new dashboard development). This PR readies the repo for that role. No feature work: no design-contract, state-shape, or collector-behavior lines touched; the windows CI job is byte-identical.

What changed

• README.md (3 lines): removed three AI-slop tells (an em dash, "rides the proxy", "serves as"). All facts, the ToC, and the voice are intact.
• .github/workflows/verify.yml (+15 lines, linux job only): the job now boots the collector headless (temp XDG_DATA_HOME, port 18792), hits /api/snapshot and /api/stream, and tears itself down via an EXIT trap. Written to pass under set -euo pipefail: no pipe into head on the snapshot line (EPIPE-safe past the 64 KB buffer), the stream check writes to a file with timeout 2 ... || true.

Proof (run in the worktree, branch JJF1Y39-housekeeping)

• python3 -m py_compile collector/*.py PASS
• python3 -m unittest discover -s collector -p "test_*.py" 106 tests OK (skipped=3 platform gates)
• node smoke/ui-primitives.mjs ALL PASS (54 assertions)
• node smoke/shell.mjs ALL PASS (119 assertions)
• The exact CI step run under set -euo pipefail: green path exits 0 against a 97,604-byte snapshot; simulated boot-crash path exits 1 with the trap firing; port 18792 clear after every run, no orphan collector.
• Not verified: an actual ubuntu-latest runner, ?demo browser mode (manual by design).

Review

Two rounds. Round 1 found three real defects in the CI step (F1 pipefail vs curl -m on the endless SSE stream, F2 json.tool | head EPIPE, F3 orphan on red paths); all fixed and re-verified by execution in round 2, which cleared the diff. Full records: handoffs run folder 2026-10-12-housekeeping (brief, plan, implement, review, review2).

Ticket: JJF1Y39 (OME board "speculum").

[T-Crypt]

Review round 1 (NInfer review stage) found three real defects in the new CI step plus one reporting inaccuracy: F1 set -o pipefail + curl -sN -m 2 ... | head on the endless SSE stream can never pass (curl exits 28); F2 json.tool | head reds on EPIPE once the pretty-printed snapshot passes the ~64 KB pipe buffer; F3 the red paths skip the kill and leave an orphan collector; F4 the implementation record overstated the proof. All fixed in fix(JJF1Y39), re-verified in round 2 by executing the exact YAML command sequence under set -euo pipefail on green and red paths (snapshot 97,604 bytes, stream check via temp file, trap fires, port clear). Round-2 verdict: diff clean, mergeable. Full records: run folder 2026-10-12-housekeeping (brief, plan, implement, review, review2).