Caroma Tazman 270 dual flush toilet, front view, Photo 02 by Don Tai
My Caroma Tazman 270 1.6L dual flush toilet has been going strong for over 22 years, quite astounding when you think about our throw-away society. Made in Australia, it was well rated when I bought it. As I recall at the time the City of Toronto had a $150 rebate on for dual flush toilet replacements, so I replaced two. The instructions that came with the toilet date back to 2002 Aug 15.
I have been on QQ Chinese social media for quite a number of years, and am now an administrator for a couple of QQ groups. Recently a couple of QQ groups have been able to use the Chatgpt API to connect with and allow Chinese group members to have a first-hand try at Chatgpt. Here are my observations.
QQ is one of China’s largest social media platform, where you can find friends, video chat, send pics and videos, participate in group chats, exchange money, listen to music, and more. The platform is less invasive than WeChat. Both are run by Tencent. I have become an administrator on a couple of English-only QQ groups.
I donated something to to Value Village (Canada) and they gave me a coupon. I had to input my purchase date and time, then do an online survey for a small discount. Unfortunately the online experience was flawed at best.
There are many different types of people that shop at Value Village, many of them over the age of 50. These people often do not carry nor rely on their smartphone for their existence. In other words, they are normal.
I did not really think about the importance of searching the web. It seemed straight forward, just like a card catalogue library. You want something, there are available resources, you search those resources and find what you are looking for, or perhaps not. On Chinese social media there are a few other major issues to consider that, almost always, give you sub-optimal results.
Search Results are useful for China-internal content
There is Baidu search in China, their largest search engine. By all accounts this search engine is quite bad, where people in China often cannot find what they are looking for. Baidu is invariably only roughly effective in China, even though they have huge bots that scour the world’s web. I know this because I see it hitting my web sites on a daily basis.
I am a high myopia patient wearing glasses, in Toronto, Canada, and it was time for me to have cataract surgery. As a monovision user I’ve long had one eye focused on near reading and computer work, and the other eye focused on far distance. This strategy has worked out well for me, with no perceived loss of function. Here’s my cataract intraocular (IOL) surgery journey notes.
When you age, your body gets older and parts begin to wear out. This cannot be disputed for eyes. Over time the eye become inflexible, it will be harder to read fine print, your lens will cloud over and will need to be replaced. This is called cataract surgery.
