Typography

Author: maxkapur

_posts/2050-04-09-need-smartphone.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ layout: post
 Reasons (excuses?) that I cannot
 [downgrade to a dumbphone](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/opinion/how-quit-smartphone-addiction.html):
 
-- 2FA apps. You can set up a generic TOTP program on your computer, but that's
+- 2FA apps. You can set up a generic TOTP program on your computer, but that’s
   not very convenient, and some organizations explicitly require you to use
   Microsoft or Google Authenticator. (I don’t know how they enforce this given
   that the algorithm for generating TOTP codes from the secret is an open
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ Reasons (excuses?) that I cannot
 - Concert tickets from dice.fm. They have an exclusive deal with many venues
   that makes them the only place you can buy tickets, and their system requires
   you to store your tickets in their app, for anti-fraud reasons or whatever.
-  (At smaller venues, if you don't have the app, they can manually verify your
+  (At smaller venues, if you don’t have the app, they can manually verify your
   name on the guest list.)
 
-I don't like that a smartphone has become a de facto requirement participation
+I don’t like that a smartphone has become a de facto requirement participation
 in society. Smartphones have only *existed* for a few years. The main purpose of
 the “prove you own a (smart)phone” tests that most commercial and government
 services put you through these days seems to be to combat spam: Acquiring and

_posts/2050-04-16-music-videos.md

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ the video because the video adds an additional layer of interpretation.
 
 I think I had mentally blocked myself from verbalizing this thought before
 because of my background as a musician. I would like to think of myself as
-someone who values the “music itself” and whose opinion of a song isn’t swayed
-by the addition of a video track. After all, a music video is kind of like an
+someone who values the music itself and whose opinion of a song isn’t swayed by
+the addition of a video track. After all, a music video is kind of like an
 advertisement for the song or artist, a reference rather than the thing itself.
 
 But then, I should have realized my susceptibility to music videos sooner,
@@ -24,6 +24,6 @@ And I went to a school whose music buildings were right next to the film
 school—I think they actually had a small
 [scoring stage](https://musicbehindthescreen.blogspot.com/2013/03/scoring-stages-sony-mgm.html)
 somewhere. Lots of my classmates did collaborations with film or animation
-students, but I went the other way, preferring to incorporate "analog" art like
+students, but I went the other way, preferring to incorporate “analog” art like
 poetry and fiction into my music by setting texts to melodies. A missed
 opportunity.

_posts/2050-04-23-organize-tabs.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: How I organize browser tabs
 layout: post
 ---
 
-I didn't realize I had a system for this until I did.
+I didn’t realize I had a system for this until I did.
 
 My system: I only ever open one browser window (OK, two on my work computer
 where I use MS Edge profiles for different Microsoft accounts).

_posts/2050-04-30-guitar-like-piano.md

@@ -3,16 +3,16 @@ title: Still playing guitar like piano
 layout: post
 ---
 
-I still play the guitar like a piano. It's most obvious when I try to play along
+I still play the guitar like a piano. It’s most obvious when I try to play along
 with the lead guitar part in a recording of a two-guitar band. Often, the lead
 guitar just has a simple single-note riff or triads in the upper register, but I
-cannot resist the impulse to insert bass notes in the "left hand" (often
-grabbing them with my thumb). It doesn't feel like a complete part without them.
+cannot resist the impulse to insert bass notes in the “left hand” (often
+grabbing them with my thumb). It doesn’t feel like a complete part without them.
 
 Of course, there is already a bass in the recording, so playing in this way does
 not add any value, and comes at the cost of less fluidity in the actual guitar
 melody. I am trying to discpline myself to double lead guitar parts exactly, but
-it's hard to break the habit of embellishment.
+it’s hard to break the habit of embellishment.
 
 Another way my piano training interferes with playing guitar is an instinctual
 aversion to the capo. On the piano, if you want to play a song in a different
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ transposition feature, but using it is frowned upon.) But a guitar capo is
 sometimes musically necessary access open chord voicings in flat keys.
 
 My pianist problem is that when I play the guitar with a capo, I can never
-decide whether to "think" in the transposed or concert key. The open chord
+decide whether to think in the transposed or concert key. The open chord
 voicings certainly are easiest to remember in the transposed key, but as soon as
-I need to play a melody higher on the neck, it's like the capo isn't there, and
+I need to play a melody higher on the neck, it’s like the capo isn’t there, and
 I have to think in concert key to make any sense of it. Most often, I just get
 really confused and put away the capo.