First submission: 6 April 2007
Result of 1st Evaluation: 9 September 2007
Revised on: 12 November 2007
Final evaluation result: 2 April 2008

Fiuh, almost one full year before the review is completed (with a positive result , alhamdulillah).

Now, it’s a matter of preparing for the final examination (a presentation that would last less than 15 minutes) next May.

What if the lovely google map can be accessed through your phone? You can use the Google Mobile Maps. There is one caveat, though: you will need a data plan to download your online map.

The better option for me is Mobile Gmaps (http://www.mgmaps.com/). An absolutely free (for personal use) application which is capable of using map tiles that have been pre-downloaded to your phone. Chance is that your phone will be supported, so why not giving it a try.

How to download the map tiles and put it into your mobile? The tools are available at this page: http://www.mgmaps.com/cache/ and these are the steps that I have done to obtain the map tiles.

First, mark the area of the map you want to have using the interface in http://www.mgmaps.com/create/.

Put your mark on, and select the desired zoom level. (beware: I put the mark to all of Netherlands, and then tried to obtain the maps from zoom level 0 to 17. Later on, after 200 MB of download and no sign of finishing, I gave up ).

The better option, in my opinion, is to mark the whole world from level 0 up to level 4. Download the tiles (2nd step). Then mark the whole country of your choice up to level 9. Download the tiles again. Then, mark the specific cities/areas you are interested in up until zoom level 17. Then download the tiles again. This way, my Netherlands map + whole of Eindhoven took about 40 MB of space.

Second, after you get the .map file, if you use windows, download the gMapMaker application. Use your .map file as the input for this application, and then wait until all tiles are downloaded.

Third, copy the MGMapsCache directory into your phone’s memory card. There will be a lot files to be copied, therefore I recommend you to use your card reader Optionally, it is also recommended to hide the MGMapsCache directory in your memory card (in Windows Explorer, right click on the MGMapsCache –> Properties –> Tick hidden. The files inside this directory do not have to be set hidden.) This way, long loading time on several phones can be avoided.

Fourth, install the mgmaps application. Get it from http://www.mgmaps.com/download.php and follow the installation instruction in that page.

Fifth, run the mgmaps, go to Menu -> Settings -> Map Browsing -> tick Stored Maps and Offline Mode. Also make sure that the configuration in the Map Types is correctly responding to the type of map you downloaded in the first and second steps.

Voila! I hope your map appears beautifully there.

Sixth, make a donation to the developer: Cristian Streng He really is doing a great job in developing this application, and providing it for free is a very admirable act.

The next time I am on travel, something not to be missed is the downloading of the google maps of my destination up to level 17

Now, time for me find a way to raise about 50 euros for having a bluetooth GPS device (perhaps, you want to donate one to me ) Yes, mgmaps also support external GPS devices. A very handy way to never get lost again

THE BOTTOM LINEHot water from the tap should never be used for cooking or drinking.

That’s what New York Time said in this article. Interesting. I was told by my friend circa 7 years ago that even though the tap water is drinkable I should use it to obtain cold water only, an advice that I diligently follow. Apparently there is a scientific reason for this .

Other interesting (and good) news, in some parts of Indonesia, the tap water can be drank directly. Wonder if my stomach will be strong enough to drink this tap water, though

With my result above (which includes the outcome of several of my answers that were just pure guess ), it strengthen my believe that evaluating one’s level of intelligence can NEVER be performed by a test lasted for only 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or even 1 day. And also, I consider intelligence without ‘fruitfulness’ ( e.g. use it to improve or help the lifes of others’ ) is meaningless. Intelligence is necessary –no doubt about that– but it is NOT THE ONLY necessary thing to have.

Nevertheless, the test is fun to take, you should give it a shot.

I need to clean up my feed subscribtion

Been very busy lately finishing up my thesis. The feed reading is cut off (hence the 1000+ number above). The blog writing also unfortunately has to be cut off too. Only for a while I hope, only until the time when I open another new (and exciting, I can’t wait!) chapter of my life.