Cali

I have a new Spanish person from Cali, Colombia. She was explaining to me the ‘stratification’ system in Colombia. I have mentioned this before, but, she clarified a few things and I think it’s so interesting, I decided to post about it again.

It turns out that 100% of Colombia, not just the cities, is divided into zones (strati) which strictly defined boundaries and financial / quality of services consequences. A similar system is used in Brazil and Chile but not, based on a quick query, anywhere else. Many if not all cities have some notion of defined sub-areas that affect taxes and such, but nowhere (that I could find) takes it to the level of Latin America.

Here is a map of Bogotá:

Strata 0 (which I guess is the same as “no strata”) implies: little to zero services. People are often living illegally in informal housing, and earn and pay virtually nothing. However, it is possible for a rich person to build an estate in “strata 0”. He wouldn’t pay either, but, he would have to figure out his own services.

Strata 2 = generally urban. Poor services (water, sewer, electric, gas), heavily subsidized by the state. Providers are generally private and receive government money to lower their rates by specified amounts depending on the strata. Generally lots of crime and insecurity. Think: DTES.

Strata 3 = where my new friend lives; generally more or less safe, average prices and reasonable service quality. Think: East Vancouver. Strata 4: Point Grey. Strata 6 = Elon Musk.

The interesting thing is that strata are formally defined on maps and one can, in many cases, change strata (and thus increase cost, along with service quality) by crossing the street.

Does this seem like a good idea? To be honest, if Colombia and Brazil is doing it: probably not! It would seem more proper to provide a uniform level of service, with subsidies as required based on income. But I guess it is somewhat simpler to manage it all by street address.

Drug Ads

We also got talking about the rules for advertising prescription drug products. What I vaguely believed was, upon investigation, partially true. Here is my new belief:

1. In general, around the world, it’s illegal.
2. In USA, it is legal. You may or may not choose to describe the purpose of your product, but if you do, you also have to enumerate its risks. That’s why you sometimes see ads with a long list of awful sounding complications at the end.
3. In Canada, it is legal, but it is not legal to describe or hint at their purpose. You can say stuff like “Be happier with Viagra! or Ozempic!”, and I guess they assume you know what they do. I’ve seen tons of Ozempic ads that give no clue about what it’s for.

Incidentally, The Economist is massively pro-Ozempic. Partly because they think being thinner will make people happier, but also because there is a lot of evidence that Ozempic-like products can / will have all sorts of health benefits beyond just reducing weight.

It must be awfully difficult for people living extremely marginal lives across Africa and Latin America to understand how products like Ozempic come to exist, let alone be so lucrative.

In Residence

We were sitting around the beach here near Vernon and got chatting about lake statistics – specifically Okanagan Lake. One that caught my attention was “residence time”, which is how long it would take a lake to empty and refill – eg. indicative of the ratio of its volume to its inflows and outflows. I guess surface area is important too, since it would influence “outflow” by evaporation.

Anyway, here is the net-net:

1. Typical midsize lake: 5-10 years.
2. Okanagan Lake: much deeper than average. Around 50 years.
3. Lake Superior: 200 years.
4. Lake Erie: the lowest of the greats, at only 3 years.
5. Lake Baikal: #1 worldwide, around 450 years.

Clocked in AR

As likely everyone knows, there is ongoing discussion, at least in BC, of cancelling bi-annual time changes. Apparently they are waiting for WA OR CA to do the same – which, for some weird reason, requires federal approval, which means, it will never happen. That’s too bad. I would support eliminating the time change. It seems archaic and unnecessary. Not a hill I’d die on, but, seems like a good idea.

---

I believe that in the 1940’s or so the UK cancelled time changes, only to put them back a few years later. I can’t find a source for this, though, so I may be mistaken. I did find a reference to a campaign to have four changes per year (in the UK), though: a 1-hour change for a while, followed by a 2-hour change. At the same time, apparently the EU is debating cancelling “mandatory” changes.

---

I was thinking about this because Argentina, being Argentina, is on the cusp of going back to a bi-annual change a-la Canada, which was cancelled some time ago. The rationale is that people living in Mendoza have weird schedules. Well. Mendoza is on the AR-Chile border and its capital further far from Buenos Aires than Calgary is from Vancouver. So, I wonder if what AR really needs is multiple time zones?

---

Speaking of Buenos Aires, an Economist article posited that in a list of 12 major world capitals, Buenos Aires is the most “autonomous” in the sense that its mayor (?) controls many more things than does that of other major cities (Paris was at the opposite end of the scale). It’s a bit of a confusing topic because there is both Buenos Aires city and Buenos Aires autonomous province, and they do not overlap.

