TedXMetafilter October 22, 2018 1:47 PM Subscribe
For those of you who missed it, Infini dropped a self-link to an amazing, informative TedTalk she delivered on informal economies and markets in Africa. It was great and I am super impressed! So that leads naturally to the question...
which other MeFites have given TED Talks? Send me links to watch during my endless boring work hours!
which other MeFites have given TED Talks? Send me links to watch during my endless boring work hours!
> Infini is so badass and awesome.
Yes, absolutely! I can't believe infini finally outed herself! Now we can openly talk about how awesome infini is on MetaFilter.
posted by nangar at 2:48 PM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
Yes, absolutely! I can't believe infini finally outed herself! Now we can openly talk about how awesome infini is on MetaFilter.
posted by nangar at 2:48 PM on October 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ooooh, thanks, zeusianfog! And seconding the awesome badassedness of infini.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:56 PM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:56 PM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh thanks for this. I would have doubtless missed it otherwise. Infini is one of my favourite Mefites. Everything she writes is worth reading and reading with attention.
posted by Ziggy500 at 3:05 PM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Ziggy500 at 3:05 PM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
This is awesome!
posted by ITheCosmos at 4:07 PM on October 22, 2018
posted by ITheCosmos at 4:07 PM on October 22, 2018
Imagine a truly international metafilter, I wonder if you can.
posted by Rumple at 4:08 PM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Rumple at 4:08 PM on October 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yay infini! Fabulous photos and a fabulous presentation. I am now curious about the value of my prepaid smartphone as measured in goats.
posted by XMLicious at 4:33 PM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 4:33 PM on October 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Very, very impressive, infini; I was intending to listen to only a minute or two of your TED talk, but it was extremely compelling and I ended up wishing it had been much longer.
I suspect you'll be in great demand over the next few years and going forward, and that we'll be reduced to describing you rather wistfully as 'Metafilter's own.'
posted by jamjam at 6:48 PM on October 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
I suspect you'll be in great demand over the next few years and going forward, and that we'll be reduced to describing you rather wistfully as 'Metafilter's own.'
posted by jamjam at 6:48 PM on October 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
Everything infini does is super interesting!
posted by Kattullus at 10:23 PM on October 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 10:23 PM on October 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
Huzzah for infini!
posted by homunculus at 2:56 AM on October 23, 2018
posted by homunculus at 2:56 AM on October 23, 2018
What the...?
damn... *sniffles into handkerchief*
thanks y'all
and thanks to the memail link from Johnny Wallflower else I'd have never have seen this
posted by infini at 1:56 AM on October 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
damn... *sniffles into handkerchief*
thanks y'all
and thanks to the memail link from Johnny Wallflower else I'd have never have seen this
posted by infini at 1:56 AM on October 24, 2018 [13 favorites]
I had the great pleasure of getting to meet infini in person back in my international work days, living in Kenya. A truly brilliant mefite if ever there was one. Now I feel like I was talking to a minor celebrity and didn't know it at the time...if that speaks to her humility.
hi infini! look me up if you're ever in the SF Bay Area...
Great seeing her thoughts on the informal economies. I always found it fascinating in Kenya that the highest volume mobile phone credit amount sold was 5 shillings (~$0.50 USD), because that's what people could afford on a day-to-day basis. Another thing that was interesting to see were things like bar soap and candy bars that had been cut into tenths with a razor blade (presumably the same razor blade) by the corner shops proprietor, and were on offer at a per-piece rate.
It sure was weird to gamble and drink away a moderate sum of $40 USD on a Friday night when the person dealing the blackjack cards would consider that sum basically unattainable in this lifetime - the same as I personally consider the quarter million USD I need to come up with for a down payment for a home in San Francisco. It was a mixed bag of persistent guilt combined with generally feeling aghast at the disparities.
Microloans are most certainly only micro to the lender.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:44 PM on October 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
hi infini! look me up if you're ever in the SF Bay Area...
Great seeing her thoughts on the informal economies. I always found it fascinating in Kenya that the highest volume mobile phone credit amount sold was 5 shillings (~$0.50 USD), because that's what people could afford on a day-to-day basis. Another thing that was interesting to see were things like bar soap and candy bars that had been cut into tenths with a razor blade (presumably the same razor blade) by the corner shops proprietor, and were on offer at a per-piece rate.
It sure was weird to gamble and drink away a moderate sum of $40 USD on a Friday night when the person dealing the blackjack cards would consider that sum basically unattainable in this lifetime - the same as I personally consider the quarter million USD I need to come up with for a down payment for a home in San Francisco. It was a mixed bag of persistent guilt combined with generally feeling aghast at the disparities.
Microloans are most certainly only micro to the lender.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:44 PM on October 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Hurrah for infini! :-D
ARE YOUR EARS BURNING YET?
posted by glasseyes at 3:22 PM on October 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
ARE YOUR EARS BURNING YET?
posted by glasseyes at 3:22 PM on October 24, 2018 [2 favorites]
I dunno about this minor celebrity bit allkindsoftime, but I do know that I'm a pedant ;p
Most likely the croupier made around 300 to 400 dollars a month. Unattainable might be closer to 4000 dollars than 40. The past five years since we last met has seen a huge difference to the Kenyan economy, iirc you left before Kenyatta came to power. People I knew in Nairobi back then were making more money and doing far better - eg. a high school pass maid at the service apartments who was making 6000 shillings a month (approx $60) had worked her way up to be nightshift concierge. The taxi driver with one old car had expanded to three cars and two guys driving for him. Small stuff like that which shows that you can't compare the poverty you would have seen in your line of work with the context of the urban metro of Nbi.
;p
posted by infini at 5:56 AM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Most likely the croupier made around 300 to 400 dollars a month. Unattainable might be closer to 4000 dollars than 40. The past five years since we last met has seen a huge difference to the Kenyan economy, iirc you left before Kenyatta came to power. People I knew in Nairobi back then were making more money and doing far better - eg. a high school pass maid at the service apartments who was making 6000 shillings a month (approx $60) had worked her way up to be nightshift concierge. The taxi driver with one old car had expanded to three cars and two guys driving for him. Small stuff like that which shows that you can't compare the poverty you would have seen in your line of work with the context of the urban metro of Nbi.
;p
posted by infini at 5:56 AM on October 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by ChuraChura at 2:22 PM on October 22, 2018 [16 favorites]