The New Wolfs Howl

SOTD #5: Simon Bates would be proud

By Wolfie | July 20, 2008

Today’s song is Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits

Well, you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything you promised me through thick and thin
Now you just say “Oh Romeo? Yeah, I used to have a scene with him”

Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said “I love you like the stars above, I’ll love you till I die”
There’s a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong Juliet?

Do you remember that ‘Our Tune’ feature that Simon Bates used to have on Radio 1? Where people would write in with often quite tragic stories, all of which were personified by one song? It often made for quite maudlin listening, but it was addictive. Just after 11am, Monday to Friday the nation would tune in to hear about the love story gone wrong, the brave but doomed fight against terminal illness, or whatever. As cheesy as it sounds, it actually could be truly heart-wrenching.

This song turned up quite a lot in these stories and I imagine there are a lot of couples out there who would consider it their tune. I know that me and my first serious girlfriend did. But when you really think about it, it’s a lament from one half of a couple that has already split up. Is that really the best song for a loving couple to have as their song?

[iTunes link to audio]

Categories: Music | No Comments »
Tags: SOTD

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SOTD #4

By Wolfie | July 19, 2008

Today’s song is Too Shy by Kajagoogoo

Modern medicine falls short of your complaints
Ooh, try a little harder
You’re moving in circles, won’t you dilate
Baby try
Hey girl, move a little closer
‘Cause, you’re

Too shy shy
Hush hush, eye to eye
Too shy shy
Hush hush

One of those classic ’80’s records that seemed to be on the radio all the time. You’d get thoroughly sick of it and hope that you never heard it again. But then a few years later you hear it again and it puts you right back in the moment and you remember when you were young and the whole world was yours for the taking, if only you had the nerve to step up.

This one is for someone who I’ve recently been back in touch with after an absence of over 20 years. Someone who told me something (well, a few things actually) that I’d never known and which got me thinking “What if…”, as I sometimes do. I was also put in mind of this song, so here it is.

[iTunes link to audio]

Categories: Music | 2 Comments »
Tags: SOTD

Hardly surprising

By Wolfie | July 18, 2008

Dwain Chambers has lost his case to be allowed to compete for the UK in the up-coming Olympics. He was seeking an injunction that would have allowed him to compete, ahead of a full hearing on the legality of the ban that is expected to be heard in March.

It’s not surprising that this is the outcome; the by-law that bans athletes convicted of drug offences of ever competing in the Olympics may or may not be unlawful, but it was in place long before Chambers received his ban. He left it too late to embark on his challenge, and the judge saw no reason to overturn the status quo.

The unfortunate thing is that the UK team is going to be deprived of a very good medal chance by not allowing Chambers to run. And the position of the BOA goes against that of the IOC and the IAAF - basically, it says to athletes that they have no hope of rehabilitation, ever. Yet, in Beijing there will most likely be athletes that will be competing, having already completed bans for similar offences. As I said the other day, the BOA’s rules should not be the ones that apply here - it should be the IOC, as they are the ones organising the event.

In an ideal world, we would not be having this discussion because no-one would ever cheat. But the reality is that athletes do all the time, for many and varied reasons. We can’t continue with a system that is so grey; it needs to be clear cut. Do we want drug cheats to be banned for life, as the BOA would have it? If so, let’s make that the rule. You get caught, you get banned. No grey area. Or do we believe in giving an athlete the chance to be rehabilitated and come back to the sport for another go? If that’s what we want, then once they’re served their ban they should be able to compete in ALL competitions, not just ones that are picked for them by the ruling body.

Either way, we need to pick one. And we need to do it now, so that everyone knows where they are come 2012.

Categories: Sport | No Comments »
Tags: Chambers

SOTD #3

By Wolfie | July 18, 2008

Today’s song is Breakthrough by Rick Wright

I can take or leave it, won’t be the woebegone
Don’t need a model universe to hang your pictures on
You hide somewhere, you die somewhere
And then this senseless thought,
By hating more you’re feeling more
And that’s how you get caught

They’re never going to make it easy
Of this you can be sure
I greet you from your wilderness
I’ll stay inside your door

I first heard this on David Gilmour’s Meltdown DVD, where he’s joined onstage by Rick Wright to perform this song; the choir of backing singers really make the song take-off for me. One of those performances that sends shivers down your spine. After that, I decided to buy the album that the original is on and it’s a completely different song there. Sung by Sinead O’Connor - who I’ve always thought had a beautiful voice, even if I wasn’t always a fan of her music - it becomes a much more poignant song.

[iTunes link to audio]

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Tags: SOTD

Apple scripting again

By Wolfie | July 17, 2008

This time I have no idea where to start (at least with the last one, I had some guidance already).

What I’m trying to do is create a rule in Mail.app that will change emails received from one particular person to plain text. At the moment, the Preview displays the message in really small text that is hard to read. When I go to View > Message > Plain Text alternative, everything becomes readable again. So, I’d like to automate that process.

Looking at Rules within Mail.app, there isn’t the option to convert messages to plain text, but I can invoke an Applescript in a rule; this is where I need the help from you guys. All I need to do is tell Mail.app to make the message plain text - but I have no idea how to do that, or even if it’s possible.

Can anyone help?

Categories: Technology | No Comments »
Tags: AppleScript, Mail.app

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