Clearly, Washington DC is different in some way, as it is legally not a part of any state. Perhaps similarly, or not, Ottawa Canada calls itself the “National Capital Region” which I suspect is largely a ceremonial / funding sort of thing that doesn’t affect municipal operations.

In Canada I think it is fairly clear that with the possible exception of Ottawa, cities are completely subordinate to the provinces, and Eby could, if he wanted, fire the entire municipal system and replace it with bureaucrats in Victoria; in a way that Mark Carney absolutely can not do with the provinces.

I wonder how this is in other countries. It would be interesting to dig into this topic someday.

Hand-Wringing in EG

I saw a thing on Reddit yesterday about how “Edmonton just banned Handmaid’s Tale”, which I think is actually “Edmonton school board just banned Handmaid’s Tale”. Trump move to ban books, but even MORE of a Trump move (in this case perpetrated by the left, I guess) to misrepresent the scope of the ban. A world of difference between a school board banning something and an entire city doing so, no?

I (probably) can’t see any situation in which banning a book across the board would be OK, but, a school board doing so seems … at least … maybe defensible? Would we really want schools stocking copies of “Salo”? I’m not sure. Such an interesting topic.

---

I have not seen Handmaid’s Tale. I would see Handmaid’s Tale, but, like GOT, it is on my spouse’s no-how no-way not-ever list. So I will likely never do so. It’s not that she wouldn’t let me; she wouldn’t love it if I watched it, but she wouldn’t really say or care that much.

It’s more that … I literally don’t watch any TV/movies without her. I just don’t want to, and when I try, I get bored. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but it is how it is.

Chileing Out

Yesterday I got to meet my Tandem (language sharing app) friend Renato, who just arrived in Vancouver with his Argentinian GF with the intention of spending a year in Canada. They are late 20’s and spent the last few years in Australia. If Canada works out, they might try to stay; otherwise, they will likely go back to Australia. Return to Argentina is off the table. Return to Chile is possible, but doubtful.

Today, Renato met me at JJB with Angel, my longest-standing Spanish speaker friend from Mexico, but has been living here 10+ years with his 3 adult kids. It is so interesting to hear their thoughts about Canada and such. In a nutshell:

1. Wait for it: “la vivienda” (housing) in Vancouver is unbelievably CHEAP – and, perhaps even more improbably, easy to find. He is in an AirBnb for his first 2 weeks but within a few days found a cheap (?) place on Commercial Drive for c$1500.
2. Unfortunately, compared to Australia, our “sueldos” (rates of pay) are also cheap – minimum wage in Sydney is c$22.50. (In Chile, as in many places, minimum wage is traditionally referred to in monthly terms, and it’s about – gasp – c$500).
3. Groceries? Yikes. Not at all cheap. He had the misfortune of going to Whole Foods (nickname: “whole paycheque”), but I think it will not be so different at Safeway.
4. “La naturaleza”, the mountains, lakes and greenery. Vancouver lives up to its 10/10 reputation.

At this point Angel chimed in about how much he loves living in Canada, and 80% of the reason is “la seguridad” – safety – both in terms of walking the streets; leaving a car unattended; and confidence that the police will help you (or at least not try to extract a bribe).

I think Renato is the second “Spanish speaker friend” I have met in Vancouver; I am really hoping to spend a lot more time with him than I did the last one. I have also met … 5-6 or so in Europe, and it’s always very fun to do so (I never thought I would be the kind of person to say such things).

When I try to talk to people from Latin America about “how things work” in terms of the state, every single one of them laments widespread corruption – including in relatively well run countries like Chile. When we were chatting about car insurance and how weird it is that the state runs it here in BC, he said in Chile, that would never work, they would just steal all the money.

In my experience, corruption is by far the #1 most common complaint of Latinos, and I’m sure you can draw a straight line between this reality and the general lack of development / security / opportunity in these countries. Unfortunately, the feeling is usually to eliminate state functions, not fix them (hello, Donald Trump, and slow-motion conversion of the US into Venezuela).

May 2026

I may be getting overly cocky here – I’m not feeling great about the Victoria marathon on October 12. Right knee is persistently troublesome. But, here goes.

Down with Tim’s

We stopped in at Tim’s in West Kelowna yesterday. I don’t go to Tim’s very often because I spent 99% of my life within 1km of my house, and the nearest Tim’s is further away than that. But I do love Tim’s. There is something magical about the cream they use. I only ever get cream at Tim’s.

Anyway, I went in and was greeted … assaulted, by this sign:

Fuck You, Tim’s. Fuck You into oblivion.

