All posts by Wouter

Trust & Safety Analyst at Google Japan. Main interests in information technology are PHP, Zend, C, C++, Java, Linux. Other interests include Japanese, math, physics, chess, FX/stock trading and traveling.

Pablo Neruda, sonnet 81

I came across the English lyrics to “And now you’re mine“, sung by Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts in their “Il Postino” album. After some searching, I learned about Pablo Neruda, and the original Spanish lyrics of this song. It turned out to be a sonnet from his “Cien Sonetos de Amor” collection:

Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño en mi sueño.
Amor, dolor, trabajos, deben dormir ahora.
Gira la noche sobre sus invisibles ruedas
y junto a mí eres pura como el ámbar dormido.

Ninguna más, amor, dormirá con mis sueños.
Irás, iremos juntos por las aguas del tiempo.
Ninguna viajará por la sombra conmigo,
sólo tú, siempreviva, siempre sol, siempre luna.

Ya tus manos abrieron los puños delicados
y dejaron caer suaves signos sin rumbo,
tus ojos se cerraron como dos alas grises,

mientras yo sigo el agua que llevas y me lleva:
la noche, el mundo, el viento devanan su destino,
y ya no soy sin ti sino sólo tu sueño.

The English lyrics linked above had some translations that I thought could be better, so here is my attempt into English, trying to keep it natural. Note that I had some trouble with the last line, but I hope it is an acceptable translation.

Now you’re mine. Rest dreaming in my dream.
Love, pain, and work should all sleep now.
The night spins its invisible wheels
and you are laying next to me, pure like a sleeping amber.

No one else, my love, will sleep with my dreams.
You will, we will go together through the waters of time.
No one else will travel through the shadows with me,
only you, immortal, forever my sun and my moon.

Your hands have already loosened their delicate fists
and softly dropped their drifting signs,
your eyes have closed, like a pair of silver wings,

while I follow the water that you carry, carrying me:
the night, the world, and the wind spin out their destiny,
and I am with you, simply as your dream.

The self-reflecting interpreter

Original article in Dutch by Lisa Hinderks. Translated and posted with permission.

During our studies Anthropology, we have constantly been urged to be conscious of our own position. Who are we, what kind of environment are we in? What kind of experiences or knowledge do we possess, and in what way do our experiences affect our views? And in what way do we affect these environments that we are in, with our own views? When you do research as an anthropologist about a certain culture, and you are trying to understand a culture, you are to understand yourself first. When you understand yourself, and know your weaknesses, know what your opinions and visions are based on, that is when you are able to (partially) understand a different culture or community. It is even so important to be aware of your own prejudices, privileges, and conceptions. But the fact that you are a woman or a man, a white person or a Black person, and deaf or hearing, will always have an influence on how people react to you.

Continue reading The self-reflecting interpreter

TED Talks collection

The TED Talks is a wonderful platform to share all kinds of ideas in front of a present audience, and with the global audience via the Internet. I have been watching many TED Talks since a few years and would like to share several talks on my website that have impressed me, or influenced me in some ways.

This is the first entry in this TED Talks category. I’ll embed the videos in my blog post, but you should really watch them on TED.com itself, where you can see more related videos. To do so, you can click on the red TED logo to open the video on the TED.com site, or just click on the link in the heading. I’ll choose English as the default subtitles language in my posts, but you are able to choose another language if you wish. For my Japanese friends, I have added Japanese links which point to the Japanese TED.com pages.

Let me start with a list of five talks that have been amazing, on vastly different themes and topics: leadership, diversity, religion, education and justice.
Continue reading TED Talks collection

As ‘t myn tiid is

Gurbe Douwstra is a Frisian musician from Drachten, the Netherlands. I ran into one of his songs on a social network, and it touched me. This is because I have lived the first half of my life in Friesland, a province in the Netherlands, with its own officially recognized language, which we proudly call Frysk. While I don’t speak it, it is still close to me.

By no means am I going anywhere – I like to think that I still have the vigor of life in me. But as the text is beautiful, I wanted to share it with those unfamiliar to Frysk. So here is my attempt to translate his song “as ‘t myn tiid is” from Frysk into English and Japanese.

Gurbe Douwstra's song in Frisian
Gurbe Douwstra’s song in Frisian

When it’s my time

When you miss me, have a need of me
or look for guidance, when you daren’t go further
then close your eyes, and stand still for a while
look in your heart, and know that I’ll be there

Don’t be sad, it is as it goes
all that lives, will one day pass away
But just believe me, I mean it sincerely
no single life, long or short, is for naught

So when it’s my time, grieve not too long for me
I’m not far away, I’ll always be near
I’m in your being, I’m in your blood … you’re my blood
Never forget this, my child, and everything will be alright

僕の寿命が来ているなら

僕のことを恋しく想う時、困った時
僕の指導を望む時、道を迷う時
その時は目を閉じて、しばらく足を止めて
僕のことをこころの奥に見つけなさい

悲しまないで、こうなるべきだから
生きとし生けるものがいつか去るんだ
ただ、本気で云わせてこれを信じて
短いも長いも無駄な人生なんかない

僕の寿命が来ているなら、嘆かないでほしい
遠いところじゃなくて、すぐそばにいるさ
僕は君のこころにいるんだ。。。君は僕の一部さ
最愛なる子よ、これを一生忘れるな
何もかも大丈夫になるさ

Vim tips and tricks: HTML table re-ordering

Suppose you have an HTML table on a static website, not dynamically created. It shows a grid of thumbnail photos in table cells. The code was something like the following:

<table>
 <tr>
 <td><a href="photo/photo01.html"><img src="photo/photo01.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo02.html"><img src="photo/photo02.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo03.html"><img src="photo/photo03.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo04.html"><img src="photo/photo04.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo05.html"><img src="photo/photo05.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td><a href="photo/photo06.html"><img src="photo/photo06.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo07.html"><img src="photo/photo07.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo08.html"><img src="photo/photo08.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo09.html"><img src="photo/photo09.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 <td><a href="photo/photo10.html"><img src="photo/photo10.jpg" alt="" /></a></td>
 </tr>
 <!-- etc... -->
</table>

Yes, ouch!

There are hundreds of photos, spread over several pages in several HTML files, and you want to put them all on one page. You also want to change the number of columns of the thumbnail grid. How are you going to do this in the most efficient way possible, without turning the code into a dynamically generated code? Read on to learn more, using grep and vim!

Continue reading Vim tips and tricks: HTML table re-ordering