I am in no way opposed to self-serve; actually, I would 10/10 prefer it at gas stations, and 8/10 at supermarkets. (I do agree with my BIL that people who use self-serve at supermarkets should get a small discount. As they used to and I think still do, at gas stations. Or, perhaps those who use human cashiers should pay a surcharge. But you can see issues with both ideas).

Anyway, the problem is, if I’m not familiar with the system, I don’t want to have to learn yet another self-serve kiosk, no matter how thoughtfully it may have been designed. (They are all very different, same as web sites, which also drives me nuts). I hate the idea of someone standing behind me, waiting for me, and huffing and sighing at the old guy struggling with technology. Nobody wants to be made to feel stupid.

So, Fuck You, Tim’s.

In the event, I really wanted that coffee, there was nobody behind me, and it was simple enough. The coffee was awesome.

---

According to some article that some random guy wrote on the internet and I randomly happened to read, in supermarkets, self-serve is actually a net cost: the savings on human cashiers are more than offset by the cost of the equipment + more theft.

Supposedly, they do it because some people prefer it. I can totally see that. I am not quite at the point where I’d pick a supermarket based on it having self-serve, but I definitely would do that with gas.

It’s all about avoiding human contact as much as possible!

Running With Ben

Ben is up here at Parker Cove for a few days. He is doing the half marathon in Victoria on October 12 and as a result has been running some. He suggested we go together. I had doubts, only because, I haven’t run with anyone in years. To my recollection the only people I have run with are IC (several times; he got me into it, decades ago!) and, once, Madelyn/Jill Smith (remember her, Dataphilers?).

Long story short: it was great. We chatted the whole time and it made the time fly by, and we did it again the next day. I read somewhere that you should run at a pace where talking is possible without being out of breath. Checks out.

I am focussed on, and a bit worried about, the YYJ marathon on October 12; I had some knee issues to the point where I went to physio last week. Physio Dude said I didn’t need to worry about a stress fracture (which is what Dr. ChatGPT had suggested) so I decided just to dial back but keep going every day. I went back to 5k and increased 1k/day; today, Ben and I did 15k.

I might add a bit more to that, have not decided. I feel insecure not having done 25k+ for almost two weeks now. But overall, pleased with how running is going, and to have gone with Ben.

By the way: I love love love my physio place (North Shore Sports Medicine). Every experience I have had there has been positive and everybody who works there exudes niceness, concern and knowing completely what they are talking about. No matter that I am pretty sure their average age is about 17.

Economist 2025-08-16

I find it very odd that “Nvidia and AMD have agreed to hand over 15% of the revenues they receive from selling chips in China to the American government.” This isn’t a tax, or a fee per se – in fairness, it’s not going straight into Trump’s pocket, and maybe it’s OK, but it still seems very odd to me.

---

RSA has “the most far-reaching state-sponsored attempt at racial redress in the world. Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) requires firms, in effect, to have a minimum share of black investors, to hire and train black staff and to buy from black-owned suppliers.” Naturally, the Economist is opposed: “the main beneficiaries have been a tiny group of new Randlords. By one conservative estimate around $50bnhas been transferred to fewer than 100 people. This is oligopoly, not equality. Under the ANC, inequality between black South Africans has exploded. The top 10% of black earners have seen incomes more than triple. Those of the bottom 50% have fallen slightly.”

---

“On August 13th Uruguay’s lower house passed a law with a thumping majority to legalise assisted dying. The Senate, where a similar bill got stuck in 2022, is widely expected this time to follow suit” making it “among a handful of countries in the world to have legal marijuana, gay marriage and assisted dying.” Wow, I would have assumed Uruguay that MAID long before Canada did.

---

USA is not the only country to have turned against vaccines:

The problem is worst with HPV, but the same trend appears with other vaccines.

---

Are nightmares bad for you? A study out of Finland strongly suggests so: “Those with frequent (at least weekly) nightmares were three times more likely to die before the age of 70 than those who had them less than once a month.”

---

An article about solopreneurs – 1-person startups – breathlessly awaits the first to achieve a $1B valuation. This will continue to feed big tech. Here is an astonishing statistic: 7% of all America corporate profits accrue to ALFA+MSFT+AMZN, up from 2% a decade ago. Wow!

---

I listen to a lot of podcasts! Probably around 10 hours per week. It had not occurred to me to speed them up, but apparently 31% of under-29’s do so, and, “the time savings can be enormous”. I will probably never try this. By the way, I gave an Audible book a try – something about the history of Colombia. I didn’t like it. I think I need to give it a fairer trial.